Students Of Success

The issue of e-waste is heating up all across the country. It started with community disposal bans and has now spread to statewide disposal bans. There are even legislative moves afoot to mandate e-waste recycling nationwide.

At the center of the issue is your old computer. For years computer monitors have been banned from landfills in many places across the country. But another device is quickly taking center stage - the ubiquitous cell phone.

There are nearly 200 million cell phone users in the US all of whom upgrade their old cell phone, on the average, every 18 months. This means that more than 11 million cell phones are retired every month in the US alone. As of this writing less than 5% of these phones are collected for reuse and recycling.

Some claim that because of the small size of the average cell phone it’s easy for a consumer to simply trash it. Maybe one person trashing a cell phone doesn’t seem like much but surveys suggest that each of the 200 million cell phone subscribers have 2.5 old cell phones shoved in a desk drawer or stored in a closet somewhere in their home or office.

Imagine if all those cell phones, 500 million in all, were discarded in household trash over the course of a year. Over 80,000 tons of additional waste would be generated. This is not common household waste that becomes fertilizer. It has the potential to pollute.

It is common knowledge that electronic waste, or e-waste, contains toxins that are harmful to the environment. Electronic circuit boards in cell phones contain toxins such as arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury; just to name a few. Research has shown that cell phones, when disposed in landfill conditions, leach hazardous levels of lead.

Programs banning electronic devices from regular trash pickups are becoming more common throughout the country. There is even national recycling legislation being proposed to combat the problem. A couple of communities are leading the way.

Since October 1st, 2005 King County, WA has prohibited residents from putting out old cell phones, or other electronic devices, for regular trash pickup. Officials say the county’s Cedar Hill Landfill could become contaminated by the toxic heavy metals that exist in cell phones, computers and other electronic items.

On February 9th 2006 the State of California banned the disposal of cell phones in household trash. Instead, residents must recycle their old cell phones at local landfills.

“The good news is that most hazardous waste items can be recycled for free” said Jennifer Caldwell, Waste Reduction Coordinator for Yolo County California. Caldwell said that residents can drop off their recyclable items at the landfill.

Westchester County, NY will soon require that consumers recycle their cell phones. While other communities have not mentioned fines, Westchester residents will have to pay up to $250 on anyone caught putting a phone in the trash.

Industry is getting involved - creating solutions rather than just problems. Refurbishing and recycling cell phones, a growing business, is a step in the right direction. Attempts are also underway to replace lead with a less toxic substance in the manufacturing process.

But until then something needs to be done and cell phone recycling is the best solution. So the next time you retire your old friend, don’t banish him to your household hinterlands, make an effort to recycle. It’s great for the environment and your wallet.

James Mosieur is CEO of RMS Communications Group, Inc. RMS operates several cell phone recycling websites like http://www.CellForCash.com He has been in the electronics recycling business since 1985. James writes and speaks on cell phone recycling and related subjects particularly as they relate to the individual consumer.

The Before and After Scenario is one of the
oldest, and best, methods used by advertisers and copywriters.
And why not? It works because it paints a vivid portrait for
your prospect of how he can realize a major change in his life.

A “Before-Scenario” depicts a person whose circumstances are
much like that of your targeted prospect: overweight, broke,
stuck in a dead-end job, bald or what have you. This is a person
your targeted prospect can identify with because he or she
languishes under the very same circumstances.

Then you present an “After-Scenario” depicting one of your
satisfied customers who is delighted with the changes your
product or service has brought about. She is now fit and trim
(and has the requisite bathing suit pictures to prove it), they
now has enough money to live the life they always dreamed about,
or he now has a full head of hair and is irresistible to the
opposite sex.

The simple truth is that now matter how familiar we are with
this kind of advertising, it still works because the targeted
prospect identifies with your Before-Scenario and strongly wants
to escape from those circumstances. And the After-Scenario
offers the prospect the very life he or she wants to escape to.

But at times the very familiarity of this formula may simply get
old in your market. Nevertheless, there are a few ways to get
even more mileage out of this old advertising workhorse by
adding a few twists:

1. Create A “Virtual” After-Scenario. Sometimes you may
not want to use a real person’s situation, but want your reader
to visualize his or her own Before and After Scenario.

You do this by injecting a lot of emotion into the problem your
product or service is designed to solve.

Suppose your company provides auto financing for people with
poor credit. You could create a Before-Scenario by vividly
describing the embarrassment of driving an old, dilapidated car.
Remind the prospect of the constant fear of driving a car that
could break down on a remote highway late at night or on a busy
highway in the middle of rush hour traffic. You could also, stir
up the humiliation of being turned down for financing from
traditional lenders.

