Following the February 22nd earthquake, Greening the Rubble is back in full-swing utilising derelict urban properties. Established after the earthquake in September 2010, Greening the Rubble has successfully established a pocket-park on the corner of Victoria and Salisbury Street.  Although previous projects were put on hold due to February’s quake, Greening the Rubble has confirmed two future park additions for the city, one located on Riccarton Road, and the other on St. Asaph Street.
The organization is largely volunteer based, with local businesses donating products, design students lending their vision and many giving their time to create the relaxing spaces within Christchurch. If you would like to know more on the progress of sites, or if you are the landowner of a site that could be utilised, browse the website here.

They have a great resource of links as well to keep you informed about the Christchurch Rebuild and you can follow the organisation on Facebook too.

A new petition has come through to SIFT from one of our new projects (and through my connections with the Lincoln Envirotown Trust) to make our voice heard to the government that we want to rebuild Christchurch sustainably. This is a great idea and I only hope that lots of people sign it (like all those who signed the pledge and more!) and that the town leaders, government, city planners and designers all listen.

This is a fantastic opportunity to rebuild Christchurch for a future whereby the buildings and citizens of the city have a positive environmental impact at all levels of sustainability (and are ready for the impacts of climate change).

After finding that there is currently no leadership on this issue Lou Warren (from over the hill in Diamond Harbour) started the petition on change.org.

You can sign the petition here and we encourage as many Cantabrians and New Zealanders alike to sign it and let our voice be heard (now’s our chance): “We, the people of Canterbury, the people of New Zealand and our friends internationally, want you to deliver a well-planned, environmentally sustainable re-build of Christchurch.”

Thanks to Lou for setting this up and we look forward to seeing how many people sign, who listens and the plans for our lovely city.

Reverse Garbage Image via Re-Nest

Found out about Reverse Garbage (via Re-Nest) and it looks like a great idea that we could use here. It is available in only Brisbane and Sydney at the moment and is run by a non-profit that takes industrial “waste” destined for landfill and sells the items to local communities at discounted (really discounted) prices. There is a long list of the items that they have here and it shows just how many resources could be resused before ending up in landfill. The Super Shed, Waste Exchanges (by council) and Creative Junk are similar.

Watch Reverse Garbage Sydney Commercials.

In the spirit of New Year resolutions we thought we would give our individual resolutions over the next couple of weeks.

Being the General Manager I’m going first:

Scanwood utensils

My green resolution for 2011 is to continue to reduce my use of plastic in my house (and work),  most importantly single use disposable plastics, and move to other forms of packaging or products that have less of an impact on the environment (and potentially my health) and are more durable for the long term (e.g. moving from plastic cooking equipment to wood or ceramic).

We’d love to know yours.

So much so that any green resolutions that are sent through to us will go into the draw to win this great Sulo Talbot compost bin (below) that we were given as a Christmas present from the lovely people at Sulo Talbot. All green resolutions need to be sent through to us either via email ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) or via our Facebook or Twitter by the 31st of January 2011. Please send us your full contact details and address and your green resolution.  The winner will be drawn at random on the 1st of February and notified via email (if you let us know by Twitter or Facebook we will get in touch to get your contact details).***Please note that this competition is only open to New Zealand residents – it’s a rather large  to post out of NZ!***

We will also post all green resolutions online anonymously.

This Sulo Talbot compost bin is 31cm wide x 22cm deep x 17cm high.

Sulo Talbot Compost Bin SIFT image

Photo Canterbury Biodiversity website

Photo Canterbury Biodiversity

Following the September 4th 2010 earthquake, many sites within the city which used to be home to large buildings, have been reduced to vacant lots – empty or occupied by rubble. Many of these sites have been turned into car-parking lots, but ECan’s Regional Biodiversity Coordinator, Wayne McCallum, has fronted an initiative which is avoiding the default car parking trend– turning vacant  lots into native plant pocket-parks – Greening the Rubble. The initiative is largely community based, not only transforming vacant spaces into eco-friendly areas, but getting local businesses, schools and organizations, involved and channelling post-quake energy. Currently the vacant Asko area on Victoria Street and the old Para Rubber site on Manchester Street have been selected as pilot projects. Mr McCallum states that not only are the projects an eco-friendly venture, but they also are a good way to “Show community resolve” post-quake.

Keep up to date with the project progress here.

Love your coast

Tomorrow, Wednesday 8th December 2010, is Christchurch’s turn to take part in Love Your Coast day – an ongoing movement to clean up our coastlines. A lot of waste (lots of plastic) washes up on our shores each year endangering the local flora, fauna and wildlife.  This is an opportunity for all to get involved and give our beautiful coast a clean-up. The Heathcote and Avon Rivers, the Estuary and New Brighton are the focus. Join the masses and help keep our coasts clean. The events are supported by Keep NZ Beautiful, Sustainable Coastlines, Te Wai Pounamu Foundation and The Sir Peter Blake Trust.

More information here.

