UK - No market food gone to waste!

Eugenia Beirer is the coordinator of a group of artists collaborating in the UK called 'Beyond The Free Market' (BTFM), they launched the Free Market Kitchen in Chelsea, challenging global issues of waste, capitalism and globalisation by scavenging food, and setting up a cooking co-op where anybody can join in and share in the wealth.

We at TreeHugger admire those who take part in such waste prevention activities. Call it what you will food foraging, gleaning, dumpster diving, freeganism or fallen fruit, its free food that would otherwise be going to waste. Find out more about the collaborative kitchen and 'skipping' tours after the jump.


The BTFM are not just food foragers however, they have political motives driving their collaborative art project, Eugenia is an artist and activist who communicates through creative expression to inspire change, she is interested in building a bridge between art and activism, using art to translate ideas coming from the activist world.

More about the Free Market Kitchen: Firstly, I take people on a ‘skipping’ tour. We recover ‘waste’ fruit and veggies from the New Covent Garden Market wholesalers early in the morning, I explain to participants the workings of the market and speak about Free Market policies and food overproduction in economic terms. This engages participants in a debate around international food trade, alternative ways of existing and sustainable living. The actual kitchen adapts itself to the space it gets set up in each time. The ‘skipped’ fruit and veg are displayed and left out for free use and there’s a record player and visual material showing where the food comes from. The kitchen encourages self-organisation and a non-hierarchical, fluid and organic structure. It’s also open to newcomers, who just drop in and find out why they’ve followed a sign inviting them for a free meal! ::Beyond the free market ::Image from Flickr ::via Style with save us and New Consumer

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Germany - Can worms add to global warming?

The answer is yes, but please further:

Worms may not be as environmentally friendly as the growing number of gardeners who use them to help compost their kitchen scraps and grass clippings believe, say scientists.In fact, the greenhouse gases emitted by a large commercial worm composting plant may be comparable to the global warming potential of a landfill site of the same scale, according to the Open University.

This is because worms used in composting emit nitrous oxide - a greenhouse gas 296 times more powerful, molecule for molecule, than carbon dioxide.

Landfill sites produce methane which is 23 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

Jim Frederickson, senior research fellow at the Open University's faculty of technology, said: "We know from research in Germany that a third of the nitrous oxide emissions coming from the soil are associated with worms.

"What we found from looking at large worm composting systems is that their emissions could be comparable in global warming potential to the methane from landfill sites."

The Government has said it wants to increase the amount of waste that is composted to 40 per cent by 2010 and 45 per cent by 2015 - which is likely to involve more commercial scale worm composting plants.

Red worms appear naturally in country compost heaps but over the past decade or so a thriving trade has grown up in domestic wormeries which enable people with space as limited as a balcony to compost their kitchen waste.

Domestic wormeries are dustbin-sized boxes formed from several trays, with names such as Can-O-Worms, into which reared worms are introduced. Some are even made to look like beehives.

The worms are laid out on lime and vegetable peelings. When they have digested this material they move to another level in search of more food. The lower trays of compost can be used and a tap allows the liquid collected to be drained off as fertiliser.

The red worms used in composting are extremely efficient at breaking down decomposing material such as kitchen scraps and other organic material but they emit nitrous oxide in the process of digestion in the gut.

Mr Frederickson told Materials Recycling Week said: "Everybody loves worms because they think they can do no harm but they contribute to global warming.

"The amount of worm composting is very, very small and the amount of landfill is huge. But landfill sites are quite well run these days and it is possible to extract about half the gas they generate and use it for electricity generation.

"So the amount of nitrous oxide emitted by large scale worm composting is something we should be looking at before we go further down that route."

Mr Frederickson said that the research he and his colleagues had done was on very large commercial worm composting "beds" which build up large amounts of nitrogen which is then emitted by the worms as gas.

It is unclear whether the same process goes on to the same extent in domestic worm composting bins, but Mr Frederickson said: "We are clear they will be producing nitrous oxide but maybe not to the same extent. They may be more stable.

