Hemp food approved for consumption

Touted for its significant health benefits, it is likely hemp will rise to be Australia’s new favourite superfood.

After years of lobbying, national and state food minsters recently approved the consumption of low- tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) hemp seed foods in Australia. Commonly misconceived due to its close relations to marijuana, hemp consumption was prohibited in Australia due to concerns it would alter roadside and workplace drug tests. However, the recent approval for hemp consumption has given the green light on this new superfood, giving Australians the opportunity to boost their health with a protein rich and environmentally friendly food source.

When you review the health and environmental qualities of hemp, it stands out among its counterparts. Hemp as a food source contains various vitamins, minerals, and polyunsaturated fatty acids, including omega-3 fatty acids. It contains all 10 essential amino acids plus 14 fatty acids, making it a complete protein and one of the best plant-based proteins for vegans. Unlike marijuana, industrial hemp grown to produce food and other hemp materials contains much lower levels of the mind-altering chemical THC. Industrial hemp only contains approximately 0.3 to 1.5 percent of THC whereas marijuana can contain 5 to 10 percent or more.

Hemp is a highly sustainable quick growing plant that requires little water to produce, and is naturally resistant to pests which means it does not require chemical pesticides or herbicides. Unlike cotton and flax which can adsorb up to 50 percent of the pesticides sprayed on them. For farmers, hemp can be used as a rotational crop between planting periods. Its thick foliage and dense growth prevents sunlight reaching the soil which aids in reduce weed growth. The plant helps to replenish nutrients and improve soil tilth, reduce salinity, and absorb toxic metals from the soil. At its end of life, hemp can be recycled, reused or composted as it ire environmentally friendly thamore environemntally ore are limited in their scope and can be inconclusive, however as a conscis 100 per cent biodegradable.


Related: Shave waste free and save the environment; Battling Australia’s bottled water crisis; The state of Australia’s waste    

Continue Reading..

Shave waste free and save the environment

 There are many ways plastic can sneak into our lives, and a disposable plastic razor is one of them.

According to the EnvironmentalProtection Agency (EPA) approximately two billion disposable razors enter landfills every year in the United States of America. Men and women spend a small fortune on these plastic items which are designed to be discarded and replaced frequently. These items are used for approximately two weeks to three months before the entire razor or razor head is replaced.

Most disposable razors are made from a plastic that never truly breaks down. Limited recycling programs make it difficult for people to dispose of their razors responsibly, with most ending up in landfill. The plastic can last in the environment for over 1,000 years and then eventually break down into smaller fragments.

You can still have an incredibly close and comfortable shave while reducing your impact on the environment – simply swap a plastic disposable razor for a reusable safety razor. Every part of a reusable safety razor is truly zero waste. Parker safety razors, made from brass with a chrome plating, are 100 per cent plastic free and designed to last a lifetime. The replaceable razor blades can be recycled at the end of their use, unlike disposable razors, which cannot be easily recycled as they are fixed inside the plastic razor head.

Investing in a reusable razor will not only reduce the impact on the environment, but will potentially save individuals hundreds of dollars every year.

Related: Your war on waste; Battling Australia’s bottled water crisis; The state of Australia’s waste    

Continue Reading..

Park Lake State School recycles over 14,700 empty beauty products

Park Lake State School in the Gold Coast, Queensland, has won Australia’s first playground made from recycled beauty products in the national Garnier Recycled Playground Competition, in which schools around the country recycled over 145,000 empty beauty care products otherwise destined for landfill.

Technically, beauty product waste – such as empty shampoo bottles, used lipstick and body wash dispensers – is recyclable in Australia, however due to the high cost of recycling mixed-plastic items like these, most beauty product waste ends up in landfill. TerraCycle is an international recycling and upcycling company that takes hard-to-recycle packaging and turns it into affordable, innovative products.

From 9 October to 8 December 2017, Garnier and global recycling pioneers TerraCycle ran the Garnier Recycled Playground Competition to encourage preschools and primary schools nationwide to collect and recycle empty beauty products of all brands, and raise awareness about waste and recycling. Park Lake State School was the competition’s top collector for 2017. The school won a $45,000 recycled playground made from beauty product waste, which all schools collected during the competition period.

The empty beauty products collected by schools will be cleaned, shredded and melted down into hard plastic, which will be remoulded to make the playground. In its operations, TerraCycle’s goal is to create materials that can be used as a sustainable alternative to virgin materials and plastics, which require more crude oil in their production.

The Garnier Recycled Playground Competition was open to all pre- and primary schools and together, all participating schools collected an outstanding 145,000 units of empty beauty products. The competition runners-up up were Colyton Public School in Mt Druitt, NSW, and Main Arm Upper Primary School in Main Arm, NSW, who won $4,500 worth of prizes between them.

