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08 Mar 07 - Oregon; Ikea; reuse; cups; stewardship; PCs; printing; containers; IRS ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.nwpcarchive.org --------------------- Excerpted from a message from David Allaway, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), Solid Waste Policy & Program Development, Portland, OR: The Oregon DEQ has just released its draft ten-year Waste Prevention Strategy. The draft Strategy proposes priorities and direction for DEQ's work in waste prevention (and reuse) for the next ten years. It addresses four focus areas: design/construction/remodeling of buildings; business waste (with a short term focus on packaging); consumer education; and foundation research into the economic and environmental benefits of waste prevention. Waste Prevention Forum readers may be interested in the draft Strategy and eight background papers that explore waste prevention from a variety of different perspectives. The background papers (written by DEQ, Cascadia Consulting Group, and Tellus Institute) and Strategy can be downloaded at: http://www.deq.state.or.us/lq/sw/wasteprevention/wpstrategy.htm DEQ plans to accept comments on the draft Strategy through March 28. E-mail: Allaway [D O T] David [A T] deq [D O T] state [D O T] or [D O T] us --------------------- Excerpted from a 2/21/07 Reuters news service article by Jon Hurdle: IKEA TO CHARGE U.S. CUSTOMERS FOR PLASTIC BAGS Sweden's Ikea will charge U.S. customers five cents for disposable plastic shopping bags in what the international furniture giant said was a first step to ending their use altogether. Ikea said the decision to stop giving away free bags to customers aims to reduce the estimated 100 billion bags thrown away by all U.S. consumers each year. Ikea is believed to be first retailer in the United States to undertake such a program, according to National Retail Federation spokesman Scott Krugman. Concern about widespread pollution caused by the bags has led cities and countries from Ireland to Australia and Rwanda to ban their use. Bangladesh outlawed plastic bags after they blocked drains and contributed to flooding. Taiwan uses 80 percent fewer bags after stores began charging for them. Environmentalists say the bags add unnecessarily to landfills, clog drains and endanger wildlife. Ikea currently provides some 70 million free bags to its U.S. customers It expects to cut that by half in the first year and to eventually eliminate the use of the bags. The company said it will also cut the price of reusable bags to 59 cents from 99 cents to encourage their use. The program will begin on March 15 at the company's 29 U.S. stores, and the money from bag sales will go to American Forests, a conservation group. Last June, IKEA began charging its United Kingdom customers for plastic bags, and has reduced its bag consumption by 95 percent, said spokeswoman Mona Astra Liss. The average American family of four throws away about 1,500 single-use polyethylene bags, which do not degrade for around 1,000 years, IKEA said. Less than 1 percent are recycled. --------------------- Link to info about nominations for two awards presented by the Building Materials Reuse Association (from "Delete this Newsletter"): The Building Materials Reuse Association (BMRA) is a non-profit educational organization. Nominees do not have to be BMRA members. Nomination deadlines for both awards are March 16. The awards are: - Deconstructor of the Year: http://www.union.wisc.edu/bmra/decon.html - Innovative Deconstruction Project or Innovative Reused Building Material Business Practice: http://www.union.wisc.edu/bmra/innovative.html These awards will be presented at the 2007 Deconstruction Conference in Madison, Wisconsin May 14-16, 2007. The conference website is at: http://www.union.wisc.edu/bmra --------------------- Link to an article by Christine Frey in the 3/1/07 Seattle Post-Intelligencer about a University of Washington student campaign to reduce paper-cup waste (forwarded by Rob Van Orsow): http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/305607_sexy01.html This campaign uses the slogan, "Sustainability Is Sexy." On the newspaper's website, about 15 comments about this article have been posted. They can be viewed at: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/soundoff/comment.asp?articleID=305607 -------------------- Link to information about the Product Stewardship Institute's "Hot Issues - Informational Networking Calls" series (forwarded by Erin Linsky): http://www.productstewardship.us/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=23 2 A fee is charged to participate in most of these calls. -------------------- Link to a new United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) website on PC (personal computer) refurbishment (forwarded by Jim Lynch): http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=23913&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_S ECTION=201.html -------------------- Link to the website for GreenPrint software, which removes unwanted pages from print jobs (forwarded by Rob Van Orsow): http://www.printgreener.com This software product was launched in November, 2006, by GreenPrint Technologies, a company based in Portland, OR. -------------------- Excerpted from a 2/21/07 Associated Press article by Emily Fredrix (forwarded by Steve Fisher and Paul Dunn): (Comment from Steve: The prevailing mindset showcased by this article is disheartening at least, especially with quotes like, "It's not convenient to have to remember to bring your dirty dishes home.") AMERICA LOVES DISPOSABLE PLASTIC CONTAINERS Jeannette Wright constantly reuses plastic food containers, whether it's to carry snacks for her two young sons or store last night's dinner in the fridge. That is, until they get dirty. Or she loses them. Then she simply buys more. Gone are