Repair is Better than Recycling – Making our things last longer is both more efficient and more cost effective than mining them for raw materials.
Repair saves the planet. Earth has limited resources and we can’t run a linear manufacturing process forever. The best way to be efficient is to reuse what we already have!
Repair saves you money. Fixing things is often free, and usually cheaper than replacing them, doing the repair yourself saves serious dough.
Repair teaches engineering. The best way to find out how something works is to take it apart!
If you can’t fix it, you don’t own it! Repair connects people and devices, creating bonds that transcend consumption. Self repair is sustainable.
Repair connects you with your things. Repair empowers and emboldens individuals. Repair transforms consumers into contributors. Repair inspires pride in ownership. Repair injects soul and makes things unique. Repair is independence. Repair requires creativity. Repair is green. Repair is joyful. Repair is necessary for understanding our things. Repair saves money and resources.
We Have The Right: To open and repair our things without voiding the warranty to devices that can be opened, to error codes and wiring diagrams, to troubleshooting instructions and flowcharts, to repair documentation for everything, to choose our own repair technician, to remove ‘Do not remove’ stickers, to repair things in the privacy of our own homes, to replace any and all consumables ourselves, to hardware that doesn’t require proprietary tools to repair, to available, reasonable priced service parts.
Put either one of these in your kitchen junk drawer and garage and remember that to repair something you own stops waste going to landfill and creat that bond that transcends consumption.
Beth from Fake Plastic Fish is a wealth of information on monitoring and reducing plastic waste and just general cool things to inspire us all to change our plastic habits. Today her blog features this great video “Plastic State of Mind- Parody with Purpose” from Green Sangha. It is very well done, fun and entertaining and has important messaging.
Isn’t it great!
Earlier this week I attended the Signs of Change conference. Immensely informative, inspiring and really hopeful that grass roots, community and business led change is happening all around our fine country. You can read more about the conference here. Key highlights to come…
Annie Leonard, who brought the world the wonderfully informative animated video called the Story of Stuff has just released a new one on e-waste called the Story of Electronics. Again she has researched how e-waste is produced in the first place, the design elements that need to be changed and the problems with how e-waste is disposed of. E-waste is “designed for the dump” she says. Although the videos have an American focus they are still relevant to New Zealanders. We import tonnes of electronic goods each year that all have been designed with relatively short lives (due, mostly, to new product coming in all the time) and dispose of approximately 80,000 tonnes to landfill each year. 80,000 tonnes! Think of what happens to the toxins and heavy metals contained in the those items while they sit in a landfill.
The New Zealand government has recently announced funding from the Ministry for the Environment’s Waste Minimisation Fund into two key e-waste collection programmes. The first one was e-Day held last Saturday around the country. They received $750,000 to hold e-Day at 40 locations around New Zealand and for the first year I heard and saw advertising. And this helped. This year’s e-Day was a success with around 900 tonnes of e-waste (computers and phones) being dropped off (around 110 shipping containers). More here. There were over 17,000 cars and over 76,000 items dropped off. This e-waste will be sent to other countries for proper disposal. New Zealand does not have the facilities to process e-waste on shore. As with other waste streams it is cheaper for it to be sent off shore.
The other project that has received funding from the government is $400,000 to the RCN Group and the Community Recycling Network who are planning to set up a nationwide network of 20 e-waste drop off depots and 3 recycling facilities in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. This is so e-Day can be everyday!
The solutions that need to come in order to reduce the amount of e-waste that is polluting our environment is to 1) consume less (always #1), 2) businesses to take responsibility for the products that they produce (Product Stewardship Schemes), 3) redesign products with less toxins and longer lives, 4) develop urban mining offshore so that the e-waste can be disposed of safely (and not negatively impacting the environments of other countries) and 5) finding solutions to old e-waste (can it be reused in new ways). There are solutions but we just need to start focussing on using them and building them.
At SIFT we like to have ongoing relationships with those people that we have funded or given some financial assistance to especially during the course of the project with regular meetings and catch ups (especially if there are milestones associated with the project). I visited the lovely and hard working team of Robert & Stephanie Fowler of Comspec, in Hornby, this morning to catch up on how they going with recycling the majority of the South Island’s plastic milk bottles and to just say hi. To quote Martha Stewart what they are doing is “a good thing”.
You can read more of the good work that they are doing and how SIFT are helping them to do it here.
