Talking rubbish with like-minded friends

Photo credit: winning poster in the World Industrial Design Day competition

Do you have anxieties about throwing things "away"?  Do people putting food scraps into recycling make you edgy?  Do you break out in a sweat when there's no recycling bin to dispose of your drink bottle?

During our recent visit to Melbourne for the retail trade fairs, I had a hurried and animated chat with Wasteman.  What fun to gabble with a like-minded soul about rubbish -- rubbish of the wasteful kind that is.  Wasteman devotes a blog to problems with waste and loves to take photos of rubbish bins and odd rubbishy things.  He introduced me to the waste pyramid and thinking about recycling being the last resort. 

Could it be that because we find recycling so easy we are actually likely to generate more recycling and waste, rather than first trying to avoid, reduce or reuse?

At home we have just ordered a larger recycling bin being offered by the Brisbane City Council.  Ours is always overflowing each fortnight, but maybe that's not such a good measure of our eco-performance. Seems we should actually be trying to downsize our recycling bin by generating less "stuff" to be recycled.

Things to make me feel less-wasteful:

• Buy in bulk
• Choose items with little or no packaging
• Pack a wrapper-free lunch using Goodbyn or Kids Konserve
• Grow our own vegetables
• Use shopping bags that last forever.  Wasteman has more to say on this!
• Stop the Junk Mail, but what about the newspapers?
• And my daily buzz, BYO my KeepCup reusable coffee cup - and save 50cents in the process (1 coffee per day x 50 cents saved = $182 dollars a year!)

We just received a lovely letter from the Salvos Stores about their Buy Nothing New Month in October.  They say this national 'conscientious consumuption' campaign is about reducing the community's impact on the environment by encouraging reusing and recycling.  It's a fantastic concept.

I love to send things to the Salvos or Reverse Garbage....I've blogged before about my hoarding tendencies because I can't bear to throw things away (Continuous loop of Reverse Garbage).  

Are there any other friends out there with strange anxieties about waste?  Tell us here or please pop on over to our Facebook page and tell us there...

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Cooloola Great Walk opens: 5 day trek from Noosa to Rainbow Beach

The new Cooloola Great Walk is set to become one of Australia's iconic long distance walking tracks attracting international and local bush walkers to Queensland.

The 102km Cooloola Great Walk links the Noosa North Shore to Rainbow Beach via the eastern high dunes, the upper Noosa River, Poona Lake and Carlo Sand Blow, with an optional route via Double Island Point.

Showcasing the outstanding natural attractions of the Cooloola section of the Great Sandy National Park, the track winds through rainforest, tall eucalypt forest, dry coastal woodland and heath plains.

You can undertake the full 5 day trek or a shorter walk by joining at several entry points.  The designated overnight camp sites must be booked. A lovely two day walk can be undertaken from Rainbow Beach to Freshwater, where you camp overnight and then walk back.  If you love cool, fresh water when bush walking, you won't be disappointed by the upper Noosa River, Lake Cooloomera, Freshwater Lake and Poona Lake along the way.

From Rainbow Beach, keen walkers can hike another 13km to Inskip Point and catch the barge across to link up with the Fraser Island Great Walk!

We recently explored the Carlo Sand Blow, which is at the Rainbow Beach end of the Great Walk.  Here's just a glimpse of the beautiful wildflowers and plants you can expect to see along the way.

Coastal bush sculpted by the wind.  View looking across Carlo Sand Blow. On the opposite hill you can see a track where people slide down the dune and tiny specks of people!

Interesting links
All the Great Walks of Queensland
Construction of the Cooloola Great Walk
More about Rainbow Beach

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Win $500 'mind, body & sole' shopping day in Brissie

We've joined forces with our friends at the exceptional shoe store Children of the Revolution and mind-expanding The American Bookstore to give one lucky Biome customer a fabulous day out in Brisbane.

To enter ~ simply visit Biome Eco Store at 215 Adelaide Street, City and fill out an entry form. Customers who are already on our e-newsletter list automatically receive an entry ++ plus you can get bonus entries by filling out an entry in store.

The prize ~ an awesome day out to soothe mind, body and sole.

Three people - one from each store's customers - will each win a $500 prize.  Read below how to enter with the other stores too*.  Drawn on 30 June 2010.  The Biome winner will be notified by email and on this blog.  Vouchers are for use in the Brisbane City stores only.

