Aussies eco-efforts better, but not great, says new report

Australian consumers are making more environment-friendly choices but are still ranked as among the worst in the world, according to a new report.

The index ranks countries according to four categories - food, goods, housing and transport and their effect on the environment.

Compared to other nations, Australians tend to have large houses with a high number of electrical appliances and are also extremely depended on their cars. Australians are also quick to adopt new technologies such as plasma/LCD televisions and more recently TiVo which would have also contributed to the score, Garlin said.

But it wasn't all bad news. Australian consumers were commended for the use of energy-efficient appliances and for their excellent recycling efforts. Australia came in at number two in the food category behind India because of the majority of Australian produce is grown locally.
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Flaw in plastic bag levy plan

The ACT Government says it is awaiting legal advice on whether its planned plastic bag levy is unconstitutional.

The compulsory 10 cent charge on lightweight plastic bags may be considered an excise which is not available to states and territories under the constitution.
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I have no idea why it has to take so long as 'Australia' is talking already for years about banning the plastic bag and I still see 90% of the people in front of me at the cashier in the supermarket unashamed about how many plastic bags are filled with their groceries...
On the other hand:

Most Aussies want national plastic bag ban, survey finds
EIGHT out of 10 Australians want the federal Government to ban plastic bags and stop electronic waste going into landfill, a survey shows.
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Update 18 Dec: Plastic bag ban for NT

How to (responsibly) dump your old TV

Carrying a poisonous cargo of almost 2kgs of lead and other heavy metals, millions of old televisions are finding their way into Australian landfills each year, rather than being recycled.

Around three million new televisions hit our shores last year as the popularity of flat screen technology and the looming 2010 switchover from analogue to digital drove a blistering pace of consumption.
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$35 waste tax to keep old TVs out of landfill
AUSTRALIANS face a new tax on electronic goods such as televisions and computers next year - in return for guarantees the electronic waste will not be dumped in landfill or shipped overseas.
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Note: You can also bring your old TV in for e-waste collection on 6-7 June!

Breakthroughs on Australia's waste

Australian environment ministers have made fundamental progress on the national management of waste at last week's meeting of the Environment Protection and Heritage Council (EPHC) in Hobart.

A key element of this new approach will be the incorporation of national product stewardship arrangements, where manufacturers and distributors would be called upon to take greater responsibility for reducing the environmental impact of their goods, in not only product design but through involvement in end-of-life disposal and recycling.

Of particular importance is the Council's focus on addressing stewardship for the recycling of Australia's electronic waste (e-waste). It agreed that a national framework is needed to run an effective e-waste program, and will release a Regualtory Impact Statement in the coming months for public comment to indentify the most appropriate policy mechanisms to govern the initiative.

E-waste is a mounting problem, with around 1.6 million computers being dumped in our landfills each year, and another 1.8 million being stored away, unused, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
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So don't forget to sort out your e-waste do dispose of in a sustainable way on 6-7 June!

WA starts solar feed-in tariff

The WA Government has implemented a solar feed-in tariffs scheme which is the most generous in Australia.

The 'gross" feed-in tariff scheme will pay households up to 60 cents a kilowatt hour (kWh) for all the power they generate from their domestic solar systems and not just the excess power they return to the grid.
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Also read this article about pro's (far more) and con's (a few) about solar energy.

Asphalt producers mask toxic smell

THE operators of an illegally built asphalt plant are trying to mask the smell of their toxic project by adding hazardous chemicals to their bitumen mix.

The chemical amyl acetate can cause irritation, nausea and affect people's vision. Asphalt masking agents have been banned at a similar site in the UK.

But in Baldivis, 41km south of Perth, the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) has approved cherry flavoured asphalt additive, which contains amyl acetate, being used to mask odours.
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And this article from the Community Papers in February

Chooks

Since we live here we have two chooks, I've saved them from a chickenfarm in Baldavis that's why they have cut beaks. We became good friends, me and the chooks. Now I really miss them as the last chook died six weeks ago. In the mean time I have two young bantams of which one seems to be a rooster instead of a hen. Which is not allowed by the council, I can have 12 chickens but no rooster... So I have to find a new chook to keep her company and we have to eat the rooster unless he can be adopted by someone in the hills...
The library at Claremont is hatching little chicks at the moment of which I can hopefully get a few afterwards.

