A new way at looking at raw materials

BioTrade Potential for Growth and Sustainability
7 April 2010, Geneva Switzerland 

The informal brainstorming session on the BioTrade Potential for Growth and Sustainability brought together a group of experts and negotiators with unique perspectives on biodiversity, trade and intellectual property rights (IPRs) to discuss opportunities and challenges for its advancement in Latin America and the Caribbean. Representatives of several Permanent Missions of the Latin American and Caribbean region and other international experts participated in the event.

The workshop was organized in the framework of a regional initiative entitled “Biodiversity and Ecosystems: Why these are Important for Sustained Growth and Equity in Latin America and the Caribbean”, which is currently being implemented by UNDP in association with UNEP, ECLAC and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).Documents on stimulating trade and investment in biological resources to further sustainable development. 


The event, organized by the BioTrade Initiative of UNCTAD and the Regional Programme for Latin America and the Caribbean of UNDP, provided a platform in obtaining valuable inputs to the UNDP team in preparing the regional biodiversity report. 


 BioTrade refers to those activities of collection, production, transformation, and commercialization of goods and services derived from native biodiversity under the criteria of environmental, social and economic sustainability. http://www.biotrade.org/

BioTrade Principles and Criteria

Based on the experience of national programs in the implementation of their principles and criteria and the different contexts in which they have been applied, a general set of BioTrade Principles has been defined trough a joint process carried out by UNCTAD and the National BioTrade Programs. The following are the Principles agreed upon and adhered by the BioTrade initiative, its programs and partners:

1. Conservation of biodiversity
2. Sustainable use of biodiversity
3. Equitable sharing of benefits derived from the use of biodiversity
4. Socio-economic sustainability (management, production and markets)
5. Compliance with national and international legislation and agreements
6. Respect for the rights of actors involved in BioTrade activities
7. Clarity about land tenure, use and access to natural resources and knowledge

The BioTrade Principles and Criteria are based on the objectives of the CBD and other social and economic criteria that assure the sustainability of private initiatives and the competitiveness of these products in the market.

BioTrade principles and criteria are the basis for the definition of other tools developed by BTFP such as the verification framework for BioTrade products and BioTrade Impact Assessment System.

Six Tenets of Zero Waste

1.    Smart Design
2.    Producer Responsibility
3.    Community Investment
4.    End of Taxpayer Subsidies
5.    Local Markets and Jobs
6.    Transparency

Introduction: As consumers, when we purchase items, we vote with every dollar we spend. If cheap is all we look for on the price tag then we pay later with our tax dollars cleaning up water, land and air that did not need to be polluted from the start. We pay through poor health and medical bills.

Cheap today just means pay much more later in taxes, or health, or inaction due to lack of funds.

Paying it forward is in the long run the least expensive manner to shop by. No toxins, pesticides or fungicides in my food processing means no watershed clean-up, no elimination of beneficial insects or depleted soils later and no toxins in my body from eating. No lead in my child's toys means more to me than a dollar or two. A car returned to the manufacturer instead of the junk yard means fewer materials and chemicals in the cars manufacturing so it can be reused again to make more cars or another product.

To encourage manufacturers and government to implement clean green products that will not harm us, our children or the environment we need to consider the tenets of zero waste in each item we purchase until it becomes the norm in manufacturing.

The really crazy thing is this is already happening in Europe and has been for over a decade. Companies here in the US that operate in the European Union already practice these tenets because they have to by law. They don’t do it here because we are not telling them we want it. We just accept what they give us. Remember you vote with every dollar you spend.

What exactly is Zero Waste?
Specifically, Zero Waste has six basic tenets:

1.    Smart Design. Redesign involves smart planning to limit the resources consumed in producing a product, in its totality, before manufacturing begins. Analyzing waste throughout the process and eliminating it is fundamental. Instead of using virgin materials recovered materials are priority through reuse, repurposing and recycling. All products are designed to be environmentally benign if not beneficial, and packaging is returned to the cycle (not landfilled) or compostable.

2.    Producer Responsibility. Manufacturers are held responsible for the waste and environmental impact their product and packaging creates, rather than passing that responsibility on to the consumer. The end result is that manufacturers redesign products to reduce materials consumption and facilitate reuse, recovery and recycling.

3.    Community Investment. Rather than using the tax base to build new landfills and incinerators, communities invest in new facilities designed to take the place of a landfill or incinerator. Combined with social policies and market signals, the technological advances can easily support the diversion of almost all of society's discards and create a broader job market.

