Written by Mr RC Viner of the Premier Paper Group this article gives a very frank and honest account of where one paper industry executive thinks the industry as a whole needs to go in order to continue to improve the industries' sustainability.
Here are some snippets -
"The United Kingdom should recycle more paper and use more of its waste paper in the domestic production of paper and board - instead of exporting over five million tonnes of waste paper each year."
"Using 70gsm paper instead of 80gsm can use 23% less wood fibre, 20% less water, 28% less energy and produces 13% less waste. And yet, today’s 70gsm papers will perform just as efficiently in the most demanding xerographic applications as an 80gsm equivalent."
"In practice, the vast bulk of paper produced today comes from trees - they are a convenient, flexible and relatively cheap source of pulp. But there are alternatives. One manufacturer already produces a range of coated papers suitable for high quality printing applications that contains a high proportion of a bagasse - a by-product from the refining of sugar."
Showing posts with label recycling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recycling. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Recyclables being stolen from curbside collections
Interesting story this one, and a real sign of our times
In a nutshell - people who are putting their recyclable goods out for collection are watching in disbelief as organised gangs with trucks and mobile phones are pilfering all the valuable goods such as glass and aluminum. Even cardboard and newspaper is being stolen to be resold, sometimes for as much as $1000 per full truck.
Pilfering cans, bottles and other recyclables from bins is already illegal in many places, including San Francisco and New York City. In San Francisco, poachers can be fined up to $500 and get six months jail time. In New York, thieves are subject to arrest, vehicle impoundment and fines of up to $5,000.
But in a survey conducted in 2000 by the nonprofit advocacy group Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness, 75 percent of homeless people in Los Angeles said they depended on income from recycling.
In a nutshell - people who are putting their recyclable goods out for collection are watching in disbelief as organised gangs with trucks and mobile phones are pilfering all the valuable goods such as glass and aluminum. Even cardboard and newspaper is being stolen to be resold, sometimes for as much as $1000 per full truck.
Pilfering cans, bottles and other recyclables from bins is already illegal in many places, including San Francisco and New York City. In San Francisco, poachers can be fined up to $500 and get six months jail time. In New York, thieves are subject to arrest, vehicle impoundment and fines of up to $5,000.
But in a survey conducted in 2000 by the nonprofit advocacy group Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness, 75 percent of homeless people in Los Angeles said they depended on income from recycling.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
2007 - Year of the Freesheet?
In a long discussion with Nick Hallett (distribution manager of the Londonpaper) on tuesday, the message that free newspapers are here to stay was reaffirmed. Nick went to great lengths to tell me about all the waste and recycling initiatives that the Londonpaper was involved with. They have some interesting plans in the pipeline, some of which are quite encouraging.
And over the past few months we have seen further evidence that the free publication model continues to grow in popularity. Piet Baker, in his newsletter, recently reported that there are now 53 countries producing 41.8 million copies of 229 different titles every day. That means circulation of free newspapers around the world has nearly doubled in just two years.
In London, Metro will soon be overtaking one of the oldest tabloids, the Daily Mirror, in terms of circulation; and with Shortlist (aimed at men 'with more than one thing on their mind') hoping to establish itself as the first general interest free weekly magazine, the potential for new rival publications has never been greater. Free publications will enjoy an increasing share of the advertising revenue pie for years to come it seems.
But with all this new enterprise, can we expect to see relative increases in the capacity of the recycling infrastructure to reasonably reflect the free publishing industries desires and achievements? No, is the short answer. New publications require large amounts of money and resources to start up (with the potential of advertising revenues to keep the project moving forward), but the present reliance and pressures on public money to sponsor the increasing demand for free literature and its corresponding waste/recycling challenges, means our ability to act responsibly is becoming increasingly impossible.
Industry is going to have to commit a lot more of its 'bottom line' towards investment and sponsorship of 'green' priorities if we are to really get to grips with the millions of tons of waste we send to landfill every day.
