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Posts Tagged ‘reduce’
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 »
Thursday, February 18th, 2010 by Admin
 Simon Evans - Everything I Have One of the key drivers of waste is unneccessary and/or over consumption. A great way for any individual or business to start to reduce waste is to take stock first. There could be boxes of paper in a cupboard you forgot about, half used packets of pasta in the panty, four rolls of tin foil, old cell phones, unused socks pushed to the back of the drawer, a shirt with a missing button that just needs sewing back on, office chairs that could be refurbished, unused stationery etc. So, instead of buying “another one” ‘cos this one has a hole in it/I can’t find it/it’s easier/I can’t remember if I have any/it’s trendy etc… take stock and look around at what “stuff” you have already.
Taking stock, making an inventory will help you to work out exactly what you need to buy. You might find that you have last season’s clothes that are perfectly fine to wear again or clothes that need a minor mend, a large stash of stationery, a couch that can be recovered instead of buying a new one, lots of food to eat (reducing your shopping list), a range of office furniture that can be utilised or sold etc.
Take stock like artist Simon Evans who created a piece called Everything I Have by taking a photo of every single item he owns. It puts how much stuff you have into perspective.
Taking stock is apart of the first step of waste minimisation – recognise what you buy and then what you waste.
 Simon Evans - Everything I Have
Tags: business, consumption, Everything I Have, inventory, reduce, Simon Evans, waste
Posted in Sustainability in Action, Waste Management, art | 1 Comment »
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 »
Thursday, February 4th, 2010 by Admin
An often blogged about business that is taking a lead on selling products with little or no packaging is London’s Unpackaged store. Set up in 2006 to provide a better way to sell food you can only purchase items if you bring your own refillable storage containers with you. There are some items in cans and glass that can be recycled for purcahse and we love the wooden crates and super large paper bags that contain a range of fruit and vege. They only stock products that are good for the environment. As they say on their website recycling will not be enough to reduce the amount of packaging waste that goes to landfill so we need to consume items with little or no packaging first – again it’s about reducing our consumption to reduce our waste.
 Source: Unpackaged  Source: Unpackaged  Source: Unpackaged  Source: Unpackaged For those living in Christchurch Piko (and Lyttle Piko in Lyttleton) is probably the closest wholefoods store that we have that also has a policy of bring your own refillable containers. Last year they celebrated their 30th birthday and are now a favourite of many who live sustainably. As well as great bulk produce (some organic) they have a great range of seeds (for growing your own produce – no packaging), fair trade goodies and organic goods. There is some packaging but most can be recycled. If you need to use a bag they have brown paper bags which can go straight in the compost.
Keep a look out for other ways to shop with less packaging – visit farmer’s markets, fruit and vege stores that package in old cardboard boxes, grow/make your own, reusable bags for the supermarket (especially reuse those plastic bulk bin bags) and recycle what packaging you do get. And for businesses – start looking at the amount of packaging you produce for your product (or service) and think of ways to reduce or provide packaging that can be recycled (or returned to you for recycling as part of a Product Stewardship scheme) or better yet – can you do without packaging?
Reduce First, Reuse Second, Recycle Third and then only landfill if you really have to.
Tags: community, landfill, packaging waste, Piko, recycle, reduce, reuse, sustainable, sustainable living, unpackaged, waste
Posted in Sustainability in Action, Waste Management | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 by Admin
A growing trend amongst households in New Zealand is making cleaning products and skincare. Not only does this eliminate nasty, toxic chemicals (both for humans and the environment), it can save money and reduce packaging waste. And this is not new. For hundreds of years herbs and flowers were used to produce skincare and clean houses (as well as basics like baking soda, vinegar and lemons). But, with a growing desire to live more sustainably more people are taking back control and making there own products again. Books such as New Zealander Wendyl Nissen’s Domestic Goddess on a Budget and the UK’s James Wong’s Grow your own Drugs are only a couple of great sources of recipes and ideas that are available.
Recently, Linda brought in her own homemade goodies made with essential oils so they smell divine – washing liquid, fabric softener, room sprays, spray cleaner, moisturisers and a scrub. She said it is really easy and you can make it in bulk. And if you reuse old bottles you cut down on packaging waste – which we love!
The simplicity of this way of living and the cost savings is what is attracting householders to do it. As well as the better quality product, there are environmental benefits. A great example of this is a story about Loburn resident Lesandre Paris in last week’s Northern Outlook. The story, written by Laura Melville, talks about how Ms Paris is making her own cleaning and beauty products (including toothpaste and shampoo) to save money and reduce her family’s impact on the environment. She hopes to run some classes for members of the community too. She is quoted as saying “I wanted to do this and I wanted to teach other people and to stop throwing away recyclable products…I think it is really important that lots of people are coming back to the basics”.
So, if householders can think innovatively to develop a sustainable future for New Zealand can businesses? We need everyday businesses with clever, simple ideas like this that will reduce waste to landfill and create a healthier environment for us all to live in. Householders’ attitudes are changing but what about businesses? Would love to hear any stories you might have.
All photos copyright SIFT.
Tags: beauty, businesses, cleaning, community, homemade, James Wong, landfill, linda norris, Northern Outlook, products, reduce, skincare, sustainable living, waste, Wendyl Nissen
Posted in Sustainability in Action, Waste Management | No Comments »
Thursday, January 28th, 2010 by Admin
Recently, the government announced that the city and district councils around the country (73 in all) will receive the first payment from the Waste Minimisation Fund of $3 million dollars. The Waste Minimisation Fund is made up of the levies taken from landfills from around the country.
