One of my favourite products

Wandering around my house today I noticed a product in my household that I get completely frustrated about if we buy an alternate product. What product is it you may ask? Well, it is a specific brand and type of toilet paper. That's right, toilet paper!

We buy double length 100% recycled "post-consumer waste paper" toilet paper. This isn't plush, extra soft, printed, excessively chlorine-bleached toilet paper which many people indulge in, but rather a recycled product. When you come to my house you may experience this product and I think you might be surprised that it isn't scratchy like some people believe recycled toilet paper is, it isn't unattractive and is certainly practical and appropriate for its use.

The product (6 rolls of toilet paper) is branded as "Safe", endorsed by Planet Ark (produced by Encore Tissue) and made in Australia. The best part about the product I buy is that the amount of toilet paper on each roll is the equivalent to two standard rolls. These rolls still fit my standard toilet roll holder and means that I save on the number of toilet roll tubes (less waste), the amount of packaging used to cover the entire product is reduced and the double length means you have to need to change the toilet roll less. The only unfortunate thing about the product is that it is packaged in a plastic material, where surely a paper wrapping would suit just as well and could then be recycled.

The product is also rated as an ethical choice by the Ethical Consumer Guide.

What a great product and it means that all the recycling of paper and cardboard products as part of my domestic waste collection, might eventually come back to me in the form of toilet paper later in their life cycles.

Give it a try, you might be surprised. Pin It

Seasonal produce guide

Via the 1Million Women campaign blog I have discovered a "seasonal produce guide" that lets you know which fruit and vegetables are in season and therefore the ones you should buy. Food that is in season will have shorter food miles, be fresher, be better for you and will generally be more enjoyable to eat.

I have been wanting a pocket size seasonal produce guides for ages and have started dabbling in creating my own, going so far in some instances at looking at when you should plant various crops and calculate their availability based on time till harvest. But, yippppeee, there is no need to reinvent the wheel and I have now printed out the Sustainable Table's version.

The one downside to this guide is that it has been produced (by the look of things) by people based in southern Australia. There is therefore some seasonal variation between the northern parts of Australia and the fruits and vegetables available in the fields in southern Australia, but at least it does provide a guide. It will provide you with some reference to what you should be able to buy and perhaps over time you can amend it to better suit your region. 

Give it a go and let me know what you think. Pin It

What is Palm Oil?

In recent years I have heard bits and pieces about palm oil and how it is used in many, many products that we consume (grocery and cosmetic items) and how it is impacting on precious tropical forests in south-east Asia, particularly orang-utan habitat. Other than these things, I don't know a lot more about palm oil or its issues.

I was reminded of this issue this morning when reading the finished box of soap as I took it from the bathroom and to the recycling bin. I think the brand is "Country Life" and it advertises itself as Australia made and owned and Palm Oil Free. You will also find in smaller print it is made from locally and imported ingredients (as most things do).

Anyway, I thought I should have a look into what "palm oil" is. WWF has an informative webpage that describes palm oil as being derived from the "fruit of the oil palm tree", which comes from two main oil palm trees (African Oil Palm and American Oil Palm). Further information about palm oil and its uses from WWF site include that

"the palm fruit yields two distinct oils - palm oil and palm kernel oil. Palm oil is extracted from the pulp of the fruit, is edible and used in food. Palm kernel oil is extracted from the seed of the fruit and is used mainly in the manufacture of cosmetics."

The growing of oil palm trees seems to be quite widespread around the tropics, with palm oil plantations in our region being focused in Malayasia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Furthermore, these plantations are apparently often associated with illegal or unsustainable deforestation activities (although I will have to investigate this further).

Once again, the consciousness of the consumer can make a difference to such matters and certainly impact on businesses and activities outside our national boundaries. We can achieve this just by making informed choices about the products we choose to buy.

As the GreenPalm.org website states that if we just stop "our" consumption of palm oil, it is likely that the product will then just be purchased by another "user". But, if appropriate assistance (in the way of education and trade support, for example) can be provided to primary producers in these regions (many countries being third world nations) there is the possibility they will be able to modify their  businesses towards sustainable practices. There may also be better planning (through assistance) for new plantations, thereby reducing or preventing deforestation of these important areas.

My understanding is that the GreenPalm group is supporting such actions for this industry through the development of a certificate trading program for palm oil, which includes the labelling of products containing sustainably produced palm oil. WWF and a number of other interested groups also seem to tackling the issues and providing education to consumers and producers, as well as developing standards for responsible palm oil plantations, through the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil.