Since it is going to be raining for the majority of the weekend, why not reveal your creative streak to friends and family, with some of these cool handmade gift ideas. DIY doesn’t need to be restricted to home decorating, with these tips, you can make soaps, bath bombs, candy and fudge, and plenty of recipes for baked goods. Pick your favourites, and use the wet weekend as an opportunity to do a trial run! Visit the Frugal Kiwi to get started.
Watch the trailer for wasteland. Set in Rio de Janiero, the documentary Waste Land follows artist, Jardim Gramacho as he creates portraits of the ‘catadores’ that work in the World’s largest landfill. To carry on the theme, the portraits are made entirely from junk that has been salvaged from the landfill. A meaningful display of the huge amounts of waste that are being created everyday, and yet some beauty can still come out of it.
Keeping on with the theme of creatively reusing trash, Electrolux has bought out an edition of five vacuums that have been made from materials that have been salvaged from the ocean. The purpose of the edition was to demonstrate the difficulties Electrolux has, finding the recyclable materials to manufacture the “Green Range’ and yet there is so much waste in the ocean. Would be a great way to jazz up your home appliances.
“Environment Waikato, in partnership with Hamilton City Council and the Matamata-Piako District Council, will receive $159,000 over two years from the Government’s Waste Minimisation Fund,” Dr Smith said. “Working with Inghams Enterprises they will investigate the use of pyrolysis technology to convert problem waste into useful products like biochar and reduce methane emissions from waste going to landfill.
What do you get when you cross an old refrigerator and a derelict car? Well, a fridgecouch of course! As created by Canadian artist, Adrian Johnson.
There is now an ‘ebay of trash’. A site that has been set up to match up trash, with people who have a potential way to reuse or recycle it. The site is called Recycle Match, and is making a significant impact on reducing the amount of waste that is going to landfill. Some of the projects are of commercial proportions, but if you can reuse 1000 glass windows – then I am sure they will be happy to hear from you!
http://www.recyclematch.com/
Plastic Recycling Plant Planned for Timaru
There is a 1.3837ha site, behind the former Chargeurs Wool building, which is owned by Rooney Holdings and is understood to be the location of a new plastic recycling plant, which would produce road matting. The road matting creates a better surface for laying new roading. We are happy to hear of this exciting development.
A different way to regenerate Christchurch demolition sites.
Two schools— Unlimited Paenga Tawhiti and Discovery 1—are on the hunt for empty earthquake sites they can transform into green spaces. The schools are really keen to hear from any site owners who may be interested in converting their demolished sites into an inner city green space.
If you’ve got a space you’d like to offer, you can contact Tanja Grzeta on (03)374 1067.
Since it is going to be raining for the majority of the weekend, why not reveal your creative streak to friends and family, with some of these cool handmade gift ideas.DIY doesn’t need to be restricted to home decorating, with these tips, you can make soaps, bath bombs, candy and fudge, and plenty of recipes for baked goods. Pick your favourites, and use the wet weekend as an opportunity to do a trial run! Visit the Frugal Kiwi to get started.
Watch the trailer for wasteland. Set in Rio de Janiero, the documentary Waste Land follows artist, Jardim Gramacho as he creates portraits of the ‘catadores’ that work in the World’s largest landfill. To carry on the theme, the portraits are made entirely from junk that has been salvaged from the landfill. A meaningful display of the huge amounts of waste that are being created everyday, and yet some beauty can still come out of it.
Keeping on with the theme of creatively reusing trash, Electrolux has bought out an edition of five vacuums that have been made from materials that have been salvaged from the ocean.
The purpose of the edition was to demonstrate the difficulties Electrolux has, finding the recyclable materials to manufacture the “Green Range’ and yet there is so much waste in the ocean. Would be a great way to jazz up your home appliances.
More Waste Minimisation Funding Announced.
“Environment Waikato, in partnership with Hamilton City Council and the Matamata-Piako District Council, will receive $159,000 over two years from the Government’s Waste Minimisation Fund,” Dr Smith said. “Working with Inghams Enterprises they will investigate the use of pyrolysis technology to convert problem waste into useful products like biochar and reduce methane emissions from waste going to landfill.
What do you get when you cross an old refrigerator and a derelict car? Well, a fridgecouch of course! As created by Canadian artist, Adrian Johnson.
There is now an ‘ebay of trash’. A site that has been set up to match up trash, with people who have a potential way to reuse or recycle it. The site is called Recycle Match, and is making a significant impact on reducing the amount of waste that is going to landfill. Some of the projects are of commercial proportions, but if you can reuse 1000 glass windows – then I am sure they will be happy to hear from you!