"Worm composting bins and compost heaps produce really good compost in a decentralised way with no transport to landfill sites - which is a good thing.

"But we must remember if we are evaluating this method against other ways of getting rid of wastes, such as landfill and incineration, that worm composting can also be a source of greenhouse gas emissions."

Sources:
Telegraph UK
Open University

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London - Vouchers for Real Nappy London-users

There is now amazing choice in washable nappies. Boiling terries and pins are a thing of the past and real nappies now come in a wide range of easy to wash soft and natural fabrics with popper and Velcro fastenings and breathable waterproof wraps in funky designs.

This London-wide incentive scheme helps you in choosing and trying cloth nappies.

Parents and parents-to-be can receive:

• an information pack;
• invitations to informal sessions and events; and
• a valuable voucher to be exchanged for 'real' (washable) nappies and accessories at listed retailers, or for a trial period with a nappy laundry service.
  There is also a helpline, activities and support for parents in Real Nappies for London boroughs.

The Scheme was launched on 29 June by Women's Environmental Network matron and presenter of BBC2's 'No Waste Like Home', Penney Poyzer along with London parents and their babies, midwives and councillors. See Real people for pictures and write up.

For more info on Women's Environmental Network's response to the recently publicised 2005 Environment Agency (EA) report on nappies visit WEN's website. A new EA report is due to be published in October 2007.

The value of the vouchers differ from councils to councils; around £25 to £54. Londoners from these boroughs can apply here to get the voucher:

• Bexley
• Enfield
• Hounslow
• Hammersmith & Fulham
• Kennsington & Chelsea
• Newham
• Tower Hamlets
• Camden
• Haringey
• Hackney
• Islington
• Lewisham
• Redbridge

Technorati Tags: London waste prevention Real nappies for London cotton nappies

UK, London - Shoppers face tax on plastic bags

Shoppers in London could soon have to fork out 10 pence (23.4 cents) for every plastic bag they use in a bid to reduce landfill waste.

A group of 33 London councils came up with the idea for the bag tax and will put a bill outlining a proposed new law to government MPs in November.

If successful, all shops across London would have to charge the fee on every bag they hand out, with the money to be recouped by the councils to pay for recycling.

"The proposal for a plastic bag levy underlines our commitment to addressing these concerns," Merrick Cockell, Conservative leader of the London Councils organisation, told The Evening Standard newspaper.

"We hope Londoners will join with us in commending these proposals to parliament to create a greener, safer city."

The move follows a similar tax introduced in Ireland five years ago, with shoppers charged 15 euro cents (23.8 cents) for every plastic bag they use.

The Irish tax, which has since risen to 22 euro cents (35 cents), cut plastic bag use by 90 per cent within months and raised millions of euros for environmental projects.

The London councils hope if a similar tax is introduced across the UK capital it will put pressure on the British government to introduce the levy across the nation.

About 13 billion bags are used in the UK each year





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Taiwan - environmentalists pan `eco-friendly' Anya Hindmarch bags

Taipei Times reports eight injured in green stampede for GBP7.50 shopping bags!

Environmentalists gathered at the entrance of the Breeze Center in Taipei, criticizing the shopping mall over its handling of the sale of Anya Hindmarch's eco-friendly bags last Friday.

Ho Tsung-hsun, secretary general of the Taiwan Environmental Protection Union and organizer of the protest, said the fashion company should also be held responsible for the chaos last week.

"Given that hundreds of customers have already lined up in front of the store the night before the sale, the company should have marked a clear route for the line to move smoothly and peacefully," he said. "Their marketing strategy is definitely eco-unfriendly."

Ho also said that the company could have done better than simply tell the public that "It's Not a Plastic Bag" -- the slogan printed on the front of the Anya Hindmarch bags.

For Sandra Peng, representative of the Taiwan Environmental Action Network, the stampede outside the Anya Hindmarch stores last Friday was hard to forget.