the days of putting your name on food storage containers or chasing down recipients of holiday cookies who have yet to return them. Wright, of West Allis, Wis., said it doesn't matter what happens to the containers because they cost only about $1 each. She figures she spends about $8 a month to keep her cabinets restocked. The food storage industry is huge, with Americans spending about $1.4 billion a year in the segment, which is dominated by plastic bags and includes plastic wrap, aluminum foil and wax paper. While sales in the overall segment have flattened slightly, according to research firm Mintel, the disposable plastic container market has grown, with receipts at about $130 million in 2003, the last year figures were available. It's now approaching $200 million a year, with some 1 billion containers sold in the U.S. each year, said Raquel Beckett, senior brand manager for Ziploc containers with S.C. Johnson & Sons in Racine, Wis. Manufacturers are racing to create more specialized products to further grow the market, crafting containers with tighter seals or seasonal colors, or adding interlocking lids so kitchen cabinets won't be so cluttered. Consumers like the containers, analysts say, because they're sturdier than plastic bags and can hold liquids. They also cost less than offerings such as Tupperware, which originated the food storage craze with its purchasing parties in the 1950s. People originally didn't mind spending more on containers like Tupperware because they were primarily used in the home, said Marcia Mogelonsky, senior research analyst with Mintel. But as more women entered the work force and as lifestyles became more hectic, disposable products just made sense, she said. Consumers would get their money's worth after a few uses, so it was OK to forget them at the office or just toss them out rather than washing, she said. "We're in a rush. It's the convenience factor that's a major thing to drive this," she said. "It's not convenient to have to remember to bring your dirty dishes home." The containers were first introduced nationally by GladWare, a division of Oakland, Calif.-based Clorox Co. in 1998. Sales at the time were around $56 million, compared with $777 million for plastic food bags, according to Mintel. Glad noticed that people were reusing items such as cottage cheese and yogurt containers to store leftovers and other foods, and realized there was an unmet need, said David Kellis, a spokesman for Glad. "When you see consumers creating makeshift products - that's when you know there's an opportunity out there," he said. Ed Tucker, an associate research fellow with Glad, first came up with the idea for a disposable plastic container in the early 1990s. The secret to its success, Tucker said, was in the way it was produced, through a process called thermoforming. Large sheets of plastic are heated and formed over molds, which creates a lighter product faster than injecting plastic into molds. That process takes longer and creates a somewhat sturdier product, but one that is typically more expensive, he said. The technology that goes into production is improving so much that the products have few usage issues and hold up better to heat and cold, said Beckett, of S.C. Johnson. With consumers already sold on the concept, container makers are differentiating themselves by creating more specialized products, such as Ziploc containers' new way of locking while twisting, Mogelonsky said. The GladWare product line is in its third generation of developments, including new lids that interlock. "Whatever they can do to make it a more useful container, that's where the competition lies - in making it more useful, inexpensive and disposable," she said. -------------------- Excerpted from a 1/30/07 Associated Press story by Eileen Putman: DEDUCTIONS LIMITED FOR DONATING HOUSEHOLD GOODS Congress passed new rules last year for deducting household goods and clothing donations. Unless the item is in "good used condition or better" or was donated before Aug. 18, 2006, you won't get the tax deduction. The question, of course, is what "good used condition" means. Who defines it, and what proof is needed? "It means you can't give away your kids' blue jeans that have holes in the backside," said Clint Stretch, managing principal for tax policy at Deloitte Tax LLP. "If you give trash away, don't try to take a deduction." In changing rules for this deduction, available to taxpayers who itemize, Congress wanted to stop people from writing off items of minimal value such as "used socks and used undergarments," according to Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation. While deducting your old socks may seem like a minor transgression, such donations add up. As recently as the 2003 tax year, the IRS reported that taxpayer deductions for used clothing and household items totaled more than $9 billion. Household items donated after Aug. 17, 2006, must now be in decent shape to qualify as a deduction. There's an exception: Taxpayers can claim a deduction of more than $500 for any single item, regardless of condition, as long as a qualified appraisal of the item is included with the tax return. For all other household goods, the IRS says you should "get from the charity, if possible, a receipt that includes a description of the donated property." You can claim the item's fair market value, which is usually less than its purchase price. Stretch advises taxpayers to prepare a list of donated items, including condition and estimated fair market value, and get a charity representative to sign the list when the donation is made. Donna LeValley, a tax lawyer and contributing editor for J.K. Lasser's 2007 tax guide, suggests taxpayers visit the Salvation Army website at http://www.satruck.com/valueguide.asp for estimates of the fair-market value of donated used appliances and other household goods. - end -