What’s new 2007

Fifty people attended the UniSA’s School of Computer and Information seminar on Monday 12 November 2007 which provided a run down on the what, where and how of an IT sustainability program for IT facilities. Zero Waste SA was a sponsor of the event.

Clean Up Australia’s Ian Kiernan gave the keynote address, which was followed by a range of presentations on environmentally responsible ICT procurement and disposal of e-waste, managing the energy and C02 impacts of ICT operations, and leveraging of ICT for environmental outcomes. The seminar was a success in building new alliances, and strengthening advocacy concerning the need for all levels of government and the corporate sector to effectively and responsibly manage the environmental impacts of ICT.

View most of the presentations from the seminar

Zero Waste SA has released a report which gives councils a better understanding of the cost implications for introducing co-collection of food and garden organic waste.  A trial collection of food waste undertaken by Burnside Council in 2005-06 demonstrated that it is technically viable to undertake such a collection and the survey of residents indicated a high level of support for such a service.
Click here for the survey on food waste (238Kb PDF)
Click here for the Business case (1.2Mb PDF)

Zero Waste SA congratulates the winners of the SA Retail Property Environmental Awards for 2007 announced on Saturday, 3 November 2007:

• City Arcades - Adelaide Central Plaza
• Up to 10,000m2 - Centro Murray Bridge
• 10,000 – 20,000m2 - Harbourtown West Beach
• 20,000 – 35,000m2 - Stockland Parabanks
• Commendation - Munno Para Shopping Centre
• Over 35,000m2 - Centro Colonnades

This is the third year of Zero Waste SA’s sponsorship of the SA Retail Property Group’s Environmental Excellence Awards. The sponsorship supports the retail industry’s ongoing efforts to improve their environmental performance.

Zero Waste SA has released its Annual Report for 2006-2007. Click here to read the report. Highlights for the year included:

• Decreased waste to landfill – since 2003 there has been a decrease in waste to landfill of 10.69%, a remarkable reduction given South Australia’s growing economy.

• Waste Pathways: Outlook 2007 forum – we partnered with the Local Government Association to run a successful forum which provided an opportunity for waste and resource recovery issues to be discussed with Local Government and industry.

• Wipe Out Waste (WOW) workshops – we launched WOW, the first program in Australia which spans kindergartens through to primary and secondary schools.

• Household Hazardous Waste and Farm Chemical collection program – our popular program collected for safe disposal 92.1 tonnes of hazardous material from 1,239 members of the community.

• Greening of Zero Waste SA – our fit-out received a 4.5 star energy rating, a significant achievement given the 3 star rating of Statewide House.

The Zero Waste Lifeline public artwork installed in The Range Wetlands, Dry  Creek, has been awarded a Commendation in the Design Institute of Australia’s 2007 South Australian Design Awards. The project aims to raise awareness about environmental sustainability and highlight the need for a continued focus on reducing consumption and the amount of waste created. See the project  here

Want to know the what, where and how of an IT sustainability program for your IT facilities? UniSA’s School of Computer and Information Science, with the sponsorship of EDS, Microsoft, the SA Department of Further Education, Science and Technology, and Zero Waste South Australia will show you just how important and easy it is to do your part for the planet.

The seminar will be held on November 12 2007 at the Chifley Hotel, South Terrace, Adelaide:

Full Day Event: 10:00am – 5:00pm (click here for registration and program)

SMEs Short Program: 6:00 for 6:30 – 9:00pm (click here for registration and program)

Contact: (no registration queries please): sharon.ede@zerowaste.sa.gov.au

Zero Waste SA is calling for applications for three funding programs:

Metropolitan Reuse and Recycling Infrastructure Incentives

The Metropolitan Reuse and Recycling Infrastructure incentives program aims to increase capacity for local reprocessing of recyclable material to high value end use products and invest in infrastructure that enables greater reuse of waste materials.
Click here to read the eligibility guidelines and download the application form.

