We have received a lot
of great emails from our readers that we would like to share with you
all and hopefully inspire you to join in on the interesting and topical
True Green Discussions.
If you have a topic of interest you would like to discuss please
contact us.
Tara-Jade, SA
Our organisation resides in an industry that is known for its use of
harmful chemicals such as tetrachlorethylene (a chlorinated
hydrocarbon). This chemical, commonly known as ‘perc’, is used by over
99% of all drycleaners in Australia, with a similar percentage overseas.
In early 2005 we decommissioned all of our ‘perc’ plants and
constructed a new centralised facility that uses GreenEarth® processes
exclusively. We are the only drycleaning company in SA to change over,
and one of only a handful in the entire country to exclusively utilise
the GreenEarth® is non toxic and completely biodegradable.
When deciding to transform our organisation, we also wanted to
utilise existing technologies to lower our production of Co2. This was
accomplished in a number of ways, none, however, being more significant
than the introduction of solar heating to reduce our reliance on gas
fired boilers. We can verify a reduction in Co2 emissions of almost 90%,
which is over 300 tonnes in the past 12 months alone. We also utilised
previously wasted energy to heat our dryers (co-generation), further
reducing Co2 emissions.
We have worked to use an oxo-biodegradable plastic to cover all
cleaned garments, and for many years we have offered our customers a
re-usable alternative to plastic, which is currently in use by over
10,000 customers in our market territories.
We are now investigating the use of Photovoltaic (PV) energy to further reduce our Co2 emissions.
Josie, Blue Mountains
I have decided that my best form of action is to ‘speak up’
Recently I had some spare time at the domestic terminal in Sydney. A
multitude of food outlets beckoned and I circuited the floor to
determine what was on offer. Resisting the aroma of coffee I opted for
the ‘healthy’ option of a Boost Juice. I was then horrified to receive
my pink berry drink in a white polystyrene cup. I diplomatically
approached the manager regarding the paradox of choosing healthy, only
to be forced into accepting the use of environmentally unhealthy
containers.
She acknowledged my concern by saying that the company is looking for
an alternative, but they continue to use ‘poly’ as it uses less energy
to produce that a paper cup. I then suggested the use, perhaps, of
degradable sugarcane cups. She then admitted that in that tiny outlet
alone, they hand out more than 500 polystyrene cups a day! I wonder how
many franchises this popular company has!
Over production and misuse
Have you noticed the new ‘trend’ or ‘fashion’ in cafes and restaurants? The use of the paper serviette.
Firstly, your cutlery is wrapped in a paper serviette. Then your cup
of tea or coffee is separated from its saucer by a paper serviette (the
excuse being that it stops the cup from slipping! I thought that saucers
had an internal rim for that very purpose). Then your cake or sandwich
is separated from the plate with (you guessed it) a paper serviette.
I now try to ‘speak up’ at every restaurant or café, trying to draw
attention to how many more serviettes are being purchased by that
establishment.
Try this multiplication exercise: all the customers in one day in one
café in Katoomba, multiplied by the days of the week, multiplied by all
of the cafes in the Blue Mountains and so on. This is VERY prevalent in
Sydney too. IMAGINE how many more boxes of paper serviettes each café
and restaurant is buying! What is the sense in it? Perhaps if we all
speak up we can reverse this ridiculous exploding ‘trend’.