“The Waste Minimisation Act discourages waste disposal by imposing a levy of $10 per tonne of waste on disposal facilities such as landfills. Half of the money collected is allocated to councils on a population basis to spend on minimising waste in their area and the remaining levy money, minus administration costs, is made available for waste projects and education through the Waste Minimisation Fund.” said Environment Minister Hon. Dr. Nick Smith.
Here is how much each council will get in Canterbury:
- Christchurch City Council $263,175
- Timaru District Council $32,378
- Waimakariri District Council $32,353
- Selwyn District Council $25,428
- Ashburton District Council $20,674
- Hurunui District Council $7,913
- Kaikoura District Council $2,735
That’s a total of $384,656. Even though this is an excellent use of the levy from landfills the question is – will this money be enough to fund priority waste minimisation projects across Canterbury councils? Will it be enough to make a real and lasting difference to our waste?
More information here and here.
 The Kate Valley Landfill site looking South-East
Tags: funding, landfill, levy, mfe, ministry for the environment, Nick Smith, reduce, waste, Waste Minimisation Act
Posted in News on Sustainability, Waste Management | No Comments »
Thursday, December 24th, 2009 by Admin
 RecycleNow.org Cardboard Christmas Tree Merry Christmas to all who have been reading our blog posts for the past few months. Have a wonderful Christmas break what ever you end up doing and don’t forget to be conscious about the waste you will be producing (reduce, reuse, recycle). We are looking forward to relaxing in the Summer weather and recharging for a super busy 2010. We have lots of plans and projects in place to continue reducing the amount of waste that goes to Canterbury’s landfills and look forward to sharing the successes and challenges here.
We will be signing off from the blog for a few weeks and won’t be back in the office till the 18th of January.
Until then Merry Christmas and all the best for a sustainable 2010.
Tags: Christmas, consumption, diverting waste from landfill, office, recycle, reduce, reuse, SIFT, waste
Posted in SIFT | 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 | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 by Admin
Only 3.5 days to go to enter the e-waste competition so get your entry in now. We have two iPod Nanos as the prizes and you can enter online here.
We have already had some great entries but would love to get some more ideas.
Tags: competition, consumption, diverting waste from landfill, ewaste, recycle, reduce, reuse, SIFT
Posted in SIFT Projects, Waste Management | No Comments »
Thursday, November 12th, 2009 by Admin
 Kiwi Christmas Card from Mapua Trading Co Seems a little odd to be thinking of Christmas this far out but in order to reduce waste for Christmas you need to do a little bit of planning. Here are a few ideas on how to reduce waste this Christmas (and will help save $ too):
- Christmas Cards – Christmas Cards are the first Christmas task to think about (especially with looming postal dates for overseas friends and family (only a couple of weeks to go). The Packaging Accord estimates that 68 million christmas cards were sent last year which is a lot of trees! Look through your house for any unused Christmas cards and send those, or save last year’s Christmas cards and use the front as your card or make your own cards out of card, fabric, buttons, felt, paint, crayons – what ever is already in your house. If you have children involve them too. They can draw Christmas designs on each of the cards. If you need to buy Christmas cards and envelopes buy those made from recycled paper, made with vegetable dyes and can be composted. Try FernbirdEcostore or Vanilla Soul.
- Any left over food goes into the compost bin. Cooked meats are great for sandwiches for lunches following Christmas day or maybe have a vegetarian Christmas for even lower environmental impact (don’t forget to go organic and free range as much as possible especially the Turkey).
- Use old Christmas Cards as present tags.
- For zero waste Christmas Cards send e-cards instead. Try Paperless Post.
- Wrapping paper – use what you have already, use recycled paper or use newspaper. Only wrapping paper that can be recycled or composted (as most traditional Christmas paper can’t be recycled or composted due to the gloss on the paper and the inks).
- Or try furoshiki – the Japanese tradition of wrapping your presents in reusable cloth.
- Give presents with zero to minimal packaging such as “experience” presents or vegetable seedlings, potted plants or baking.
- Bake and make your own candy.
- Buy a potted Christmas tree that you can reuse over and over for a few years. If you buy a cut down tree remember to put in your Green Bin (if it fits!) or take it to one of the ecodepots in Christchurch (or your local refuse station).
- Use only the decorations you have already or make decorations out of paper bits and old material.
- Buy vintage, second hand or regift an old present.
- Or better yet buy a product that has recycled content – made from something else. Some great ideas here from Mapua Trading Co.
- If you need extra plates, cups and cutlery use compostable products not plastic.
- Make your own crackers. Start saving old toilet paper or paper towel rolls, use old wrapping paper, tissue and ribbon for the outside. You can pick up cracker making kits at local craft stores that will have the cracker element and then add some fair trade chocolate and hand write some jokes or quotes ( there are plenty on the Internet). Then the paper, cardboard rolls and outer wrapping can go in the compost bin.
Christmas is more about family, food and being together than having to worry about giving each other more “stuff” covered in wasted packaging. Give a gift because you care but give a gift that is also careful on the environment. A little bit of planning now will make a difference and create a healthier Christmas that everyone will enjoy. Remember to first reduce your consumption, then reuse what you have already and then recycle.
Love this 12 days to a greener Christmas from the Hawkes Bay Regional Council too.
Tags: Christmas, christmas cards, consumption, diverting waste from landfill, environmental sustainability, furoshiki, landfill, mapua trading co, paperless post, plastics, presents, recycling, reduce, reuse, second hand, vintage, waste, wrapping paper
Posted in Sustainability in Action, Waste Management | No Comments »
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