Plastic Recycling Plant Planned for Timaru
There is a 1.3837ha site, behind the former Chargeurs Wool building, which is owned by Rooney Holdings and is understood to be the location of a new plastic recycling plant, which would produce road matting. The road matting creates a better surface for laying new roading. We are happy to hear of this exciting development.
Two schools— Unlimited Paenga Tawhiti and Discovery 1—are on the hunt for empty earthquake sites they can transform into green spaces. The schools are really keen to hear from any site owners who may be interested in converting their demolished sites into an inner city green space.
If you’ve got a space you’d like to offer, you can contact Tanja Grzeta on (03)374 1067.
It has taken a bit of time to get around to organising the photos I took from the WasteMinz Conference a few weeks ago but they are all now uploaded on the SIFT Flickr site.
and of course WasteMinz who put on an excellent, highly informative and productive conference. Next year it will be in Rotorua and if this year is anything to go by will be just as important to those in or associated with the waste and recovering materials industries.
Organisations that received Waste Minimisation Funding
It is really exciting for SIFT to see which companies have been given funding through the latest Waste Minimisation Funding round. It demonstrates the direction of the Ministry for the Environment strategy, and that industry initiatives have a strong focus. We will keep updating this list as Nick Smith announces more successful applicants.
eDay (2020 Communications Trust, RCN Group and Community Recycling Network) – eDay is a community initiative designed to raise awareness of the benefits of recycling computers and the hazardous nature of electronic waste (e-waste), while offering an easy way for households and schools to dispose of old computers and mobile phones in an environmentally sound manner. eDay 2010 will be held in more than 40 centres throughout New Zealand on Saturday 6 November 2010. Organisers are aiming to divert as much as 1,300 tonnes of electronic waste (e-waste) from landfills, up from last year’s record of 976 tonnes. Total WMF funding $1.15million – The first grant of $750,000 is to the 2020 Communications Trust to run eDay on 6 November 2010 at more than 40 venues right across New Zealand. The second grant of $400,000 is a joint venture between the RCN Group and the Community Recycling Network towards developing a nationwide network of 20 permanent depots for e-waste as well as recycling facilities in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
http://www.eday.org.nz/
Envirocomp Solutions – The company which launched the first commercial plant to compost disposable nappies and other sanitary hygiene products e fund will enable Envirocomp Solution Ltd to conduct a feasibility study to assess demand and identify a suitable location for installing a 2nd plant in the Greater Wellington region. Kimberly-Clark New Zealand which markets HUGGIES® Nappies, will support the study by conducting research with its Wellington based HUGGIES® club database as part of its ongoing sponsorship. The plant processes 15,000 nappies or incontinence products per day into compost. WMF Funding totals $30,000
www.envirocomp.co.nz
Scion Research Limited – Innovative thermal oxidation technology developed by Scion Research Ltd is designed to break down this waste and greatly reduce the amount entering landfills as well as cut greenhouse gas emissions. I am pleased to announce that Scion will receive $1 million from the Waste Minimisation Fund to pilot a process that reduces this waste.
Scion has named this project ‘Waste 2 Gold’ as the thermal oxidation process also generates useable by-products.
http://www.scionresearch.com/
Tyregone Processors Limited
The Auckland based company will receive $300,000 total WMF funding to expand operation of its pyrolysis plant, which converts tyres into carbon, steel, oil and gas. Once expanded, the plant will process more than 2000 tonnes of tyres in the first year.
The Bay of Plenty Regional Council is to receive $100,000 to investigate expanding its vermicomposting facility so it can process a wider range of organic material, including wood waste from the Tasman and Carter Holt Harvey mills.
Glass Packaging Forum The Glass Packaging Forum – (GPF) is a non-profit organization, which aims to ensure the ongoing performance of glass as environmentally acceptable packaging. GPF will receive $1.6 million to increase the number of recycling bins and bottle banks across the country for the Rugby World Cup. http://www.glassforum.org.nz/
It is really exciting for SIFT to see which companies have been given funding through the latest Waste Minimisation Funding round. It demonstrates the direction of the Ministry for the Environment strategy, and that industry initiatives have a strong focus. We will keep updating this list as Nick Smith announces more successful applicants.
eDay
eDay is a community initiative designed to raise awareness of the benefits of recycling computers and the hazardous nature of electronic waste (e-waste), while offering an easy way for households and schools to dispose of old computers and mobile phones in an environmentally sound manner. eDay 2010 will be held in more than 40 centres throughout New Zealand on Saturday 6 November 2010. Organisers are aiming to divert as much as 1,300 tonnes of electronic waste (e-waste) from landfills, up from last year’s record of 976 tonnes. 2020 Communications Trust to run eDay on 6 November 2010 at more than 40 venues right across New Zealand will receive $750,000.
