Recycling office stuff in Perth

Don't know where they find me, but among other questions I got this questions about where to recycle office stuff like cartridges in Perth. So I thought I better mention it on the blog as well so you don't have to throw them in the bin anymore or if you where one of them not knowing what to do with this stuff and just saving it in some dusty corner of the office you know now where to bring them!
Check here for your closest location.

4 November - Perth Green Drinks

You are invited for the Perth Green Drinks on 4 November 2008 for the Perth Green Drinks.

Green Drinks is for anyone involved in the environment and related fields. Green groups / NGOs, Freelancers and consultants, Companies, Students, Academics, Government departments, Local Authorities, Younger as well as older people so please forward this invitation to anyone you think might be interested in meeting other people related to sustainability.

Green Drinks is a self-organizing network of professionals, students and enthusiasts working in sustainability who meet up in cities around the world for drinks once a month, or every second month in Perth. Everyone is invited to come and have fun, make contacts, get ideas, share information, find inspiration, and of course, to drink! And, no, the cocktails aren't green, though if someone wants to come up with a recipe...

Green Drinks is GLOBAL: active in 402 cities worldwide! UK - USA - Canada - Australia -Germany - Sweden - The Netherlands - Argentina - Belgium - Brazil - Chile - China - Czech Republic - Denmark - Finland - France - Hong Kong - India - Ireland - Italy - Japan - Malta - Mexico - New Zealand - Poland - Puerto Rico - Singapore - South Africa - Switzerland

When: Tuesday 4 November from 6.00 pm

Where: At the Claremont Pub, they are happy to fence of the lounge area for us.

How: Drinks are on your own expense and when getting hungry next doors Bellisimo is serving pizza's in the pub. The first hour they have drink specials.

Bus and train station are in front of the pub and there is plenty of free parking in the area.

What: Network, interact, talk, laugh, debate, drink, have fun!

Extra: Presentation by Dipl.-Ing. Thomas Brandner – Evecto Energy Solutions
Topic: Lighting and the environment
In most buildings, lighting is one of the largest wasters of electrical energy. Fortunately, lighting is also a field in which improvements can be achieved much easier than in many other building aspects such as insulation, heating, etc.
Evecto Energy Solutions designs and markets energy saving lighting controls which are suitable for retrofitting into existing lighting installations as well as for new buildings. Most of Evecto's solutions are based on the simple concepts of Occupancy Sensing (switching lights - or aircons- off when a room is not in use) and Daylight Dimming (automatic, continuous dimming of artificial light depending on the available daylight).
Thomas will bring a few demos and samples so we will be able to see some of the solutions in action.

Hope to see you there!

Wilma van Boxtel
02 liaison Western Australia
o2 global network for sustainable design

Earth from Above

A spectacular outdoor photographic exhibition in Perth to promote sustainability

Earth from Above: an aerial portrait of our planet – towards sustainable development by Yann Arthus-Bertrand features 120 spectacular large-scale photographs.

Each photograph captures a particular perspective of life, human endeavour or the natural environment and is accompanied by information about the significance of the image and a brief, thought-provoking sustainability message.

Earth from Above has been brought to Perth by DEC and BHP Billiton to enhance community awareness of and promote involvement with sustainability. The Water Corporation and City of Perth are associate partners.

This internationally acclaimed free exhibition, which is open 24/7, is on display outdoors at the Perth Cultural Centre, Northbridge (between the Art Gallery, State Library and WA Museum) until 21 January 2009.

Check this website for more information

Second waste plant sparks odour fears

Moves to build a second waste composting plant in the southern suburbs has sparked fears of a repeat of odour problems that have plagued the $60 million waste plant in Canning Vale.

A key report on odours from the Canning Vale facility is yet to be released.
Read article

I don't understand what the problem is... If there is an odour problem, why do they build this kind of facilities in the suburbs and not in empty areas a bit further out of town?

I've been to the Canning Vale Resourch Centre with my Sustainable Design Class and was impressed how it worked and a bit annoyed that the Western Suburbs don't use a facility like this one...