Companies considering new routes to market therefore, should be doing so with environmental levies and taxation uppermost on their balance sheets. This is the only way we can expect to run an economy responsibly. Every new enterprise should be forced to pay realistic amounts of income towards the direct impact it has on the street cleaning services, the recycling infrastructure and the local community at large.
And over the past few months we have seen further evidence that the free publication model continues to grow in popularity. Piet Baker, in his newsletter, recently reported that there are now 53 countries producing 41.8 million copies of 229 different titles every day. That means circulation of free newspapers around the world has nearly doubled in just two years.
In London, Metro will soon be overtaking one of the oldest tabloids, the Daily Mirror, in terms of circulation; and with Shortlist (aimed at men 'with more than one thing on their mind') hoping to establish itself as the first general interest free weekly magazine, the potential for new rival publications has never been greater. Free publications will enjoy an increasing share of the advertising revenue pie for years to come it seems.
But with all this new enterprise, can we expect to see relative increases in the capacity of the recycling infrastructure to reasonably reflect the free publishing industries desires and achievements? No, is the short answer. New publications require large amounts of money and resources to start up (with the potential of advertising revenues to keep the project moving forward), but the present reliance and pressures on public money to sponsor the increasing demand for free literature and its corresponding waste/recycling challenges, means our ability to act responsibly is becoming increasingly impossible.
Industry is going to have to commit a lot more of its 'bottom line' towards investment and sponsorship of 'green' priorities if we are to really get to grips with the millions of tons of waste we send to landfill every day.
Companies considering new routes to market therefore, should be doing so with environmental levies and taxation uppermost on their balance sheets. This is the only way we can expect to run an economy responsibly. Every new enterprise should be forced to pay realistic amounts of income towards the direct impact it has on the street cleaning services, the recycling infrastructure and the local community at large.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Imagine
The imagination is a very powerful thing. And one man's imagination has the ability to change the course of mankind.
Could these be the people that change the way we produce, consume and dispose? William McDonough with his colleague, the German chemist Michael Braungart, have been working hard at doing just that for many years now. McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry based in the US, have been letting their imaginations run riot. Cars with 5 year life spans, books made from lightweight plastic paper, a fabric safe enough to eat, toilets that don't need flushing - all with bio-degrading and upcycling at the heart of their design.
Another of their concepts is 'cradle to cradle' design. This is product design where everything is reused—either returned to the soil as nontoxic "biological nutrients" that will biodegrade safely, or returned to industry as "technical nutrients" that can be infinitely recycled.
One of their biggest projects is in China. They are consulting with the Chinese Housing Industry Association who have the responsibility of building homes for 400 million people over the next 12 years. Which will mean designing 7 new cites. And they've got some pretty incredible ideas -
"We're identifying building materials of the future, such as a new polystyrene from BASF [with no noxious chemicals]. It can be used to build walls that are strong, lightweight and superinsulating. The building can be heated and cooled for next to nothing. And it's silent. If there are 13 people in the apartment upstairs, you won't hear them."
"We'll have bamboo wetlands nearby to purify the waste—and the bamboo, which grows a foot a day, can be harvested and used for wood."
"The Chinese are afraid urbanization will reduce productive farmland, so we'll move farms onto rooftops. At least, that's what I'm proposing. The farmers can live downstairs. And when you look at the city from a distance, it will look like part of the landscape."
"I want to see solar power cheaper than coal, but to get the speed and scale to do that fast, you need a place like China. We're not talking about dinky solar collectors on roofs. Think of square miles of marginal land covered with them. This could drop the cost of solar energy an order of magnitude. And for every job making solar panels, there are four jobs putting them in place and maintaining them. We could import these panels, and for every job the Chinese give themselves, we get four."
Wow.
And that's all planned for the next decade?
Could these be the people that change the way we produce, consume and dispose? William McDonough with his colleague, the German chemist Michael Braungart, have been working hard at doing just that for many years now. McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry based in the US, have been letting their imaginations run riot. Cars with 5 year life spans, books made from lightweight plastic paper, a fabric safe enough to eat, toilets that don't need flushing - all with bio-degrading and upcycling at the heart of their design.