"I was speechless when I saw people fighting for the eco-friendly shopping bags on TV," she told the Taipei Times. "I was thinking -- `Well, if only the same number of enthusiasts were committed to protecting the environment.'"

While Peng agreed that the public should be informed about the urgent need for environmental protection, she noted the fundamental conflict that exists between encouraging consumption and preserving the environment.

"I really doubt that anyone bought the bag for the sake of protecting the Earth," she said, adding that she was aware that some bought the bags in hopes of selling them later at a higher price.
Lim said his shopping bags were made from various materials -- from used plastic bottles to other biodegradable substance.

Controversies have dogged the bag since it was first released in Britain. A BBC News broadcast on March 14 showed "We Are What We Do," an activist group that coordinated with the company in the campaign to encourage the reuse of shopping bags, was upset to find the product selling for? 175 (US$351) on eBay. The bag originally retailed at? 5.

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USA - plastic bags banned in Oakland, California

City council members in Oakland, Calif., have voted to restrict the use of non-biodegradable plastic shopping bags within city limits. The decision followed that of neighboring San Francisco, and marked an attempt by Oakland officials to promote environmental awareness in the area, Oakland Tribune reported.

Council member Patricia Kernighan said that while the vote did not apply to all uses of the bags by local supermarkets and restaurants, it did represent a positive step forward. It's a good first small step, the Grand Lake-Chinatown council woman said. It's not going to solve all of the problems in the world.

The new law forbids supermarkets from using the petroleum-based bags at their check-out areas, but not in other areas of the stores. Two council members abstained from the vote, citing a need for further investigation of the proposal. They said there were questions about enforcement and the potential impact the law might have on the grocery industry

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France - waste prevention campaign turns to the economic argument

At a recent event run by French Government agency Ademe which reviewed the national waste prevention plan (launched in 2004), it was reported that at the current pace of progress France will fail to meet a 2010 target by 15 per cent.

The Government hopes that the cost savings to be made from waste prevention may be able to reinforce the environmental arguments. The national waste prevention plan had established a target to stabilise waste generation by 2008. Later, in 2005, the Government went further - setting a target for residual waste disposal (landfill or incineration) of 200 kg per person per year in 2015 (compared with 290 kg per person per year at present at the time, of a total of 360 kg of products). An intermediate target - 250 kg per person per year by 2010 - now seems in jeopardy.

Michèle Pappalardo, President of Ademe estimated that 70 kg per person per year could be saved by ten simple measures, proposed as part of a campaign "Let's reduce our waste, it's overflowing". These measures include examples such as choosing to bulk-buy products and reducing the use of disposable items and preferring tapwater to bottled water. Despite initially disappointing results, Ademe and the French environment ministry remain optimistic. From October 2005 to October 2007 a national communications campaign has targeted the general public. Henceforth, the authorities will increasingly address businesses via the specialised press. Michèle Pappalardo warned that the industry and distributors must quickly change their products. Ademe also wants to communicate more specifically within the supermarkets; the key point of contact between producers and consumers. Already, France Nature Environment (FNE) and the Association of Consumers (CLCV) have undertaken initiatives at the points of sale to make buyers aware of less packaged and more ecological goods.

An Ademe study compared five shopping trollies comprising 150 consumer products:

*two trollies for one person with goods with minimal packaging ("minidéchets"), or with over-packaged goods ("maxidéchets")
*two trollies calculated on the same basis, but for 4 persons
*one "average cart" for 2.3 persons.

Over a year, the minidéchets trolley produced 50 kg waste, compared with 100 kg waste from the maxidéchets trolley. The order of magnitude was the same for the 4-person family trolley (203 kg/person/y for minidéchets and 391 kg/person/y for maxidéchets). Even better, the greener lifestyle saved a single person household EUR74 per month, and a greener 4-person household saves EUR167 each month.

The question is whether the economic argument will prevail where the environmental argument has not? We must wait until 2010 to find out.


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From Resourcenotwaste site