SIFT 2010 Christmas Tree

The 100% Recyclable and Compostable Christmas Tree

Here at the Sustainable Initiatives Fund office we enjoy getting in the Christmas spirit while implementing our core values of sustainability and minimisation of wastestreams. For these reasons, it was fitting for our office Christmas tree to be one which embodies the three R’s, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

The ‘tree’ is made from bamboo shoots and assembled with unbleached twine.  We created our own decorations by using outdated business flyers: creating stars, Christmas chain and even a little angel. The decorations were held together and hung with cotton and we added small torn calico bows and finished the look off with a tree-topping star made from old office file dividers. Through creativity we have made a 100% recyclable and compostable* Christmas tree. The finishing product was so good that it will be the face of SIFT’s 2010 Christmas card!

Let us know how you are reducing your waste this Christmas.

On 11 November, 2010, a fantastic project started called the Free Fashion Challenge. A collaborative project between Laura de Jong, the Amsterdam Fashion Institute and Beyond Green, the Free Fashion Challenge will see 15 self-proclaimed fashion addicts from all around the world, go cold-turkey in their addiction to consume, for 365 days.

Laura de Jong, who is a graduate of the Amsterdam Fashion Institute, recognises the massive change in societal attitudes to fashion over the past decades, and the ever growing disposability of items – lending to the term, “fast fashion”. Though she recognises that there is a growing market for sustainable production within the fashion and textile industries, she believes that the true catalyst for fashion sustainability will be a change in consumer attitudes.

Showcased on the website, is Dutch designer Monique van Heist who suitably designs her ‘collection without an end’. Heist believes ‘Success doesn’t depend on a new collection every year, or even four times a year. . .’ and wants to see an end to the consumer based fast-fashion industry which is predominant within the current industry.

This is a great way to assess our own consumer habits of fashion and pick up ideas on how we can help make the fashion industry more sustainable.

Could you do it?

Pop Up Xmas Tree Card via WikiHow

With Christmas just a few weeks away, this is the perfect time to consider and implement some easy initiatives to make your festive season a sustainable and environmentally friendly one. Here are a few simple ideas to help you along the way:

1. Instead of contributing to the millions of metres of gift-wrap used and discarded each Christmas season, presenting gifts in reusable decorated jars, boxes, textile bags or decorated newspaper can make sustainable AND beautiful alternatives to single-use bleached and dyed commercial wrapping-papers (that often can’t be recycled due to the metallic content). If wrapping-paper does make an appearance under your Christmas tree this year, be friendly when eagerly revealing your gift; keep the paper in good condition so it can be reused for next year.

2. With food being an integral element to brining everyone together over Christmas, it is often one of the most wasteful times of the year in regards to leftovers. Get creative in the kitchen following the big day. There are some amazing recipe ideas for Christmas leftovers. Here are a few sites to help:

Channel 4 UK Chefs Christmas Leftovers

Taste Australia Christmas Leftovers

Busy Cooks Christmas Leftovers

BBC – Christmas Leftovers

Any appropriate food which is not used can be added to a compost waste bucket – to help give you some nutrient rich soil in the garden!

3. Support local business and buy local products. This is a great way to offset carbon footprints which rise from the large amount of international transportation and heavy product packaging with the importation of Christmas gifts.

4. If you want to give a gift that will truly keep on giving, check out the links below. With gifts ranging from as little as $15, these gift options pose as an alternative to traditional gifts, but can provide others with experiences and opportunities that will last a lifetime.

World Vision Gift Catalogue

Oxfam Unwrapped

A couple of entrepreneurial and environmentally positive locals from Christchurch are holding the Greatest Dress Sale Ever.

The sale is to be held on Saturday 4th December from 9am – 4pm at 86 Rattray Street, Riccarton. You can either get involved as a seller, a buyer or both!

For sellers: All you need to do is register by emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . In the email please include; the size of the dress, the label, the style / brief description, the price you would like the dress sold for, and the minimum you would accept for the sale of the dress. If you want to sell your pre-loved dresses, there is a simple one-off fee, with no profit taken from the sale of your items.

$5 – ONE DRESS
$10 – TWO TO FIVE DRESSES
$15 – FIVE TO TEN DRESSES
$20 – TEN TO TWENTY DRESSES

The selling fee is to be deposited into a nominated bank account (please ask them via email) then drop your sale items of this week by arrangement through e-mail or at the sale address tomorrow (27th November), between 9am and 12pm. No more sale items will be accepted after Wednesday 1st December. Following the sale you will receive an email stating which items were sold and when to pick up your earnings!

For the buyers: The dress sale is on Saturday the 4th and it starts at 9am. Like all good sales it is advised that you get in quick to get the best picks. Private changing areas will be provided. So for all the women in Christchurch, gather your mothers, sisters, daughters and girlfriends and get involved with this fantastic local opportunity to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

This is a fantastic opportunity for all to get together for an enjoyable day while conciously shopping for your new (old) summer dress.