Local recycling stations - household goods

Ever since I started doing this blog, I've developed a habit of looking for ways to recycle other types of household goods that doesn't belong in the typical household bins e.g. Paper, aluminum, plastic goods. Throughout the month, I've noted some recycling station in my local area.

Coffee capsule from Nespresso
Every time my family uses the coffee capsule, we keep them in a dedicated recycling bag so we can bring it to the closest Nespresso store to drop them off at the recycling station. The brand has a recycling program for these used capsules where the aluminum used to make the packaging will be recycled by shredding and melting down and turned into new aluminum products.  The grounded coffee is separated, sent to an industrial composting facility and to will be used for fertilizers. I'm curious to where these aluminum and coffee will be sold and processed locally?  On a different note, the Nespresso website has indicated that "Today we are able to retrieve 80% of all capsules sold". In addition, in 2013, Nespresso has formed a partnership with international recycling company TerraCycle. 

Cartridges Ink and Mobile Phone Recycling
In my local OfficeWorks, just outside the store entry, there are a few recycling station dedicated for cartridges ink and mobile phone phone and accessories recycling. These used goods get picked up by Planet Ark and distributed to Close the Loop. Some of the environmental benefits of recycling cartridges includes

• Diverting waste from landfill
• recovering resources - the materials gets reprocessed & recycled by recovering plastics, metals and inks that can be used to make new products i.e pens, rulers, eWood
• Saving water and energy - in most cases, making products from recycled materials requires less water and energy compared to using new materials
• Help in reducing greenhouse gases 

Reference:
https://www.nespresso.com/ecolaboration/au/en/article/2/2910/introducing-nespresso-s-capsule-recycling-program-in-australia.html
http://www.terracycle.com.au/en-AU/brigades/nespresso-coffee-capsule-brigade
http://cartridges.planetark.org/documents/doc-487-cartridge-factsheet.pdf

Australian food label updates

The other day when I was sitting in traffic listening to the radio, I came across a notice from the Australian government on clearer food labels by 1 July 2016. Food business are required to label their products; whether it is produced, made, grown or packed with a few categories exceptions such as food from cafes, restaurants, snacks and biscuits. The label will also tell you what percentage of ingredients comes from Australia.  My first impression was "how good is that?!" It's such a good step to make our food sources more transparent. 


How does that that links to sustainability? 

I believe there are few positive social, economic and environmental implications. 

By making the labels more transparent, it encourages consumers to support locally sourced ingredients. Furthermore, with clearer distinction for different wording, it helps consumer to make clearer decisions. 

As for economical, by buying locally sourced ingredients and food, it supports local economy. I assume locally produced fruits and vegetables will be cheaper than imported one, hence it would be more economically feasible. 

Most importantly, as for environmental, I believe consumer with the new labels, the consumer will more likely to buy local produce. Although there the impact is not significant, the amount of greenhouse gas will potentially reduced for transportation. 



Reference 
http://www.foodlabels.industry.gov.au

How sustainable am I?

After the lecture on "Frameworks for Sustainability and Measuring Outcomes" delivered by Jonathan Fox, I was interested in knowing my ecological footprint as demonstrated during the lecture.

I'm not going to lie, I always knew that I'm not pushing myself to be as sustainable as I want myself to be. Therefore when I got my test results, I'm not surprised that my ecological footprint is quiet ridiculous.

I can't expect the city to be sustainable if I can't make the effort to be sustainable at an individual scale. After quantifying some of the consumption, I realised I can cut down on a few consumption and be more aware of my consumption in my daily life including, using less air conditioning during summer/winter, buy more produce from local farmer (even if they don't look as attractive) and the list goes on... and making sure everyone everyone in the household is on the same page. 

There are a few area in which I would like to improve on but it's a bit beyond my control. First, it is mobility; I'm aware that using public transportation can help to reduce greenhouse gas instead of travelling by car from work (Lane Cove) to university (Kingsford) to home (lower north shore). However, due to the public transport network in those three locations, it is very time inefficient for me to do so. If Sydney had a better public transport system, much like Hong Kong or Tokyo, I would be more than happy to use that instead. 