Then you paint a second, emotional-filled scene of your prospect
driving an attractive, dependable car, after being treated with
dignity and respect by your finance officers. Paint an emotional
picture of your prospect being seen by friends and neighbors
driving this nice looking, late model car and having the peace
of mind that the monthly payments are reasonable and that the
car is in very good working order.

2. Depict a Negative After Scenario. Sometimes you have
to educate your prospect about why buying your competitors’
cheaper product is more costly in the long run. Here is an
example, written by Dan Kennedy, to sell an ordinary product
like shoes: “…but if you insist on just wearing any old pair
of ordinary shoes, here’s what you have to look forward to in
your so-called golden years; fallen arches…intense lower back
pain…even pain from just walking around a shopping mall!
You’ll be asking your friends to slow down so you can keep up.
You’ll be futilely soaking your feet at night like some old
fuddy-duddy. You may even need pain pills just to get to sleep.”

With a Negative After-Scenario, you are projecting an
undesirable future resulting from your prospect’s shortsighted
attempt to save a little money now by buying an inferior
product, or by not spending any money at all to solve a known
problem while there is still time.

3. A Back-Story Scenario. This Before and After formula
is not seen by your reader, but is sketched out for you the
writer and marketer. Even if I am writing copy that follows a
different format, I will often write out a before and after
comparison for my own use when I begin my work. This enables me
to clearly see the benefits the prospects are seeking in the
form of specific changes they want to experience in their lives.

I want to know what the prospect is dissatisfied with now, and
how intensely that dissatisfaction feels. I also want to know
how the prospect wants to feel in the future and what changes
must take place in order to achieve that desired state and the
emotions that will come with it.

Let’s face it, I don’t want to overlook a single benefit that my
readers might be seeking. And without my own draft version of a
before-after sketch, I might miss the very benefit that will
trigger the most response.

Every worthwhile product or service helps to bring about a
desired change. And let’s face it, all of us, regardless of what
we sell, are really in the business of selling change. A person
who is satisfied with the status quo is not a prospect, and will
never be a customer. But when that person is ready for a change,
and has become dissatisfied with the way things are right now, a
strong Before and After Scenario can show them the way to find
that change.

COPYRIGHT © 2005, Charles Brown

A recent study suggested that eating tomatoes and broccoli together can enhance the anti-cancer potentency possessed by tomatoes and broccoli.

In the study, rats were injected with human prostate tumors. And they were fed powdered tomato and dried broccoli. Used also in the study was finasteride, a drug that shows to slow the benign growth of the prostate.

The study found that the rats use diets with tomatoes and or broccoli get the smaller tumors. The diet with both tomatoes and broccoli is most effective and finasteride is least effective in slowing the tumor growth.

Tomatoes are known for its anti-cancer properties. Lycopene is believed to be the major active component in tomatoes that is responsible for the anti-cancer activity.

Anti-cancer bioactivity has been reported in broccoli. It’s believed that glucosinolates may be responsible.

The study was conducted by Dr. John Erdman and colleagues at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

About The Author

John Roberts is a freelance writer for foodconsumer.com

In the early period of the 1900s, F1 Racing took place with primitive motor cars & older gentleman racing drivers, nevertheless the main F1 contest did not initiate until the 1950’s. Whilst the numerous years drove by & the sporting competition grew, it almost immediately became comprehensible that Formula 1 was the finest championship of motorsport. The motor vehicles were the fastest, the machinery was the most superior and the racing drivers were at the tip of their physical wellbeing coming from countries all across the planet. For all the latest Formula One Merchandise, visit F1Tribute.com today!

With the new introduction of sponsorship, Formula 1 Racing took on its more world-wide appearance and is now be perceived as being very, very big business ? with salary costs reaching millions & billions of dollars with ease. With huge business arrives political opinions & from time to time it?s the contacts you are connected to and how much money you hold that brings you what you fancy. F1 Motor Racing is entangled with conspiracy stories ? I will own up to being one of them ? but depending on how deep you yearn to get in the Formula 1 world, that part of things is easily discounted. What in truth matters is what happens on the track.

Voyaging from country to country all over the planet for anything of up to eight months of the year, F1 calls many different countries large & small, prosperous & rundown, with vibrant environments, fascinating tourists and lots of local stories to be soaked up. Covering Friday, Saturday and Sunday, a Formula One Motor Racing weekend is a difficult ride, from early testing, to the closing laps of the F1 motor race.

The normal arrangement comprises of a F1 race every fortnight. Now & again the Formula 1 calendar is played with a little bit & there are grand prixs on back-to-back weekends, or sometimes you have to go several weeks before even seeing the recognizable Formula One drivers again. When it is time for the next Formula 1 race, you can read the news for your much-loved F1 constructor as they turn up at their destination. Friday is made up of practice meetings, Saturday is for qualifying and Sunday is the actual race.