RCN Group and Community Recycling Network
The second ewaste grant of $400,000 is a joint venture between the RCN Group and the Community Recycling Network towards developing a nationwide network of 20 permanent depots for e-waste as well as recycling facilities in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. http://www.eday.org.nz/
Envirocomp Solutions
The company which launched the first commercial plant to compost disposable nappies and other sanitary hygiene products will be giving funding to enable it to conduct a feasibility study to assess demand and identify a suitable location for installing a 2nd plant in the Greater Wellington region. Kimberly-Clark New Zealand which markets HUGGIES® Nappies, will support the study by conducting research with its Wellington based HUGGIES® club database as part of its ongoing sponsorship. The plant processes 15,000 nappies or incontinence products per day into compost. WMF Funding totals $30,000 www.envirocomp.co.nz
Scion Research Limited
Innovative thermal oxidation technology developed by Scion Research Ltd is designed to break down this waste and greatly reduce the amount entering landfills as well as cut greenhouse gas emissions. Scion will receive $1 million from the Waste Minimisation Fund to pilot a process that reduces this waste. Scion has named this project ‘Waste 2 Gold’ as the thermal oxidation process also generates useable by-products. http://www.scionresearch.com/
Tyregone Processors Limited
The Auckland based company will receive $300,000 total WMF funding to expand operation of its pyrolysis plant, which converts tyres into carbon, steel, oil and gas. Once expanded, the plant will process more than 2000 tonnes of tyres in the first year.
Bay of Plenty Regional Council Vermi Composting
The Bay of Plenty Regional Council is to receive $100,000 to investigate expanding its vermicomposting facility so it can process a wider range of organic material, including wood waste from the Tasman and Carter Holt Harvey mills.
Glass Packaging Forum
The Glass Packaging Forum – (GPF) is a non-profit organization, which aims to ensure the ongoing performance of glass as environmentally acceptable packaging. GPF will receive $1.6 million to increase the number of recycling bins and bottle banks across the country for the Rugby World Cup. http://www.glassforum.org.nz/
O-I is a big company. Huge in fact. It is the leading manufacturer of glass products in the World. With 22,000 employees across 21 countries, it’s scope covers the majority of the globe.
The glass products have been designed for the food and beverage industry – to maintain the purity and flavour of the product within. The success of the company since it formed in 1903 has largely been credited to the fact that the Owens’ invented the automatic bottlemaking machine. This meant that production could increase and bottles of all shapes and capacity could be made. Something as simple as the shape of a bottle has so intricately worked its way into marketing, think Coca Cola, perfume, cosmetics – the shape of the packaging is almost as important and symbolic as the contents.
O-I have taken some leading steps in sustainability and resource responsibility as well. The company responded to the pressure that was being placed on the manufacturing industry to report on the life cycle of products. So O-I started the Life Cycle Assessment that demonstrated exactly what occurred from he extraction of raw materials to the reuse or recycling of the container. As with all LCA studies, O-I could then calculate the carbon emissions generated by each phase in a product’s life cycle.
This is the first assessment process in the industry that reports stage by stage carbon impacts – as there is little regulation requiring companies to fully report emissions.
The major achievement of the O-I life cycle assessment is that it takes into account remainder of the product’s life cycle – the transportation of finished products to distributors and retailers, use by consumers and reuse, recycling or disposal of material.
The benefits of having a life cycle assessment, is that O-I can now amend any practices at any given production or distribution phase – therefore making each phase far more efficient and environmentally friendly. For example, by establishing that recycling glass uses less energy than producing glass from raw materials, O-I was able to generate enough savings to completely offset the emissions produced by our finished goods transportation.
To read more about Owens Illinois, visit the website here. http://www.o-i.com/home.aspx
O-I is a big company. Huge in fact. It is the leading manufacturer of glass products in the World. With 22,000 employees across 21 countries, it’s scope covers the majority of the globe.
The glass products have been designed for the food and beverage industry – to maintain the purity and flavour of the product within. The success of the company since it formed in 1903 has largely been credited to the fact that the Owens’ invented the automatic bottlemaking machine. This meant that production could increase and bottles of all shapes and capacity could be made. Something as simple as the shape of a bottle has so intricately worked its way into marketing, think Coca Cola, perfume, cosmetics – the shape of the packaging is almost as important and symbolic as the contents.
