jym@mica.berkeley.edu (Jym Dyer) (06/13/91)
EPA Bans Its Own _Environmental_Consumer's_Handbook_
After Makers of Disposables and Cleaning Products Complain
By Jym Dyer
Last October the Environmental Protection Agency released a
44-page booklet: _The_Environmental_Consumer's_Handbook_.
This February they stopped distribution the booklet, allegedly
because it contained "blanket statements" and "incorrect
information."
Environmental Action, an environmental lobbying and education
organization, has obtained documents that suggest different
motives. From December 1990 through February 1991, the EPA
received letters or visits from members of these organizations:
The Foodservice and Packaging Institute
Procter & Gamble
Scott Paper
Sweetheart Cup
These organizations demanded that the EPA stop distributing
the booklet, and they got what they wanted. A letter from
Scott Paper to EPA Assistant Administrator Donald Clay thanked
him for arranging a meeting the company had been granted with
EPA officials, because these officials "immediately halted
further distribution of the book."
The organizations' complaints are predictable, given the
products they profit from. The makers of disposable products
complained because the book suggested such things as bringing
a reusable cup to work, or using a sponge instead of paper
towels.
Procter & Gamble was concerned about tips on doing housework
with simple compounds like baking soda, vinegar, and Borax.
There are now dozens of consumer books on the market offering
these tips. The EPA is now working on a revised edition which
may well exclude the very same tips the other books recommend!
Environmental Action has copies of the EPA's original handbook,
and you can write their Solid Waste Alternative Project (SWAP)
to get a copy. Environmental Action also recommends that
you write to Bruce Weddle at the EPA, "tell him you like the
booklet, and that you would rather see your tax dollars go
to helping the public, than to protecting the interest of
companies that make toxic household cleaners and disposable
products." Here are some addresses:
SWAP
Environmental Action
1525 New Hampshire Ave.. NW
Washington, DC 20036
Bruce Weddle
Director, Office of Solid Waste
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M St., SW
Washington, DC 20460
[Information for the above comes from the May/June 1991 issue of
_Environmental_Action_Magazine_. Feel free to redistribute this
information widely.]