UPDATE 31 Oct: The Department of Environment and Conservation will today order a controversial $90 million waste plant in Canning Vale to find a solution to serious odour problems within 21 days or face closure. Read more

Another UPDATE 3 Nov: AUSTRALIA'S only recycling plant for climate-friendly fluorescent light bulbs has said it may have to close because of a lack of business — a sign that most globes are going to landfill. Read it.

Perth council

I was very disappointed in the organisation of the garbage bins by the Perth Council last weekend for the 'festival of lights' at the foreshore.

Behind the Bell Tower was a stage were multi cultural groups displayed national and international music and dances which was great!

There were several food stalls, manned by volunteers from Annalakshmi Restaurant with delicious vegetarian food, some dishes served on paper plates others in plastic containers with plastic cutlery.

When I asked if there were any recycle bins for the plastic the answer was that the council organised the waste bins from which were non of them recycle bins! It would have been a good example for the council to provide recycle bins at this kind of festivals as there is a lot of materials dumped which could have been recycled...

Or is it that most councils in the Perth region don't recycle but dump everything in wasteland?

Pedal power the way to be green, fit and free

Are you cycling to work or school/university?
I DO! Even today when it was pretty hot, I cycled the almost 20 kilometers to Curtin University. Luckily they have facilities to shower and I ride a sturdy Dutch bicycle with bags on the back so I don't have to carry a sweaty backpack. This gives me some disadvantage in speed compared to the sporty racers who pass me all the time, but hey, I do it for my fitness because if I take public transport (which I do when it rains) it takes the same amount of time.

Cycling is the fourth most popular physical activity for Australian adults, after walking, swimming and aerobics. More than 400,000 Australian adults cycle more than twice a week, but it's mostly for exercise rather than transport. Although bike commuting has increased by 22 per cent since 2001, less than 1 per cent of journeys are by bike. In relatively flat Melbourne, where bike commuting is up 42 per cent since 2001, there are still only 20,000 people riding regularly to work.
Read article

Keep WA GM free rally 30th October

For those of you who don't want our food manufactured by scientists and have the time to attend...
Thursday 30 October at 11.45 at the corner of the Esplanade & Barrack Street in Perth.
Or check website

Folding Bikes and Bike Racks

In many cities, also in Perth, regular bikes are not allowed on the train in rush hour. Also in many suburbs, the train station might be too far to walk but the bus service is sparse or erratic. Now, more and more people are using folding bikes for multi-modal transport: cycling to and from the train station and avoiding the feeder bus.
Read article

Recently a fresh crop of innovative bike racks sprung up in New York, and Core77 was on the scene to document the affair with some great photos! The 10 racks on display were selected as finalists in the CityRacks Design Competition, which issued an international challenge to re-think the hum-drum bike racks interspersed throughout our city streets as opportunities for public art and the promotion of bicycle awareness.
Read article

Digital papers and magazines

Scientists in Cambridge, UK, plan to develop fully interactive, full-color newspapers and magazines that exist on thin, portable, and paper-like readers.
The e-Paper of Today, like the Kindle, Sony e-Reader, iLiad by iRex, Astak's EZ Reader and so forth all are lovely and use e-Paper technology to make the screen feel more like paper to a reader’s eyes. But, they’re still relatively bulky gadgets.

Plastic Logic has come up with a cool prototype for newspapers that includes a flexible screen that you can bend upwards and it turns the newspaper page. Cool stuff. Except that it takes awhile to load, isn’t all that flexible, and is black and white.

Read more of this on Treehugger.

Business urges renewed nuclear debate

South Australia's business lobby is warning against Australia going it alone on a carbon trading scheme in 2010. Read article

Reading more and more about nuclear energy I want to show Scott Ludlums "Climate of Hope" documentary to you:



The threat of climate change is widely accepted in the community. The potential for a host of nuclear power stations in Australia has raised questions about the best strategy for our country to move to a low-carbon economy.

This documentary takes viewers on a tour through the science of climate change, the nuclear fuel chain, and the remarkable energy revolution that is under way.
By Scott Ludlam for ANAWA

Wild camels at record numbers in rangelands

Feral camel numbers in WA have reached record levels as conservationists and pastoralists battle to minimise damage to the environment and pastoral leases.