Again, it can come down to being conscious of your choices, choose products that have sustainably produced palm oil or no palm oil (where there is sustainable product alternatives) and try to find out where the "imported ingredients" come from and generally make informed decisions.  

If you'd like to know more details of what countries and brands are using palm oil, as well as their commitment to utilise sustainable palm oil sources in the future, the WWF has developed the Palm Oil Buyers' Scorecard 2011: Measuring the Progress of Palm Oil Buyers.

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Where does it come from?

As a result of my rising interest to know where my food comes from and to buy local, potentially organic and good quality, I have started to pay attention to the origin of the products I am buying. This has certainly been eye-opening to say the least.

Here are a few of the things that I have noticed over recent months.

• All tinned tuna (all brands) in my local independent grocer store come from Thailand and many don't tell you what type of tuna it is (that is, is it threatened blue fin or a bit better yellow fin)
• All but one brand of frozen vegetables (mixed variety) in my local store come from China and the one that doesn't comes from New Zealand
• All the clothes that I have looked at in main stream stores come from China, no matter what price range I looked at
• The moisturiser I use (one based on nasty petrochemicals and probably tested on animals) is made in Thailand
• Many of the main stream brands of tampons seem to be made in some part of Europe, with the ones I have looked at made in Germany or Slovenia
• Many manufactured products which are 'made in Australia' say they are made from local and imported ingredients. The label then denies you information about which ingredients or proportion of ingredients come from which country. 
• Much of the bulk-provided organic food (ie non-local markets) comes from wide and far in Australia, with many of my local producers potentially using traditional, chemically enhanced agricultural methods. 

I have found this a fascinating journey to discover where things are produced, certainly with my attempt to buy food from within 250km of my household. But the one thing that has been considerably absent is the amount of information on packaging, which makes it really difficult to make informed choices about your food your buying and available in the mainstream and market-dominating shops.

Next time you're at the shops, maybe take a look to see where the things you're buying come from. Might make you think about all sorts of things rather than just what colour it is or how cheap it is. Maybe you could even drop me a comment and let me know what thoughts were stirred up by this exercise.   Pin It

Solar hot water...things you need to consider

I have now had three commercial companies come and provide me with quotes for a solar hot water system for my house and I feel that it would be easy to get caught up in the sales pitch that these "environmentally-friendly" companies give you. So, here are a few things that I learnt about solar hot water systems and some of the greenwash or sales pitches I have heard.

Things you need to consider:

• Size of hot water storage tank (this will depend on the number of people using hot water in your household)
• Whether you want a split system or not (this is whether you want the storage tank on your roof or not)
• Where you can and/or want to accommodate the solar system on your roof
• What type of boosting system (gas or electricity) you want for your system
• What orientation your roof has (use a compass to find out) and whether it will appropriately accommodate a solar hot water system (see previous post on Solar Hot Water).
• How large your house is in area and where the areas that use hot water are (this will help you position your storage tanks and/or solar collection "panels" on the roof and whether a solar hot water system will efficiently deliver hot water to those areas)
• How much money you have to purchase a system
• What rebates are available to you from the government (if this an important factor)
• What your climate is like and whether is it appropriate to a solar hot system
• Is there enough open solar access for a solar hot water system to be effective and efficient at your location
• The amount of structural capability your roof has and whether it can accommodate a roof-mounted hot water storage tank
• Whether you want to show the world you have a solar hot water system (this will determine whether you are happy to mount the collector panels to achieve best orientation, if needed, or have a flat panel system on your roof)

Now here are some things I have learnt about:

• for maximum efficiency and to increase the likelihood that I can get hot water all year round, I should be positioning my solar hot water collector panels to the north. This is particularly important for those winter months when I want to catch as much of the sun's energy as possible, when the sun is positioned further into the northern hemisphere
• on my house this means mounting the panels on a frame, these are constructed to position my panels in a northerly direction, my problem with my position is that these potentially collector panels will still be shaded in some parts of the year and thus, boosting from either mains electricity or a gas system will be required
• insulation of pipes between the collector panels on the roof and the storage tank below (if you're opting for a split system) will ensure maximum hot water is collected in your tank and therefore you don't loose heat through the transfer process
• the storage tank is either boosted (from electricity or gas) or water re-circulated into the "panels" when the water is lower than sixty degrees Celsius
• in a split system the water is pumped onto the roof with a small motor in the storage tank
• you may require more than two "panels" on your roof if you have a particularly large family or have a significant hot water use
• most of the storage tanks seem to have what is called a sacrificial anode, which corrodes overtime and requires maintenance approximately every five years (depending on the quality of your water)

