WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ARCHIVE   BACK TO ARCHIVE INDEX

01 Dec 06 - DMA; holidays; coins; packaging; computers; job; paper ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.nwpcarchive.org --------------------- The first two messages are in response to the 11/22/06 posting noting that the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) now requires people to pay a $1 fee to sign up for its Mail Preference Service, and suggesting that the time may be right for a nationally-regulated "Do Not Mail" list, similar to the successful "Do Not Call" list. (Previously, people could sign up for the Mail Preference Service for free by regular mail, or pay $5 to sign up online; now all sign-ups are $1.) --------------------- From Sarah Grimm, Lane County Public Works, Waste Management Division, Eugene, OR: In a direct mail industry trade journal article cited in the 11/22/06 posting (http://www.dmnews.com/cms/dm-news/direct-mail/38730.html), it has a comment option at the bottom of the article (and the article suggests that their change is making it more convenient!????). I recommend we bombard them with comments. And yes, we should start pushing for a national "do not send list." If everybody on the Waste Prevention Forum spreads the word and asks at least 10 of their friends to ask 10 of their friends to contact (who? our Senator?), we could make waves. Sure, our post office is now dependent on direct mail. But we can find ways to solve that. Raise the price on remaining direct mail, for example. E-mail: Sarah [ D O T ] GRIMM [ A T ] co [ D O T ] lane [ D O T ] or [ D O T ] us --------------------- From Renee Kimball, waste reduction advocate, Portland, OR: I abhor junk mail as much as the next person. However, using the "big stick of the state" to make people do what I want because I think it's right is equally abhorrent. In reality, the change in fees to process junk mail removal requests is an over-all reduction of $4 for the service. Operative word here is SERVICE. Anyone out there provide a professional service for free with NO PAYBACK for providing the service? Sorry, government agencies do not count as nothing the government does is for free - it costs taxpayers regardless of whether it is provided without "apparent" cost. The 11/22/06 posting said the Direct Marketing Association changed the mailing address and now those who printed information cards must scrap them and get new. Actually, it would probably cost less to just write the new address in on the old cards (or sticker over the old address) if you did a life-cycle cost analysis of reprinting the cards vs. correcting them. What if there was a very good reason they changed the address? Why just assume it's to derail the process? Or is this a case of "no reason is acceptable because it inconveniences me"? What if we put our energy into coming up with a means to negotiate our desires without resorting to using the force of law to MAKE people do what WE want? Instead of demanding more legislation (which is great for the herd of lawyers grazing on the aftermath), why not encourage ethical behavior based on the trust we have in our own actions but are pretty stingy in attributing to others. Demanding more laws and regulations does not foster a responsible and self-reliant society but rather one totally dependent on the "nanny state" for all direction and solutions. Last - follow the money. Every new regulation passed costs businesses money. Where do you think they get the money to pay for the rise in cost? It is passed on to the consumer. And if you believe that all businesses are too greedy and should just "cut their profit", have a chat with the accountants of businesses moving overseas. They're not moving because they're greedy, they're moving to stay alive. E-mail: Renee [A T] EnufWaste [D O T] com --------------------- Link to information about the Waste Free Holidays programs in Washington state: http://www.wastefreeholidays.com Waste Free Holidays - which has the theme "Give an experience instead of stuff!" - was started by King County in 1996. This waste reduction campaign now includes the King County program (sponsored by King County and the City of Seattle) and affiliated programs sponsored by the City of Tacoma, Kitsap County and Thurston County. This year, the four programs combined have more than 250 partnering businesses and organizations offering "experience gifts." The sponsoring governments provide extensive publicity for the program, which this year includes paid TV ads. To watch the ad, go to: www.metrokc.gov/dnrp/swd/wastefreeholidays/wfh_TV-ad.asp --------------------- Link to the Center for a New American Dream's "Holiday Survival Kit": http://www.newdream.org/holiday This website includes a variety of resources to simplify the holidays and reduce waste. --------------------- From Christine McCoy, City of Alexandria, VA, solid waste program, following up on her 11/22/06 message noting the benefits of the US. federal government trying to replace dollar bills with coins, since coins last much longer: I received a note from someone about this, pointing out something that I didn't consider: "While it is great news from a waste perspective, I really worry about how the coins are manufactured. As you know