O-I have taken some leading steps in sustainability and resource responsibility as well. The company responded to the pressure that was being placed on the manufacturing industry to report on the life cycle of products. So O-I started the Life Cycle Assessment that demonstrated exactly what occurred from he extraction of raw materials to the reuse or recycling of the container. As with all LCA studies, O-I could then calculate the carbon emissions generated by each phase in a product’s life cycle.
This is the first assessment process in the industry that reports stage by stage carbon impacts – as there is little regulation requiring companies to fully report emissions.
The major achievement of the O-I life cycle assessment is that it takes into account remainder of the product’s life cycle – the transportation of finished products to distributors and retailers, use by consumers and reuse, recycling or disposal of material.
The benefits of having a life cycle assessment, is that O-I can now amend any practices at any given production or distribution phase – therefore making each phase far more efficient and environmentally friendly. For example, by establishing that recycling glass uses less energy than producing glass from raw materials, O-I was able to generate enough savings to completely offset the emissions produced by our finished goods transportation.
To read more about Owens Illinois, visit the website here.
One of the big issues or themes during the WasteMinz conference was how councils and other Territorial Authorities are to use their share of the waste disposal levies collected by the Ministry for the Environment. The levies collected have been put into a new fund called the Waste Minimisation Fund. Half of the funds collected go to councils “on a per head of population basis” to help them with their waste mangement and minimisation plans (WMMP) and the other half to individuals, businesses and other organisations that have projects that meet the WMF criteria (some of the fund will also pay administration costs).
To date councils across New Zealand have received approx $3 million each quarter this year (with another about to paid). That’s a total of approx $12 million that, states Director of Operations for the Ministry for the Environment Martyn Pinkard, is to be used for solutions that are innovative, wide reaching within the community and have a direct impact on reducing the amount of waste that goes to landfill.
To July 2010 the district councils in Canterbury have received a total of $1.2 million with Christchurch City Council taking the largest share due to the largest population being in their jurisdiction ($815,000).
The Sustainable Initiatives Fund Trust can play a key role in helping local Canterbury territorial authorities to come up with and implement solutions that are both attractive and appropriate to the Ministry for the Environment and it’s aims in Waste Minimisation. Collaboration and industry and council integration will be vital in the success of projects that are to reduce waste to landfill and recover and use our resources more efficiently. Local solutions tailored to each community that have a long term effect will also be important.
Calling all Canterbury Territorial Authorities
Any district council in Canterbury that has a project or idea for a project that they could collaborate or co-fund with SIFT on can give us a call to discuss the possible solutions. If the project meets our criteria and the SIFT board give it the go ahead then our links, networks, ideas and possible funding could help to bring the project to fruition. Collaboration within the waste and sustainability fields are key to developing a sustainable future for Canterbury.
Yet another week is over, and I do believe that it is nine weeks until Christmas (exciting or doom pending – depending on your level of Xmas spirit). I always think that Labour Weekend is perfectly timed in the Calendar, arriving just before we hit the busiest time of the year. To take some of the stress off, there are plenty of festivities and concerts on in Canterbury over the long weekend. Head to Hagley Park between 1pm and 8pm on Saturday, to catch a glimpse of some of New Zealand’s biggest music names, all to raise funds following the earthquake. There is the Rangiora A & P show, and also the Big Band Festival. Plenty of activities to get you out and about this weekend.
We are a patriotic bunch. One eyed Cantabrians, truly believing that we have ‘one up’ on the rest of NZ. So I really like it when outsiders compliment our wonderful city. I like it even more when the outsider is Saatchi CEO, Kevin Roberts. A feel – good blog, smile as he waxes eloquently about our marvelous Hagley Park and Botanical Gardens. Gosh we are a lucky lot.
Making organic dairy products hip. A two minute advertisement that we found through the
Futerra Sustainability Communications blog. Never did we think that a rap song would preach the benefits of organic dairy products. Look for the head bobbing cows. You will not be able to watch this without a smile on your face.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOHAUvbuV4o
Annie Leonard’s Stuff for Kid’s Series – These videos are seriously cool. They take quite complex ideas such as recycling, and materialism – and convert it into short cartoon videos that are simple enough for little people to understand, but can still be enjoyed by big kids too.
Finally, the vuvuzela may actually become more resourceful than annoying. One competition that aims to find the most creative way to recycle the Football World Cup noise makers.
