> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
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> greenyes-d Digest Volume 99 : Issue 380
>
> Today's Topics:
> [GRRN] Fw: Zero Waste New Zealand Update
"Bill Sheehan" <bill_sheehan@mindspring.com> ]
> [GRRN] Construction/Demolition Waste Management
"Dong, Jodi" <JDong@rdn.bc.ca> ]
> [GRRN] Recycling Neon Papers
"Bill Sheehan" <bill_sheehan@mindspring.com> ]
>
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>
> Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1999 19:00:40 -0500
> From: "Bill Sheehan" <bill_sheehan@mindspring.com>
> To: "GreenYesL" <greenyes@earthsystems.org>
> Subject: [GRRN] Fw: Zero Waste New Zealand Update
> Message-ID: <007701bf4821$de381040$843cfea9@billsdell>
> Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="iso-8859-1"
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
> I just returned from a week in New Zealand where
> I was the guest of the Zero Waste New Zealand Trust
> (ZWNZT), a non-profit entity whose purpose is to
> make NZ the first zero waste nation. They have a
> strong emphasis on community economic development
> and turning 'junk into jobs." The Trust is a project of a
> foundation set up by a highly successful retailer, and
> the director of both the foundation and the Trust,
> Warren Snow, was a community-based recycler before
> starting the Trust in 1997.
>
> ZWNZT has a bottom-up strategy for getting to zero
> waste, focusing on council (= local) government
> officials and recycling practitioners (for-profit and non-
> profit community groups). One of the keys to
> ZWNZT's success is that they give small grants to both
> council governments and recyclers who are committed
> to zero waste from landfill. They give US$12,500
> grants to councils that resolve to work "towards the
> elimination of landfill as a disposal method and the re-
> use of all materials in an environmentally sustainable
> manner" [Incineration is not supported either, and there
> are none in NZ.] The money is not a lot, but since
> discretionary funds are scarce in local waste
> management budgets it seems to be effective in
> initiating change and in leveraging other funds.
>
> I was invited to address the National Zero Waste Pilot
> Project Conference, attended by representatives from
> 20 of New Zealand's 74 council governments. In the
> past six months, fourteen councils (representing 15%
> of the country's population) have already committed to
> "zero waste from landfill" - most by 2015 -- and more
> are keen on following suit. The councils that have
> signed on represent a cross section from small, rural to
> fairly large, and the 14 represent about 15% of the
> country's population.
>
> Conference participants were keenly interested in our
> (GRRN's) work on promoting extended producer
> responsibility and changing policies that encourage
> wasting. Most seemed to recognize that there are limits
> to what can be achieved "at the end of the pipe."
>
> Several circumstances account for the momentum of
> the New Zealand zero waste movement. First, New
> Zealand (pop. 3.8 million) has a can-do ethos. They
> were the first nation to give women the vote, and the
> first to ban nuclear weapons. Second, NZ is
> increasingly dependent on tourism and maintaining a
> 'clean-green' image and they recognize the threat that
> landfills and incinerators pose. Third, NZ is
> undergoing a major political shift - from a decade-plus
> of experimentation with privatizing and free market
> policies to the election several weeks ago of a center-
> left government in which the Green Party holds a
> pivotal role. The parliamentary Commissioner for the
> Environment addressed our conference and is
> recommending that the new government work with
> ZWNZT and the councils committed to zero waste.
>
> New Zealand has less recycling infrastructure than the
> U.S. in many respects. New Zealand seems to have the
> potential to challenge the waste management
> establishment and leapfrog ahead of us. At minimum,
> they have hit on a potent grassroots strategy for
> challenging the waste management status quo. They
> are doing it in a non-dogmatic way that is empowering
> and unleashing creativity. Overall, it is encouraging.
> Stay tunded .....
>
>
> ************************
> Bill Sheehan
> Network Coordinator
> GrassRoots Recycling Network
> P.O. Box 49283
> Athens GA 30604-9283
> Tel: 706-613-7121
> Fax: 706-613-7123
> zerowaste@grrn.org
> http://www.grrn.org
> ************************
>
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>
> Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1999 16:20:48 -0800
> From: "Dong, Jodi" <JDong@rdn.bc.ca>
> To: "'greenyes@earthsystems.org>'" <greenyes@earthsystems.org>
> Subject: [GRRN] Construction/Demolition Waste Management
> Message-ID: <347DF8A9B0CBD211B70D00104B344C4E155354@RDN3>
> Content-Type: text/plain
>
> Does anybody have any information on the health and environmental impacts
of
> burning and/or landfilling C/D waste? We are in the early stages of
> compiling information to develop policy on this issue. Any suggestions or
> information is appreciated!
>
>
> Jodi Dong
> Environmental Services
> Regional District of Nanaimo
> 6300 Hammond Bay Rd.
> Lantzville, B.C. V0R 2H0
> (250) 390-6514
>
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> Date: Fri, 17 Dec 1999 03:40:29 -0500
> From: "Bill Sheehan" <bill_sheehan@mindspring.com>
> To: "GreenYesL" <greenyes@earthsystems.org>
> Subject: [GRRN] Recycling Neon Papers
> Message-ID: <01a701bf486f$65c14d40$843cfea9@billsdell>
> Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="iso-8859-1"
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>
> Many students have asked us about the environmental effects of
> neon paper posters. This week, Dana Kelly from the University of
> Colorado Environmental Center answers your questions.
>
> Although bright and neon papers are eye-catching, these papers
> are no longer accepted for recycling by most paper mills. The dyes
> in bright papers are made with toxic heavy metals (cadmium,
> arsenic, and others), making these papers much more resource
> intensive and costly to recycle. In addition, since bright papers
> can't be recycled, they end up in landfills, where their toxic dyes
> may one day contaminate water and soil.
>
> At the University of Colorado, offices and departments have taken
> steps to reduce bright paper usage on the Boulder campus. The CU
> Bookstore, Printing and Copy Services, and CU's Distribution
> Center have discontinued stocking astrobright and neon colors. The
> University of Colorado Student Union requires groups using student
> fee money to use only recyclable paper (no brights), and the
> University Memorial Center does not allow posting of materials on
> bright or neon colors. In a University memo in February 1998, the
> Vice Chancellor for Administration's office strongly encouraged
> campus offices to discontinue use of brights papers and use pastels
> instead whenever non-white paper is needed.
>
> Questions? Contact the CU Recycling staff
> mailto:cure@stripe.colorado.edu.
>
> [From EarthNet News, December 9, 1999
> ...a project of the Center for Environmental Citizenship]
>
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> End of greenyes-d Digest V99 Issue #380
> ***************************************