I finished last term with something light hearted. Maybe it inspired some creativity over the term break. Don't forget to share that creativity with everyone!
This term I am going to start with an inspiring waste reduction story. But before I start, I just wanted to share the short story of waste.
Recycling
When it comes to recycling - in terms of plastics, which form the bulk of recycling, this is actually downcycling rather than a fully cyclic system. Plastics lose strength over time so cannot keep being remade into products indefinitely. The recyclable plastic that comes your way might make it into another product of lower quality but eventually the quality of the recycled plastic is so low that it cannot be re-used, so it is sent to the landfill.
It is also worth noting that of every recyclable product made - only around 20% make it to a recycling bin - 80% end up in landfill. Go on, admit it, you have disposed of a recyclable container, especially when out and about and its hard to find the right bin.
Paper and metals have better recycling potential and paper products can of course be composted at the end of their natural life when they can no longer be recycled due to weaknesses in the fibres.
Remember also that the process of recycling is very energy intensive and it would be far better to design a long lasting and reusable cyclic product than a single-use recyclable product.
Landfill
The way landfill is designed in the ideal situation is that nothing breaks down or is able to leach into the surrounding soil and therefore into waterways. But remember, we only have one planet earth and every resource we will ever have is here already (exception - solar energy inputs from the sun). So, any resource we send to landfill is a resource lost to us. In addition to this, any organic products such as paper or food and garden waste that should have been redirected from landfill to recycling or compost will break down in a landfill situation and be sources of methane emissions. Methane is a strong greenhouse gas. When these products are dealt with correctly (e.g. recycling or composting), these emissions are minimised.
So that's the story of waste, in a a very brief nutshell.
Inspiring story
This inspiring story about a coffee shop shows you just want can be done if you but your mind to it. Inspiring stuff indeed.
Tell us what you are doing at home or workplace to create a cyclic system or to support business in a quest for better practices. Sharing will help to seed ideas to other people and grow the good!
I look forward to your
Final word: Don't forget to vote in this years Packaging Awards. Go to www.unpackit.org.nz to vote for best and worst packaging.
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