Source: Flickr speckled_beckle's photostream

Yesterday, most of the 164 applications for funding for waste project(s) from the Ministry for the Environment’s Waste Minimisation Fund would have received a letter telling them their application has been turned down. Congratulations to the 29 who did make it through to the next stage – we are interested to see what these projects are. If this was you and your project is based in Canterbury have you thought about approaching the Sustainable Initiatives Fund for assistance?

The purpose of the Waste Minimisation Fund is not too dissimilar to the objectives of the Sustainable Initiatives Fund Trust. The WMF was developed to boost New Zealand’s performance in waste minimisation through educational, promotional, technological or infrastructure projects. The objectives of the Sustainable Initiatitives Fund Trust are about reducing or avoiding waste that goes specifically to Canterbury’s landfills through new technology/process or recovering new waste streams or by developing new products or technologies out of recovered materials. Other sub-objectives include creating useful sustainable educational applications from the products or technologies that are developed and/or creating sustainable energy products out of waste and/or creating sustainable job opportunties and contributing positively to Canterbury’s economy. The Sustainable Initiatives Fund Trust is apart of a new generation of social lenders with the primary motivation of reducing negative environmental impacts – decreasing waste to landfill.

We have a number of projects on the go at the moment that are a mix of grants, loans and equity investments and cover a range of waste streams and issues. You can check out more of our past projects here.

We had a board meeting yesterday and again the board reiterated that projects need to show their reduction in environmental impact first and foremost. We are super keen to see the waste reduction numbers for the waste stream your project deals with.

If you have an idea that requires financial assistance we may be able to help. Call myself (Olivia Day, General Manager) to discuss if you are eligible and if we can help. Our number is 03 3655655.

Brenda Harkin is the National Communications Manager and the Manager of the Central & Southern Regions for the Sustainable Business Network, of which SIFT is a member. The Sustainable Business Network pomotes sustainable business practices, helps businesses to become more sustainable  and provides a forum for people to talk about sustainble business practices, tools and ideas. You can find out more about what they do here and become a member here. The Sustainable Business Network is a valuable organisation for a sustainable future for New Zealand. Here are Brenda’s answers to our Green Collar Job questions:

1.    What do you do to live more sustainably (with a low impact) in your life?
I endeavour to incorporate sustainable living choices in all areas of my life; from choosing eco-friendly cleaning products, to growing organic vegetables with my homemade compost.  During recent home renovations, I researched sustainable options with regards to hot water heating, showerheads, and insulation and so on.  We have two children so we spend time educating them around sustainability and helping them to understand the potential positive and negative impacts our choices have on our environment.

2.    How do you live more sustainably at work?
The whole purpose of the Sustainable Business Network, the organisation I’m employed by, is to help businesses to succeed through sustainability.  Inherently, everything I do links back to this purpose.  On a more personal level, SBN staff endeavour to ‘walk the talk’ at every turn and this manifests itself in managing work/life balance, office purchasing decisions, advancing sustainable action, and so on.

3.    What do you think is the biggest environmental issue we need to deal with in Christchurch/New Zealand?
The biggest challenge we face around sustainability is apathy.  Inaction and disinterest are the environment’s largest threat.

4.    What makes you smile?
The funny things my children say in complete innocence and at top volume, for example: ‘Mum, why does that woman’s hair look like a lion’s mane?’…oh dear!

5.    What is your biggest pet peeve?
People who complain about the world or their lives, but fail to take a stand and instigate the action necessary to facilitate change.  Paraphrasing Mahatma Gandhi, ‘If you want to see the change, you have to be the change.’

6.    What is your favourite colour and why?
Actually, its green…and surprisingly, it doesn’t relate to any green affiliations; I just like the colour!
7.    Do you have a favourite place in the world? Describe why?
In New Zealand, it would have to be Matapouri Beach in Northland; one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting.  My partner’s family is from Whangarei so we usually spend Christmas holidays there.  If I’m thinking further afield, then I would have to say that I love returning to my hometown of Dublin, Ireland.  There’s just something special about the view of Dublin Bay as you descend into the airport that makes me feel like I’ve come home.  And as the youngest of seven siblings, it’s marvellous to spend time with my extended family as well.

