Think packaging.......................

A couple of weeks a go on Fair Go, they were talking about the Packaging awards .  As part of the article they showed examples of the best and worst packaging there is.  You can view the Fair Go clip here. It is well worth watching. 

The website for the packaging awards which shows lots of examples of best and worst packaging is: http://www.unpackit.org.nz/

Do you think about what you buy in terms of the packaging and making choices based on the packaging?  Often there is an alternative in less packaging or packaging that can be recycled. 

 



Is there an opportunity to refill containers, rather than recycle them and get another container?  Remember that the first principles are always to reduce, then reuse.  Recycling is the third 'R'.  

Sometimes products that we recycle may not in fact be remade into another product that is actually able to be recycled, so we may recycle the packaging but  the next product it is made into is of lower quality and unable to be recycled. 

Jane Craker from the School of Veterinary Nursing made this comment regarding packaging and I agree: "Manufacturers need to be more accountable for their packaging choices, I would like to see them have to pay towards the cost of getting rid of it, that would soon get them thinking."

Polystyrene is unable to be recycled so stop and think before purchasing meat on polystyrene trays.  Ask you local supermarket not to use them or alternatively shop at your local butcher.

Did you know that the wax coated paper cups you get your takeaway coffees in can be composted? Make sure these cups do not go to landfill, but pop them in your compost or green waste bin.  




And since I work in a female dominated environment, I couldn't let this post go without adding this link to 'Moontime'

Share your ideas with us about how you reduce your weekly waste by reducing the packaging you purchase with products.  We look forward to hearing all your ideas.

Have a great and sustainable weekend
Francesca

Since its election year - what about sustainability policy from the 4 main parties?

I was going to follow up this week on the feeback that has been coming in from last weeks blog and some other things that have come uo from it regarding packaging but since I've been on leave from work this week I haven't had a chance to sort it all out, so I thought I'd just think politics!

Before heading to the links below, I would encourage you to become familiar with the concept of strong sustainability where the environment encircles everything with social and economy inside as opposed to the model where all 3 circles meet somewhere in the middle. 

I am not a hugely political person, but but with the general election coming up, I thought that it would be a good opportunity to encourage people (including myself) to review the main parties sustainability policies, so I did some hunting to get you started.  if this lights a flame or you feel this will be a main decider for you in terms of which way you vote, I suggest contacting the political parties directly for more information:

• National Party - if you visit their main policy page there is nothing that I can see specifically relating to sustainability and the environment, except right down the bottom in a section titled "other initiatives" and this includes a link to the page titled: Environment – Practical solutions, better protection  - this is a one page document about what National have done. 
• Labour Party - I struggled to find details of their current policy or 2011 election manifesto, but you can download their 2008 policy here.  It is 561 pages .  Click to page 201 for the environment section. 
• Green Party - The Green Party policy can be accessed at this link. 
• Maori Party - Again I had some difficulty finding current policy.  This is a link to the 2008 election policies and there is reference to the environment.  The link to specific policies did not seem to work, but you may have better luck. 

Apologies if I have left any of the parties out that you might affiliate too.  I have chosen to stick to the 4 main parties that are likely to gain the majority of seats in the next parliament as they are the ones who will have the say into New Zealand's environmental and sustainability policy. 

If you can access or supply me with better links to policies I will happily update the links too.

The purpose of this article is purely to draw your attention to the policies of the 4 main parties, in reference to sustainability, so that you can make your own decision on where to cast your vote if this topic is of major concern to you.  This may even stimulate you to ask your local representatives to answer some questions. 

Have a great and sustainable weekend.

Kind Regards
Francesca Matthews
Otago Polytechnic School of Veterinary Nursing Sustanability Champion 

Why do you buy bottled water?

Watch this video: http://storyofstuff.org/bottledwater/ 

Ask yourself why do you buy it?

• Lazy?
• Forgetful?
• Really think it tastes better?
• Like to line the pockets of the companies that make it?
• Another reason?

Do you feel better because you only buy a few and refill them?

That in itself has its own issues as the plastics used for these bottles are designed to be used only once.  When they are re-used toxins from the plastics can leach into the water as the plastic gets older.  This is made worse when the water sits in the bottle in the sun. 

What should you do?
Get yourself a reusable bottle, keep it in your bag and keep it full.  You should choose a food grade plastic bottle, that is BPA free and designed to be reused or consider a stainless steel bottle.  Recently some groups have come out saying that we can't even be sure that the plastic bottles designed to be reused don't start leaching toxins - I will leave you to do your own reading on this and make your own decision.