Here are some things that I am a little unsure about and either smell of greenwash or just outright competition between businesses (there may be legislative requirements but can't seem to figure it out yet):

• one company offers a titanium based panel which means that you can orient them outside of the optimum orientation (north) and not loose efficiency....apparently the titanium has the capability of heating hotter than the standard components and therefore can orient outside the optimum north facing 
• consideration of winds if you are mounting your system on racks. Obviously this is important in some locations, but the amount of winds and strength that we have at my place i think is unlikely to impact on the system, but you should definitely get this checked out
• the size of your storage tank needs to be the next size up from your current storage tank. Apparently, this is because solar hot water can only be generated during the day and not consistently and therefore for continuously available hot water, whenever you want you need a larger storage capacity. To me you just need to train your family to use hot water when available and not demand hot water anytime. 
• If you are mains electricity boosting your hot water storage tank, you're not suppose to have this on Tariff 33 (the overnight/off-peak tariff). I am unsure about this and will have to contact my energy provider to see if this is true. The company that told me this said it was legislation. If this is the case and you only use this for hot water, again this company told me that I should have the meter for this tariff disconnected because the energy company would still charge me a service fee for this meter even if I wasn't using it for hot water heating any more.
• the life span of these systems seem to be about 10 years, but no one will put a firm number on it and there is often the statement that the technology has improved so they are likely to last longer than this magic number. Also from the information I received from the companies it seems as if it is the storage tank that will need replacing first and this is just as you would with a traditional hot water storage tank.

A useful Australian government publication is the "Your Home: Technical Manual", which has a section on hot water systems and provides a lot of facts that you need to consider when deciding what hot water system is appropriate for you and has great tips and facts associated with solar hot water.

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Forest Stewardship Council timber

Some of you may have heard of FSC timber, otherwise known as timber certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). The Council is an independent, not-for-profit organisation which provides standards for responsible forest management and has a mission of promoting environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable management of forests. What does this mean?

According to the FSC (international website: http://www.fsc.org/) timber and timber products must meet 10 principles and criteria as a minimum for their operation and management. These are:

Principle 1: Compliance with all applicable laws and international treaties
Principle 2: Demonstrated and uncontested, clearly defined, long-term land tenure and use rights
Principle 3: Recognition and respect of indigenous peoples' rights
Principle 4: Maintenance or enhancement of long-term social and economic well-being of forest workers and local communities and respect of worker's rights in compliance with International Labour Organisation conventions
Principle 5: Equitable use and sharing of benefits derived from the forest
Principle 6: Reduction of environmental impact of logging activities and maintenance of the ecological functions and integrity of the forest
Principle 7: Appropriate and continuously updated management plan
Principle 8: Appropriate monitoring and assessment activities to assess the condition of the forest, management activities and their social and environmental impacts
Principle 9: Maintenance of High Conservation Value Forests defined as environmental and social values that are considered to be of outstanding significance or critical importance
Principle 10: In addition to compliance with all of the above, plantations must contribute to reduce the pressures on and promote the restoration and conservation of natural forests (as sourced from the http://www.fsc.org/ website).

It is interesting to note, that Australian and international products that display the FSC timber come from a broad range of markets and don't just include unprocessed timber, but also timber furniture and  paper products. The Australian branch of the FSC has a webpage allowing you to find a FSC certified products.

Now my quest to find a couple of timber tables (one indoor and one outdoor) that are FSC certified begins. Pin It

Greenwash household products

When looking around for new items for your house make sure you check into the environmental credentials and claims that the product's manufacturer and distributors are making. Green, eco and sustainable branding is the new 'in' thing, with many companies using this strategy as their new marketing tool. For those trying to do the right thing, but are time poor, it can be a difficult minefield to navigate and determine which products are those in fact making a positive difference to the environment.

Sure it comes down to personal choice and what you find meets your criteria for an 'environmentally appropriate' product. But there are many products that are blatantly using green branding to highlight themselves without actually making a difference. And in some cases these green branded products are more environmentally detrimental than the 'standard' products. Be wary!

The best thing to do is determine what you are happy to accept in the way of environmental features for your product and then start your research. For example, if you're looking for a white good product, environmental features you might consider important are: cradle-to-grave impacts, ongoing environmental impact(s) and efficiency (water and/or electricity).