mining is probably the worst environmental activity there is, so I wonder if we are better off with paper dollars or metal coins, which last forever, but use a very nasty manufacturing process?" E-mail: Christine [ D O T ] McCoy [ A T ] alexandriava [ D O T ] gov --------------------- From Christine McCoy, City of Alexandria, VA, solid waste program, responding to the 11/22/06 item about packaging: I saw some potatoes individually wrapped in shrink-wrap plastic at the store the other day. WHY???? Can you imagine? I nearly had a fit. Unreal. Surreal. And just downright STUPID!! E-mail: Christine ( DOT ) McCoy ( AT ) alexandriava ( DOT ) gov ---------------------- Link to a dialogue about what to do with old computers, on the CNET Network (forwarded by Maggie Clarke): http://forums.cnet.com/5208-10149_102-0.html?forumID=7&threadID=219566&m essageID=2328333 --------------------- Link to a job posting for a program administrator/webmaster for New York WasteMatch, a materials exchange and waste reduction service sponsored by the New York City Department of Sanitation (forwarded by MaryEllen Etienne): http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/npo/241612717.html The annual salary for this 35-hour-a-week position is $30,000 - $32,000. The application deadline is Monday, Dec. 11, 2006. --------------------- Excerpted from an article by John Markoff in the 11/27/06 New York Times (forwarded by Jeff Gaisford): XEROX SEEKS ERASABLE FORM OF PAPER FOR COPIERS During the 1970s, researchers at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center explored a software technique called "garbage collection" used for recycling computer memory. The technique allowed the automatic reuse of blocks of memory that were storing unused programs and data. Today an anthropologist at the center, Brinda Dalal, has become a self-styled "garbologist" to assist in a joint effort with chemists at the Xerox Research Center of Canada to develop an "erasable paper" system. The goal is to reuse paper documents produced by the company's copiers - potentially an unlimited number of times. What she has discovered is a notable change in the role of paper in modern offices, where it is increasingly used as a medium of display rather than storage. Documents are stored on central servers and personal computers and printed only as needed: for meetings, editing or reviewing information. The pieces of paper spewed from copiers frequently end up in the recycling bin on the same day they are printed, she noted. Of the 1,200 pages the average office worker prints per month, 44.5 percent are for daily use - assignments, drafts or e-mail. In her research, scouring the waste produced by office workers, she found that 21 percent of black-and-white copier documents were put in the recycling bin on the same day they were produced. Dalal's research is part of a three-year-old technology development effort to design an add-on system for an office copier to produce "transient documents" that can be easily reused. The researchers now have a prototype system that will produce documents on a specially coated paper with a light yellow tint. Currently, the process works without toner and produces a low-resolution document that appears to be printed with purple ink. The printed information on the document "disappears" within 16 hours. The documents can be reused more quickly by simply placing them in the copier paper tray. The researchers said that individual pieces of paper had been printed on up to 50 times, and the only current limit in the process appears to be paper life. "People really like paper," said Eric J. Shrader, a computer scientist who is area manager for printing systems at the Hardware Systems Laboratory of the research center, which is known as PARC. "They like the way it feels." The project is still very much in a laboratory phase, he said. The researchers are still trying to refine the process, both to increase contrast and to extend control over the lifespan of the print process. During the 1990s, the Japanese office equipment maker Ricoh developed a commercial system that made it possible to remove toner from paper to make reuse possible, he said. It was possible to reuse individual pieces of paper up to 10 times, according to Ricoh, but that system is no longer commercially available. Xerox has not yet decided whether it will commercialize its technology, Mr. Shrader said, but the goal is to create a system where the specially coated paper costs between two and three times standard copier paper, making the total cost of the system substantially less than conventional paper when paper is reused repeatedly. The company said the precise nature of the technology was proprietary and that Xerox had applied for a number of related patents covering the invention. The researchers describe the invention as being based on compounds that can change color when they absorb a certain wavelength of light, but can then gradually revert to their original appearance. The compounds currently self-erase in about 16 to 24 hours, or can be erased immediately when heated. The challenge Xerox faces is to find a market for a new paper printing technology in an era when information is increasingly being viewed and read on electronic displays of all types. - end -