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Posts Tagged ‘waste’
Monday, November 22nd, 2010 by Admin
Spotted this great poster on the Good USA site – The Self-Repair Manifesto from ifixit.com. Definitely truths to live by in order to reduce our waste to landfill.
It reads:
We hold these truths to be self-evident
Self- Repair Manifesto:
Repair is Better than Recycling – Making our things last longer is both more efficient and more cost effective than mining them for raw materials.
Repair saves the planet. Earth has limited resources and we can’t run a linear manufacturing process forever. The best way to be efficient is to reuse what we already have!
Repair saves you money. Fixing things is often free, and usually cheaper than replacing them, doing the repair yourself saves serious dough.
Repair teaches engineering. The best way to find out how something works is to take it apart!
If you can’t fix it, you don’t own it! Repair connects people and devices, creating bonds that transcend consumption. Self repair is sustainable.
Repair connects you with your things. Repair empowers and emboldens individuals. Repair transforms consumers into contributors. Repair inspires pride in ownership. Repair injects soul and makes things unique. Repair is independence. Repair requires creativity. Repair is green. Repair is joyful. Repair is necessary for understanding our things. Repair saves money and resources.
We Have The Right: To open and repair our things without voiding the warranty to devices that can be opened, to error codes and wiring diagrams, to troubleshooting instructions and flowcharts, to repair documentation for everything, to choose our own repair technician, to remove ‘Do not remove’ stickers, to repair things in the privacy of our own homes, to replace any and all consumables ourselves, to hardware that doesn’t require proprietary tools to repair, to available, reasonable priced service parts.
There is another equally great Repair Manifesto here by Dutch Design collaborative Platform 21.
Put either one of these in your kitchen junk drawer and garage and remember that to repair something you own stops waste going to landfill and creat that bond that transcends consumption.
Tags: diy, Good USA, landfill, reduce, Self Repair Manifesto, waste
Posted in Other Sustainable Initiatives, Pratical Action, Sustainability in Action, Waste Management | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 27th, 2010 by Admin
 Kate Valley Landfill, North Canterbury One of the big issues or themes during the WasteMinz conference was how councils and other Territorial Authorities are to use their share of the waste disposal levies collected by the Ministry for the Environment. The levies collected have been put into a new fund called the Waste Minimisation Fund. Half of the funds collected go to councils “on a per head of population basis” to help them with their waste mangement and minimisation plans (WMMP) and the other half to individuals, businesses and other organisations that have projects that meet the WMF criteria (some of the fund will also pay administration costs).
To date councils across New Zealand have received approx $3 million each quarter this year (with another about to paid). That’s a total of approx $12 million that, states Director of Operations for the Ministry for the Environment Martyn Pinkard, is to be used for solutions that are innovative, wide reaching within the community and have a direct impact on reducing the amount of waste that goes to landfill.
To July 2010 the district councils in Canterbury have received a total of $1.2 million with Christchurch City Council taking the largest share due to the largest population being in their jurisdiction ($815,000).
The Sustainable Initiatives Fund Trust can play a key role in helping local Canterbury territorial authorities to come up with and implement solutions that are both attractive and appropriate to the Ministry for the Environment and it’s aims in Waste Minimisation. Collaboration and industry and council integration will be vital in the success of projects that are to reduce waste to landfill and recover and use our resources more efficiently. Local solutions tailored to each community that have a long term effect will also be important.
Calling all Canterbury Territorial Authorities
Any district council in Canterbury that has a project or idea for a project that they could collaborate or co-fund with SIFT on can give us a call to discuss the possible solutions. If the project meets our criteria and the SIFT board give it the go ahead then our links, networks, ideas and possible funding could help to bring the project to fruition. Collaboration within the waste and sustainability fields are key to developing a sustainable future for Canterbury.
More information on payments to individual territorial authorities.
Downloadable maps of where the waste disposal sites are in New Zealand can be found here.
**Image by SIFT from WasteMinz Conference field trip 2009
Tags: Martyn Pinkard, mfe, reduction, SIFT, Territorial Authorities, waste, Waste Levies, Waste Minimisation fund, WasteMinz
Posted in Business & Sustainability, Waste Management, social lending | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 8th, 2010 by SophieR
As Christchurch works through day five, post earthquake, demolition of some of our most precious heritage sites is underway. Along with these heritage sites is the purposeful demolition of buildings of less historical importance, but ones that acted as landmarks within the inner suburbs.
Broken mortar, bricks, aluminum, glass, plastic piping, drains, concrete and the silt resulting from liquefaction – the next step will be figuring where all this useless material will be disposed. Certainly in times of emergency, recycling or careful disposal of building waste becomes irrelevant, as the priority remains clearing the streets of dangerous debris for the inhabitants of the city.
