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06 Jul 06 - bags; polystyrene; prosperity; teens; CDs; diapers; bricks ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.nwpcarchive.org --------------------- From Laurie Stoerkel, San Francisco area, responding to the 6/28/06 posting about a product sold in Bed Bath & Beyond that holds plastic grocery bags so they can easily be reused as garbage bags: Wait a minute..... this is the waste reduction forum.... not free advertising for gadgets from Bed Bath & Beyond. I say "phooey!" We waste reducers should be carrying reusable cloth bags with us, thus eliminating them from our lives, not finding ways to detour the plastic on its way to the landfill. E-mail: lstoerkel [ AT ] yahoo [ DOT ] com Note: A photo and description of this product (which were included in the original posting) are at: http://www.simplehuman.com/products/trash-cans/kitchen/cabinet-mount-tra sh-system.html --------------------- Link to a website that gives more than 90 alternative uses for old plastic bags (forwarded by Desmond Machuca): http://frugalliving.about.com/cs/tips/a/blplasticbag.htm See each of the five pages on this website for the suggestions. --------------------- Excerpted from a 6/29/06 article by Jim Herron Zamora in the San Francisco Chronicle: OAKLAND BANS POLYSTYRENE TAKEOUT PACKAGING; SAN FRANCISCO NEXT? Polystyrene packaging for takeout food will be banned in Oakland as a way to cut down on pollution, as the City Council decided the Bay Area's third-largest city should join about 100 other communities that have adopted similar measures. The June 27 vote puts Oakland in line with cities such as Portland, OR, and Berkeley, which banned polystyrene (often referred to as Styrofoam) nearly 20 years ago. San Francisco is expected to ban polystyrene food packaging this summer. The Oakland measure, which takes effect in January, will ban polystyrene food packaging and require restaurants and cafes to switch to disposable food containers that will biodegrade if added to food compost. In 2004, the city began an ambitious food recycling plan that encourages residents to stuff used food containers, such as pizza boxes, into the green container that already includes yard waste. Some restaurant owners said the ban would place an undue burden on small businesses. But supporters said there were plenty of cost-effective options out there for businesses. The city plans to enforce the measure based on citizen complaints. After a first warning, food vendors could face fines ranging from $100 to $500 for repeat offenses. Supporters note that polystyrene takes thousands of years to decompose and is already a huge problem in waterways. The California Integrated Waste Management Board reported that polystyrene is responsible for 15 percent of the litter collected in storm drains. The California Restaurant Association opposes such bans, saying that polystyrene is necessary to keep food warm. The group also said that Oakland has a history of forcing small businesses to make changes to solve the city's litter problem. In January, the council imposed a litter tax on fast-food restaurants to help pay for litter cleanup crews. Under that measure, fast-food restaurants and convenience stores are assessed between $230 and $3,815 annually, depending on their size, to raise $237,000 each year to pay for litter cleanup around the city. But many businesses in Oakland supported the new measure, noting that they have already voluntarily stopped using polystyrene, or never used it. "We've never used (polystyrene), and we never would," said Gabriel Frazee, manager of the Nomad Cafe in Oakland. "All of our food containers are compostable except for plastic drink lids." The owner of the Nomad Cafe, which has won several awards for its environment-friendly practices such as using coffee grounds for compost, said that even if paper containers are a little more expensive, now every business will have to bear that cost. "It's really a cost-neutral ordinance," Nomad owner Christopher Waters said. "If your costs increase, so do those of your competitors. I've been very vocally supportive of the ordinance. It's the right thing to do. It's necessity. It's overdue." In San Francisco, the Golden Gate Restaurant Association also supports a polystyrene ban. --------------------- Quote from a February 2003 article by Polly LaBarre in Fast Company magazine, "How To Lead a Rich Life": "One of the more shocking measures of our 'prosperity' is the fact that the United States spends more on trash bags than 90 other countries spend on everything. In other words, the receptacles of our waste cost more than all of the goods consumed by nearly half of the world's nations." ---------------------- Link to the website for Generation Earth, an environmental education program aimed at high school students, sponsored by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works (forwarded by Carl Hursh): http://www.generationearth.com --------------------- Link to "La La," a new CD exchange website: http://www.lala.com On this website, people can trade used CDs for a fee of $1.49 per CD, including shipping. La La co-founder Bill Nguyen says La La supports musicians by giving 20 percent of its revenues from used CDs to a foundation for performing artists. He said he believes La La is the only online exchange site or used record store that does this. ---------------------- From Tom Watson, King County Solid Waste Division, Seattle, WA, and the National Waste Prevention Coalition: Flushable diapers seem to be gaining