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Friday, July 15th, 2011 by Admin
 Transglass Bottles via This Is Glamourous Yesterday at the SIFT July Board Meeting the Trustees voted in a new trustee. We welcomed Dairne Poole to the team which now brings the trustee numbers up to 5. Hopefully, in the near future we will do a little post on her and her thoughts for SIFT but for the moment we welcome her as a great new addition to help SIFT achieve its objectives.
Here are a few cool links we have found this week:
Have a great waste free weekend.
Tags: Beehive, Dairne Poole, food, Friday favourites, glass, mfe, Poetry Bombing, reuse, seeds, SIFT, slow living, trustees, WMF
Posted in Friday favourites, SIFT | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 7th, 2011 by Admin
 Source: Rotorura District Council As discussed in a recent blog post, hazardous waste is any waste that poses a risk to people and/or the environment. Here are some statistics on hazardous waste within New Zealand and an already existing initiative, Hazmobile, which helps communities in Auckland dispose of their household hazardous waste.
In 2007-2008, the Ministry for the Environment surveyed four national landfill sites and presented the waste composition figures. Potentially hazardous waste came in at a high 14% of the waste surveyed -that is a massive amount, considering that in 2006 alone, an estimated 3.156million tonnes of waste went to landfill! More here.
New Zealand is held under the jurisdictions of the Basel Convention, which governs which wastes require permits in regards to importation/exportation.
Exporting: In New Zealand, there are currently thirteen permits which have been issued to companies operating within New Zealand to export hazardous waste. The types of hazardous waste range from printer toner to lamps containing mercury. Between these companies, there is permit to import a total of over 30,000 tonnes of waste!
Importing: Currently there are 24 permits that have been issued to companies operating within New Zealand to import hazardous waste. Ranging from oil to construction wastes, the companies are permitted to export a total of just under 10,000 tonnes! A full list of importers/exporters here.
Hazmobile: Hazmobile is a free service for householders wishing to safely dispose of hazardous waste including: oils, chemicals, batteries and solvents. The Hazmobile operates throughout Northland area with specific collection dates within communities and several permanent drop-off facilities. The waste is disposed of safely and recycled wherever possible. To date, Hazmobile has collected over one thousand loads of hazardous waste! Read more about Hazmobile.
Tags: basel convention, hazardous waste, Hazmobile, MED, mfe, SIFT, toxics
Posted in Waste Management | No Comments »
Friday, April 29th, 2011 by Admin
 Arthur Williamson With his 80th birthday just around the corner in May and after seven years on the SIFT Board of Trustees, it is time to say good bye to Arthur Williamson as a SIFT trustee. Arthur has a breadth of knowledge which has seen him play an integral role in over-seeing the governance of SIFT and our many and varied projects over the years. As the former head of Chemical and Process Engineering and Dean of Engineering at the University of Canterbury, as well as being the founder of one of New Zealand’s leading manufacturers of solar heating equipment, Thermocell Limited, Arthur not only has a valuable science background, but also holds a vast knowledge on what it takes to successfully run an environmentally sustainable business.
We spoke to Arthur to find out about his favourite SIFT projects, what he hopes for Canterbury’s sustainable business future and what his plans are for his retirement years.
Do you have a memorable SIFT project that you enjoyed working on the most?
The Waste 2 Energy (W2E) project that we have on at the moment because it has developed so much over time and the project itself presents some very interesting opportunities.
Is there a particular environmental issue facing Canterbury that you like to see tackled by a local business?
Not specific to Canterbury, but the country needs to get onto overall renewable fuels and transport systems; otherwise we will be in trouble in the very near future.
Do you have any specific hopes for Christchurch’s central city rebuild?
I hope that a group will get together that will produce an integrated sustainable development programme for the city.
What are your plans for the future, now that you have retired from your position on the Board of Trustees?
Do a few more things that I want to do!
