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08 Jan 09 - markets; phone books; electronics; thrift stores; site design; jobs ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.nwpcarchive.org --------------------- The first two postings are in response to Tom Watson's 12/22/08 posting, saying that the current recycling markets crisis is an opportunity to show the true advantages of reduction and reuse. --------------------- From Sondra Flite, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Trenton, NJ: Companies and counties in New Jersey are totally freaked out: They can't dispose of most of the warehoused stuff, because it's designated for mandatory recycling, and they've run out of space for the cardboard, which needs dry storage. Companies who've been around a long time will survive, but new recyclers may go under, since their contracts don't pay enough to store the stuff until it sells. The Department's reaction will likely lack sympathy. The bottom line is that towns must recycle whether or not it makes money or saves money, and they'll have to push costs down to residents, while private businesses will push costs onto commercial clients. It'll be a hash for a while, but disposal may drop overall. This may be the change that makes reusable pallets and cloth bags attractive. It's just been so cheap to dispose or recycle. If both costs rise, we'll see reuse. E-mail: Sondra (DOT) Flite (AT) dep (DOT) state (DOT) nj (DOT) us ----------------------- From Justin Lehrer, StopWaste.Org, Oakland, CA: I could not agree more re: the market downturn being an opportunity for waste prevention, as well as underscoring the need for more local market development. E-mail: jlehrer (A T) stopwaste (D O T) org ----------------------- From Tom Watson, King County Solid Waste Division, Seattle, WA, and the National Waste Prevention Coalition: UPDATE ON NATIONAL PHONE BOOK REDUCTION EFFORTS As some of you may recall, the National Waste Prevention Coalition (a very informal network) started to work on the issue of unwanted phone books about six years ago. In 2006, we realized we didn't really have the available time or resources to make much headway, so King County (who I work for), several other local and state governments around the country, and two U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regional offices pitched in some money to have the Boston-based Product Stewardship Institute (PSI) work on this. The goal was to engage the phone book publishing industry and get them to deal with this problem. A summary of the project is on PSI's website: http://tinyurl.com/92l385 It's taken a long time, but I feel like we're making progress. One of our main goals has been that phone book companies make it easy for people to opt out of receiving a phone book. Within the past year, nearly every major phone book company has created a toll-free phone number or an online system to allow people to opt-out of getting their phone book. Just this week, the two main phone book trade associations agreed to jointly put together a state-by-state list of how people can opt out of different phone books. They plan to have that done by March 31, and then PSI, state and local governments and others can begin publicizing that info. As an example of the ways to opt out, here is the info for the Portland, OR, area, from Shelby Wood's Portland Oregonian blog: http://tinyurl.com/8mlhvd (scroll down to the box). Some of those methods will also work in other parts of the country for those particular phone books. Although our efforts have brought a lot of attention to this issue, the biggest motivator for the phone book companies has been the threat of legislation. Bills have been considered in North Carolina, Minnesota, New Mexico, Washington and other states that would require phone book publishers to honor opt-out requests. Through the PSI project, we will continue working to get the industry to publicize their opt-out options better, and we also want to make sure those opt-out systems actually work. And eventually, instead of just having listings of how to opt out for different phone books, we would like the phone book industry to set up a one-stop clearinghouse (a national website) to make it even easier. Let me know if you have any questions or comments about this. And many thanks to those of you who have provided support and funding for these efforts over the years. We're not done yet, but we're getting there! E-mail: tom (D O T) watson (A T) kingcounty (D O T) gov Phone: 206-296-4481 ---------------------- New Hewlett-Packard buyback program for reusable electronic equipment (forwarded by Maggie Clarke): http://www.hp.com/go/ConsumerBuyback ---------------------- Excerpted from a 1/8/09 update on the Los Angeles Times website by Alana Semuels: SECOND-HAND STORES TO BE EXEMPT FROM NEW LEAD LAW Federal regulators have shifted gears and will effectively exempt thrift stores from a new law requiring children's products to be tested for lead. The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, passed last year by Congress to protect children from toys that contain lead and other dangerous chemicals, says that products that have not been tested for lead content by Feb. 10 will be considered hazardous. Sellers could face penalties for having such items on their shelves. Thrift and consignment store operators protested that they did not have the resources to test all of their children's products and that being required to do so would force them out of business. The guidance today from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which interprets and enforces the law, states that "sellers of used children's products, such as thrift stores and consignment stores, are not required to certify that those products meet the new lead limits." "I am praising God I am so happy," said Trish Taylor, owner of Reruns for Wee Ones, a consignment store in Fairfield, Ohio, that was going to stop buying children's clothing today in anticipation of the law. "I would have had to close down; my employees would be without jobs." The CPSC did emphasize that second-hand shops cannot sell products that exceed the lead limits and should "avoid" products that may contain lead. That may mean, for example, that such shops need to be more vigilant about recall notices. It became illegal to sell recalled products on Aug. 14, 2008, the day the measure was signed into law. "They'll need to look at a product and make an informed decision," said CPSC spokeswoman Julie Vallese. Some groups still are chafing over the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. Children's clothing manufacturers still have to comply with the law, which means that small businesses that make children's clothing must pay to get their clothing tested or close their doors. Toy makers also must still comply. Publishers and libraries are concerned that they, too, need to test books for lead content. On Tuesday, the Association of American Publishers sent a letter to members of Congress about the law after the CPSC advised that books would need to be tested under the new law. It spoke of a "nightmarish scenario" in which books would need to be subjected to time-consuming testing processes. Libraries will need to test their books as well, said Jenni Terry, a spokeswoman with the American Library Association. Her organization says that libraries will need to take books off shelves if they cannot test them by the Feb. 10 deadline. It sent Congress a letter today informing lawmakers of this problem. ---------------------- Sustainable Sites Initiative: http://www.sustainablesites.org This project aims to develop voluntary national guidelines and performance benchmarks for rating landscaping design, similar to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system for green buildings. The plan is to eventually incorporate the Sustainable Sites Initiative rating system into the LEED system. The guidelines include a number of waste prevention-related measures. Comments are being accepted on the draft guidelines until Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. ---------------------- Job opening for a Solid Waste Planner for Sacramento County, Sacramento, CA (first seen in the Association for Oregon Recyclers newsletter): http://tinyurl.com/9xeeet The salary range for this position is $68,716 - $83,520 annually. The deadline for applications is Monday, Jan. 12, 2009. This job includes waste prevention elements. ---------------------- Job opening for a Director of Research & Technology for the Oregon Environmental Council (first seen in the Association for Oregon Recyclers newsletter): http://tinyurl.com/89pmtj The salary range for this position is $38,000 - $43,000 annually. Open until filled, but they would prefer to receive applications by Jan. 19, 2009. Areas of work will include "green chemistry" and sustainable agriculture. - end -