There is piles of good information at this link regarding bottled water to enable you do do further reading if you are not yet convinced

Reduce waste, save money and even get the same taste:

• Try chilling water from your tap prior to drinking
• If your tap water is chlorinated, have a jug or open bottle in the fridge - over a couple of hours the chlorine will evaporate off and the water will taste just fine.
• If you really think that your tap water tastes bad - spend the money on a filter and get it installed at home.
• With some of the money you save, get yourself a funky looking water bottle that is reusable.  Be the envy of your friends and feel good about yourself.  You can find some cool designs here: http://www.safebottles.co.nz/

Challenge yourself, your family, your work mates and anyone else you meet in life to stop purchasing water in bottles unless there is a truely genuine reason (in New Zealand that would be rare - even after the CHCH EQ, as long as you had power and water coming from the tap you could make safe water by boiling). 
Challenge those who produce and market bottled water to invest in sustainable practices such as developing and producing portable filters for example rather than fulling the planet up with empty bottles (and all the waste products produced making those bottles in the first place) or provide drink stations where you pay a few cents to refill your bottle with chilled drinking water perhaps..............I am sure there are many more ideas - add your ideas in the comments field below.
Put pressure on the celebrities who have a share in businesses that bottle water or market bottled water..................challenge them to use their celebrity status to change practices and do something good for the environment. 
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Educating the people you purchase from

Apologies for posting this late!  I was away at a School of Veterinary Nursing planning day last week and time ran out!!  We had a great talk from Nicola Bould, who is a sustainability educator at Otago Polytechnic, during our planning days which has injected a huge amount of motivation into the team - so watch this space!!

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Please note: This posting is in no way meant to be offensive to, or to pick on the company I have been corresponding with.  This posting is designed to help educate people and companies on the answers that they need to be asking and seeking answers too and the changes the may need to make to improve their sustainablilty.  The end result should be a more sustainable company now and in the future and a more sustainable future for everyone. 

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What I am learning, as I start asking these questions to the companies that supply products within the School of Veterinary Nursing (and believe me this is a slow and ongoing project) is that everyone has a "Green" answer, but that it always appears light and when you dig deeper the staff marketing the products can't answer the questions and when they do, the answers are equally vague and light.  Without wanting to point the finger at any of these companies and using them as an example here is an example diaglogue I am in the process of having now..........

First correspondance from me:

"Hi
I am investigating >>>>>(product details removed)>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>we are using in our clinical facility at Otago Polytechnic.　 One of the Polytechnics KPIs is sustainability and as part of that we are looking at everything we do and use within the School of Veterinary Nursing and assessing what we are using and whether there are alternatives that better meet out KPI’s.

I note that >>>>>>>>>>>  meets our needs in terms of efficacy, but the questions I want to ask are along these lines................

1. What happens to it when it goes down the drain – are the components non-toxic? Or are they broken down into non-toxic components?

2. What is the companies green/sustainability policy/progress towards zero waste?
I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind Regards
Francesca

Reply:
Hi Francesca,
Thank you for your e-mail regarding the >>>>>>>>>>>> enquiry into the toxicity and sustainability policy. I could not answer all the questions so e-mailed our parent company in the UK. They have answered,　 the reply is below. If you would like to know more or have any more questions please contact us again.

I do hope that these answers are what you wanted to hear. Could you please reply and let me know if you are happy with the way the >>>>>>>>>>>>> company is directed and that it suits your needs in the future.

Kind regards
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

And this is the information sent through from the parent company:

For part 1 of the questions, over the years >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> has been the subject of many tests and trials with the various water authorities and the National River Authority. Some that spring to mind are the Animal Sanctuary in the North East, The Shelter in Plymouth (can’t remember the name except the Manager Tony was instrumental in gaining us ground with the ABDCH?) and a large new kennel centre in the midlands. Each of these were put to stringent trials for water runoff to septic tanks etc. when they were installing new waste water facilities.

In each of the examples >>>>>>>>>>>>> was found to be non toxic going to drains as the residual % of the components after dilution and washing / rinsing was negligible. In addition the >>>>>>> will break down to sodium chloride (salt) in a short period of time causing no harmful effects to the environment. The only part of the formula that caused any concern at that time was the use of EDTA but in the end that was considered to be (a) as a component, too small of % part to warrant concern and (b) was changed to a more environmentally friendly component in 2004 following a Europe wide concern over the use of EDTA (even washing up liquids and similar household items used EDTA) and more suitable alternatives were found.

With reference to part 2:
We are committed to being green and as such are approved by the RSPCA. We use recycled packaging, bottles etc etc so our whole ethos is ‘Green’.

　

Kind Regards

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

My thoughts:

So you can see from this correspondance that initially the NZ supplier hadn't really thought much about this or perhaps been schooled on it by the parent company but certainly seems keen and interested in this subject and ensuring the product meets the needs of a sustainable practitioner.