Reference:

http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/personal_footprint/

Carbon farming

Is Carbon Farming agriculture the answer to climate change?


Photo: http://www.marincarbonproject.org/carbon-farming

Although the concept of Carbon Farming has been around for a few years, it was first introduced to me in the article on Greenbiz. The article on Carbon Farming was based on a book by Eric Toensmeier (2016) in his book called "The Carbon Farming Solution: A Global Toolkit of Perennial Crops and Regeneration Agriculture Practices for Climate Change Mitigation and Food Security".

Carbon farming is farming in a way to reduce greenhouse gas and holds carbon in vegetation and soils. So why CF? From what I gathered, carbon in soil is beneficial as it makes the land more productive. Bu the rising levels of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are a problem as they lead to climate change.

At the national scale, I was interested in knowing if the concept is adopted. A quick Google search lead to the Australian Government Department of the Environment - Carbon Farming Initiative project transition into Emissions Reduction Fund. The initiative was introduced in 2011.  The initiatives allows farmers and land managers to generate extra income by earning and selling carbon credits. This is done by storing or reducing greenhouse gas emission on the land. Without going into details, As agriculture is one of the major export sector,  I'm curious to find out how the initiative is performing in Australia.




References
https://www.greenbiz.com/article/farm-grows-climate-change-solutions
https://www.chelseagreen.com/permaculture-subject/the-carbon-farming-solution
http://www.environment.gov.au/climate-change/emissions-reduction-fund/carbon-farming-initiative-project-transition
http://www.carbonfarmersofaustralia.com.au/About/what-is-carbon-farming

Sustainability for the next generation?

Not only it is vital for adults to understand the importance of sustainability but also to education the next generation. According the to statistic by Nature Conservancy, it suggest that today's children spend just 6% of their time playing outside. In today's technology driven world, children often devote up to hours a day using phones, computers and other electronics. Some teens only spend just few hours per week communing with nature.

With that in mind, I was curious to find out if there are any sustainable programs targeting children education. In NSW, there are a few resources for services for parents and children to learn more about sustainability:

• NSW Early Childhood Environmental Education
• Climbing the Little Green Steps
• The National Quality Standard Professional Learning Program
• Office of Environment and Heritage
• Planet Ark

Examining some of these program, it's interesting to see that they tend to focus on children in childcare and primary school age. However, the focus is not as heavy for high school. Surely, in high school we learnt more in depth about water, energy, biodiversity and waste through research and in textbooks. However, there are heavier emphasis and higher devotion to core subjects such as English and Maths, we lose the time spent on hands on experience (at least when I was in high school) compared to amount of time we used to spend at a younger age. My point is, the emphasis on sustainability through hands on activities, should be carried out not only through young age, but also through out teens. With that in mind, our connection to the environment and resource management at the individual level can make a significant impact to the overall environment. 


References

http://www.dec.nsw.gov.au/what-we-offer/regulation-and-accreditation/early-childhood-education-care/useful-links-and-resources/sustainability-resources

https://www.greenbiz.com/article/are-we-doing-enough-encourage-next-generation-sustainability-pros

Guilty confessions: Plastic bags

Speaking of plastic waste... I'm guilty of using plastic bags in super markets. And why? Most of the time, it's because I'm too lazy and not wanting to make the effort to bring a bag with me. 

But. I tried to reuse them as much as I can. In my household, every time we bring home a plastic bag, we will fold them into little triangles and but it in a dedicated plastic bag bucket and reuse it for mostly bin liners & to pick up dog poo when we walk the dog. If the bag smells a bit or it's wet (i.e. used to carry frozen food/milk) we generally let it air dry for a day and then fold it into little triangles.

Going back to the recycling aspect of it. I'm very curious to know why the major supermarket in Sydney doesn't promote biodegradable plastic bags? I've seen them around when I go to the local fruit and veggie shops. Considering that they are major supermarkets in Australia, I don't see why they don't promote biodegradable plastic bag? Are they that much more expensive then normal plastic bags? Even though these major supermarkets have a recycling box for customers to bring back their plastic bags, but lets be realistic. I think less that 5% of the customers actually brings back the bags for recycling. So, isn't better to use biodegradable bags and therefore, at least even if they go straight to the landfill, it can degrade itself. Quick research indicated that it takes an approximate 5 years to degrade. 

