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24 May 07 - 2-sided; stores; bags; worms; detergent; food; job; papers; non-profits; lawns; death ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.nwpcarchive.org --------------------- From Sarah Grimm, Lane County Public Works - Waste Management, Eugene, OR: I'm looking for examples of counties or other local governments with a double-sided paper policy. I'd like to suggest it to my county but would like to hold up some examples. Thanks for any info you have. E-mail: sarah (D O T) grimm (A T) co (D O T) lane (D O T) or (D O T) us --------------------- From Susan Salterberg, Center for Energy and Environmental Education, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa: After reading all of the entries in the Waste Prevention Forum archives about "environmental shopping," I wonder if anyone is familiar with "The Better World Shopping Guide" by Ellis Jones. I'd be interested in your thoughts about it. For those who have never heard about it, Jones grades stores - from Target to Aveda to L.L. Bean - from A+ (Patagonia received that grade) to F (Wal-Mart). E-mail: salterberg (A T) uni (D O T) edu --------------------- The next two messages are in response to the 4/24/07 posting about the San Francisco plastic bag ban and bio-based plastic bags. --------------------- From David Assmann, San Francisco Department of the Environment, San Francisco, CA: The plastic bag recycling programs in San Francisco are virtually meaningless since they collect far less than one percent of the bags distributed. If these programs disappear (although we would prefer that they didn't) it would not have any significant impact. Secondly, we don't want residents to throw away compostable bags in their trash. The compostable bags will be well-labeled (it's a requirement of the ordinance) and the whole intent is that residents use these bags for food waste (instead of buying compostable bags). With a citywide food waste collection program, this ordinance will help give many residents compostable bags on an ongoing basis for their kitchen pails. E-mail: David [D O T] Assmann [A T] sfgov [D O T] org --------------------- From Renee Kimball, "professional iconoclast and singer," Portland, OR: There are a large number of us who advocate a far greater employment of personal responsibility for personal waste. The major solution-oriented "plan of action" is to get ALL organics out of the waste collection stream by advocating worm bins. Not the labor-intensive, usually-abandoned-after-two-or-three years, 1-foot-by-3-foot kind or the "can o' worms" variety, but the "Yes, I'm serious about getting rid of ALL my organics from my garbage" worm bin. Plans available for free - just e-mail me. This accomplishes three things: 1. No "passing off" the responsibility to government agencies with the nightmarish headaches of collecting tons of putrefying garbage and God knows what else. 2. On-site disposal of organics, which eliminates all transportation energy costs and provides incredibly rich nutrients for yourself and the neighborhood, while reducing energy costs for landfill space and picking up garbage. Several households can also go in on one bin. 3. A properly built and maintained bin (which is rather easy actually) can take care of ALL organics including the starch-based "plastic" bags, paper cups, meat, bread, milk, paper towels, blown-out rubber gloves, oily rags, old slippers, etc., etc., etc. (If it was once living, it can go in the bin.) We have the pictures to prove it. Plus you get free fertilizer for life and lots of pets you neither have to name or walk. E-mail: Renee (AT) EnufWaste (DOT) com -------------------- From Jerry Powell, Resource Recycling, E-Scrap News and Plastics Recycling Update, Portland, OR: I've heard of two things that might be of interest to Waste Prevention Forum readers: By this time next year, essentially all the liquid detergent sold in the U.S. will be in concentrated form, thus cutting plastic use by about half. The move comes as a result of initiatives by Wal-Mart to reduce the amount of packaging waste. As the firm is the world's largest retailer, detergent makers, such as Procter & Gamble, are now moving to concentrated detergents. As reported in the Wall Street Journal, local food banks are finding it difficult to stock enough goods due to a drop in donations of canned and boxed food by food vendors. This comes as a result, ironically, of waste reduction efforts of grocers and grocery producers. New manufacturing and supply-chain practices have resulted in a sharp decline in overstock, mislabeled or damaged packaged food. E-mail: jpowell (AT) resource-recycling (DOT) com --------------------- Link to a job posting for a Conservation Coordinator for the City of Kent, WA (forwarded by Desmond Machuca): http://www.ci.kent.wa.us/employeeservices/jobs/682.asp The annual salary range is $53,064 to $64,548. Deadline for applications is June 1, 2007. Kent is a city of 84,000 located between Seattle and Tacoma. --------------------- Link to a call for papers for the International Conference on Solid Waste Technology and Management, to be held March 30 - April 2, 2008, in Philadelphia (forwarded by Maggie Clarke): http://www2.widener.edu/~sxw0004/printablecall23.pdf --------------------- Link to information for non-profits interested in starting waste-based social enterprise ventures (forwarded by Sarah Grimm): - Info on the Oregon Symposium for Entrepreneurial Nonprofits business training course for non-profits, June 18-22, 2007, in Eugene, Oregon. http://oregonsen.svdp.us/docs/OSEN2007application.pdf Cost is $100. - "Getting Trashed," a free 39-page guide to launching a successful waste-based social enterprise. http://oregonsen.svdp.us/docs/GettingTrashed.pdf It was published in 2006 by the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lane County. The Oregon Symposium for Entrepreneurial Nonprofits (http://oregonsen.svdp.us) is a partnership between the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lane County and the University of Oregon. --------------------- Link to LessLawn (forwarded by Susanne Brunhart-Wiggins): http://www.lesslawn.com This website includes dozens of articles and resources about reducing or eliminating lawns, and creating sustainable landscapes. The site is a project of Evelyn J. Hadden, a gardener and freelance writer in Plymouth, Minnesota. --------------------- Excerpted from a 4/17/07 article on the Australian Science Media Centre website (forwarded by Carl Woestwin): There is life after death, according to an Australian scientist who is calling for an end to the practice of cremation around the world, to help prevent further global warming. Professor Roger Short from the University of Melbourne has proposed instead that everyone should be buried upright in a cardboard cylinder, next to their favorite species of tree. This would allow the remains to enrich the growth. "Forget pushing up daisies," he said. "We should be pushing up forests instead." "A single tree over a hundred-year period absorbs over a metric ton of carbon dioxide, so imagine the difference it could make if everyone was buried and had a tree planted in their memory," he said. "Photosynthesis in trees is the single most efficient way of sequestering CO2. Not only that, but they do what no other method of carbon minimization can do, and that is to produce oxygen." Professor Short's idea comes in the wake of China's policy of encouraging cremation due to lack of space, and the Hindu practice in India of burning the body on a funeral pyre made of trees. He said that in Australia during cremation, the average male produces over 50 kilograms of CO2 as the body is heated to 850 degrees centigrade for an hour and a half. "And that's not counting the carbon cost of the fuel, and the cost of the emissions involved in producing and burning the wooden coffin," he added. Professor Short acknowledges that there are cultural sensitivities, legal issues and other obstacles that would have to be overcome for the idea to take hold. However, he said this was a practical idea that allows each one of us to do our bit to combat climate change. - end -