8.    What’s your connection to Sift?
One aspect of my role with the Sustainable Business Network is Southern Regional Manager.  Sift is one of SBN’s members based in the Southern Region.

9.    Do you remember your favourite teacher and why they were your favourite?
My favourite teacher was when I was about eight years old – her name was Miss Bergin.  She wasn’t long out of teaching college from memory and she was just so LOVELY; she still had a wonderful enthusiasm which some teachers unfortunately lose over time.  Added to this was the fact that since I attended a Catholic Girls School, a reasonable portion of my teachers were strict nuns!

10.    What do you want to leave behind?
A life well-lived with no regrets.

11.    What do you think the future will bring?
I’m an optimist by nature so I have complete faith that the human race will make the necessary changes to ensure that the world will amend its flawed ways.  There is a huge groundswell evident at present and it’s only a matter of time before we reach critical mass.  Then, the people who care about sustainability will outnumber those who don’t and positive change is inevitable.

12.    Who is someone you really admire and why?
I really admire anyone who is willing to take a stand against wrongful activities, whether that’s where environmental issues or human rights are being concerned.  As a pacifist, I don’t support violent protest, but believe that the way to instigate change is to engage in meaningful dialogue with the affected parties and present reasoned arguments in an undeniably convincing manner.

13.    What is happening outside your window right now?
The sun is shining and, since its school holidays, there are lots of children around town laughing and having fun.  Oh to be young and free again…

14.    What is your favourite breakfast?
Despite being Irish and hating the taste of it upon my initial arrival in NZ, I’m proud to say that I’m now a ‘two slices of toast with marmite’ aficionado.  Now that’s what I call black gold…

15.    What is the best piece of advice you can give us?
Take a stand, embrace sustainability at home, at work and in your community, leave apathy behind…the rewards you’ll reap (environmental, social and economic) will far outweigh the efforts expended along the way.

Thanks Brenda for your wonderful, meaningful and thought provoking answers. We look forward to continuing our relationship with you into the future.

Source: Flickr Ed's Photostream 11 Butterfly

The Sustainable Initiatives Fund Trust is a catalyst for change. We know (roughly) how much waste is generated, how much goes to landfill, what the negative environmental impacts are of that waste (leachate, toxins, global warming from methane emissions etc) and the amount of work and cultural behaviour change that is required to reduce how much waste is generated and sometimes that can be rather overwhelming and depressing. But, everyday we are reminded of those individuals, businesses and community groups who are doing good work and we are uplifted everyday by those we are helping to make the numbers better and improve the health of our environment – one step at a time, one day at a time.

Sometimes it can take a few years from the start of the relationship to the final outcome of the project. And that final outcome may just be the first step in many steps to creating a sustainable and commercially viable process that can help to significantly reduce the amount of waste that goes to Canterbury’s landfills.

It is about having a long term goal for our future – a sustainable Canterbury future where any waste generated is reused, recovered or recycled on shore first and where landfill and sending it offshore is the last resort (for all waste streams). But it will take time, patience, innovative ideas, advancement in technology, sound investment, collaboration (public and private partnerships), commitment, affecting cultural behaviour change, walking the talk, leading and being the catalyst for change. That is what SIFT is about – being a positive force for good as a social lender.

We have profiled a few businesses that are leading in waste management on our blog in the past and you can see some of the good and impactful work that we have done  here. We have a number of super exciting projects on the go at the moment that will make a difference to Canterbury’s waste and will let you all know in due course about what they are and what good they will do.

If you are looking for funding for a project that will reduce the amount of waste going to Canterbury’s landfill or have a new idea that we could help with you can apply here.

You can check out our Flickr photos here too.

And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

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.

