Christmas train is a coming...

We have been madly preparing for Christmas and hence no posts for a while.  This is our sixth Christmas trading season at Biome and we have not worked out the magic formula for making it a breeze.  A healthy sense of humour, tolerant and compassionate work mates and plenty of sleep are a great start.

Christmas is like a fast and heavy freight train barrelling down the track towards us and if you don't leap on and ride it, you miss it...and it is not on the schedule for another 12 months.   Being able to leap on takes a tremendous amount of preparation and energy!

Of course with our eco hats on, we do think alot about encouraging consumption at Christmas.  Yet, the reality of operating in retail is that we must make Christmas work for us.  We offer our customers alternative choices for gifts and celebrations that have integrity and meaning - products where great care has been taken to consider the environmental and social impacts.

We truly appreciate all the wonderful comments about how beautiful the stores are looking.    Here are some photos of our Green Christmas displays taken by hjimagery.com

Thirsty Shingleback lizard drinks from reusable bottle

Everyone in South Australia is withering from the intense heat wave - even the hardy Shingleback lizards, known as Sleepies to the locals.

Thank goodness for a Hannah Montana SIGG bottle, its cool contents and a brave seven year old girl with a love for every little creature that crawls...
Thank you to my brother for this awesome photo.

Brisbane to have largest solar powered green Christmas tree

A sneak peek of Biome's City store Christmas window

Good on Brisvegas for laying claim to the world's largest solar powered green Christmas tree!

This year, the Christmas tree returns to the newly refurbished King George Square, where it will come alight on Friday, 27 November from 6:30pm.

The 18 metre green tree is solely powered by the sun.  The solar panel will generate 50 amps per hour, stored in five heavy duty dry cell gel batteries located inside the base of the tree.  The tree previously used 5,000 watts of power each hour.

The green Christmas Tree has a sophisticated solar powered lighting system featuring 16,000 bulbs, 250 red opaque baubles, a multi-coloured twinkling light system and a giant star made up of solar panels for the tree’s top.  

Everyone is invited to attend the free event to light the tree, with entertainment including celebrated Brisbane singer, Katie Noonan, theatre legend, Bille Brown, and Christmas Elves from Flipside Circus.

Catch some public transport to see the tree before 26 December - and while you're there, please pop by the Biome City store just down the road at 215 Adelaide Street to enjoy our beautiful green Christmas display and Australian Christmas decorations.

Interesting update on recycling Coltan from mobile phones

We received the below informative response from Mobile Muster to explain the situation with recycling Coltan from mobile phones. Plus, it is a chance to publish another gorgeous Gorilla photo (you can download this photo as a screen saver from National Geographic).

Coltan cannot be recovered during the recycling process of circuit boards. This is because it exists in such minute quantities and is in a non-metallic form making it extremely difficult to extract.

Recently there has been some misleading information published about the widespread use of coltan in mobile phones.

Firstly, handset manufacturers require suppliers of coltan/tantalum, which is used in some handset capacitors, to verify and certify that it was not obtained from the Congo.

Secondly, many handsets do not use coltan. Some manufacturers have eliminated the use of coltan altogether and in those handsets that contain coltan its use has been significantly reduced. In a handset containing coltan, typically only one capacitor out of more than 100 would contain coltan. In such a phone, this equates to less than 0.04g of coltan, which is about 0.04% of the phone’s weight.

Although the use of coltan is being phased out, when it is used (from non-illegal sources), coltan capacitors provide superior voice quality for users, such as those with a hearing impairment

Thirdly, Tantalum (from Coltan) is used in a wide range of products, including computer motherboards, computer disc drivers, video camcorders, engine control units, surgical equipment, turbine blades in jet engines and lining chemical reactors. It was estimated that the mobile telecommunications industry used less than 2% of the yearly worldwide production (not from Africa) of tantalum.

Fourthly, the mobile telecommunications industry is working with the environmental movement and consumers to explore any other measures that could effectively safeguard the gorillas’ habitat in the DRC. Our members are involved in the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI), which is a global partnership of ICT companies supported by the United Nations Environment Program and International Telecommunications Union. It promotes technologies for sustainable development and it addresses issues including: supply chains, climate change and e-waste.

How to clean SIGG, Klean Kanteen and water bottles

Whether your bottle is a Klean Kanteen, or other stainless steel bottle , SIGG aluminium bottle with lining or a BPA free plastic water bottle, it is important to stop mould and other deposits forming inside the bottle.  Any material kept constantly wet will breed bacteria.

Wash your bottles with warm, soapy water at the end of every day and let the bottle air dry upside down with the top off.   We of course recommend eco friendly mild dishwashing detergent!

Should any mineral deposits or lime scale form inside, fill your clean bottle with Distilled White Vinegar (no other kind) and let soak for 24 hours. Then rinse the bottle with warm water and one tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda and let dry.   Spots inside that look like "corrosion" are most likely a mineral deposit.

We recommend using filtered water where possible.   It tastes so much better--but also because water contains different minerals in every area and this may affect what happens inside your bottle.

You can also try SIGG cleaning tablets and specially-designed SIGG cleaning brush on all drink bottles.  Please only ever use a soft brush on SIGG so as not to damage the lining.  Stainless Steel bottles can handle a hard brush.  There is also a nifty thin straw cleaning brush that works for straws and sippy tops.

While all bottles are technically dishwasher-safe, we recommend not putting them in a dishwasher.  The dishwasher can damage the external paint coating and because most dishwasher powders are caustic, they will eat into the metal.  Tops should also not be put through the dishwasher because extreme heat expands and deteriorates the plastic.

Never freeze bottles as metal can split even with only a little water inside.   Trust us, we have seen many bottles that expanded and split.  Water does not always expand in a predictable direction!  Even stainless steel bottles are not suitable to freeze. 

If you want to keep your liquid extra cool, buy a wide mouth bottle from Klean Kanteen or SIGG that has an opening big enough for ice cubes - and actually makes the bottle easier to clean also.  I recently heard there are water bottle ice cube trays to make long skinny ice blocks for putting into your water bottle.

See the new SIGG water bottle range.

• safe, non-toxic, BPA free lining; no leaching, metal migration or taste transfer
• every water bottle is an international work of art
• aluminium is lightweight, durable & eco-friendly because it recycles without degrading
• leak proof, interchangeable tops
• made in Switzerland for 100 years; member of 1% for The Planet

See the new Klean Kanteen stainless steel bottle range.