Win 1 - we have now, through a simple correspondance awakened the interest in the topic with regards to the product by the supplier

Win 2 - we have been given some information that we didn't have before to help us prove our use of the product is acceptable.

Hopefully a win 3: the UK manufacturer is now thinking that they need to formalise that information and present it in a meaningful manner.

But its also raised a whole heap of questions and this is where it is hard to get real meaningful answers.  In the reply from the UK parent company, they have justified the 'green-ness' of the product by saying they use recycled plastic bottles.  Yes this is great but this doesn't denote green and sustainable procedures.  There are so many more questions.  　

I am no expert at this at all so I don't propose to know all the questions or many of the answers, but my job here is to be thought provokoing and get you, the reader and also the companies I am corresponding with really thinking.

So this was my reply:

Hi >>>>>>>>>>>>

Many thanks for this. It definitely does begin to answer our questions and we don’t have any intentions of changing at this stage. It is great to see components have been changed as concerned were raised.　

However, in order to be really open and transparent about what we are doing, it would be great if we could get some copies of the trial work showing its safety. I am not doubting the word but we are increasingly being asked to prove and document what we say/use. My other thing that I would say now is that it is important that those involved with >>>>>>>>, understand the opportunity now to investigate answers to these questions is a real opportunity to leap forward as a product rather than wait and see what others do and be a market leader.

It would be great to get details of the "green" ethos. For example – it is really great that the bottles are recycled packaging but details on how this is sourced and the "green-ness of the making the recycled plastic into new bottles" for example because there is of course an energy cost (I am guessing this is still a good thing to do – I am just trying to illustrate some of the questions to ask – not just accept that its recycled so it must be better. The plastic vs paper debate is a classic one of this), details on how people are encouraged to recycle the packaging themselves – initiatives to encourage people to keep reusing the packaging like sending it back to be refilled for example (this may or may not work out the best but we are wanting to see evidence of looking at this as an option), also details of the sourcing of the components of >>>>>> and whether each of these components are green and also socially sustainable too. How much waste are each of these companies producing and how much is >>>>>>>> producing to make the end product. So you can see that I am wanting to go the level deeper – so we can see that the base components are sourced sustainably.　

Also manufacturing creates lots of waste – documented stuff about what is being done to reduce the waste – targeting zero waste and carbon neutrality for example. Is the power source that is used to produce the product from a renewable source for example, is all old equipment including electronic equipment fully recycled. Then the other side is the social ethos – are the employees of the company treated fairly etc. Also thinking about how you encourage the end product user to be sustainable in its use. Where it is not possible to reduce waste any further or carbon use, what offsets are in place – for example planting trees. The list of questions goes on.　

I appreciate these are all hard questions – and answers might not be currently available - we are asking these questions of lots of companies and many are struggling to answer them, however we believe these are questions we should now be asking for answers for and we are educating our students to ask these questions. It is essential now for companies to look seriously at this. It is no longer ok to just say "we are green because we use recycled packaging". We need to know about the whole package – which means the company need to know the whole package too.　 　　

If you click on the link in my signature to our sustainability blog, you can see some of the things we are talking about (the blog is just a weekly tip designed to start getting our students engaged and is only part of the package) – I have only recently started the blog, so lots of the stuff we have talked about and done are not on there yet. There is also a post about sustainability and a link to a video called "How stuff works" – this is a great eye opener and in some ways helps to visualise the consumer/throw away society and start thinking about different ways. One of the concepts that has really got me on board is that "rubbish doesn’t go away – it becomes someone else’s problem".

Many thanks and I look forward to any further information that can be provided.　

Kind Regards
Francesca

So as you can see there are lots of questions to ask to get the company thinking.  If we can achieve that and the company itself starting to make inroads into documenting what they are doing and the safety and green-ness of the company and its products, we have a win-win situation.  Lets see how they reply! 

Certainly in the short term it is hard to imagine that the consumer society is going to change, so as a sustainable practitioner, once you have identified that you really have a need for a specific product you need to be asking the hard questions to the person who is marketing the product.  This then gives the person marketing the product and therefore the company an education to some degree in improving their sustainability over time.
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To finish, a quote I borrowed from the recent NZVNJ, that originated from Mahatma Gandhi

“Be the change you want to see in the world”.

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Have a great and sustainable week!

Francesca

Please note: This posting is in no way meant to be offensive to or to pick on the company I have been corresponding with.  This posting is designed to help educate people and companies on the answers that they need to be asking and seeking answers too and the changes the may need to make to improve their sustainablilty.  The end result should be a more sustainable company now and in the future and a more sustainable future for everyone. 

Earth in hands - Image source

Rubbish pile - Image source