Chooks are very easy to keep, they need some closed in space in the garden with a pen for the eggs and some sticks to sit on. They like to scratch and take sand baths so they need access to sand. To feed them is easy, all green waste from the kitchen is going into the pen as well as bread crumbs and left overs from dinner together with fresh water and some laying pellets on the side. They provide you with fresh eggs and manure in return.
The only green waste they don't like is tea and coffee which is an ideal compost for the garden and lemons which you can use for candied peel and other goodies.

Interested? Get some info on Treehugger or check out the local Chook Lady

Recycling TV's; Government to introduce regulations to make it happen?

Television manufacturers and the recycling industry have joined forces to promote a national recycling scheme for the idiot box that could see millions of abandoned TVs broken down and made into other household items.

The scheme could keep 2 million televisions out of landfill annually and cost as much as $60 million, and the industry's heavyweights, including Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, Sharp and LG, have pledged to fund the scheme.
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Amazing!

E-waste

That felt so good to clean out the top shelf of the pantry which was full of our old computer stuff. It's a bit sad to say goodbye to the very good monitor but as we haven't used it for four years... I supppose we are never gonna use it after all... even while it's still the most perfect screen of all, it's just too big...

Electronic Waste Recycling Free Computer Recycling
Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 June 20099am - 4pm

Locations
Baldivis: Millar Road Landfill Facility, Millar Road, Baldivis
Canning Vale: Regional Resource Recovery Centre, 350 Bannister Road, Canning Vale
Cottesloe: City of Cottesloe Public Carpark, Napier St, Cottesloe
Middle Swan: Operations Centre Car Park, Cnr Great Northern and Bishop Road, Middle Swan (Enter off Great Northern Highway)
Mindarie: Tamala Park Administration Centre Carpark, 1700 Marmion Ave, Mindarie
Perth City: Langley Park, Cnr Hills St & Terrace Rd, Perth
South Perth: City of South Perth - Lesser Hall Car Park, Cnr South Terrace & Sandgate Street, South Perth
Stirling: City of Stirling Administration Centre, 25 Cedric Street, Stirling
Spearwood: Sims E Recycling, 174 Barrington St, Spearwood


Trash talks: Call for national strategy on e-waste

Sandalford releases wine in plastic bottles

I read this headline in my daily environmental news flash and wonder if this is really a good idea?

SANDALFORD Wines is releasing a selection of its white and red wines in 750ml plastic bottles, in what the company claims is a WA first.

The move has been motivated by both the smaller carbon footprint created by PET bottles as well their practicality at large outdoor concerts.

Read here what Treehugger said about Wolf Blass PET bottles in 2006

And more about it here.

Some tech info and some more...

Is 10 cents enough?

The Australian Greens have introduced legislation aimed at setting up a national beverage container deposit scheme for bottles, cans and cartons.

The minor party's bill proposes a 10 cent deposit on each item that will be imposed on importers or producers of a beverage container unless they are granted an exemption.
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Countries in Europe have this system for a very long time and have deposits of 50 cents per bottle! You also pay a deposit on beer cases. Everywhere in supermarkets are special automated deposit stations available.

Do you think 10 cents is enough to get people returning the bottles in Australia?

iPods and mobile phones the new climate enemy

THE amount of energy used up by luxury gadgets could triple in the coming decades, an international agency has warned.

Demand for power-thirsty gadgets like mobile phones, iPods and big-screen TVs is undoing efficiency gains elsewhere, the International Energy Agency said today.

The agency urged developed governments to keep pace with the invention of new consumer devices when crafting efficiency standards and implored people to make thriftier choices.
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How Much Energy Can a Gadget Minimalist Save?
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Buy the book!

The Bodhi Tree - Inspiring Wisdom - OPENING SOON
The Bodhi Tree bookstore cafe will be opening at the end of May.

At The Bodhi Tree, you will find a broad and inspiring range of personal and professional development books in an elegant cafe offering vegetarian chemical-free food and Fair Trade coffee.
You can also find worthwhile gifts carefully selected using ethical criteria.

The Bodhi Tree Bookstore is located Cnr Oxford St / Scarborough Beach Rd, Mt Hawthorn
Tel 9444 9884 - For more information, click here

Lighter bottles to reduce environmental effects

A South Australian winery will be the first in the world to sell wine from the lightest glass wine bottles ever to go on the shelves in July.