Regional Implementation Program

The Regional Implementation Program supports improvements to waste management in country areas by funding high priority projects. Click here to read the eligibility guidelines and download the application form.

Social Enterprise Grants

The Social Enterprise Grants program supports South Australian not for profit organisations or groups which undertake recycling, resource recovery and waste minimisation projects for the benefit of the community. Click here to read the eligibility guidelines and download the application form.

How many green bags in a household? What are single use plastic bags made from? Can plastics help the environment? Our Just Ask Zero Waste SA section continues to attract interesting questions. To find out the answers to these recently posted questions click here or send a question to zerowaste@zerowaste.sa.gov.au.

Zero Waste SA’s Business Plan 2007/2008 shows continued support for recycling and the municipal waste stream as well as shifting focus to commercial and industrial waste and new areas such as kitchen organics collection for composting. Click here to find out more.

New Board members welcomed (70Kb PDF) 14/8/2007
Environment and Conservation Minister, Gail Gago, has welcomed the appointment of six new members to the Zero Waste SA Board.

Learn to Knit with your plastic shopping bag or make a wallet from a soy milk container… and much more!  Inspiring eco-creative workshops will be provided for free by Ecoconscious during the South Australian Living Artists Festival:

12 – 2 pm Sundays
5, 12 and 19 August 2007
Sunday Arts Market
Adelaide Festival Centre, King William Road, Adelaide

The workshops will be run by the ‘it’s not waste till you waste it’  team, environmental educators, Tiffany Schultz and Jane Noack, with visual artists Dr Irmina Van Niele, Sam Jeffries and Laura Wills. The artists all have an interest in the use of waste and recycling as part of their art practice.

Volunteers, sponsorship and participants required.

Bookings and enquiries:
Email: ecoconscious@internode.on.net
Telephone (08) 8332 4483

The Tarac Environment Future Fund (TEFF) allocates up to $20,000 a year to individuals, companies, organisations and associations to increase the body of knowledge about winery environmental management and sustainability solutions for the Australian wine industry. The guidelines and application form are now available from www.tarac.com.au/TEFF.asp . This year the scope of the fund has been expanded to include projects which provide environmental management solutions related to the wine industry. Applications close on 12 October 2007.

Zero Waste SA is seeking tenders to undertake a disposal based audit of metropolitan Adelaide landfills/transfer stations. The field component of the project must be completed before 23 November 2007. The audit will provide a snapshot in time of what is currently going to landfill and will be used as a tool by Zero Waste SA to identify resources that could be diverted from landfill. Download tenders from www.tenders.sa.gov.au (code: ZWSA014638).

Recently the new office fit out of Zero Waste SA was featured on Building Ideas. To view the video click here
(*This is a large file that will take some time to load. To view the video requires the free Adobe Flash plug in available here)

Here is Zero Waste SA’s latest report on recycling activity in South Australia.  In 2005–06 2.40 million tonnes of materials, ranging from asphalt to textiles, was diverted from landfill to recycling, in South Australia. This was down from the 2.62 million tonnes recycled in 2004-05, but still significantly above the 2003–04 result of 2.04 million tonnes. Click here for the report (1.9mb PDF)

For the information of householders, Southern Rocycling and ARA are providing an option for people to return their mercury-containing bulbs and tubes free of charge. The lights must be dropped off at Southern Rocycling's operations in the western suburbs during business hours. Click here to read more. In the meantime, a national approach is being developed for the management of CFLs in light of the Federal government's intention to restrict the use of incandescent and other high energy use lights.

An investigation of the anatomy and application of the popular sustainability concept and tool - the ecological footprint - which is increasingly influential in assessing and communicating our impact on the world.
When:          Tuesday 5 June 2007, 6.00 pm - 7.30pm
Where:         Christie Walk Community Room,
                     3 Sturt St (south side of the Stage 3 building), Adelaide
Cost:             Free for UEA members and Christie Walk residents.
                     Gold coin donation otherwise.