“We’ve been really inspired by Australian schools’ commitment to recycling in this program, and by their hard work in raising awareness about waste and sustainability,” said Jean Bailliard, General Manager of TerraCycle Australia & New Zealand. “The level of community support for local schools has been phenomenal.”

The 2017 Garnier & TerraCycle Recycled Playground Competition is part of the broader Beauty Products Recycling Program sponsored by the L’Oréal Australia Group, which includes brands such as Garnier, Maybelline, L’Oréal Paris and La Roche-Posay. The program allows all Australians to divert empty skin care, hair care and cosmetic products from landfill free-of-charge. Additionally, for each approved unit of beauty product waste received, collectors earn AU$0.02 per item for funding towards their school or nominated charity.

It’s free and easy to recycle beauty product waste with the Beauty Products Recycling Program – everyone can join and collect! The Beauty Products Recycling Program is ongoing, so schools and the community can continue to collect, recycle and raise funds in 2018. For more information about the Beauty Products Recycling Program, visit garnier.com.au/green.

TerraCycle program at Biome:

Biome Eco Stores currently offer a complimentary in store 'end of life' recycling program to all Biome customers. They accept all used product packaging and beauty and cleaning containers, which will then be responsibly recycled through the TerraCycle program.

Related: The environmental impact of plastic straws; The true environmental costs of disposable coffee cups; The environmental problem with palm oil

Continue Reading..

The environmental problem with palm oil

The world is currently bordering on witnessing the utter consequences of a significant environmental disaster. The global consumption of palm oil intensified by recent decades of commercial demand has dramatically increased production, causing catastrophic and widespread environmental destruction. Found in a vast range of commercial products, palm oil is directly linked to several environmental issues including mass deforestation, animal cruelty, habitat degradation and fragmentation, climate change, exploitation of indigenous rights, and impending extinction of certain endangered species. Without consumer awareness and objection, the effects of unsustainable palm oil will likely join the ranks of the world’s worst environmental disasters facilitated by humans. 

Over 60 million tons of palm oil is produced each year with estimations of it doubling over the next decade. With the highest rate of deforestation in the world, Indonesia is also the highest producer of palm oil, supplying over 61 percent to global markets with Malaysia following close behind. These two countries combined produce almost 90 percent of the world’s palm oil on three islands, Borneo, Sumatra and Papua. Palm oil is extracted from the fruit of the African oil palm which grows rapidly in monoculture plantations in peatlands pressing at the boundaries of the last protected areas of these forests. Around 300 football fields of the world’s most biologically diverse rainforests are felled every hour for palm oil plantations, killing around 6000 orangutans, plus Sumatran tigers and many other species every year.

Australians unknowingly consume on average 10 kilograms of palm oil each year and unclear food labelling makes it hard for people to exercise their consumer choice. Palm oil is a high yield and low cost versatile ingredient used extensively in most manufactured foods, cleaning products, body care, make up and bio fuels. Currently, there is a significant ‘glossing over’ occurring in the industry where most brands are choosing to not disclose the use of palm oil on their packaging. Inadequate government labelling regulations allow brands to hide palm oil behind more than 200 alternate names such as vegetable oil, Glycerine, Plant Surfactant and Caprylic Triglyceride, making it extremely confusing for consumers to identify. While some brands claim to be cruelty free and promote everything they do not contain, palm oil is used and hidden in their formulations. 

To further complicate the issue, there is substantial greenwashing around the term ‘sustainable palm oil’ which makes 99 percent of ‘sustainable palm oil’ claims unreliable. The industry’s self-regulating body the RSPO has developed a complex certification scheme that allows non-certified oil use such as GreenPalm to be labelled ‘sustainable’. The only 100 percent certain way to know if the palm oil used in a product is sustainable is to trace it back to plantation where it was grown, and this is almost impossible. The complex supply chain, hidden nature of palm oil use, and the fuzzy certification scheme have allowed manufacturers to get away with the guise of ‘sustainable palm oil’ for too long. For this reason, it is not possible to rely on a brand's assurances that they use ‘sustainable palm oil’ because they generally have not obtained thorough and legally binding commitments from their suppliers. 

Biome is 100% free from palm oil, and no longer stocks products with palm oil derived ingredients.

What can you do?

There are five ways you can avoid products containing palm oil and help reduce the destruction caused by palm oil cultivation.

1. Avoid all products containing palm oil, including processed and packaged foods;
2. Don’t trust claims including cruelty free, organic, vegan and sustainable palm oil;
3. Check ingredients lists for Glycerine, Plant Surfactant and Caprylic Triglyceride;
4. Adopt an orangutan or donate money to BOS Australia to help purchase a large block of rainforest on Borneo; and
5. Shop for palm oil free products at Biome.

Continue Reading..