Just before Christmas we chose the winners of our e-waste competition. For the most sustainable/commercial category the winner is Alan Leifting from Christchurch. His idea was to modify cell phone battery chargers so they can be used as DC power supplies for other electronic products.

SIFT CEO Linda Norris with e-waste competition winner Alan Leifting.

And the winner of the most artistic/creative category was Jo Wynne who won our artistic/creative category for our last competition. Jo entered two really cool 3D pieces of art made from old electronic equipment. Our favourite is the one on she is holding. Love the copper elements mixed with black and silver and hanging down on wire.

SIFT CEO Linda Norris with e-waste competition winner Jo Wynne.

Jo Wynne's e-waste art

Both winners received a 2008 iPod Nano which they were super pleased with. A nice end to the year.

We recently met up with our local Spicers paper rep who gave us all the recycled paper samples available at the moment. She also had this great little booklet called “Paper is the future – Love paper.” Paper is a resource that we consume a lot of and even though it was promoted and touted as the new way to live we have not become a paperless society (with all the new technology). People still print emails (and sometimes you need to), reports, documents, booklets, magazines etc – hundreds of thousands of reams of paper. We love the tactile nature of paper and holding it in your hands. It is also excellent at communicating, educating, motivating and story telling.

As stated in a previous post we use a lot of paper – 945,499 tonnes (221kg per person per year) in the year March 31 2009 (Ministry for Agriculture and Forestry Annual Pulp, Paper and Production)

The pink Spicers booklet talks about sustainable production and that use of paper is good because it comes from a renewable resource and is made from the offcuts of timber not the rounds.  There are standards and accreditations that paper mills can go through (and printers too) such as FSC (Forest Stewardship Council certified) and PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) and Environmental Choice New Zealand. And some mills even produce their own energy on site and recycle their water. The key is to choose the right paper for your product and even look into the design of your document to reduce wastage.  Use paper consciously and recycle what you don’t use. And find an environmentally conscious printer.

Here are a couple of interesting stats from the booklet:

“Per tonne of paper produced, energy consumption is down by 21%, greenhouse gas emisions by 22% and water cosnumption by 63% internationally since 1990.”

“New Zealanders recycle and reuse 78% of our waste paper and board, the highest recovery rate for used paper in the world.”

“Reading a newspaper can consume 20% less carbon than viewing news online” (Swedish Royal Institute for Technology)

We think that using digital technologies to communicate has a smaller footprint than paper but it can have a major impact. Think of all the e-waste (toxins and chemicals leaching into landfill), mining of material to make electronics, the energy used (and emissions expended) to run the technology. When you compare this with the sustainable and renewable paper industry “you can see why the print vs digital issue is far from clear-cut environmentally” says the booklet. Definitely something to think about.

]]> http://www.sift.net.nz/blog/paper-as-part-of-a-sustainable-future/feed/ 0 http://www.sift.net.nz/blog/plains-fm-green-biz-podcast-green-it/ http://www.sift.net.nz/blog/plains-fm-green-biz-podcast-green-it/#comments Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:16:25 +0000 Admin http://www.sift.net.nz/blog/plains-fm-green-biz-podcast-green-it/

SIFT sponsors the PlainsFM GreenBiz slot on Monday mornings, hosted by Ed Swift. We will be talking about sustainable business practices, the lastest in waste and environmental info and anything else that could be interesting to listeners.

You can listen to yesterday’s podcast here,  where Linda brought along our IT guy Paul Walmsley (who is also the head of IT at PGG Wrightsons).

Here is a guest blog post from MiniMonos – all about our favourite environmentalist Melissa Clark-Reynolds and her new project MiniMonos.

An Inconvenient Truth for Canterbury kids.

Melissa Clark-Reynolds

Watching Al Gore’s ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ in a Christchurch movie theatre changed the course of Melissa Clark-Reynolds’ life and led to the creation of MiniMonos, a virtual world for good green kids.

