I have just returned from my Graduate Diploma in Sustainable Practice block course. It was three days of intensive learning. It is impossible for me here to share with you all that learning or all the musing that is going on in my head. But what I thought I would do is share some of the case studies we were exposed to, and you can link to the websites for more information. These are all businesses attempting to be sustainable in business.
This was set up by a group of locals wanting to get recycling going in the community. It was set up independently of the council. They are passionate about reuse and recycling. They know, as we all do that recycling is not the answer to a sustainable future but it is a step in raising its awareness in the community. They are also able to employ people locally and through the shop enable items with more life in them to be able to be purchased. Among the things I learnt there is that polystyrene is actually recyclable. They compress it down and it is made into more polystyrene. So if you local council does not offer this service then contact them and apply some pressure. I also learnt about glass recycling. If glass is not separated into colours it is recycled by being ground down into gravel. If it separated then it can be quickly, with less energy be made into new bottles. Check what your council is doing. They are also involved in raising awareness nationally about sustainability. Currently they are running the finals for Unpackit 2012 - where you can vote for the best and worst packaging. This is designed to raise awareness of over the top packaging used today and also some innovative solutions that are now available. Visit their website to vote now.
John McRae of Glendu Station was fantastic to listen to. He told his story of why he has gone organic and begun the story on some of his innovations and what drives him. Fascinating guy to listen too and definitely want to chat to him more. For the CRAT students, I am hoping to get a taped interview with him because he has some real food for thought about managing parasite disease for example, with minimal use of drenches. The awesome permaculture garden was inspirational. I wish I had a little more land to dabble in that.
With its thoughtfully designed vineyard and compacted earth function centre
Their attention to detail in getting it right for the tourist and the environment was awesome. The amount of bullying they are having to contend with from other tour operators who are trying to protect their patch, disappointing. Good on Ziptrek in Queenstown for standing up to it though!
This story was sensational. Leased carpets, using carpet squares that don't need to be glued and random patterns so the squares can be easily swapped from high to low wear areas and vice versa and all the carpet squares can be fully recycled and used again. Inspiring!
An innovation of the Centre for Sustainable Practice at Otago Polytechnic and a number of other parties. Hugely successful using B20 (20% biodiesel, instead of the standard 5%). Already after 1 year they are looking at having a pump in Wanaka and have the goal of B100 (100% biodiesel). There are lots of arguments around biodiesel, both for and against and I am not getting into those here, but there is no doubt reducing reliance on imported fuel and reducing carbon emissions are steps in the right direction and for this alone this is a fantastic project. It was quite scary that during the block course it was mentioned that imported fuel prices are expected to double in the next 5 years as supply reduces. This and the concept of peak oil, really puts perspective the urgent need to reduce our reliance on imported fuels. Ethanol and electric technology are of course other ways to do this and these technologies are still being developed.
Product Stewardship
Not a case study but an important concept. This concept involves everyone who handles a product taking responsibility for it. So to use something that is commonly happening right now - trading from a big box TV to a flat TV. The product stewardship concept means that you take responsibility for correct disposal. This means paying for it to be recycled so all the components can be reused. There are arguments about when this fee should be incurred - at purchase or at disposal but at the end of the day, what is important is that we close the loop and ensure each product we use is put fully back in the cycle, not sent to landfill.
Just a taster of my last week. I look forward to sharing more of my journey in this programme in future posts!
Catch you all next week.
Francesca
Some awesome reading here Francesca, would be nice to see some more participants! I am a long time supporter of all the principals of sustainability.
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