There are a number of websites that can assist compare products, their environmental features and tell you whether their environmental claims are accurate or not. Some of these websites are government-owned, whilst others are maintained by the private industry. Some of the ones I have found useful include:

WELS rating (water efficiency)
Ecospecifier
Energy rating

So, if you are planning on investing some of your hard-earned money into new products for your home, try and spend some time researching their environmental impact(s) and their environmental claims. Pin It

Large supermarkets are soul-less

Weekly grocery shopping today really brought home to me how commercial and soul-less the large supermarket chains have become.

Since moving to our new area, about 6 months ago, I have been shopping at the local independent grocery store and the local farmers' markets. For convenience today I chose to shop at one of the two major supermarket chains here in Queensland. After moving through the fruit and vegetable section and then the meat section without much incident and not many products placed into my gigantic shopping trolley, I moved into the pre-packaged and processed sections.

Oh so soul destroying. The lack of variety in products and brands shocked me. Standard brands that I use to buy from these supermarkets chains have either disappeared from the shelves or are well hidden. The chain branded products are everywhere and the amount of processed foods catering for the rush of modern life are dominant. Local products are difficult to find and I felt that much of the food is choosing the buyer not the buyer choosing the product.

I was just mortified. I don't think despite the moves that these chains are doing in an attempt to improve their reputations by stocking appropriately sourced seafood, having only phosphate free detergents, etc will induce me to shopping in their aisles, except for the oddly unavailable products at my local store.

Some of the reasons I will continue to shop at my local grocery store are:

• locally owned;
• some profits being channelled back into my local community and community-oriented initiatives;
• employment of local people at all levels in the business;
• support for other local businesses and community members;
• direct response to requests (eg. direct responses to suggestions by customers for products, ranges or stocking products within a industry - local, organic, etc);
• broader range of suppliers; and
• encourage/support and utilisation of local products.

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Reducing my carbon footprint

Ok, so I have this grand plan (well at least an idea of interest)! I am thinking that I will try this only eating from produce that comes from within 250km of my place! I'm sure you've all heard of the concept by now...if you buy produce from a limited radius from around your house the theory is that you will reduce your carbon footprint (less food kms/miles), support local producers, eat seasonally available food and if you're lucky might even be a little healthier. You will definitely know where your food comes from, you will know how is it produced and you can start to take control of what goes into your body. The concept sounds fantastic, it is the logistics that are the nightmare, particularly for those souls that live in Australia. Well, it seems that way to me anyway.

I have recently moved to the Sunshine Coast and now seemed to be exposed to a plethora of produce at weekend markets. I get the feeling though that a lot of it is still coming from the Brisbane fruit and vegetable markets rather than the producers themselves. Also there seems to be a significant lack of protein producers at these markets too, so unless you're totally vegetarian the markets don't seem to be meeting all of the requirements.

Hence, the logistical nightmare. If I go ahead with this plan it will be extensive question asking for a period to establish the locality of the production process for my food and perhaps some carbon footprint increase due to me driving around finding and sourcing the produce.

I am still keen for the plan, just have to start the process! Also the 250km radius is just an arbitrary distance around my house from which I thought I could obtain a fair variety of produce throughout the year. Pin It

Biodegradable Pen

Today I bought some new ball point pens from a large stationary store/chain here in Australia. I found the most bizarre product and one that I never thought would come with any sort of environmental options, but I found a pen that is being marketed as 'biodegradable'.

Gimmick or fact? The details are sketchy and whether it is any more degradable than the next pen made out of normal plastic or better for the environment on face value I have no idea but the gimmick factor intrigued me so I purchased a pack of two. Comparatively maybe a little bit more expensive than a middle of the range pack of 2 ball point pens.

Upon reading the fine print, the main outside pen components are the biodegradable parts, as they are made from corn based material (as the packaging explains) and basically the rest of the pen are your typical of a standard pen. These normal pen components need to go into the normal rubbish process, whilst the corn based material (the outer pen shaft) can go on the other hand can go into your compost or into the soil and it sounds like it will take about a year to break down. Interesting product and process if it truly does work.

Overall as I said I don't know whether the footprint of the product is truly any better or worse than a standard ball point pen. This is where I need to start looking into life cycle assessments and how to do them accurately enough to make a judgement about the environmental footprint of products and services from my living room or whilst in the shops.

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