4.    Taxpayer Subsidies would end for wasteful, polluting industries. Manufacturers use virgin resources for raw material partly because tax subsidies and other social policies make this a cheaper and easier alternative than using recycled or recovered materials. This is the beginning of the pollution, energy consumption and environmental destruction chain. Additional public subsidies exist to keep "disposal" costs through landfills and incinerators artificially low by not assigning significant economic penalties to the harmful emissions produced by these facilities. Properly allotted taxes to recover these “externalized” expenses would have an immediate impact.

5.    Local markets and jobs. Creating a new local market from discards, creating jobs and new business opportunities. Wasting materials in a landfill or incinerator also wastes business opportunities that could be created if those resources were preserved. Per-ton, sorting and processing recyclables alone sustains ten times more jobs than landfilling or incineration. Each recycling step a community takes locally means more jobs, more business expenditures on supplies and services, and more money circulating in the local economy through spending and tax payments. Sending our recycling overseas, while cleaner and simpler, removes these opportunities and is environmentally unmonitored.

6.   Transparency. In order to be believable, accountable and to adjust to changes in technology and perception in real time we need a sixth tenet of zero waste and that is transparency. This can help identify true innovators and socially responsible acting industries from their green washing competition who are trying to look good, and possibly mean well, but taking the cheap way around their true actions. If an incinerator claims to not pollute and be better for the community we need to be able to measure the pollutants released and energy consumed in real time, not years later, we need soil samples before incineration and after, often. If a company claims to be a green innovator we need to see the totality of their commitment, not just one or two green buildings out of thousands around the world.

What is all the fuss about?

If ever anyone wanted to truly understand the complex interrelationship between our consumerism and its true impact on the planet the storyofstuff.org is the first place they need to go. The Story of Stuff written by Annie Leonard is the most comprehensive, personable, straight talking, simple yet all encompassing video and book available today.

Annie demonstrates in clear, simple manner the facts and truths about how all of our actions are interconnected and the true scope of consumption. This woman is brilliant and I highly recommend everyone to visit her site and watch the videos. Her book is a comprehensive detailed expansion of the video written in a voice that speaks to you as a friend, neighbor and educator.

Biodegradable vs. Compostable plastic labeling

 Picture from Worldcentric

There is some confusion regarding the labeling of biodegradable vs. compostable, specifically in plastic products and containers. This confusion is misleading customers into believing that biodegradable is a positive and reliable measure where the purchase will have little impact on the planet compared to standard plastics that are landfilled or recycled. I’m going to focus on disposable tableware commonly used for take-out and home entertaining.

Definition of compostable plastic:
To be compostable three criteria must be met.
1.    The plastic needs to breakdown into viable soil enhancers and leaves no toxic residue. This means the product breaks down into carbon dioxide, water and biomass at the same rate as paper or cellulose.
2.    At final disintegration there is no visible materials that need to be screened out.
3.    The biodegredation does not produce any toxic material or residue and can support plant growth.


What is “plastic corn”
Compostable “plastic” is PLA, Polylactic acid.
Normally made from corn grown in the USA.
The leading corn plastic company that makes plastic containers and cups is NatureWorks , a joint venture of Cargill and Teijin.

Compostable plastic complies with ASTM standards ASTM-D6400 and European EN13432

Definition of biodegradable plastic:
Biodegradable plastic is plastic that will degrade from natural microorganism, such as bacteria, fungi ect. The difference from compostable plastic is that there is no requirement that there is no toxic residue and no time frame for how long the plastic degrades. Most of biodegradable plastics are meant to decompose in a landfill and not in a compost facility. ASTM D5988-96

Definition of degradable plastic:
Plastic that undergoes a significant change in chemical structure under specific environmental conditions resulting in a loss of some properties.
No requirement that the plastic has to degrade from the action of naturally occurring microorganism or any other criteria required for compostable plastics.

An example of this type of plastic can be found on: biodegradable plastic

The European union was dissatisfied with the confusion the label of biodegradability created for consumers and determined that biodegradable would not be an acceptable label. At present they endorse the labeling of compostable or landfill products only to minimize confusion and keep companies transparent.

In the European Union products  the standard of “Precautionary Principle” dominates labeling and code standards. This policy will be discussed in detail in another blog.

The European precautionary principle (PP) standard and labeling policies are under constant pressure and criticism by the plastics industry and we will keep monitoring their progress.

Personally, I like the PP. It’s clean, neat, simplified and puts the pressure on companies to prove their products and practices will do no harm to the environment, people and reduce the risk of future problems in the light of insufficient scientific data. This reduces the probability of problems such as lead in childrens toys, toxins in food and everything we here in North America need to litigate personally or as a class action suits to repair damages done to us and the taxes we pay for environmental clean-up.