popularity, especially here on the West Coast. They are now available in dozens of stores. The main company I know of that is selling them out here is gDiapers, based in Portland (http://www.gdiapers.com). They promote them as an environmentally-preferable alternative (http://www.gdiapers.com/happyplanet), and they point out that the ones with pee-only can also be composted at home. The Berkeley (CA) Parents Network online forum includes a number of interesting (and generally positive) comments about gDiapers: http://parents.berkeley.edu/recommend/where2buy/gdiapers.html My gut feeling is that these are not a great idea, since they may be hard on some plumbing systems or sewer systems, and they encourage the throwaway mind-set (just drop them in the toilet and they disappear!). But, they could certainly reduce solid waste. I am interested in other people's comments about flushable diapers and experiences with them. Thanks! E-mail: tom (DOT) watson (AT) metrokc (DOT) gov ------------------------ The next four messages are in response to the 6/28/06 posting seeking information on using old bricks in landscaping. (Note from Tom: Thanks to everyone who responded to my posting on this. We aren't able to run all the responses, but all were helpful, and greatly appreciated!) ------------------------ Excerpted from a message from Jay Donnaway, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, Land Quality Division, Solid Waste Policy, Portland, OR: In answer to the questions in the posting: - A stiff brush and muriatic (hydrochloric) acid is the stuff to remove mortar residue from brick, and should probably do a number on soot as well. However, since the soot is generally only on one side, just put that face down. Fire brick (chimney flue lining) generally does well for paving. - A chipping hammer is best for cleaning brick (here's an example: http://www.capcityequipment.com/mbhammers0200.html). - Old paving bricks would certainly be better for paths, but they're harder to find. - Besides demolition sites and construction and demolition recyclers, small-scale teardowns are often easier to salvage the brick from, such as old residential foundation pillars, walls, chimneys, front steps, etc. Old residential brick is slightly more likely to have inferior, crumbling mortar, and be on a smaller scale, which can be dealt with manually. - The main downsides to using old building bricks are their brittleness, and the fact that they will sometimes break down with surprising speed when embedded in the ground (and of course, the crumbling brick is usually in the middle of that walkway, surrounded by others that are just fine). E-mail: Donnaway [ DOT ] Jay [ AT ] deq [ DOT ] state [ DOT ] or [ DOT ] us ------------------------ Excerpted from a message from Lauren Norris, regional Master Recycler Program, Portland, OR: Two years ago I tore up a cement patio with a sledge hammer, dug a swale for my rain water, and then put in a brick patio with sand instead of cement (so that it is permeable) using used bricks. The hardest part of the project was finding the bricks. They are very popular. We have our ReBuilding Center here where they resell deconstructed materials. The bricks disappear within hours after they show up there. I found that there are a million projects around town where people are tearing down chimneys. I found no problem with wood-burning chimneys. Unless people were burning things they shouldn't have, I would think basic ash from burning wood should be fine. But I did decide to stop taking bricks from chimneys that had oil furnace discharge through them. The soot was very oily and I decided not to even use the batch I gleaned. I did not want to use mechanical cutters for the bricks I needed to shape. I preferred to use the old-style clay bricks, because they cut nicely by just chipping a line across the top and then whacking it on one side. Some of the more cement-type bricks would crumble when I tried this method. Finally, mortar is a major pain to take off. I chipped some batches off myself and then got much pickier about picking bricks that had very little or no mortar after that. I think that the varied color appearance of age makes my patio look fabulous! It took a summer of gleaning bricks all over town, but I love it. E-mail: masterrecycler (A T) ci (D O T) portland (D O T) or (D O T) us ------------------------- Excerpted from a message from Michelle Gaither, Pacific Northwest Pollution Prevention Resource Center, Seattle, WA: Soot cleaners, if used on the brick, may contain cupric chloride, kerosene, pine oil, and trisodium phosphate. These are considered irritants, and phosphates are not supposed to get to groundwater. E-mail: mgaither (A T) pprc (D O T) org ------------------------ Excerpted from a message from Justin Lehrer, StopWaste.Org, San Leandro, CA: I used salvaged bricks to build a path and patio in my backyard. We obtained the bricks via Craigslist - there were many folks who had posted ads offering bricks either for free or for sale. We found some that were free as long as we were willing to pull them out of the ground, where they were being used for a patio. I was going for a rustic look, and I got exactly that. If you want new-looking bricks, there would be an extra step of cleaning them. There is quite a bit of labor involved in picking up and transporting the bricks to your location! Removing mortar was not too difficult with a small sledge/mallet and various chisels. You need to be careful though, not to break the bricks. E-mail: jlehrer (AT) stopwaste (DOT) org - end -