VOLUNTEERING TO REDUCE WASTE

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BITS & PIECES

What Would the Quaker Man Say?

A RECENT POLL BY THE WHEAT FOODS Council in Englewood, Colorado, found that 48% of Americans thought oatmeal was made out of... wheat.

Mr. Goodwrench in Your Glovebox

Halfway to Boise, you start to hear a grinding noise. Not the knock of a cold engine, not the steady whir of a loose fan belt—this sounds like a chain-link fence just hooked onto your bumper. Your car still runs but...this can't be good. You're 58 miles from the next service station—if they even have someone who knows a tailpipe from a tobacco pipe—and no whiz under the hood yourself. What to do? Just pop in your "Roadside Repair and Car Care" cassette.

This clever new audiotape from Sound Advice is meant to be kept in a driver's glove compartment and will help motorists troubleshoot by talking them through various mechanical problems that can be fixed roadside. From sections on changing a flat tire to jump-starting a car, a soothing voice leads you through, step-by-step.

The 75-minute tape also contains checklists for maintenance, as well as travel tips. And it's all presented in an easy-to-under-stand fashion blissfully free of mechanical jargon. "Roadside Repair and Car Care" can be ordered from Sound Advice, Inc., Suite 109, 1712 Marsh Rd., Wilmington, DE, 19810 for $9.95 postpaid.

New Jersey's Mulching Mowers

When municipal solid waste was decreased by 16% in just two months, the Passaic County Planning Board (PCPB) in New Jersey knew it was on to something with their "Grass... Cut it and Leave it" program.

Spearheading New Jersey's first volunteer countywide effort, the Planning Board launched the program to not only to reduce solid waste, but to save the county's 450,000 residents $2.4 million.

Instead of raking grass clippings from their lawns and throwing them into the trash, Passaic County homeowners have been leaving their clippings on the lawn or cutting their lawns with a mulching mower, which cuts the clippings into smaller particles that are blown deep into the turf and returned as nutrients to the soil. Residents are reporting that they have thicker lawns and are saving time by not having to bag and drag clippings to the curb.

Program coordinator B. Ellie Arnould was happy with the results. "In addition to alleviating the waste-disposal problems for the county, the program has raised the consciousness of homeowners about the benefits of mulching," she explained.

For information on how you can start a "Grass... Cut It and Leave It" campaign in your community this year, contact Ms. Arnould c/o P.C.P.B., 317 Pennsylvania Ave., Patterson, NJ 07503.

Our Future Foresters

Seems those crass college kids are getting hip to the eco-90s and are just saying no to those passé big-buck majors. A recent Society of American Foresters (SAF) survey shows that enrollment in schools of natural resources has steadily increased over the last three years.