We all know recycling is a good thing. But does the volume of recycling generated in Dunedin and indeed New Zealand, leave a more environmentally friendly footprint than if we simply bury the rubbish in a big hole (or landfill), or using a possibly more expensive method of destruction such as pyrolysis (see Wikipedia - Pyrolysis.
With most of our recyclables shipped first to Christchurch and then overseas, there are concerns that the carbon emissions as well as the man-hours, and various other expenses create as much of a problem as the one we are trying to fix. It is difficult to know where to draw the line as we certainly don’t want to discourage recycling and the active efforts being made to reduce waste going to landfill, but are there other simple ways to make a difference? There most certainly are. Some options include:
* Refusing plastic shopping bags – most stores have ‘sold’ tape that can go on your purchase, negating the need for a plastic or even paper bag or alternatively use a basket or a re-usable bag such as those sold at many supermarkets.
* Composting all your organic waste – this means fruit and vegetable scraps but also newspaper, junk mail, white cat litter and tea and coffee remains. (NO dairy or meat products!) Approximately 25-35% of your household rubbish can be composted.
* A Bokashi is amazing for clearing up ALL your food scraps. It is a two-bucket system that will fit in your kitchen cupboard. The bucket has a tight fitting lid, which contains the pickle smell and allows the effective micro-organisms to work their magic, rapidly decomposing the scraps. They can then be buried directly in your garden, allowing the fertilisation to begin immediately, (although you have to be careful around tender root systems). For more information about effective micro-organisms, go to A Guide to Effective Microorganisms, or simply type ‘effective micro-organisms’ into a search engine. For more information about Bokashi go to Bokashi NZ
* Choose products that have as little packaging material as possible – this can be as easy as choosing to buy individual packets rather than a multi pack (for example two minute noodles) – often cheaper as well. This simply means that you do not have another wrapping around individually wrapped items. Simple - they generally come out of the main wrapper once you have used one or two of them anyway, so why take home the extra in the first place?
* Cultivate a worm farm. If you have children this can be fun and educational as well as environmentally useful. They can be homemade or you can purchase one from most hardware stores, garden centres and even some toy stores. For a guide to worm farming you can contact Jenny Neilson, the DCC’s Education Promotion Officer on 474 3634 or Jenny Neilson
* Avoid buying tinned, pre-packaged and frozen products when similar fresh products are available in season. Packaged items by their very nature create more waste, whereas fresh products generally have little or no packaging, as well as being more nutritious and tastier!
* Consider using the Waste Exchange programme – this is a scheme that enables businesses and industry to donate waste items to community groups – thus allowing you to source usually free items of all sorts from furniture to paper. For more information, contact Carmen Knowler, the DCC’s Waste Exchange Co-Ordinator on 474 3461 or Carmen Knowler.
* Keep an eye out for the Waste-Me-Not website up soon.
In New Zealand, there is little firm pressure on manufacturers to produce environmentally-aware packaging. The Voluntary Packaging Accord signed in August 2004 for a five-year period, (see Voluntary Packaging Accord 2004-2009, is an agreement between the Ministry for the Environment, the Packaging Council of New Zealand (PACNZ), Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ), and Recycling Operators of New Zealand (RONZ), to increase both manufacturer responsibility and consumer awareness. The Accord does not, however, set out any penalties or consequences for those manufacturers who do not strive towards this goal, leading for example to production of a plastic bottle with an aluminium lid, which cannot be recycled as the two materials are incompatible. It also means that there is no incentive for a company to make environmentally sound packaging that may more expensive to produce.
Other useful websites include: Reduce your RubbishSustainable LivingSnippETS – Energy and Environmental News Clippings
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