In the meantime, as zero waste practitioners, the best way to prevent and eliminate these issues is to not use disposable products of any kind. Use ceramic plates, metal cutlery, glass cups and cloth napkins for our own events at home or away. Slow down and to eat on proper plates and cups in the restaurant or café we buy the food in instead of eating on the run or in the car is extremely effective to become the zero hero we strive to be.

http://www.bestgreenblogs.com

Reduce, Precycle, Refuse, Reuse, Compost, Recycle - In that order

What does that mean?

Reduce your purchasing and consumption overall. Ask yourself, Do I really need it? Will I be happier having it? Why am I buying or using this? How many hours do I need to work to pay for this?

Precycle. Consider the packaging, life-cycle and end of life use before purchasing. Is it a cradle-to-cradle (resourse to resource) item or a cradle-to-grave (resource to landfill)? Is this product local, if not can I get it or something similar locally?

Refuse any and all items and their packaging that will end up in the landfill after a single use, or without the ability to be composted, upcycled, reused or recycled or in any form toxic in their production or use or disposal. Fair-trade, farming practices and sweatshop free are also important considerations. Ask yourself, Do I cause harm by buying this?

Reuse any and all items you bring into your day. If you can't reuse it there are many people that will find value in your discards. Consider Craigs List, EBay, student newsletters, free swap, barter, donate to local charities or groups locally, leave for "Free" out on your roadside but bring in if not removed.

Compost all compostable goods, food, newspapers, dryer lint, floor sweepings... among a few items, deposited in outdoor composting bins, or red worms bins (vermiculture), and compact electric apartment composters are a few of the simple easy ways to compost at home. Put this compost on your houseplants, in your garden or rake into your lawn.

Recycle when all other options are exhausted with a responsible recycler who is not shipping your trash overseas. Find out where it is going and for what. Upcycling is repurposing materials without changing the material into something different. For example: Boat canvas sails are resewn into bike carrier and computer bags instead of being sent to the landfill.

All households can immediately reduce their trash percentages by 75-80% if they started to look at what they are throwing it out and asking if there is a better way.

Sounds like a lot for someone new to Zero Waste but it gets easier with practice, and you are not alone.

Thermal Solar - The Ignored Superstar

                                                                                               

When nature moves in the direction of least resistance why do we as humans always choose the hardest way forward?

Imagine yourself on a sunny summery day at the beach ready to cool yourself off in refreshing water. You do a fast hot sand dance to get to the waters edge to avoid burning your feet. Sandals or not that sand is hot. The sun beating on the sand makes a very blistering beach experience; sun beating on shallow water equals hot water. Simple. Heat makes heat.

The easiest, most cost effective solar options with the best Return on Investment are here and have always been here and solar electricity is not it. If we really want to “Green,” ourselves electrically, our best options are to reduce our electrical load, unplug, turn off, install sensors and timers, switch to low wattage lighting, simplify our electrical needs, use Energy Star or better appliances, insulate the building and seal all leaks - and then heat with heat - not fossil fuels.

Where on the earth does the sun directly convert sunlight, or heat into electricity? It doesn’t. Solar electricity, known as photovoltaics (PV) has taken the lead in the renewable theatre waving banners of great expectations. A great amount of energy and resources is used to manufacture the solar PV panels. Unless we are using DC applications, more equipment is needed and electricity and is wasted converting to AC. Batteries, while improving, are toxic hazards with a limited lifecycle for back up power. If you choose grid-tied systems most of the power supplied via solar is while you are at work and here in Michigan some electrical suppliers restrict the amount of electricity you can sell back to them. I believe solar PV has a future and a part to play but in the meantime there are many other things to do first.

Solar heat directly heating air or water is simple, easy, and peaceful and involves few if any moving parts and no specialized conversion equipment. Solar hot air and hot water systems are the simplest providers of comfort, low maintenance and remove most of the need for electricity and gas, eliminating emissions and utility bills. And yes, gray cloudy Michigan is one of the best places for it, because of our high-energy needs and thermal efficiency.

Solar hot water can reduce your water heating by 70-75% annually. During most months, you will not need any energy back-ups and with the right size tank, your water will always run hot. In the coolest grayest months, the water will be heated from 45 or 50 (ground temp) to 80 degrees and up saving you energy every degree it is preheated before entering your water heater. The same principle works with solar hot air. A recycled air system heats the room temperature to a comfortable environment without the use of fossil fuel.  Solar hot air can save you 30-45% of your space heating costs.

Solar energy is a simple answer to reducing the need of 75% of all energy used to provide hot water and 30-40% of indoor air heating in Michigan. That’s a large chunk of energy used by households today. Simple solutions, reduced energy bills, comfortable home – I‘m going to the beach.