Is there room for future deliberation of how we dispose / recycle demolition waste when there is an emergency situation such as the events of 4th September 2010?
Currently there has been 17,000 claims made to EQC of house damage, and with the estimated cost climbing over $1 billion, the focus will no doubt turn to restoring or rebuilding as quickly and cheaply as possible. There will be an impact on Christchurch’s waste stream, but as with most post earthquake processes, the extent and repercussions of the damage will reveal itself in the months and years to come.
As Christchurch works through day five, post earthquake, demolition of some of our most precious heritage sites is underway. Along with these heritage sites is the purposeful demolition of buildings of less historical importance, but ones that acted as landmarks within the inner suburbs.
Broken mortar, bricks, aluminum, glass, plastic piping, drains, concrete and the silt resulting from liquefaction – the next step will be figuring where all this useless material will be disposed. Certainly in times of emergency, recycling or careful disposal of building waste becomes irrelevant, as the priority remains clearing the streets of dangerous debris for the inhabitants of the city.
Is there room for future deliberation of how we dispose / recycle demolition waste when there is an emergency situation such as the events of 4th September 2010?
There has been 17,000 claims made to EQC of house damage* and with the estimated cost climbing over $1 billion, the focus will no doubt turn to restoring or rebuilding as quickly and cheaply as possible. There will be an impact on Christchurch’s waste stream, but as with most post earthquake processes, the extent and repercussions of the damage will reveal itself in the months and years to come.
 Rubble from Christchurch Earthquake * Information sourced from www.stuff.co.nz
Tags: Christchurch earthquake, demolition, waste
Posted in Business & Sustainability, General, News on Sustainability, SIFT, Waste Management | 1 Comment »
Friday, August 27th, 2010 by Admin
 Use egg cartons in the garden and then compost them. Another week has flown by. The SIFT week has been full of a couple of new potential applicants, board papers, research, current projects management and some admin thrown in for good measure.
Lots of different things have popped up through our google reader and other newsletters, here’s the best links for you this week:
- Past SIFT project Envirocomp has received $30,000 through the MfE’s Waste Minimisation Fund to carry out a feasibility study on expanding their nappy composting. More here.
- Photos of dumped e-waste being searched through by Ghanians looking for the valuable metals to sell. Not the best photos – this is quite sad and should not be occuring. More here from The New York Times.
- Waveney from Rubbish Free’s roundup of their weekend at the Nelson Eco Fest here.
- Have you found your WalkScore yet? More here from World Changing. Walk Score is based on Google Maps so it you know there are more services and utilities in your area that would make your Walk Score better update Google Maps with the information.
- Philipe Stark has designed home and urban usable wind turbines. From Greenpages. Now they would be a stylish addition to any home.
- Creative ways to drink tap water from Re-Nest here.
- Molly Eagen is a 25 year living in Minneapolis, USA and is attempting, as part of her thesis, to live 100 days without oil. This is a well researched blog that provides great ideas and new ways to live for all of us. Oil permeates nearly all facets of our 21st century lives so we are looking forward to seeing how she gets on living without it. Could you live 100 days without oil? (Originally via Re-Nest).
- Interactive map that shows the Earth breathing – tracking global CO2 emissions in real time. It takes 14 minutes for New Zealand to clock up 1000 tonnes. It is very well done and you can scroll over each country to see the stats.
- The biodegradable pen from GOOD USA.
- The United Nations Environment Programme has released a new report on sustainability and behaviour change. This is a great tool for all of you in communications, marketing and social change. Developed in conjunction with our favourite Sustainability Communications organisation – Futerra. You can download the report here (originally via Celsias).
- Love this video celebrating the 2010 World Humanitarian Day here.
- This is another great infographic …The National Geographic looks at how much water is embedded in everything we use (note these measurements may be different for NZ). Scroll to the right to see a whole raft of different products from meat, vege, oil, energy, solar. Very interesting.
- This has been one of the blog topics this week so we might as well add it to the list too – Japanese firm Blest is making fuel out of plastic. The video shows how it is all done. We like the way that the machine is portable and could be used for smaller or remote sites.
- Maybe we should just do a graphics blog post! Here is another one from the BBC showing how big different things are against the size of your own country - things like the Pakistan floods, the Pyramids, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, World War II and the Twin Towers.
- Also from the BBC Mexico has completely banned plastic bags and if you use them you go to jail! More here.
That will definitely keep you going for the weekend and we hope it is a waste free one!