Camel numbers are estimated to have reached 400,000 following three years of aerial surveys by State environmental and agricultural departments across a 300,000sqkm region through the interior rangelands.
Read article

‘Last gasp’ for many WA species

While new species (the canetoads) are on our borders native mammal species are dissapearing in Westerna Australia faster than any other country, WA conservationists have warned.

This week, 8000 experts will begin a 10-day meeting in Barcelona to update the International Conservation Union’s “red list” of threatened species.
Read article

Thousands of cane toads killed near NT

ALMOST 50,000 cane toads have been destroyed within two weeks on a Northern Territory cattle station near the WA border, says a group fighting the pests.

The group of volunteers had made their huge haul of cane toads using a new weapon in the war against the pests; by erecting 40cm-high temporary fences around the toads' waterhole habitats had allowed them to take advantage of the toads' reliance on water during the late northern dry season.

"It's amazing to see the difference in efficiency from the normal hand collection and trapping methods," STTF director Russell Gueho said. "By blocking off their water source, we are able to remove large numbers that get stopped by the fences with relatively small numbers of people."

He said the fences, which could be erected by two people within a few hours (and usually taken down after a week), were designed with a gap that enabled small native animals to enter or leave the waterholes.
Read article

Cambridge Sustainability Lifestyles Festival

Sustainability week at Floreat starts Monday 6 October leading up to the Cambridge Sustainability Lifestyles Festival on Sunday 12 October.

The Sustainability Lifestyles Festival starts at 10am Sunday 12 October and is the highlight of Sustainability Week at Floreat. The week of sustainable fun includes events at the Cambridge Library, The Boulevard Centre and Floreat Forum Shopping Centre. Major partners for the 2008 Sustainability Week at Floreat are Floreat Forum, Mindarie Regional Council, Tradelink and Solar Matrix.
More info click here.

An investment as safe as green houses

At the last Green Drinks in Fremantle I promised Alex from Greenedge Ethical Investments Limited that I would put it on the blog if he sends me some information about their mission so here is his story:

I think most of us would agree that ecovillages can provide solutions to many of our current problems. They develop community, foster energy efficiency, support organic farming, reduced car dependence and a whole heap of other things that most of us know we need to start doing more and more.

Ecovillages around the world have frequently resulted from a struggle between a group of passionate individuals and an entrenched planning and financial system that doesn't understand them. All too often, once the ecovillage is up and running, these passionate individuals are exhausted and/or have run out of money and there's no way that that they ever want to do it again.

The Greenedge Group was founded with the aim of breaking this cycle and getting as many ecovillages built as possible. The founders have a unique mix of sustainability and community skills as well as an understanding of what makes the business world tick. Through their first ecovillage, SomerVille, they have learnt how to build and develop ecovillages and they now have three new projects lined up to invest in.
With the systems and skills now in place and four projects lined up, they are ready to raise the funds required to get more ecovillages on the ground. To do this they are listing on the stock exchange. The directors are truly impressive and include a few names that you may have heard: Peter Newman (founder of the CUSP Institute) and Dr David Wyatt (Chairman of Papyrus).

Having a company listed on the ASX will allow Greenedge to create a pool of money that really understands that sustainability can be profitable. It also allows everyone to invest in a company that is directly contributing to a more sustainable economy while earning competitive returns. With a minimum investment of $2000 it's also something that lots of us can afford to put some money into. The prospectus explains all the details of the investment and will be ready this week.

To find out more about the company or preregister for a prospectus, you can check out the website. If you'd like to speak to a real person you can also contact Alex Hyndman on 9572 3672

Erasable paper

The Paper that Self-Erases Within 24-Hours
Recycling's better than sending good paper to the landfill. Even better is not printing in the first place. But there's still a lot of stuff that comes out of printers and some studies show that more than 40% gets discarded on the day it was produced (and a lot of the rest gets discarded not much later, or gets stuffed in a box and is never looked at again).

The researchers at XEROX looked at that problem and came up with a paper that self-erases within 24 hours and can then be re-used.

And? Did you walk today?

IF ALL Sydney's car commuters stopped their vehicles two kilometres away from work today, got out and walked the rest of the way, the city would be spared 1200 tonnes of carbon emissions.
Read Article

Another view on consumption

I am not a vegan but this video on their website is really eye-opening and their motto is to build a better world with connected choices. Check out their brochure!