Another of their concepts is 'cradle to cradle' design. This is product design where everything is reused—either returned to the soil as nontoxic "biological nutrients" that will biodegrade safely, or returned to industry as "technical nutrients" that can be infinitely recycled.
One of their biggest projects is in China. They are consulting with the Chinese Housing Industry Association who have the responsibility of building homes for 400 million people over the next 12 years. Which will mean designing 7 new cites. And they've got some pretty incredible ideas -
"We're identifying building materials of the future, such as a new polystyrene from BASF [with no noxious chemicals]. It can be used to build walls that are strong, lightweight and superinsulating. The building can be heated and cooled for next to nothing. And it's silent. If there are 13 people in the apartment upstairs, you won't hear them."
"We'll have bamboo wetlands nearby to purify the waste—and the bamboo, which grows a foot a day, can be harvested and used for wood."
"The Chinese are afraid urbanization will reduce productive farmland, so we'll move farms onto rooftops. At least, that's what I'm proposing. The farmers can live downstairs. And when you look at the city from a distance, it will look like part of the landscape."
"I want to see solar power cheaper than coal, but to get the speed and scale to do that fast, you need a place like China. We're not talking about dinky solar collectors on roofs. Think of square miles of marginal land covered with them. This could drop the cost of solar energy an order of magnitude. And for every job making solar panels, there are four jobs putting them in place and maintaining them. We could import these panels, and for every job the Chinese give themselves, we get four."
Wow.
And that's all planned for the next decade?
Monday, February 12, 2007
Insania
"The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has spoken, the politicians have uttered their platitudes, environmental activists call for action, the flat earthers remain in denial and the rest of us go shopping"
So says Fazlun Khalid of the Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences on the BBC website. And isn't he right. With all the legislation and action currently being considered by the Governments, NGO's and think tanks the world over, how much action is being taken by the likes of you and me? How many compromises are being considered? How many employees are trying to change the attitude of their colleagues?
I had a meeting with Westminster Council yesterday. They showed me some interesting images they had captured from rubbish trucks they were searching. Within these trucks 22% of the rubbish turned out to be newspapers heading straight for the landfill sites east of London.
- 4 officers analyzed 1 tonne of street cleaning waste on 29/11/2006. The waste was presented loose from litter bins and in sweepers bags. The contents of 166 sweepers bags were segregated.
- 219 kg of newspapers collected. 22% of the waste sorted was newspaper.
Do we not have a responsibility to call to an end this insanity? For how much longer can we all turn a blind eye each and every day to all the unnecessary waste going straight to landfill?
Friday, January 26, 2007
Slow boat to China
'At about £500 to send a 26-tonne container of waste to China, it is now cheaper to send plastic to the Far East than by road from London to Manchester'
Here's another example of waste management policies in the UK that are simply not good enough. This article ( The slow boats to China filled with our refuse by Cahal Milmo at The Independent) illustrates more topsy turvy thinking. How can it be that this recyclable waste cannot be put to better use in this country. Surely we have the personnel, funding and location to handle our own plastics recycling?
Here's another example of waste management policies in the UK that are simply not good enough. This article ( The slow boats to China filled with our refuse by Cahal Milmo at The Independent) illustrates more topsy turvy thinking. How can it be that this recyclable waste cannot be put to better use in this country. Surely we have the personnel, funding and location to handle our own plastics recycling?
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Everybodys going green! It's great isn't it?
The tidal wave of 'green' continues to wash over the world of commerce. Whilst it is obviously great to hear of shifting attitudes and priorities, one has to wonder what the motivation is behind these recent announcements when the likes of Tesco, Walmart and BAE are getting in on the act.
BAE Systems - because 'lead used in ammunition can harm the environment' a new range of 'green' munitions are being developed including lead-free eco-bullets, quieter warheads (to reduce noise pollution!), smoke free hand grenades, and armoured vehicles with hybrid engines. Umm, environmentally friendly war?
