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Posts Tagged ‘compost’
Thursday, April 5th, 2012 by Admin
We all are guilty of wasting food, and we all know that food waste is going on. How many times have you looked in your fridge to discover leftovers that weren’t eaten fast enough, or vegetables going mouldy before you had the chance to eat them?
It happens to the best of us, but trying to cut down on food waste is incredibly important for a whole host of reasons. It will save you money and it will be better for the environment (because heaps of food waste just goes to landfills, instead of being composted). Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: compost, consumption, food waste
Posted in Friday favourites, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Friday, February 4th, 2011 by Admin
 Source: Free Fashion Challenge The Life of Clothes February is here already! Here are a few of the interesting waste and sustainability links we have found this week for you to enjoy at the end of the first week of February.
- Green Growth Fund initiative announced.
- New Clean Air goal posts.
- The BlueGreens Key note speech from the Hon. Dr. Nick Smith last weekend in Akaroa.
- Public input requested for new National Policy Statement on Biodiversity
Have a great waste free weekend. Are you trying anything new to reduce your waste this weekend?
Tags: Beehive, biodegradable, BlueGreens, compost, Friday favourites, My Plastic Free Life, packaging, PET, plastic, Ted Talks, textiles, waste, Zero Waste Home
Posted in Friday favourites | 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 »
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 by Admin
So SIFT was in need of a vacuum cleaner. Something small and not too pricey to keep the floors clean. After of a bit of research I found the Electrolux Ultra Silencer Green vacuum cleaner made of 55% recycled material. Now that would be a SIFT worthy vacuum cleaner – nice to dream. After doing the rounds at the local stores I found one and on special – so pleased, couldn’t believe that I wouldn’t have to settle for a lesser more environmentally impactful option!
 Electrolux Ultra Silencer Green Vacuum Not only is it made of 55% recyled materials but it is 90% recyclable and comes with minimal packaging – nearly all of which can be recycled. It is also energy efficient, small and quiet, which is great for an office.
We are not big consumers here at SIFT so when we do consume it is so great to be able to purchase a product that meets both your needs and the needs of the environment – as well as complementing your brand. And it does a great vacuum too! It should last us many years.
It is also great to see corporations that provide every day items adding a product that does have less impact on the environment and they are actually looking into its lifecycle. Maybe all of Electrolux’s vacuum cleaners could be like this.
The only downside is it does have bags. But, apparently the new design S-bag (we were given a long lasting synthetic version) will last 50% longer than a paper bag. But, it will need to go to landfill whereas a paper bag you could put in the compost (as long as you removed any non compostable items from the bag). With our low usage it is unlikely that we will be sending lots of bags to landfill.
Has anyone else come across an everyday item that is made from recycled materials?
Tags: compost, Electrolux Ultra Silencer Green, environment, landfil, S-bag, SIFT, vacuum cleaner, waste
Posted in Sustainability in Action | No Comments »
Thursday, February 11th, 2010 by Admin
 Source: Inhabitat but taken by Yann Arthus-Bertrand for the Earth from Above series Around a billion Valentine’s Day cards are sent globally each year – about a quarter of all seasonal cards and then think of all those flowers and boxed chocolates covered in plastic and unrecyclable packaging! (Source here).
A no waste Valentine’s Day could consist of the following:
- Handmade card out of what you can find at home (or a recycled paper card).
- Homemade baking and/or dinner, breakfast or even lunch.
- Only give presents with no, minimal or recyclable packaging or an experience gift like a romantic walk or night in a bed and breakfast.
- Give flowers from the garden – lots of roses still out in flower. And steer clear of any unnecessary packaging or that green oasis which goes straight to landfill. Get the flowers wrapped in plain paper (that can be reused or composted) or biodegradable cellophane.
- Give a hug (no packaging or waste at all!).
- Give a second hand or vintage gift (like vintage jewellery).
- Ensure you compost the flowers once they have died (and check where the flowers are coming from to reduce your impact on the environment).
- Buy fair trade organic chocolate – like Green and Blacks.
- Or the gift that keeps on giving like books (on FSC certified paper) or plants.
- Take your valentine to the new Valentine’s Day movie which has been produced with the environment in mind during production reducing their carbon emissions by 67 tonnes and reusing 350 water bottles instead of 21,000 throw away plastic bottles. Read more about how Warner Brother’s Greened their production here.
Love to know any other ideas that for a green Valentine’s Day.
Tags: baking, books, cards, compost, experience, flowers, green valentines day, homemade, hug, movie, packaging, recyle, reduce, reuse, valentine's day, Warner Brothers, waste
Posted in Sustainability in Action, Waste Management | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 by Admin
 CCC Organics Ever wondered where your waste actually goes? If you live in Christchurch you can now watch two online videos of the organic and recycling facilities in Christchurch.
