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Tuesday, March 15th, 2011 by Admin
It’s hard to think about blogging when the city is still in limbo and people are still taking daily steps to get their businesses (if they still exist) and lives back on track. Eclipsed by the Japanese disaster the changes that have occured in our city are still awfully sad and depressing – it has been three weeks and there is still a very long way to go.
SIFT is still moving forward though with current projects and new ones coming through the pipeline – hopefully some we can talk about soon for some positivity.
We are still on the look out for anything interesting that we can add to this blog and this morning I came across this awesome piece of new packaging from American green cleaning company Seventh Generation (read more of the article here on Re-Nest (links through to their source USA Today)).
The container is made from recycled cardboard and newspaper (the lid is still plastic) but this is a fantastic leap forward away from using plastic and something that could be done here in NZ. A type of packaging that we need more of across all plastic packaging lines – if it can be done with laundry liquid it can be done with all other cleaners, pet food and even cosmetics. And depending on what is inside the packaging maybe it could be compostable/biodegradable as well.
This is great!
 Seventh Generation Laundry Liquid via ReNest via USA Today Read more on the great specs of this new packaging.
Tags: blogging, cardboard, christchurch, Earthquake, packaging, Recycled, renest, Seventh Generation
Posted in Business & Sustainability, Waste Management | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 by Admin
Last week I posted about reducing waste to landfill through better work waste management systems and asked our readers to send in their new/innovative/creative waste management systems in their offices. My sister-in law happened across the blog post (cos’ she follows us on Twitter here too) and sent in the above photos and the following comment:
“At my workplace we have recently implemented a strategy which Crown Research Institutes have been doing for a while. In your office you get a large cardboard tray for recycling and a tiny wee box for rubbish. Then you have to empty these yourselves at one of the depots. Unfortunately we don’t currently have a strategy for organics, so the depots only have landfill, glass/plastic, and paper/cardboard. The cleaners no longer empty bins in our offices and only empty these larger communal bins.”
Thanks Nicola. This is a great example of in-office waste managment.
Tags: cardboard, diverting waste from landfill, glass, landfill, office, organics, paper, photos, plastic, recycling, rubbish, Waste Management
Posted in Business & Sustainability, Pratical Action, Sustainability in Action | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 8th, 2010 by Admin
Last Friday I visited the Becon Dry Waste Recovered Materials Facility in Woolston. The Becon Dry Waste RMF is the only one in New Zealand and is housed in one of the remaining buildings from the old Anderson’s Foundry. It is an impressive building with its old industrial peaked roofing and large industrial hanging lights. The waste processing machine doesn’t seem to fit right with the old style of the building but as Director Richard Lloyd agreed it is good to reuse an old building rather than build new – in-keeping with his business of reuse and recycling.
Richard Lloyd estimates that of the total amount of waste going to Kate Valley Landfill approximately a third could still be recovered and recycled. Richard has developed a site that has the potential to process more dry waste than they are currently taking (Becon is only processing 30% of the current Christchurch market at the moment). The Becon RMF focusses on construction, demolition and industrial dry waste streams. When asked what the spilt between household waste and commercial waste is Richard stated a surprising 3.8% for just households! Although, Richard stated that “kerbside recycling punches above it’s weight class…as it is a valuable educational tool.” So, the bulk of waste that the citizens of Canterbury produce is business, construction or demolition related. Items such as concrete, glass, untreated timber, packaging and plastics are all included.
Richard Lloyd is passionate about his business, about recovering wastes and making the environment a better place for his children.
Here are some photos from the visit:
 The Start of the Recovery Process  The sorting machine  Sorted piles of plastic and timber  Baled Paper  Becon Director Richard Lloyd with chipped timber  What can't be recovered goes to Kate Valley Landfill You can see more photos from the visit on our Flickr site here.
*All images Copyright SIFT
Tags: Becon, cardboard, diverting waste from landfill, Dry Waste, landfill, plastic, recovery, recycling, reduce, reuse, Richard Lloyd, Rmf, timber, waste
Posted in Business & Sustainability, Waste Management | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010 by Admin
On Monday afternoon I attended the opening of Mastagard and Southern Demolition’s new Eco-Recycling Plant. Centrally located just down from AMI Stadium on Wilsons Road the new transfer recycling facility is a joint venture between Mastagard and Southern Demolition. It will take paper, cardboard, magazines, plastic film, plastic bottles, timber, steel, Gib board, concrete and green waste “leaving the bear minimum going to landfill”. Mastagard sees this new transfer facility as a solution to increasing recycling and reuse of waste products. The eco-recycling transfer station is open to businesses, waste operators and the community.
It was a rather chilly afternoon for the opening but the highlight was the Hon. Rodney Hide (National MP) arriving in a Canterbury Waste Services truck! He said that he is “proud and pleased to declare the new transfer station open” and “it is good to see businesses making money while doing good”.