First up, a visit to Children of the Revolution across the road from Biome at 204 Adelaide Street with a $200 gift voucher.  Children of the Revolution specialise in great shoes that are great for you.  They have divine boots to see you through winter and heaps of other spunky things.  Campers, Birkenstock Earth, Think!, El Naturalista.  (PS. there's now a store in Sydney too at 637 Darling St, Rozelle).

After that, a visit to one of Brisbane's most wonderful bookstores. The American Bookstore is a 100% Australian owned and operated family business at 197 Elizabeth Street in Brisbane City.

A great place to go for hard to get titles and special orders - and you can now buy books on line. American Bookstore is giving you $100 to spend on any books in store.

Then stop by Biome Eco Stores in the City with a $200 gift voucher in your pocket.   You know what we offer and this is your chance to buy something special you've had your eye on.

*How to score more bonus entries ~ one customer from each of three stores will win a fabulous day in Brisbane, so to increase your chances even more please visit:

* Children of the Revolution's Facebook and contribute a post on how you look after mind, body & sole

* American Bookstore's website and subscribe to their newsletter

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Kids Konserve raises the safe lunch bar

Like many of our customers, we're always on the search for reusable, waste-free lunch packaging that is free from toxins too.  Our team are "wrapped" with Kids Konserve for both adults and children. 

Ainsley says: "Kids Konserve is a brand I am so excited about. It's an aesthetically pleasing eco friendly product that is fantastic quality and free of all the yucky stuff."

"It's not only a great range for children but something any young at heart adult would find just as useful when packing your own lunch from home."

"A great plus with this range that I don't see in too many other brands is the containers with safe-plastic lids are leak proof so you can take salads with dressing or dips and not be concerned about a big mess."

"The Food Kozy that's perfect for sandwiches is also a fantastic reusable alternative to plastic wrap, foil and snap lock bags."

Tracey says: "the kids have already given Kids Konserve a great work out.  The insulated thermos jar has opened up a whole new set of lunch option - banana smoothies are the top request at the moment."

"I'm pleased with the bottles for the kids too because they are the only leak-proof stainless steel bottle for kids with a pull top spout we know of."

Customers are also loving the new lunch packs which include a beautiful recycled cotton sack, cloth napkin, stainless steel bottle, Food Kozy and two leak proof stainless steel food containers.

FREE ONLINE SHIPPING OFFER

To celebrate the launch of the full Kids Konserve range in Australia, we are offering free shipping when you include any Kids Konserve item valued over $10 in your order.

Offer expires, midnight Friday 25 June 2010.  Excludes shipping of Bokashi and over-size items.

Green Goods by Biome distributes Kids Konserve in Australia.  We welcome wholesale inquiries.   Please see Kids Konserve Wholesale 

Kids Konserve is also stocked by Eco Essentials, Everything Free.  For more stockists see Kids Konserve stockists

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Waste update: Foodbank will be in every Australian State

As reported on Australian Food News

Foodbank has received its license to commence operations in Tasmania, meaning that Foodbank Australia will be providing food assistance in every State of Australia.

The Australian Food News article says:

"More than two million Australians, including one million children, rely on food relief each year.

 

The Foodbank Tasmanian office is set to open at the former Chickenfeed distribution centre at Cambridge, near Hobart, with the aim of providing up to 66,000 Tasmanians with food support donated by supermarket chains, retailers, manufacturers, producers and growers. The site itself is also a donation, with a 10-year lease on the centre given to Foodbank by philanthropist Jan Cameron of Retail Adventures.

Chairman of Foodbank Tasmania Michael Kent said Foodbank Tasmania’s aim was to provide nutritious meals to Tasmanian families when they could not afford to purchase food.

The 2001 census found that Tasmanian families had the lowest average weekly income compared to those of other states, and according to the Department of Health and Human Services, a lack of money is the main cause of hunger in Tasmania, resulting in more than 6000 people going without meals in the past 12 months. In times of hardship, food is often compromised to pay household bills.

The opportunity is now available for food retailers, processors and primary producers in Tasmania to donate food. Foodbank will accept all food that is fit for consumption - surplus to commercial demand, slow moving, short dated or unable to be sold."

Read more about food waste and organisations like Foodbank in our previous post on Freegans and food waste.

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