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05 Oct 09 - textbooks; reuse; social media; terms; calls; UPS; boxes; job; myths; leaching ** WASTE PREVENTION FORUM ** -- A project of the National Waste Prevention Coalition -------- Forum archive: http://www.nwpcarchive.org --------------------- From Terry Foecke, Materials Productivity LLC, St. Paul, MN, in response to the 8/26/09 items about textbooks: Our daughter is renting three expensive textbooks from http://www.Chegg.com this coming semester, and I can offer some insight into the textbook "ecosystem" that is developing in response to extremely high prices at the college bookstore. First, while Chegg.com can definitely be a good deal, it might be best to think of it as guaranteed re-sale (they pay return postage) because of the way the pricing works. Buying new at the best price available + selling back is only about 20-30% more expensive than renting from Chegg. But if you rent from Chegg instead of buying at the college bookstore, even with re-sale, you will save a good amount. But that's not a realistic comparison. Using http://www.campusbooks.com (I have no relationship; I just like it) you can input ISBNs for every textbook and get back tables showing prices for new, used, rental, on-line auctions and e-books. Now that was a revelation! Finally there is a way to not just buy at good prices but also optimize for re-use. No longer are you limited to whatever used copies happen to be available on campus. And if a student can time their re-sale so that they are selling in August instead of May, and search for buyers through Campusbooks, even more used copies will be in circulation - and you'll get better re-sale prices. With 4 hours work our daughter saved $360 on one semester's books, all in. I'm not sure how textbook publishers are going to make money going forward if they have to rely on selling new textbooks. Maybe that's why e-books are picking up steam. But all of this is a very nice development in terms of waste reduction. E-mail: tfoecke [ AT ] matprod [ DOT ] com ------------------ From MaryEllen Etienne, Reuse Alliance, New York City: We are honored to announce the relaunch of the Reuse Alliance (http://www.reusealliance.org) as a national association that connects, supports and promotes the reuse sector. Our members are part of a network that has positive impacts on society, the environment, and the economy. Please join our efforts to build a national reuse sector support network by becoming a Reuse Alliance member today! Our member services are designed to make reuse organizations more effective, and our dues are affordable. Programming will include hosting national conferences and regional networking events, offering an online discussion forum for the sector, and providing a series of downloadable resources. Your membership will also give you access to the "Master Reuser" Certificate Program - the upcoming web-based certificate program for employees of reuse sector organizations. One of our first initiatives to help increase the profile of reuse is by partnering with the Grassroots Recycling Network (http://www.grrn.org) on their upcoming Zero Waste Conference (http://www.grrn.org/conference2009) in Devens, MA Oct. 18-21, 2009. We have created an entire "reuse track" for the conference which includes a national reuse summit and three panel discussions. In addition to reuse, the Zero Waste Conference will provide cutting edge information on municipal recycling, extended producer responsibility, and the connection between the 3Rs and global climate change. This event promises to be interesting and inspiring, with useful new tools you can implement in your community, and excellent networking opportunities. An added perk is that the conference will be held at Devens Commons, a former military base that has been repurposed into an eco-industrial park. (NOTE: Reuse Alliance members can receive a $50 discount on the full conference fee by simply typing "reuse" in the registration form's promotion code box.) Reuse Alliance is also setting up chapters throughout the country. While we currently have chapter coordinators for California, New York, and North Carolina, we welcome passionate reusers to help us organize and support the reuse sector in all other states. If you, or someone you know, is interested in leading a reuse revolution in your area, please let me know. If you would like to discuss any of these opportunities further, feel free to get in touch. E-mail: maryellen ( A T ) reusealliance ( D O T ) org Phone: 917-238-6218 ------------------ The next three messages are in response to Tom Watson's 8/26/09 posting about Twitter. ------------------ From Kristin Pierskalla, Hennepin County Environmental Services, Minneapolis, MN: We're not on Twitter, but Hennepin County's Choose to Reuse program is on Facebook! E-mail: kristin [DOT] pierskalla [AT] co [DOT] hennepin [DOT] mn [DOT] us ----------------- From Jay Donnaway, resource conservation, Auburn School District, Auburn, WA: Unfortunately Twitter and most social networking and blog sites are blocked by my IT department, and I suspect many others. E-mail: jdonnaway [AT] auburn [DOT] wednet [DOT] edu ----------------- From Tom Watson, King County Recycling and Environmental Services, Seattle, and the National Waste Prevention Coalition: I have written a couple times saying that I feel Twitter (http://twitter.com/ecoconsumer) is a good fit for my work. This time I wanted to ask you guys about Facebook. I have not used Facebook, either personally or for my work, and I'm not sure I will, since there is only so much time in the day. Twitter and my EcoConsumer blog (http://www.KCecoconsumer.com) may be all the social media I have time for right now (we do a lot of mainstream media as well). But I am curious about whether people who are using Facebook for public outreach think it is worth the time, what results they have had, is it hard to keep up with providing new content, etc. Also, if Twitter or Facebook are not allowed in your workplace but you want to use them in your public outreach work, I think you've got to make a case for that. Show bosses or IT managers how other governments are using them, invite managers to look at your postings, etc. I like to think that most managers are reasonable, and will grant exemptions. Thanks! E-mail: tom (D O T) watson (A T) kingcounty (D O T) gov ----------------- The next two messages are in response to Jay Shepard's 8/26/09 posting about definitions of "disposable" and "waste." ---------------- From Jay Donnaway, resource conservation, Auburn School District, Auburn, WA: The redefinition of "disposable" certainly earned me a dope slap. That's a fine observation. E-mail: jdonnaway [A T] auburn [D O T] wednet [D O T] edu ---------------- From Bruce Nordman, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA: A discussion of terms related to waste can be found as the second report on: http://eetd.lbl.gov/EA/Buildings/BNordman/C/consmain.html I didn't write it but did work closely with the guy who did. I did write the upper one. E-mail: BNordman [AT] LBL [DOT] gov ----------------- Product Stewardship Institute's new conference call series (forwarded by Lisa Gould): http://bit.ly/KR92y ----------------- Advertising column by Stuart Elliott in the 9/23/09 New York Times (forwarded by Jeff Gaisford): UPS BEGINS DELIVERING UNREQUESTED DIRECT MAIL http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/24/business/media/24adco.html ----------------- 9/23/09 press release from Portland-based Columbia Sportswear about its new Reused Box Shipping Option: http://bit.ly/iUahe ----------------- Job posting for an environmental specialist for the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Raleigh, NC (seen in the Resource Recycling online newsletter): http://osp.its.state.nc.us/positiondetail.asp?vacancykey=4329-60035093&p rintit=no This person will be involved in recycling grant administration, but will also act as a resource for local governments on a wide range of waste reduction and recycling issues. The annual salary range (at hiring) is $38,200 - $51,200. The application deadline is 10/14/09. ----------------- 10/4/09 article by Pat Mertz Esswein from Kiplinger's Personal Finance (seen in http://twitter.com/postgreen): BEST GREEN INTENTIONS - 10 GREEN MYTHS http://bit.ly/bmV3K ----------------- 8/31/09 article by Sarah Everts in Chemical & Engineering News: CHEMICALS LEACH FROM PACKAGING http://bit.ly/2Xq6xh - end -