Mastagard’s General Manager Sebastian Stapleton sees the need for “responsible and progressive leadership within our industry”. We agree that the waste industry does need start taking the lead (and to work collaboratively) on providing solutions for reducing our impact on the environment – this new eco-recycling transfer facility is a good example of this. Ofcourse as we have said before the best way to reduce waste is to reduce consumption.
Here are a few key quotes from Mastagard General Manager Sebastian Stapleton:
- The goal is to be a professional, dependable, highly efficient environmental solutions provider.
- It is incredibly important that we are able to create a closed loop recycling process with accountability and integrity.
- It’s no longer acceptable for a person, business or waste collection company to put material in the right coloured bins and simply assume that someone has recovered it and processed it in accordance with environmental best practice.
Mastagard have recovered materials processing sites across the city (they also collect all of the recyclables from Westland). Their Wigram site processes construction and demolition materials such as Gib board which is turned into powder for use in fertiliser and concrete which is separated into grades for re-use in roading and construction. Their Bromley site processes cardboard and organics as well as plastics such as the Plasback Product Stewardship Scheme collection of baleage wrap. The plastics recycling facility was opened last year and you can see photos from that launch here. Southern Demolition is the South Island’s largest demolition and demolition waste recoverer.
Congratulations to Mastagard and Southern Demolition for taking Canterbury a step closer towards a sustainable future. Their work in waste recovery along with all the other industry players will help us to reduce our waste and the impact that has on our environment.
You can view photos of my site visit to Mastagard’s Bromley processing station here.
Photos below from the launch are from my phone so not too good. Good photos to come.
 Hon. Rodney Hide arriving  Emcee Jim Hopkins and Mastagard GM Sebastian Stapleton  Hon. Rodney Hide and Emcee Jim Hopkins  Baled Gloss Paper from Mastagard  HDPE Plastic Milk Bottles from Mastagard  HDPE Recycled Plastic Pellets from Mastagard  Plastic Waste film from Mastagard
Tags: cardboard, landfill, Mastagard, paper, plastics, recycling, Rodney Hide, Southern Demolition, waste
Posted in Events, News on Sustainability, Sustainability in Action, Waste Management | No Comments »
Friday, March 26th, 2010 by Admin
 No Frills Just Refills - WWF NZ Eco-Competition Winners It’s been rather a busy one this week. Lots of projects on the going that lets SIFT continue on its journey of being a catalyst for change in reducing how much of our waste goes here.
But, from around the world, there have come up some inspiring, interesting, informative, innovative and impactful ideas including these:
- More ideas for reducing your disposables use from The Good Human.
- Green postcards perfect for that arty yet greeny someone.
- Hello! Glass Straws – perfect idea – no more plastic straws! – Just don’t forget to get a little brush cleaner too!
- Excellent Life Cycle Analysis of washable versus disposable nappies.
- Making it cool – we all know that the best way to change behaviour is to make it cool – check out this video of some extreme recycling – love it!
- Make Do and Play – great new website on making do with what you have and adding a few reusable connector items for some great play time.
- Haven’t tried this yet but looks like an excellent reuse of cardboard – the cardboard laptop stand.
- Waste Art = Judith Selby Land and Richard Lang collect beach plastic and turn it into sculptures.
- A great video on Recycling bed mattresses – is this being done here in NZ anywhere?
- Millions and millions of disposable coffee cups end up in landfill each year so Starbucks is sponsoring a Betacup design competition to find a solution. We have a source that says that 4.75 million non recyclable non-biodegradable coffee cups are landfilled each year in NZ – yikes! We look forward to seeing the winning solution. Also Starbucks are planning to have only reusable or recyclable coffee cups by 2015 – good move.
- A very simple and easy to understand blog post from Simply Organic on how to make your own compost.
- Are you a knitter or crafter? Ever thought of havesting the yarn from second hand jumpers? Great post on how to here. It will save you money and have less of an impact on the environment.
- Another great Re-Nest find, Nature’s Paper. Paper made in Australia from left over wheat straw – genius idea!
- And finally the WWF New Zealand Eco-Design competition has a winner – No Frills Just Refills. A new milk bottle design for supermarkets that is 100% recyclable and reusable and with a self-service milk station (the 21st century Milk Bar?) to cut down on emissions from transportaion and production of plastic milk bottles. Plus, the design is excellent. This is the kind of innovation New Zealand needs to become more sustainable. Congratulations to the team – we would definitely buy this from our supermarket!
Tags: art, behaviour change, cardboard, change, compost, eco, glass, green, Kate Valley Landfill, landfill, Life Cycle Analysis, nappies, plastic, play, reduce, reuse, reycling, SIFT, Starbucks, waste, wheat paper, WWF New Zealand
Posted in Friday favourites, News on Sustainability, Sustainability in Action, Waste Management | No Comments »
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