RSVP:          Urban Ecology Australia 08 8212 6760

The forum will be lead by Sharon Ede, a life member of UEA. In 2001, Sharon journeyed to the US to study the Footprint with its co-creator, Mathis Wackernagel. Sharon is part of the Global Footprint Network Standards Committee, and works as a research/project officer with Zero Waste SA, a State government agency and GFN partner organisation.
Issues:

• How can we stop being vague, and start being specific, about sustainability?
• What is 'overshoot' and what are its implications for humanity?
• What is an Ecological Footprint, and how can it help us address sustainability challenges?

nextlife is a Yahoo! group set up to facilitate reuse of items/equipment/materials in the workplace.

Reuse is higher up the waste management hierarchy, as well as being less greenhouse intensive - reusing things in their existing form (even if they have to be transported to a new 'home') takes less energy and materials than collecting and recycling materials into something new.

Anyone from any kind of workplace (government, non profit, community groups, small business) is welcome to join, provided they are located in South Australia.

Participants will need a Yahoo ID to join the group. Registration is free, and only takes a minute to set up. Participants can then post to/read messages from other group members, matching the needs of some members with the surplus or unwanted items of others. Click here to register.

Zero Waste SA has developed a Waste Management and Reduction Guide for the retail industry. To co-incide with the release of the guide, retail centre managers as well as operations and marketing staff are invited to attend a workshop to find out the benefits of introducing a waste management and reduction program. The workshop will include:

• how to successfully introduce a waste reduction and recycling program
• infrastructure required to facilitate the program
• partnership approaches to getting the job done
• marketing opportunities to promote initiatives to customers

The Local Government Association  and Zero Waste SA will present the Waste Pathways: Outlook 2007  forum on Friday, 23 March 2007 at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Rubikon Room. The purpose of the forum is to discuss waste and resource recovery issues affecting Local Government and industry. Local Government officers, elected members and resource recovery and waste industry leaders are invited to attend. The final program is now available - click here (PDF 45KB).

As numbers are limited people wishing to attend are requested to register their details with Heather Mackenzie at heather.mackenzie@lga.sa.gov.au or telephone 8224 2028. A registration fee of $35 will apply.

Zero Waste SA is seeking submissions from a professional waste services company to participate in a program to receive, segregate, package, transport, recycle, treat and dispose of unwanted household hazardous waste and farm chemicals  from designated areas within South Australia. The Zero Waste SA Household and Farm Chemical Collection Program has been in operation since March 2004 and provides a free service to householders and farmers. Download tenders from www.tenders.sa.gov.au (code: ZWSA014107).

Zero waste was the theme for the 2006 ECPtvc competition. Research has shown that young people attach less importance to this issue than older members of the community. The competition has aimed to inspire and motivate our youth. The seven short listed ads will be premiered at the Adelaide Film Festival’s ‘Ecoscreen’ program. The winner will be announced at ‘Made in SA’, at 7pm, Monday 26 February 2007 - see www.adelaidefilmfestival.org

Through Zero Waste SA’s funding incentives, advocacy and strategic partnerships, the zero waste goal is starting to have an impact on the South Australian community. 2005–06 highlights have included:

• Kerbside Performance Incentives Program – the majority of metropolitan local councils have adopted, or plan to adopt in 2006-07, high yielding kerbside recycling collections. Surveys continue to show that South Australians strongly support a ban on single-use plastic bags and the Government re-iterated its intention to introduce legislation to that end.
• Zero Waste events – WOMADelaide in Botanic Park again featured as a leading Zero Waste event promotion and was nominated for a Banksia Award for its implementation of zero waste procedures.
• Household and farm chemical collections continue to remove large quantities of hazardous waste from the environment – over 345 tonnes of waste was received from 5 857 members of the public across South Australia, and safely treated.
• The Wipe Out Waste schools program developed for launch in 2006-2007. The program will encourage schools to reduce waste and raise student awareness about waste recycling and disposal.
  For more information about the Zero Waste SA’s performance during 2005/06, you can download the Annual Report.

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