Spokeswoman for Banrock Station at Constellation Wines, Louise Thiele, says the glass is 27 per cent lighter than an ordinary wine bottle.
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Wine producers invited to share in environmental and cost benefits.
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Dell bans e-waste export to developing countries

PC maker Dell Inc. on Tuesday formally banned the export of broken computers, monitors and parts to developing countries amid complaints that lax enforcement of environmental and worker-safety regulations have allowed an informal and often hazardous electronic-waste recycling industry to emerge.
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DON'T FORGET the Free Electronic Waste Recycling Event in Perth on SATURDAY & SUNDAY 6-7 JUNE 2009, 9am-4pm

Grand design for innovation

SCIENCE infrastructure will be boosted by $901 million as part of a wider $2.4 billion investment in innovation that includes more funding for university research, increased income support for researchers and an R&D tax credit for industry.
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Cradle to Cradle

For the people who attended my talk yesterday at the Perth Green Drinks; I've put the documentary I referred to on the blog and for anyone else, please watch this!

Take your bike to work!

Ten Reasons Not to Bike To Work.
1. I'm out of shape
2. It takes too long
3. It's too far
4. No bike parking
5. My bike is beat up
6. No showers
7. I have to dress up
8. It's raining
9. The roads aren't safe
10. I have to run errands
Check page 13 of this handy booklet for 30 reasons to start riding your bike to work!

Perth Green Drinks 12 May

You are invited for the Perth Green Drinks on 12 May 2009.

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!

Green Drinks is GLOBAL: active in more than 480 cities worldwide! UK - USA - Canada - Australia -Germany - Sweden - 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 – Turkey – Russia – Philippines – Norway – Romania – Portugal – Spain – Thailand – China - Botswana

When: Tuesday 12 May 6.00 – 8.00 pm

Where: At the UWA University Club
Case Study Room - 1st floor - 6pm to 7pm for speaker
Club Café - ground floor / outside terrace - 7pm to 8 pm

How: The University Club is providing one voucher per person for a choice of “green cocktail” or “green beer” + nibbles on the table. Following drinks = cash bar.

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

Speaker: Wilma van Boxtel, organiser of Perth Green Drinks but also liaison for o2WA, the global network for sustainable design, industrial designer at Deseos Design and sessional lecturer Product Design at Curtin University as well as relief teacher at Central TAFE design area, is going to talk about Cradle to Cradle Design. Remaking the way we make things!
Instead of designing cradle-to-grave products, dumped in landfills at the end of their ‘life’ it’s better to design cradle-to-cradle products whose materials are perpetually circulated in closed loops. Products can be designed from the outset of food equals waste so that, after their useful lives, they provide nourishment for something new. They can be conceived as “biological nutrients” that will easily reenter the water or soil without depositing synthetic materials and toxins. Or they can be “technical nutrients” that will continually circulate as pure valuable materials within closed-loop industrial cycles.
Introducing the book “Cradle to cradle” by William McDonough and Michael Braungart available from e.g. Bodhi Tree

RSVP: Before Monday 11 May 5pm
email / phone 6488 8770
Hope to see you there!

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

o2 group online

O2 is an organization that promotes eco-design and sustainable design internationally.

Become a member of O2 International Network of Sustainable Designers, click here for more information.

Free Electronic Waste Recycling Event

SATURDAY & SUNDAY 6-7 JUNE 2009, 9am-4pm
Local and regional metropolitan councils are working with Apple® and Infoactive Group to implement a metropolitan-wide electronic waste (e-waste) recycling event in Perth on 6 and 7 June 2009. This event, being coordinated by Apple®, will provide an environmentally responsible disposal option for unwanted electronic items. Apple® will pay for the recycling of all brands of equipment collected over the weekend. Residents, schools and small businesses (equivalent to being 50 employees or less) can bring up to 20 complete systems.

Products that WILL be accepted (Max 20 complete systems per person) Computer Equipment - all brands
- Desktop PCs, Laptop PCs, Hand held devices (iPods, iPaqs, etc)
- Monitors (Flat screen & CRT), Hard drives, Keyboards, Computer mice, Computer Power supplies
- Network & memory cards, Floppy disc & CD/DVD drives, Computer peripheral toner & ink cartridges, UPS systems
Home Office Equipment
- Printers, Scanners, Mobile phones, Telephones
Electronic Games & Toys
- Joysticks, Computer game consoles incl hand held
Entertainment Equipment
- Televisions, Video players, DVD players, Hi-fi equipment, Stereo equipment
- Digital cameras, Video cameras

Products that WILL NOT be accepted are White goods, overhead projectors and other kitchen and household appliances, hazardous waste, contaminated equipment, CRTs that have been removed from their cases or CRTs that are cracked or broken, batteries that are not an integral part of the system.

For more information: click here or call your local council