P.S You might have noticed that our waste counter is lighter than it was last week. We have updated it to be in line with the waste statistics from the Christchurch City Council for the year to June 2010 which is 179,207 tonnes to Kate Valley Landfill. That’s a 20% drop on last year meaning our waste counter would have been way out. It was updated by the nice people at HairyLemon.
*Image via here.
Tags: 100 days without oil, Blest, Breathing Earth, CO2 emissions, e-waste, Envirocomp, Futerra, Google, mfe, oil, Philipe Stark, plastic, plastics, Rubbish Free, SIFT, sustainability communications, UNEP, Walk Score, waste, Waste Minimisation fund, water use, wind
Posted in Friday favourites, News on Sustainability, Sustainability in Action | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 24th, 2010 by Admin
 Source: NY City Department of Parks & Recreation  Source: CETCO Landfill Liners and Caps  Source: NY Mag - Proposed Park Land for Fresh Kills Just finished the chapter from You Are Here – Exposing the Vital Link Between What We Do and What That Does to Our Planet about Fresh Kills. The largest rubbish dump on land – 2,200 acres with views of the Manhattan skyline. Waste was barged from around New York state to the landfill and at it’s peak it was taking 650 tonnes per day and was 25 metres taller than the Statue of Liberty (source: wiki). It has been closed for nearly a decade but the waste still needs to be processed. It will be turned into park land over the next thirty years.
2 million tonnes of debris from the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York City were barged to Fresh Kills for sorting and some of this included human remains of which 300 people were identified.
The word “kills” stems from the dutch word “kille” says Thoman M. Kostigen in his book You Are Here. It means “riverbed or water channel” which is much nicer than what I originally thought the name meant.
More here from Wikipedia.
And there is great video here on the history, layers and future of Fresh Kills.
Tags: Fresh Kills, landfill, Manhattan, New York City, park, September 11th, Statue of Libery, waste, You Are Here
Posted in Waste Management | No Comments »
Monday, August 23rd, 2010 by Admin
It’s time for us all to wake up and recognise what our actions are doing to our environment, our only home.
Time to recognise that everything is connected and we need to care about our impacts in order to care about ourselves, our families and our communities. Our future.
I am currently reading You Are Here – Exposing the Vital Link Between What We Do and What That Does to Our Planet by Thomas M. Kostigen. I am only half way through and already I am more awake to the links and connections of my actions on other parts of the world, on the lives of other human beings, eco systems and species. And not just the impact that my waste has on the people who handle once it leaves my home and office (the drivers and hand sorters) and truck it to Kate Valley landfill and what the impacts are on the land but my actions on the humans and other species overseas (China, the Amazon for example).
Here is a quote that resonated:
“Of course we should care about other people. Too often we don’t connect our morality with the practicality of everyday things in our lives.”
If we put a face to our actions we would change our behaviour. But, all too often the environmental and social impacts of our actions are not in our face, not even in our backyards – we just don’t see it. Most don’t even know where their waste goes (mostly up the road to Kate Valley Landfill or ‘recyclables’ off shore to other countries to ‘deal with’). And you don’t see the carbon emissions coming out of your tailpipe either.
We as individuals emit carbon emissions through our activities: electricity, eating, drinking, transportation, and what we consume for example. But, a lot of the products that we purchase are not made in New Zealand. Most come from China where there is a coal fired power plant being installed every 4 days and a town called Linfen that is constantly covered in brown, toxic smog that the residents breath in from those coal fired power plants (that also amongst other things emit carbon). Those coal fired power plants produce energy to make the products that are exported to NZ for us to purchase and ultimately waste. Constant production. Constant waste. And where does the carbon and smog emitted from those power plants go?
So, what do we do.
1. Wake up.
2. Ask questions – where does my product come from? Who makes it? How does it get here? What other people, environments or species does the production of that product (and its whole lifecycle) impact on? Where does my waste go? What sustainable business practices doese that company genuinely have?
3. Make changes to our purchasing habits. Start buying more New Zealand made (but still make sure those products are low or positive impact). Support local producers. Support sustianbly product, organic and fair trade. Make your own products. Live more simply – live with less. Grow your own.
4. Research the connections of impacts and talk about it – get others to start making changes too. Educate and stay informed.
5. Help. Donate time or money to good causes that are trying to or are making a difference to key areas of the world like the Amazon, your local environmental group or national organisation.
With China now exceeding the United States in carbon emissions the only way we can help them to reduce their emissions by 80% (which is what they need to do) is to start demanding sustainably produced products or we stop buying those products – talk to the importers, the retailers here in NZ and start demanding. And start demanding NZ options (and NZ producer responsibility programmes) too – and that will help the NZ economy as well.
It is no longer enough to expect others to make the changes first – it needs to come from us all starting today.
