A pile of concrete greeted me on my return after a recent holiday. When I saw my neighbour a few days later, he asked, “Are you happy with the concrete?” What he really meant was, “Were you serious when you… Read More ›
Waste
Superficial – Don’t judge these Italian cakes by their looks
The sign in this food store near the Campo De’ Fiori in Rome reads ‘Ugly but good’. I regret not tasting one of these cakes while I was there. It’s great that some suppliers are now taking a similar approach with odd-shaped… Read More ›
Eco-friendly, but not necessarily budget-friendly, business cards
I just ordered new business cards with my name, twitter ‘handle’ and website address as I often want to give these to people without the rest of my contact details. I chose a company that advertises ‘budget-friendly’ cards – but had to… Read More ›
Wartime austerity – a time when recycling was not optional
I’ve just finished reading about Australia, Singapore and the Malay Peninsula during the Second World War in a novel called ‘To Love a Sunburnt Country’.(1) The story provided a fascinating insight into life at the time and how Australians responded when war… Read More ›
Plastic bags & bottles – but what about the plastics we can’t see?
It is one thing to talk about plastic bags and water bottles and other things that we can see and can make a conscious decision about (i.e. whether we buy or accept them in the first place and then how… Read More ›
Remember when recycled paper was easy to pick?
Recycled paper used to be grey with lots of flecks that would invariably end up in your printer. The one advantage was that you didn’t have to actually write ‘Printed on environmentally friendly paper stock’ on any print outs as… Read More ›
When life gives you rubbish…
Check out this video about a music school at a slum in Paraguay. The instruments are made from oil drums, crates, tin cans, plastic pipes and other waste scavenged from the landfill. Before I saw this, I thought rubber tyre swans… Read More ›
Sustainability soapbox 