Prior to this, Melissa already had a string of entrepreneurial successes. She established Fusion, a health and safety and ACC consultancy which became New Zealand’s largest private accident compensation insurer. Melissa was the General Manager of Fusion and sold her interest in the Alliance to Southern Cross Healthcare. She had also successfully turned around and scaled previously struggling technology companies.

Deeply moved while watching An Inconvenient Truth, Melissa decided to contact ex-US Vice President Al Gore to offer her help. Having absolutely no idea how she was going to get his attention, she contacted everyone she knew, trusting that somehow six degrees of separation would prevail. After a huge amount of persistence, she remembered that her friend’s husband worked for Mr Gore. Incredibly, when she reached out for an introduction to husband, she found out that her friend was actually Executive Director of The Climate Project, a network of 2,500 climate awareness ambassadors, all personally trained by Mr Gore. In 2007, Melissa became one of only two New Zealanders to be trained to present The Inconvenient Truth, and paved the way for more Kiwi presenters to be trained earlier this year.

Melissa Clark-Reynolds and Al Gore

To date, Melissa’s favourite presentations have been in Geraldine and Lawrence – both organised by the rural communities there. One Geraldine farmer, David Musgrave, approached Melissa after her presentation and was inspired to become a Climate Project Ambassador himself, being selected and trained by Al Gore in Melbourne in July this year.

Melissa’s environmental activism is reflected in her virtual world, MiniMonos (”Little Monkeys” in Spanish). Says Melissa: “We wanted to create a world so that children could have a place of their own, a place that allows them to explore and grow without constant pressure to buy stuff. We also wanted them to have a place that embodies core values like sustainability and generosity, without turning those values into a boring lecture.”

Melissa foresees that global warming will create big issues for Canterbury – especially for its water supply. NIWA predicts that the effects on Canterbury will cause our region to become hotter and drier, which has implications for our dairy industry here. “We have to get really serious about energy use. What if the snow and rainfall doesn’t keep coming to Central and Eastern sides of South Island and mostly falls on the West Coast? This will have a huge impact on energy generation from the hydro lakes. Long term predictions for continued snowfall at Mt Hutt don’t look so good.”

Melissa Clark Reynolds & Daughter Grace

Melissa praises Christchurch initiatives like investigating liquid fuels production and their by-products from the Bromley sewage ponds. “I think ECan (Environment Canterbury) is one of the best Regional Councils in the country, with one of the toughest jobs. They invited me, last month, to talk about implications for Canterbury of climate change – way cool! – the first Regional Council in the country to do so!”

Christchurch City has a Climate Change Change Coordinator, and a real commitment to public transport. Says Melissa: “People need to help their elected officials (i.e. at CCC and ECan) to keep climate change front of mind. If we don’t act sustainably, all the cool stuff we take for granted will be damaged beyond belief. I love the Southern Alps, the lakes and rivers, swimming at Corsair Bay, skiing at Mt Hutt, paddling at Lake Hood. Do we want them there for future generations or do we want to tell our children how Canterbury use to be?”

We’d love you to become part of the MiniMonos community and exlpore MiniMonos Island as it’s being developed – it’s free. Each person who gives MiniMonos feedback in October will give back to a child in need.

The new second hand Sift Board Table

When Sift moved to its new premises in Christchurch a couple of months ago we were determined to fit out the office with as much second hand office furniture as possible. Our Trustee member and keen bargain hunter Arthur Williamson mentioned that a great glass board table was up for auction at Bryan Andrews Auctioneers so we checked it out and thought it would be perfect as our new board table. The next day Linda won the auction and the table was set up in our new offices. It is a steel, brass, glass beast of table but exactly what we were looking for and at a great price.

We discovered that the board table used to reside at PricewaterhouseCoopers.  Warren and Mahoney Architects bought the table in 1990 for the fit out of the PricewaterhouseCoopers building and then the black leather chairs were imported especially from Western Australia (they will come up nicely with some tlc).

While discovering the background of the glass board table and chairs we also discovered that PricewaterhouseCoopers has a commitment to the environment, sustainability and the communities they impact on. Good to know that the table has come from a good place!