As read in Blessed Unrest social and environmental justice is linked. Your actions have an impact on other people’s lives and the environment and it is taking its toll. It is time to start changing our habits for a healthier future for all on this Earth.
Now. Today. Because it may already be too late for many. We may, instead, need to start thinking about how to live completely differently for tomorrow.
Tags: Blessed Unreset, carbon emissions, China, coal, connection, environment, exports, help, home, Kate Valley Landfill, Kevin Bacon, morality, new zealand, products, research, smog, social justice, Thomas M Kostigen, toxins, waste, You Are Here
Posted in Business & Sustainability, Pratical Action, Sustainability Resources, Sustainability in Action, Waste Management | No Comments »
Friday, August 20th, 2010 by Admin
 Baled Alumnium Cans Some call it lazy blogging we call it extending knowledge – sharing the cool, interesting, inspiring, good things that we come across each week that are related to sustainability, environmentally positive living, waste and anything else we think you might like.
Here are this week’s Friday Favourites:
Have a great waste free weekend – see you next week.
Tags: Celsias, CO2 Now, compostable, Friday favourites, glass of water, Greenpeace, living, Nick Smith, NZ Post, plastic, recycle, renewable energy, Rubbish Free, Target Sustainability, toothbrush, waste
Posted in Friday favourites, Pratical Action, Sustainability in Action, Waste Management | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 17th, 2010 by Admin
The recent book of choice which I have just finished is Blessed Unrest by Paul Hawken. Borrowed from the library it is so good I decided to buy a hard copy to keep and luckily found a second hand one on Trade Me. I will be able to read it again and highlight passages that were significant, moving, interesting and enlightening – because there were many.
Blessed Unrest is a book about the growing movement and connectedness of a vast range of thousands of different but like minded people who run organisations with the sole purpose of saving humanity, regeneration and restoration, social justice and environmental justice. After spending days reading about pollution, waste, climate change (and worrying about how we all need to start making changes today), social injustices and environmental devastation and disrespect it is refreshing to read a book that captures all the good things that are happening in the world.
Paul Hawken likens the movement to the body’s immune system. A quiet but strong immune response to the diseases (we have created) on the Earth. He starts off by delving into history to see where the movement came from; from Ghandi to Rosa Parks to Ralph Waldo Emerson and Rachel Carson where the movement started it now spans the entire globe with organisations like World Wildlife Fund for Nature, Greenpeace, 350.org, Friends of the Earth and even SIFT. The world is made up of a vast network of social and sustainability focussed organisations – focus areas include the arts, education, poverty, children, families, women’s rights, animals, gardening, sustainability, climate change, waste, employment and more. The hope is that the work these organisations carry out (trust, foundations, NGOs, non profits, some corporations, volunteer groups) will prevail over the destructive forces from a small number of large organisations. This book highlights the good in humans and the need for social and environmental change that must come if we are to survive.
It is definitely a book to read and helps to remind you of all of the good work that is being done on the Earth to enable it to be healthy for future generations. There are some excellent passages and it is well researched with a long bibliography and includes a taxonomy on all of the different areas of focus and the number of organisations working in that area. You need to get a full understanding of the vastness, the connectedness of all of these organisations and their good impacts in order to feel positive – don’t just stick to the general media to keep you informed!
You can read more about Blessed Earth here and browse all of the listings of organisations from around the world here at WiserEarth (set up by Paul Hawken). As their website tag line says “Together we act as one” and it is great that SIFT is apart of this network.
There is so much more that could be said but reading it will do it justice more.
Tags: Blessed Unrest, change, climate change, destruction, disease, environmental justice, humanity, immune response, Paul Hawken, social justice, Sustainbility, waste, WiserEarth
Posted in News on Sustainability, Pratical Action, Sustainability Resources, Sustainability in Action | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 11th, 2010 by Admin
This little green sign was sitting under the matagauri underneath the bronze dog statue at Lake Tekapo. Quietly letting locals and touristsknow that the beautiful area of Lake Tekapo is to kept clean and waste free.
Tags: Lake Tekapo, landfill, MacKenzie District, waste
Posted in Pratical Action, Waste Management | No Comments »
Friday, August 6th, 2010 by Admin
 Beautful and practical reuse of a Mason jar from Re-Nest Happy August! Apparently there are only 145 days till Christmas – it’s way too early to be thinking about Christmas (and the waste produced from it) but not too early to be thinking about warmer temperatures of spring and summer.
Here are our favourites links that we have found:
Enjoy a waste free weekend.
Tags: Bernard Pras, China, Christmas, climate change, farmers markets, Mason jar, rubbish, the Guardian, waste, wind turbines
Posted in Friday favourites | No Comments »
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