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06 May 05 - polystyrene; oil; bikes; consumers; zero; shipping; mail; bags; cartridges
** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM **
-- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition
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Forum archive: http://www.nwpcarchive.org
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The first three items are in response to the 4/25/05 item seeking ideas for
reusing polystyrene shipping boxes.
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From Sarah Grimm, BRING Recycling, Eugene, OR:
There is a tidal wave of activity on the reuse e-lists, like Freecycle, and
even Craig's List now has a reuse swap site. I would recommend those.
Here, the Freecycle list formed a splinter group, EugeneFreeRecycle, and
that's where I send all the items people come to me wanting to get rid of -
and in no time flat, the item is reclaimed, reloved and reused. Try
Freecycle (http://freecycle.org ).
E-mail: sarahg (A T) bringrecycling (D O T) org
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Excerpted from a message from Steve Long, Massachusetts Department of
Environmental Protection, recycling markets program, Boston, MA:
Here are a few ideas regarding the reuse of polystyrene boxes:
Conigliaro Industries of Framingham, MA
(http://www.conigliaro.com/products/polycorn.cfm
) reuses polystyrene
blocks and packaging materials by grinding them into packaging "peanuts."
(This would probably only be a potential market if you were nearby;
otherwise it would be too far to ship polystyrene.)
You may be able to identify a business that accepts polystyrene boxes for
reuse through the American Plastics Council's Recycled Plastic Markets
Database, which also covers reuse: http://www.plasticsresource.com
Click on "Recycled Products & Markets
Databases" on the left.
E-mail: Stephen [ D O T ] Long [ A T ] state [ D O T ] ma [ D O T ] us
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Excerpted from a message from Carl Hursh, Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Protection, waste reduction and recycling program, Harrisburg,
PA:
This is what I've done to promote reuse of expanded polystyrene shipping
containers: I've turned them into worm composting bins. These insulated
worm bins are particularly useful for student educational programs where you
must transport the worm bin in the cold of winter or the heat of summer. In
addition to a expanded polystyrene shipping container, you need to provide
some vents. There are 2" round white plastic vents available at a "major
national home improvement store" in the gutter and downspout department.
The last I checked, the vents came in packs of six for $5.99. You need
three vents per bin and a 2" hole saw attachment for a drill. You cut a
hole in each end of the container and one in the lid. If the foam is thick
you need to drill from each side of the container lid or wall. Insert a
vent into each hole and you're done. You can put some screening on the
inside of the vents to reduce the possibility of escape. I haven't needed
to do this (yet). The worms typically cost about $25 for two pounds.
The are plenty of Internet websites with vermicomposting instructions,
including our site: http://www.dep.state.pa.us
(keyword "composting"). Red wiggler worms don't mind confinement. They eat
about half their weight in fruit and vegetable scraps a day. They like
shredded newspaper for bedding. They don't tolerate freezing. My worms
make no odor whatsoever in my basement. I initially loaded up my expanded
polystyrene worm bin with shredded newspaper and a salad mix that was
beginning to compost in my refrigerator. I added a few chopped banana
peels. Everything was consumed within eight weeks and what remained were
worms and worm castings that can be used to fertilize indoor and outdoor
plants. Separating the worms from the worm castings is an art.
E-mail: chursh [ A T ] state [ D O T ] pa [ D O T ] us
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The next two items are in response to the 4/25/05 item about using cooking
oil to remove adhesive price tags, labels on jars, and other sticky
substances.
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From Ann Schneider, Mountain View, CA:
I've used cooking oil plus rubbing alcohol to remove varnish and dye from my
hands. Some new Easter egg coloring kits use a varnish with dyes to give
the finished eggs a shiny finish. The instructions on the kits actually
recommend clean up with cooking oil and rubbing alcohol, and gosh darn it
worked.
E-mail: schneiderann [ A T ] juno [ D O T ] com
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Excerpted from a message from Chris Myers, "This Republic CAN," Telluride,
CO:
I love the cooking oil solution - I'll try it tonight. Another contribution
that has saved at least a dozen repairs or discards to the landfill - this
came to me from a friend of mine who builds backpacks: Anyone out there have
a zipper that has lost its zip? Thought you needed to throw the item away or
get a new zipper (often an expensive repair)? Think again. What has happened
is that the zipper pull that you tug on to zip the zipper has become
strained from the many uses, and the jaws on each side of the zipper pull
have separated slightly. If you take a pair of pliers and GENTLY squeeze the
jaw on each side of the zipper pull, you will restore the "zip" to your
zipper.
E-mail: c ( A T ) thisrepubliccan ( D O T ) us
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Link to information on a company in Oregon that buys used bicycle chain and
gears for reuse:
http://www.resourcerevival.com/recycle.htm
Resource Revival in Mosier,
OR, is an established company that makes gift items and home furnishings
from used bike chains and gears. They pay $1 per pound for bicycle gears of
all kinds, and 50 cents per pound for bicycle chain. They do not pay for
shipping. They also pay a finder's fee for information leading to the
collection of the parts they need.
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Link to GreenerChoices.org, a new website from Consumers Union:
http://www.greenerchoices.org This
website provides information to help consumers make environmentally-friendly
choices in the purchases they make. Consumers Union is the publisher of
Consumer Reports magazine.