Many thanks to Arthur from the Sustainable Initiatives Fund board of trustees and management for his advice, support, expertise and excellent engineering and energetics knowledge that have been very useful. We hope that you enjoy doing all that you now wish to do.
Tags: Arthur Williamson, christchurch, energetics, future, rebuild, renewables, retirement, SIFT, trustees, University of Canterbury
Posted in SIFT | No Comments »
Monday, March 7th, 2011 by Admin
The cordon in Christchurch CBD was reduced yesterday afternoon allowing many residents and businesses to return to their homes/offices to secure buildings and get what they needed from them. Being in Green Zone 1 I was able to go into town yesterday afternoon to assess the damage and pick up work and office things in order to make it easier to work from home.
The carpark is full of silt, dust and mounds of liquefaction that didn’t crack through the surface of the concrete. Every office has a broken window where the building assessment teams got in to check the stability and safety – thankfully ours has a green sticker – and the whole place just has a massive emptiness to it.
SIFT is still operational even though we are not working out of that office at the moment.
Here are some photos of the inside of our office:
You can’t quite see it from the photo above but the office desks have moved about half a metre out from the wall.
The glass board table took 5 burley blokes to move in pieces. This one middle section piece of glass will need to be lifted by at least 4 people in order to put it back in place. It has moved out a couple of inches and I think the whole table moved towards the right wall.
And although this was a shock to look at it is nothing compared to the destruction of other buildings, people’s homes and the lives of the residents of Christchurch. It will take a long time to rebuild.
Tags: christchurch, damage, Earthquake, office, SIFT, Sustainable Initiatives Fund Trust
Posted in SIFT | No Comments »
Thursday, February 24th, 2011 by Admin
Due to the earthquake in Christchurch on Tuesday the SIFT office is closed until further notice. But we are still online so if you need to contact us please email
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. All our staff are safe and well. Our thoughts go out to the people of Christchurch dealing with the aftermath of the earthquake and to those people who are helping our city at this time.
Tags: Christchurch earthquake, closed, office, SIFT
Posted in SIFT | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 9th, 2011 by Admin
 PrattWhitney Air New Zealand Engineering Centre Electroplating Workshop A new project we have added to the projects page of our website is the funding of Tech Design and Consultancy Ltd, with a $5,000 grant to assist with a feasibility study, prototype trials and patent searches for their heavy metal filtration system, carried out in 2010. The focus of the project was to determine the effectiveness of using a modified wool copolymer product to filter out heavy metals that are commonly discharged into the rinse water stream from the electroplating industry. In Christchurch, the waste currently enters the Bromley sludge ponds, or is deposited into the ocean via offshore pipelines.
This project is an example of a waste stream that not many people will be thinking about. A waste stream from the manufacturing of a certian element of a product and there must be so much more like this that have a massive impact on the environment but we just can’t see it. Mostly because we only buy the product in its final stage. This is where cradle to cradle , full product life cycle impact analysis, product stewardship schemes and business leadership and responsibility is crucial in really reducing the waste produced from the stuff we buy and the impact it has on the environment.
Read more about the Tech Design project.
Tags: consumption, cradle to cradle, electroplating, Life Cycle Analysis, manufacturing waste, products, SIFT, Tech Design, waste
Posted in SIFT Projects | No Comments »
Tuesday, February 1st, 2011 by Admin
The funding that we provide from our trust funds is normally in the form of either a grant, a loan or an equity invesment (or a combination of all types). Because the loans that we make are to achieve our trust objectives (to reduce waste to landfill, improve the health of the environment and create sustainable development of Canterbury businesses) these are social loans or social lending (also called social finance).
Social Lending is a relatively new term to New Zealand, but growing in use as a term and in use by organisations. It has been utilised within the UK and USA for at least a couple of decades by such organisations as Triodos and Self Help. There is a solid group of social lenders in New Zealand (including Prometheus and the Tindall Foundation, to name a couple) who are focussed on helping their communities – rather than giving them a hand out focussing on giving them more of a helping hand through empowerment. I had the pleasure of meeting some of them at a social lender’s forum in December (organised by Philanthropy NZ).