WWF has released the 2010 Living Planet Report. The conclusions are quite simple really, our demands are exceeding Earth’s capacity to sustain us. This is a great resource to show what we are using, how we compare to other countries, and what we can start doing better today.
Brazilian designers are paving the way for innovative homeware, with a collection made from entirely recycled aluminium. 98% of aluminium produced is recycled, and it is cheaper to produce a ton of recycled aluminium than it is the produce the same amount of new aluminium.
It has been a busy time at the beehive lately – we have three fantastic links for you. One is the speech made by Nick Smith at the 2010 WasteMINZ conference last week, where he launched the 2010 waste strategy.
http://feeds.beehive.govt.nz/speech/speech+wasteminz+conference+auckland Click Here to link directly to the Waste Strategy Report.
A realistic take on our recycling efforts. We may be collecting more recycling waste, but how much of it is actually being recycled once it leaves the curbside? According to this article, it all comes down to our mingling of recyclable items.
http://www.celsias.co.nz/article/mingling-mayhem
I like to think I am creative. Sometimes my creative projects end up in the back of the cupboard or in the garage. Luckily, we came across re-nest.com – full of awesome ideas to reuse house hold items – and eco-revitalise your house. The wire-hanger idea is just too cool.
Lessons in consumerism – no this isn’t a blog teaching you how to become a better shopper. The writer has returned from travels in India, with a fresh outlook on Western consumerism and what we deem to be luxuries versus life necessities.
Yet another week is over, and I do believe that it is nine weeks until Christmas (exciting or doom pending – depending on your level of Xmas spirit). I always think that Labour Weekend is perfectly timed in the Calendar, arriving just before we hit the busiest time of the year. To take some of the stress off, there are plenty of festivities and concerts on in Canterbury over the long weekend. Head to Hagley Park between 1pm and 8pm on Saturday, to catch a glimpse of some of New Zealand’s biggest music names, all to raise funds following the earthquake. There is the Rangiora A & P show, and also the Big Band Festival. Plenty of activities to get you out and about this weekend.
We are a patriotic bunch. One eyed Cantabrians, truly believing that we have ‘one up’ on the rest of NZ. So I really like it when outsiders compliment our wonderful city. I like it even more when the outsider is Saatchi CEO, Kevin Roberts. A feel – good blog, smile as he waxes eloquently about our marvelous Hagley Park and Botanical Gardens. Gosh we are a lucky lot. Click Here.
Making organic dairy products hip. A two minute advertisement that we found through the Futerra Sustainability Communications blog. Never did we think that a rap song would preach the benefits of organic dairy products. Look for the head bobbing cows. You will not be able to watch this without a smile on your face.
Annie Leonard’s Stuff for Kid’s Series – These videos are seriously cool. They take quite complex ideas such as recycling, and materialism – and convert it into short cartoon videos that are simple enough for little people to understand, but can still be enjoyed by big kids too.
Finally, the vuvuzela may actually become more resourceful than annoying. One competition that aims to find the most creative way to recycle the Football World Cup noise makers. Click here to see some of the ideas.
WWF has released the 2010 Living Planet Report. The conclusions are quite simple really, our demands are exceeding Earth’s capacity to sustain us. This is a great resource to show what we are using, how we compare to other countries, and what we can start doing better today.
Brazilian designers are paving the way for innovative homeware, with a collection made from entirely recycled aluminium. 98% of aluminium produced is recycled, and it is cheaper to produce a ton of recycled aluminium than it is the produce the same amount of new aluminium.
It has been a busy time at the beehive lately – we have three fantastic links for you. One is the speech made by Nick Smith at the 2010 WasteMINZ conference last week, where he launched the 2010 waste strategy. Click Here to link directly to the Waste Strategy Report. We also have a press release from the Environment Minister, outlining the recycling initiative for the 2011 Rugby World Cup
A realistic take on our recycling efforts. We may be collecting more recycling waste, but how much of it is actually being recycled once it leaves the curbside? According to this article, it all comes down to our mingling of recyclable items.
I like to think I am creative. Sometimes my creative projects end up in the back of the cupboard or in the garage. Luckily, we came across re-nest.com – full of awesome ideas to reuse house hold items – and eco-revitalise your house. The wire-hanger idea is just too cool.
Lessons in consumerism – No this isn’t a blog teaching you how to become a better shopper. The writer has returned from travels in India, with a fresh outlook on Western consumerism and what we deem to be luxuries versus life necessities.
