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22 Dec 08 - swapping; sharing; food; markets; phones; jobs; e-mail change ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.nwpcarchive.org --------------------- Excerpted from an 11/22/08 "Get Organized" column by Laura Leist in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Here are some recourses for swaps and sharing: - Dust off those books, DVDs, CDs and video games you're not going to read, watch, listen to or play again. Instead of spending money to buy new, visit swap websites where you can exchange your items for others you've been wanting. You'll only pay for postage. Those sites include http://www.bookmooch.com, http://www.paperbackswap.com, http://www.swapadvd.com, http://www.swapacd.com and http://www.swaptree.com - Visit http://zwaggle.com This is a national network of parents who come together to share. The website explains: "It's simple: You receive Zwaggle points (or Zoints) by giving your gently used things to other families, then use those Zoints to obtain 'new' things for your family." The full article is at: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/athome/388880_organize22.html --------------------- Portland Yard Sharing Project (forwarded by Albert Kaufman): http://www.yardsharing.org This project in Portland, Oregon, connects those who have space to garden and are willing to share with those who would like to grow a garden but lack an appropriate space. The goal is to grow more fresh, local food. --------------------- Excerpted from an 8/25/08 article by Maya Curry in Time magazine: THE WAR ON COLLEGE CAFETERIA TRAYS From the University of California at Santa Cruz to Virginia Tech, cafeteria trays are disappearing, enabling universities and food-service companies to reduce food waste, lower energy costs and make college campuses more environmentally sustainable. The reasoning goes like this: When students are allowed to use trays, they tend to roam around the cafeteria grabbing food with abandon until space on the tray runs out. If you remove their trays, you make it impossible for them to carry a surplus of dishes, and they will make their selections more carefully and be satisfied with less food overall. That saves on food. Further, getting rid of trays means dishwashers have less to wash. That saves on water and energy. "Dining facilities on campuses take up to five times more water, five times more energy, five times more waste per square foot than the dorm," says Monica Zimmer, a spokeswoman for Sodexo, a food-service company that serves approximately 600 U.S. campuses. Exactly how much greener can a tray-banned campus get? According to a July report released by Aramark Higher Education Food Services, a dining company serving about 500 schools nationwide, students waste 25 to 30 percent less food when they aren't carrying a tray, and dining halls save a third- to a half-gallon of wash water per tray, on average. The University of Maine at Farmington went trayless in February 2007, reporting an overall reduction in food waste of 65,000 pounds and 288,288 gallons of water conserved. Meanwhile, Georgia Tech - which implemented a no-tray program in response to the drought of 2007 - estimated that the university saved 3,000 gallons of water per day by giving up the trays. The full article is at: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1834403,00.html --------------------- From Tom Watson, King County Solid Waste Division, Seattle, WA, and the National Waste Prevention Coalition: The response to the meltdown in recycling markets has surprised me. The attitude of many in the solid waste and recycling field seems to be, oh, well, it's all cyclical, the markets will come back, let's just keep trying to do public education and other business as usual. Even some of the recycling industry magazines don't seem very excited about the fact that many collected recyclables are getting warehoused, and recycling collection is being reduced. I guess they feel that they need to just keep promoting the recycling industry. But I think the current recycling markets are an economic and a public relations disaster. And it's the best argument I've ever seen for waste prevention. Are the companies pushing single-use water bottles and single-use grocery bags really going to keep insisting that recycling is the answer? That stuff has no markets! As Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff, says, "Never waste a crisis." This is the perfect opportunity for us to show the true advantages of reduction and reuse. Let's not waste it. E-mail: tom [D O T] watson [A T] kingcounty [D O T] gov --------------------- 11/3/08 article by Rachael King in Business Week about the problem of sensitive data remaining on donated cell phones: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2008/tc2008113_981236. htm --------------------- Job openings for an Environmental Outreach Manager and three Environmental Outreach Coordinators with GreenWaste Recovery in Palo Alto, CA: http://www.greenwaste.com/about-us/careers These positions, related to the company's collection & processing agreement with the City of Palo Alto, include significant waste prevention elements. The manager position pays $70,000-$80,000 annually, and the deadline for applications is Jan. 16, 2009. The three coordinator positions pay $50,000-$55,000 annually, and the application deadline is Jan. 30, 2009. --------------------- From Tom: Hi again everyone - Please make sure you change my e-mail address if you have me in your contacts or personal address book. My new address is tom (DOT) watson (AT) kingcounty (DOT) gov The old one may not work after the first of the year. Hope you are all having a great holiday season! - end -