Tesco and Sainsbury's are to start their own local veg box delivery scheme. With the impact that companies of this size have on the market, will the advantages of having small to medium sized suppliers now be lost? Can this new move really help to reduce food miles?
Walmart are making huge claims about their desires to go green. But can a trans-national company of their size really reduce their 'carbon footprint'?
Consuming responsibly is important. Supplying our shops with locally sourced materials is more important. But reducing the amount of waste we produce has to be the most important priority of all. Can the 'big-boys' with their huge appetite for resources really provide the answer?
Less waste equals less landfill equals less green house gases.
BAE Systems - because 'lead used in ammunition can harm the environment' a new range of 'green' munitions are being developed including lead-free eco-bullets, quieter warheads (to reduce noise pollution!), smoke free hand grenades, and armoured vehicles with hybrid engines. Umm, environmentally friendly war?
Tesco and Sainsbury's are to start their own local veg box delivery scheme. With the impact that companies of this size have on the market, will the advantages of having small to medium sized suppliers now be lost? Can this new move really help to reduce food miles?
Walmart are making huge claims about their desires to go green. But can a trans-national company of their size really reduce their 'carbon footprint'?
Consuming responsibly is important. Supplying our shops with locally sourced materials is more important. But reducing the amount of waste we produce has to be the most important priority of all. Can the 'big-boys' with their huge appetite for resources really provide the answer?
Less waste equals less landfill equals less green house gases.
Thursday, January 4, 2007
Greenpeace
'A staggering 80% of the world's original ancient forests have been destroyed or degraded. Today, many countries have lost their entire forest cover. Much of what remains is under threat from illegal and destructive logging'
'Every 2 seconds, an area of ancient forest the size of a football pitch is destroyed.'
The above 2 quotes are taken from a Greenpeace guide called 'The Paper Trail' produced to aid and inform the publishing industry of its impact on the environment. This publication was produced 3 years ago. I wonder how many millions of hectares of ancient forest have disappeared since then? The decisions taken by producers of books and newspapers are still so enormously important to our environment.
I gathered some new perspective on Project Freesheet today from a meeting I had with Belinda Fletcher @ Greenpeace. To talk to someone who is dealing with large organisations on a daily basis and trying to persuade them that they need to take more responsibility for the sourcing of the raw materials that produce their publications, gave me a glimpse of the scale of the challenges which are being faced by campaigners. Quite daunting if you ask me.
Have a look at this if you are interested - http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/forests/flashmap.cfm
'Every 2 seconds, an area of ancient forest the size of a football pitch is destroyed.'
The above 2 quotes are taken from a Greenpeace guide called 'The Paper Trail' produced to aid and inform the publishing industry of its impact on the environment. This publication was produced 3 years ago. I wonder how many millions of hectares of ancient forest have disappeared since then? The decisions taken by producers of books and newspapers are still so enormously important to our environment.
I gathered some new perspective on Project Freesheet today from a meeting I had with Belinda Fletcher @ Greenpeace. To talk to someone who is dealing with large organisations on a daily basis and trying to persuade them that they need to take more responsibility for the sourcing of the raw materials that produce their publications, gave me a glimpse of the scale of the challenges which are being faced by campaigners. Quite daunting if you ask me.
Have a look at this if you are interested - http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/forests/flashmap.cfm
Wednesday, December 6, 2006
City Hippy article
Here's an article written on City Hippy. The comments at the end of the piece make for interesting reading. There is a question posed -
Philder said...
'Surely if we're talking green, the best approach would be not printing the thing to start with?'
City Hippy said...
'as long as they do print a crappy free paper for people to look at whilst shuffling to work, there may as well be a green page in it raising awareness and keeping the agenda in the forefront of people's minds.'
Herein lies an interesting point. How much influence can the general public have over the production of freesheets? At the critical point where they are faced with a choice - do we take the paper or not? - can we say for certain that if people did not take the paper less of them would be produced? No, of course not. So if print production numbers are not influenced by public 'take-up' then what is the driving factor behind freesheets? The Advertisers or The Publishers?
