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13 Jul 05 - Freecycle; WasteWise; OneDerWear; drying; purchasing; job
** 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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From Deron Beal, The Freecycle Network, Tucson, AZ:
Hi everyone. I'm the executive director and founder of The Freecycle
Network(TM), the private nonprofit online exchange for free items
(http://www.freecycle.org ). I know many of you
are familiar with Freecycle. I'm writing today because we need your
support. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service has notified us they are
tentatively planning to reject our application for 501c3 nonprofit status.
We had based our application on "education." The IRS says Freecycle is
mostly helping people give each other stuff, and that is not education. IRS
also says Freecycle does not necessarily help the needy, and does not
necessarily keep materials out of the landfill (the IRS contact said, "The
stuff could just as easily have gone to Goodwill.")
We have a little over two months to respond to the IRS on this. Our
thinking is that we should use another approach, and make the argument that
we deserve 501c3 status for another valid reason: "Reducing the burdens on
government." This is where we need your help. If you work for a local,
state or federal government agency, and you believe that the Freecycle
Network helps governments and their citizens, by reducing waste and
supporting reuse, could you please e-mail us with a letter of support? If
you have any statistics to help with the argument, such as an estimate of
the amount of reusable items that go into your local transfer station or
landfill, that would be great. If your agency website includes a link to
Freecycle or if you have mentioned it in your newsletters, let us know that
too. Letters of support from non-government organizations are also welcome.
Please send your e-mail letters by July 18 to: movetoapprove [ AT ] freecycle [ DOT ] org
You can also send them by regular mail to: The Freecycle Network, P.O. Box
294, Tucson, AZ, 85702.
Freecycle has 1,460,042 members in 2,887 communities worldwide. We know
it's working. Attaining 501c3 nonprofit status is vital to the future of
Freecycle. Thank you so much for your support!
E-mail: deron ( AT ) freecycle ( DOT ) org
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From Tom Watson, King County Solid Waste Division, Seattle, WA, and the
National Waste Prevention Coalition, following up on his 4/8/05 posting
about the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) WasteWise program:
President Bush's proposed federal budget for fiscal year 2006 called for the
elimination of the EPA WasteWise program, as I reported in April. Last
week, I heard an update about this in a conference call with EPA Deputy
Administrator Tom Dunne. He said he now expects that funding for the
WasteWise program will continue through the 2006 fiscal year at the current
level, although there are no guarantees for 2007 and beyond. EPA officials
said the current budget for the WasteWise program is about $600,000.
WasteWise is a voluntary program where partners set goals for waste
prevention, recycling collection and buying recycled materials. The program
currently has more than 1,400 partners, including businesses, government
agencies and other organizations.
E-mail: tom [D O T] watson [A T] metrokc [D O T] gov
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Excerpted from a message from Ann Schneider, Mountain View, CA:
The July-August issue of VIA, the California State Automobile Association's
magazine, is advertising "OneDerWear," 100 percent cotton disposable
underwear. Ten percent off for American Automobile Association members
(aren't we lucky). And the company that makes OneDerWear, Break Room
Concepts, also manufactures disposable socks. For more info on yet another
wasteful product, see: http://www.onederwear.com
E-mail: schneiderann ( A T ) juno ( D O T ) com
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Excerpted from a message from Kevin Xue, Liverpool, England (forwarded by
Warren Wilson):
I am a master student at the University of Liverpool. I am doing my
dissertation about life cycle assessment - case studies of three methods of
hand-drying. Do any organizations offer public reports or publications
about life cycle assessment or sustainable development research for hand
dryers, paper towels and cloth towels? If so, may I get them please? I
greatly appreciate your help and any advice.
E-mail: Song (DOT) Xue (AT) liverpool (DOT) ac (DOT) uk
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Link to information about the San Francisco Department of the Environment's
"Less-Toxic Purchasing" program (forwarded by Mark Westlund):
http://www.sfenvironment.com/aboutus/innovative/epp
To see the text of
the City and County of San Francisco's new environmentally preferable
purchasing ordinance (effective 6/17/05), click on "Precautionary Purchasing
Ordinance Final (pdf)" on the left.
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Link to a job posting for an Outreach Specialist for WasteCap Wisconsin:
http://www.wastecapwi.org/outreachspecialistjobpost.htm
The salary for
this full-time, flexible-hours job is listed as "commensurate with
experience." The application deadline is July 22, 2005. WasteCap Wisconsin
is a statewide nonprofit environmental organization that provides waste
reduction and recycling assistance to businesses. The job is based in
Milwaukee.
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