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Link to information on the GrassRoots Recycling Network's second annual Zero
Waste Action Conference May 23-25 in New York City (forwarded by Gary Liss
and Marjorie Clarke) :
http://www.grrn.org/conference2005
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Excerpted from an article for an internal publication by Mary Ellen Bradley
and Patricia Jatczak, of the Washington State Department of Ecology,
Olympia, WA (forwarded by Jay Shepard):
NEW DELL REUSABLE SHIPPING CONTAINERS USED BY WASHINGTON STATE AGENCY
Computer shipments from Dell are now arriving at the Washington State
Department of Ecology headquarters building in Olympia in reusable,
returnable shipping containers. Ecology partnered with Dell to help design
a computer-delivery system that would reduce waste and still protect the
computers. As a pilot agency for Dell's new Eco-Delivery system, Ecology
provided valuable feedback on the design's suitability.
The state Department of Information Services joined the effort because it
purchases many computers on behalf of state agencies and was already working
with Ecology employees to ensure that the multi-state contract they use for
personal computers included environmental concerns, such as end-of-life
management and reduced hazardous materials.
Now, instead of one computer per box, each shipping container holds 20 small
desktop units or eight mini-towers, as well as the keyboards, mice and
cables. Because an instruction CD and manual for each computer was
unnecessary for Ecology's needs and was wasteful, one CD and manual set is
provided for the entire shipment. The container is returned to Dell and
reused for the next shipment. The new reusable containers take up half the
space the boxes did and there is no packaging waste to handle.
With about 30 computers being delivered a month to the Ecology building,
Information Services employees and Shipping & Receiving employees had been
overwhelmed by the amount of packaging waste they had to handle. Because of
Ecology's commitment and persistence, the Dell account representative took
their request to Dell executives and design staff to come up with a more
sustainable packaging system. The Dell account representative even featured
this project in a presentation to company founder Michael Dell.
Jay's e-mail: jshe461 [ A T ] ecy [ D O T ] wa [ D O T ] gov
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Link to Unmailme.com, a free service to help consumers and businesses reduce
unwanted mail:
http://www.unmailme.com This service is offered
by Remote Control Mail Corp., a private company based in Portland, Oregon.
(Note from Tom: I don't know anything about this service other than what is
on their website, and I do not vouch for it, but I came across this website
and thought Forum readers might be interested in it.)
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Excerpted from the "No Stupid Questions" question-and-answer feature in the
September 2004 Organic Style magazine:
Q. Can I reuse plastic food-storage bags?
A. Yes. Doing so is an easy way to reduce the 3.3 million tons of plastic
bags that Americans send to landfills each year. But be careful: "Most
people don't think to sanitize a bag before reusing it," says Kathryn Boor,
an associate professor of Food Science at Cornell University. "To lower your
risk of contamination, be sure that every inch of the bag has been cleaned
and dried." For maximum peace of mind, try using a Bag-E-Wash. This
loop-shaped gadget clips to your dishwasher and holds bags open so that all
corners are thoroughly scrubbed. At the end of the cycle, they will be
germ-free and ready for reuse. Imagine: If you wash each bag up to 50 times,
for every box of 30 you buy and use, you'll be keeping 1,500 bags out of the
trash and saving $150!
Note: The Bag-E-Wash website is at: http://www.bag-e-wash.com
This product is designed to help people wash
plastic food-storage bags (such as freezer bags) in their dishwasher.
Jeannie Piekos and her husband, of Minneapolis, MN, created the Bag-E-Wash
and distribute it nationwide through their home business.
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Excerpted from an article by Pui-Wing Tam in the 5/6/05 Wall Street Journal:
DEMAND SKYROCKETS FOR USED PRINTER CARTRIDGES FOR REMANUFACTURING
A growing cadre of printer cartridge brokers helps nonprofit groups raise
funds, encourages recycling and supplies a network of mostly small
remanufacturers that offer consumers a lower-cost option for running their
printers. The brokers, and the remanufacturers they supply, are pinching the
printer giants, Hewlett-Packard and Lexmark, who rely heavily on profits
from repeat sales of new cartridges. The printer companies also are
beginning to feel a squeeze from office-supply outlets that sell
do-it-yourself refill kits and chains such as Cartridge World and Island
Ink-Jet, which are setting up across the nation as cartridge-refilling
stations for consumers.
In the past five years, the share of the global inkjet-cartridge market held
by remanufactured cartridges has risen to 17 percent from 14 percent, says
imaging-industry tracker Lyra Research. Lyra expects that to rise to 24
percent by 2008, even though Consumer Reports and other consumer watchdogs
consider remanufactured cartridges inferior in quality.
Hewlett-Packard and others have responded by suing some remanufacturers for
patent infringement or other alleged offenses. The printer companies also
encourage consumers to return used cartridges for recycling (instead of
remanufacturing), by packaging post-paid return envelopes with new
cartridges.
Demand for empty cartridges is skyrocketing. A used black-ink cartridge for
an inkjet printer can fetch an average of $5 from a remanufacturer, up from
$3 a year ago, according to Lyra. Only cartridges that have been used just
once are considered worthy of remanufacturing.
Research firm InfoTrends/CAP Ventures expects Americans to go through 86.5
million laser-toner cartridges and 604 million inkjet cartridges this year.
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