Thoughts?
Philder said...
'Surely if we're talking green, the best approach would be not printing the thing to start with?'
City Hippy said...
'as long as they do print a crappy free paper for people to look at whilst shuffling to work, there may as well be a green page in it raising awareness and keeping the agenda in the forefront of people's minds.'
Herein lies an interesting point. How much influence can the general public have over the production of freesheets? At the critical point where they are faced with a choice - do we take the paper or not? - can we say for certain that if people did not take the paper less of them would be produced? No, of course not. So if print production numbers are not influenced by public 'take-up' then what is the driving factor behind freesheets? The Advertisers or The Publishers?
Thoughts?
Thursday, November 30, 2006
5-4-3-2-1
projectfreesheet.com is go!!
well, at least I've got some blurb up and am ready to start recruiting you lovely people. But I guess first of all I need to start by explaining myself and what I'm up to. I was reading an article in The Ecologist magazine written by Jon Hughes recently and it inspired me to start an art project which marries up my main interests - the environment and photography.
When I read the article it struck me as a very good example of contrasting approaches to life in the 21st Century. On the one hand you have 'big industry' being faced with increasing competition, tighter operating budgets, and more aggressive marketing techniques than ever; on the other hand there are the concerns of the people who see more waste and irresponsible consumption than ever before.
So, i thought, here is an art project that could serve as a raising-awareness-about-an-issue initiative. I would go round all the tube lines and stations, recycling centers, waste sub-contractors and the like and take photos that would end up as a collage and eventually an exhibition. But thats a tad 20th century innit...
So how about inviting people to upload their own photos of freesheet newspapers wherever they see them? In the gutter, on the tube, on the bus, etc etc. They're everywhere!! If we try to get people to upload their photo's we could aim to collect 1.5 million or so. That's how many issues of these freesheets are being handed out every day.
Currently I have built a very basic website and need to start raising some funds in order to build a proper one. If I'm going to try to upload 1.5 million images from Londoners (though i guess they could come from further afield) then I need some pretty smart apps and programs to automate the whole process. And in case you didn't think 1.5 million images sounds like very many - 1.5 million photos equates to 200 images per day for 21 years!!
So, if you're interested, watch this space where I'll be updating my progress.
btw, any ideas or suggestions would be most welcome!!
well, at least I've got some blurb up and am ready to start recruiting you lovely people. But I guess first of all I need to start by explaining myself and what I'm up to. I was reading an article in The Ecologist magazine written by Jon Hughes recently and it inspired me to start an art project which marries up my main interests - the environment and photography.
When I read the article it struck me as a very good example of contrasting approaches to life in the 21st Century. On the one hand you have 'big industry' being faced with increasing competition, tighter operating budgets, and more aggressive marketing techniques than ever; on the other hand there are the concerns of the people who see more waste and irresponsible consumption than ever before.
So, i thought, here is an art project that could serve as a raising-awareness-about-an-issue initiative. I would go round all the tube lines and stations, recycling centers, waste sub-contractors and the like and take photos that would end up as a collage and eventually an exhibition. But thats a tad 20th century innit...
So how about inviting people to upload their own photos of freesheet newspapers wherever they see them? In the gutter, on the tube, on the bus, etc etc. They're everywhere!! If we try to get people to upload their photo's we could aim to collect 1.5 million or so. That's how many issues of these freesheets are being handed out every day.
Currently I have built a very basic website and need to start raising some funds in order to build a proper one. If I'm going to try to upload 1.5 million images from Londoners (though i guess they could come from further afield) then I need some pretty smart apps and programs to automate the whole process. And in case you didn't think 1.5 million images sounds like very many - 1.5 million photos equates to 200 images per day for 21 years!!
So, if you're interested, watch this space where I'll be updating my progress.
btw, any ideas or suggestions would be most welcome!!
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