So here’s a bit of info on the sustainable business practices of PwC:

• They are committed to ethical business practices and were a  founding member of the New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development (they are also a member of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development).
• They are one of the key sponsors for Sustainable 60 (an award series that recognises sustainable business practice excellent) and are also involved with the Sustainable Business Network.
• Internally, they have a team called PwCGreen, who are responsible for driving internal efforts to reduce PwC’s carbon footprint (which they have fully measured over the past two years using the appropriate protocols), including recycling, eco-friendly sensor lighting, turning off signage lighting where possible, paper waste reduction, video-conferencing as an alternative to air travel and other sustainable business practices.
• For clients PwC has a climate change team dedicated to advising businesses on a range of services relating to climate change including greenhouse gas data management, reporting and verification, benchmarking and accounting for carbon credits.
• The leader of their climate change team was a member of the New Zealand Government’s Leadership Forum on climate change.
• PwC also financially supports a number of charities (chosen by staff) with the PwC Foundation and offer staff a paid day of volunteer leave for the charity of their choice.

You can find more information on PricewaterhouseCoopers here.

Annie Leonard's The Story of Stuff

For all those parents at home with kids on holiday here is a great video that they can watch about how our products are made and the process of distribution and disposal as well as the impact on the environment the product has from start to finish. Although from an Amercian view point it is still an eye-opener and makes you stop and think about where every single item you buy comes from, where it goes and how we can be less wasteful and more resource efficient.

Annie Leonard spent 10 years travelling the world asking the questions about where does our stuff come from and this culminated in the wonderfully animated video called The Story of Stuff which you can watch here. It is funny, compelling and makes you want to start changing your ways for a better environment.

When you buy an item whether its food, electronics, clothing or books in its finished state a multitude of processes and people handling has occured (and it has normally travelled around the globe to get to you). When you are thinking of purchasing a product here are some questions to ask first: Where was it made? How was it made? What environmental impacts does the production have on the country it was made in? What were the working conditions like? Were there multiple ingredients from multiple suppliers each with their own environmental impact? How was it packaged to get the shop? What happened to that packaging (did the store recycle it or did it go to landfill)? What is the packaging around the item? How far has it come? Where does all the packaging go once you have unwrapped it? How long will it last before you need to get another one? What happens to the product once you have finished with it? Can it be recycled? If not, why not? What happens to it when it sits in landfill? How long does it take to break down – if at all? What are the environmental effects of your local landfill?….

All these questions (and there are probably more) highlight the complex nature of purchasing a product. And it can become quite overwhelming – it happens to the best of us.  Many a time I have stood in the supermarket aisle questioning and comparing products to end up not buying it all or I do buy it and feel guilty because I won’t be able to recycle it or it has a large ecological footprint (you still have to eat).

Here are some ways to get started:

1. Start with one product. Find a good source with reputable social and environmental creditentials who is local and uses recyclable or little packaging and stick with them. Then move on to the next product.

2.Or grow/make/mend your own – much more satisfying than trawling the mall. Scout around the house first for a supplementary item or buy second hand before buying new again.

3. Look for ways to reduce your waste at work or school too.

4. Have a clean out of all your stuff and reduce to what you love, what you use and what you need. Give the rest away or sell on Trademe.

5. Move from valuing stuff to valuing people, your community, your friends and family, your health and the health of the environment. When you are 80 you will remember experiences more than your toaster.

6. Purchase local, organic, sustainable made food and goods.

7. Consume less. Try spending one day a week not buying anything.

By reducing your consumption (and becoming a smarter consumer) you can reduce your waste, reduce your impact on the environment and help to reduce the impact the production of the product has in other countries. Be conscious of what happens to the product to get to the shelves and where it goes when you are finished with it. Start asking questions of your stores and manufacturers. Become informed, question your needs and slowly change your habits for the better. See yesterday’s post for some other great resources.

Let us know what you think of Annie Leonard’s The Story of Stuff.