Social lending is defined as “a tool to empower communities, organisations, families and individuals. It is a way to fund projects, buildings, businesses, ideas and dreams” ( Benedict, L (2010). Social Lending: A tool for grantmakers, an opportunity for communities, Ian Axford (New Zealand) Fellowships in Public Policy).
And that is exactly what SIFT does. We fund projects and provide businesses and individuals with advice and support around achieving their projects. For some we start off by with a grant to fund a feasibility study or develop a commercial business model, for others it is a loan for a machine that will recycle a waste and for others it is an equity investment in their company that has a great idea or business plan to reduce waste in a new, unique and innovative way but just needs some capital to make it happen.
The future for SIFT is to focus more on social lending and equity investments to have more of an impact on the enviroment and to achieve our trust objectives. This may also require collaboration and co-funding with other investors and organisations to create even greater impact. We will still be a grantmaker and give funding that requires only a social and environmental return but social lending will continue to grow in New Zealand as a great tool for our communities to achieve a sustainable future, and SIFT will be apart of that.
An excellent explanation on social lending in New Zealand is Laura Benedict’s research report (below and referenced above).
Benedict, L (2010). Social Lending: A tool for grantmakers, an opportunity for communities
Another great read is Forces for Good: The six practices of highly impactful non-profits by Leslie R. Crutchfield and Heather McLeod Grant (2007).
Tags: co-funding, Ian Axford Fellowship, Prometheus, return, Self Help, SIFT, social finance, social lending, Triodos
Posted in Business & Sustainability, social lending | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 26th, 2011 by Admin
For the start of the New Year we have asked the SIFT team for their green resolutions (or just one!) for 2011. This one is from SIFT’s new Administration/Marketing/Research assistant (you need to be a bit of a Jill of all trades at SIFT!) Angela Coley-Brown:
“My new years resolution is to make room for a vege garden in our new home, which is currently being built. The one in our rental has been extremely successful and we love eating our own produce!”
 Reuben Brown in his vege patch
Tags: green resolutions, SIFT, vegetable garden
Posted in Pratical Action, SIFT | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 19th, 2011 by Admin
 Plasback Scheme Mgr Chris Hartshorne & Agpac GM Chris Dawson Earlier in the week Plasback’s Chris Hartshorne (of the Agpac/Plasback project that SIFT funded – more here and here for the blog post on the TV3 story) announced that they have exported 30 tonnes of plastic resin to Australia and Korea. This plastic resin is made up of the on-farm waste plastics that they have collected, such as used baleage wrap.
Chris Hartshorne stated:
“Our on-farm collection service and the tonnage of waste plastic we collected grew considerably last year and we expect that trend to continue in 2011. More farmers and contractors have joined Plasback, and those who use the recycling scheme are learning how to maximise the efficiency of the collection service and minimise their costs. Plasback is a user pays scheme. There are no expensive levies placed on manufacturers or importers as we place greater emphasis on adding value to the waste stream as this in turn supports the collections from farms”.
“The government of NZ emphasises that product stewardship is the way of the future. The means manufacturers and consumers take responsibility for the full life of the products they use. The Plasback scheme plays an important role in helping the rural sector look after the environment that they and we all depend upon.”
Congratulations to Chris and the Plasback team – this is a great win for the environment and great leap forward for Product Stewardship in New Zealand.
14012011 Agpac Media Release Plasback resin sale
Tags: agpac, farm, funding, Plasback, plastic, Product Stewardship Schemes, projects, SIFT
Posted in Business & Sustainability, SIFT Projects | No Comments »
Monday, January 17th, 2011 by Admin
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 (
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) 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
Tags: 2011, competition, compost bin, green resolution, plastic, SIFT, Sulo Talbot
Posted in Pratical Action, SIFT, Sustainability in Action | No Comments »
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