A press release from the City Council’s Mark Christison states that due to the new three bin recycling system and the organic and recycling facilties Christchurch is on track to meet its target of “diverting an additional 42,000 tonnes of rubbish from going to landfill.”
“Watch the five minute Organics Processing Plant [movie] to follow the journey of your green wheelie bin organic waste, such as household food scraps and vegetation, takes when it’s collected from your home. Giant tunnel like ovens convert thousands of tonnes of material into compost and huge tractor-like machines, called scarabs, turn the compost when it’s outside.” says Mark Christison.
 CCC Recycling You can also see what happens to all the cardboard, paper, glass, steel tins, aluminium cans and plastic containers in the movie that follows the yellow wheelie bin for recycling. Mark Christison says “It is truly a fascinating insight into the inner workings of Christchurch City Council’s Materials Recovery Facility.”
Both movies are simple and easy to follow – a great visual for where our waste goes.
The movies are here on the Love Your Rubbish website.
Tags: bins, CCC, compost, landfill, Mark Christison, movies, organic, recycling, waste
Posted in Sustainability in Action, Waste Management | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 by Admin
If you live in Timaru you might be interested to know that you can buy compost for your garden from the Redruth transfer station. All food and garden waste that is sent to the landfill in Timaru gets turned into great compost for gardens – great for those lovely Timaru roses. You can also drop off any unwanted reusable items to the Crows Nest (a second hand store like the Supershed here in Christchurch) and then pick up a bag of compost at the same time!
Timaru District Council has a plan to achieve zero waste to landfill by 2015 and you can help this by composting your green waste (if you don’t do it at home yourself). You can find more information about Timaru District Council’s waste plan and key information on bins and collection here.
 TransPacific Waste Truck  Compost from Timaru transfer station  Compost close up
Tags: compost, Crows Nest, landfill, Redruth, roses, Timaru, Timaru District Council, waste, zero waste
Posted in Waste Management | No Comments »
Friday, December 18th, 2009 by Admin
This year we have made our Christmas decorations out of paper that we were going to recycle. Paper chains, paper snowflakes and a paper/cardboard snowflake wreath. The paper chains are being held together by a no-staple stapler (no unnecessary use of steel for staples). The wreath is from old cardboard, paper, a bit of glue and paper raffia from the handle of an old bag for the bow. A little bit of deft cutting and we have a lovely little Christmas theme all from waste paper! And it can all be composted on our return from holidays. A good bit of sustainability and creative craftiness in action.
Might look to match the heat with the theme next year though!
 Wreath and paper chain
 DIY snowflake wreath  Snowflakes
Tags: Christmas, compost, decorations, paper, recycle, SIFT, snowflakes, waste, wreath
Posted in SIFT, Sustainability in Action | No Comments »
Thursday, December 17th, 2009 by Admin
At SIFT we are all about waste, reducing how much we have and finding new uses for what we do make. We thought you might like to see what we do with our waste at the SIFT offices. As you can see in the photo below the biggest bin is for recycling plastic, paper, cardboard, glass and cans. All these items are processed with in different ways. Some are processed on shore and some are baled and sent overseas for processing (like glass). This will be emptied weekly into our yellow wheelie bin outside and if we forget to put it kerbside for pick up it can take a month to fill up. Knowing that some of our “recycling” waste goes off shore is also an incentive for reducing this too.
The next smallest bin on the left is our compost bin. All our tea bags, tissues, brown paper bags, toilet rolls and left over food from lunches goes into this bin and is taken to Linda’s compost bin on her farm in Loburn. The worms love it.
And lastly, the tiny mini wheelie bin in the middle is for Kate Valley landfill. This is everything that can’t be recycled, reused or composted. Things like staples, cellotape, courier bags and filmy plastic. It is kept this small to remind us to reduce what we send to Kate Valley and to remind us that our waste does go somewhere. It probably gets emptied fortnightly into the red wheelie bin outside.
We also have a shredder (not shown) for confidential documents and this paper is also taken to Linda’s compost bin.
As well as reducing waste we are conscious of what we bring into the office. Being conscious of what you consume, the packaging and where your waste goes is the first step in reducing your waste. We are a small team but still have an impact on waste. We would love to know what you do in your work to reduce waste and be more sustainable too.
 SIFT's Rubbish System L-R Compost, Kate Valley Landfill, Recycling
Tags: compost, consumption, Kate Valley Landfill, recycling, reduce, SIFT, waste
Posted in SIFT, Sustainability in Action, Waste Management | No Comments »
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