2010 - World Cup to score Green Goal

2010 - World Cup to score Green Goal
Waterless urinals and serviettes for your Hotdog!
I read with some interest the green goals for the world cup, and I have to ask - why only for the world cup? (The title is a link by the way)
I'm not quite sure about getting my Hotdog in a serviette or using re-usable cups - and YEAH separating waste at source!

Goodness - they even employed people to watch over the bins to make sure where you threw your rubbish - one up for employment!
Now if they can employ people for this, surely they can do more than "encourage" the transfer of recyclables to recycling centres?

I await PIKITUP to get back to re the runour of separate bins for households.

Why ReUseIt?

I believe there are many folk who would re-cycle, re-use and reduce if they knew how,or if they had a reference circle that had some answers.

The connection we make here is to to facilitate finding a home for stuff that we would otherwise just throw away, finding real ways of re-using stuff that fills up the dumps and exchanging information and ideas about recycling in our everyday lives.

This blog should be a forum, really, geared towards connecting a community. A place where we can:-

1. List items to give away - and choose who they go to
   Instead of just throwing somehing away - remember "One Man's trash is another Man's treasure".
   So, if you are moving, decluttering or just getting rid of the old couch, as long as it is FREE, offer it up here. Someone may know a really good cause that could use your old stuff - even if its not working!


2. How and what to reduce
   Get ideas on how and what - like garbage to composting (maybe compost tips), packaging, regular decluttering mindsets etc.


3. Recycling - how, where and what to start with
   Do the three bin thing, what sort of plastics can be used? What do we do with the really BAD stuff, batteries, computers, chemicals etc. We need to build a network of resources, of places and people and techniques. Who does this stuff? and Where are they?


4. Share project ideas ideas and know-how
   Again composting comes up, I have heard so many theories. Household insulation tips, water and electricity usage tips. How about doing the Worm gardens with kids?

When you say "I know someone can use this" - or you look at the bulging bin , or feel guilty about the clutter in your home or office - this is where you come.

Foil-ed in the kitchen

Are you behaving Sustainably?

ALUMINIUM FOIL had to be my pet sustainability gripe.
Can we really justify the amount of electricity that goes into producing this stuff in order to wrap the roast chicken in? Worse - the lunchtime sandwiches, they're not even hot!

Turns out ... and here's a bit about Foil

• it takes vast amounts of energy to create. (Gotta be special deals with electricity suppliers and manufacturers?)


• but, once its made the energy is trapped in the metal -recycling it only uses 5% of the original energy needed to create it, the energy used in the creation is an "investment" for the aluminium guys! It can be reused or re cycled at a very low cost.


• Aluminium companies are "keen" to get their hands on used foil because of this embedded energy investment and the ease of resmelting and reselling.


• foil only represents about 0.5% of the normal household waste


• it is non-toxic in a landfill, it releases no poison or emissions to water or air - just eventually returns to nature as aluminium oxide + .

What foils can be recycled?

Clean foil, such as ready-meal containers and catering trays, pie cases, kitchen foil, dairy product lidding and non-laminated chocolate wrapping.

Not to mention the dreaded CANS!

So - my original issue - not such a big one - the original energy used is diabolical(!) and just to save on that its worth encouraging the recycling efforts that schools and street recyclers put in to the various money for ...

Amazingly, South Africa recovers about 67.5% of cans ( http://www.treevolution.co.za/?page_id=1688) - I guess mainly due to a large informal recycling sector.

What to do with all you collect?

Well, I've been thinking about this one, I phoned a few of the so-called recyclers out there and got some weird answers about what they take, how oftent hey take it etc..

A WHOLE separate post :- so in the meantime just gather it up and when you have enough haul it off to the local municipal dump.

many municiple garden refuce centres have a metal recycling area - i'll post a link to which one's do what soon.

a few companies have services where they provide the bins and collect ... also links to come.