On top of that, to me it is funny how Australia's legislation is not keeping up with the social education of plastic bags. In our society, I believe many people know the damages of plastic bag does to our environment and yet,  our legislations are not enforcing it through monetary charges or apply heavier tax or do something about it. In comparison to my hometown in China, we have to pay extra to purchase a plastic bag when we go buy groceries from the supermarkets. I think it's a great idea to enforce the idea and promote people to bring in their own bags. 

After all these thoughts; I will make more effort into bring my own bags. If I do end up using plastic bag - I'll make sure I get the most out of it. 

Sustainable city = economic growth?

After reading the article by Hallie Kennan and Chris Busch on "How sustainable cities can drive business growth", I was intrigued by the relationship drawn between sustainable cities and economic growth. The concept of sustainable cities often associated with social and environment benefits and has a weaker link to economical aspects.

The article brought out the attention of how sustainable urban design's greatest impact could be on economic performance. One of the greatest challenges for the economy is to attract human talent to the work force. By adopting the model of Smart Growth, the practice could improved quality of life and therefore attracting talented employees. 

Research has shown that workforce trend is changing. Companies now aims to seek locations that satisfy both living and working in vibrant neighbourhood. Some of the characteristic they seek are:

• Mixed-use neighbourhood
• Public transit and transit oriented development
• Small block  form a connected urban grid
• Public green space

In accordance to study by "Moving California Forward", it indicated significant economic benefits from smart growth including:

• Increase time efficiency
• Access to talent 
• Improved health
• Innovation inspired by diversity 

To summarise: 
"Smart growth" Sustainable city -> improve quality of life -> attracts sustainable businesses -> attracts talented employees -> increase in performance -> economic growth.




Reference:
https://www.greenbiz.com/article/how-sustainable-cities-can-drive-business-growth

http://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Moving-California-Forward-Full-Report.pdf

Why aren't we implementing Green Cities?

I came across an interesting article called "If Planners Understand It's Cool to Green Cities, What's Stopping Them?" by Story by Tony Matthews, a lecturer in Urban  & Environmental Planning, Griffith University; and Jason Byrne, Associate Professor – Environmental Planning, Griffith University on The Urban Developer Website.

The article caught my attention immediately, when it addressed the issue of why we are not implementing the 'green' strategies as much as planned. It was always one of the question I had in the back of my mind. I agree that Australia's is broadly aware of green infrastructure as an urban intervention and we commonly see it in the "sustainable" section of the LEP. The authors highlighted that "the planners we interviewed, while recognising the potential value of green infrastructure, strongly caution that delivering the technology can be an uncertain process." I guess "uncertain process" is strongly driven by economic factors - as a landscape construction estimator, I'm aware that the cost into implementing green infrastructure can be far more costly. In addition, the author simplify by saying "put simply, they tend to avoid it because it has not traditionally featured on planning agendas. Like any new planning endeavour, green infrastructure can create institutional, legal, economic, social and environmental challenges." 

It is said that one of the challenges faced are the biophysical; including the appropriate forms of vegetation that is influenced by prevailing climatic condition, soil conditions, drainage capacity and species growth patterns. 

Social-political factors were also highlighted as barriers. These include governance concerns such as the planning decisions. 

Management is also an issue - government commitments to budget for green infrastructure delivery and management is limited and varies across different local government.

So what can be done?

This is not a simple task. 

According to the article, the research suggest the principal task for planners is to overcome embedded practices and to accept GI as an emerging but permanent urban feature. To develop further understanding of urban GI and to implement it so that it can provide various benefits to the community. Some of these benefits include reducing urban heat, provide habitat, better resource management including stormwater runoff and improved urban quality and aesthetics. 


Reference
http://www.theurbandeveloper.com/green-cities-urban-greening/