Posts Tagged ‘reduction’
How Might We Live Better Minus Oil? An Ideas Showcase
Posted in Opinion by Kate Archdeacon on September 10th, 2010
Source: Treehugger
With the BP oil spill fresh in everyone’s minds, and the call for solutions to end the collective petroleum addiction rising louder than ever, it’s tempting to just say let’s just stop using oil. But the fact of the matter is that oil has so thoroughly coated every aspect of our lives—despite plenty of personal efforts by TreeHugger readers to limit their eco-impact—that getting us off oil is a gargantuan task, one that is simply impossible to do in one step. Rather it’s a transition, a wholesale shift in the way we construct our towns and cities, how we move ourselves and goods around, how we make and package the goods we consume (as well as how many of them we purchase), how we grow our food, and more. It will take time, effort, and frankly will not be easy. But it is the right thing to do, for ourselves, for the United States, and for the planet.
Check out this Treehugger Slideshow: a thought-provoking look at how we can start this all-important transition, and how we can all live minus oil.
—
Grocery Waste Reduction Targets: Courtauld Commitment [2]
Posted in Movements by Kate Archdeacon on April 29th, 2010
Source: Food Climate Research Network
Image: scrapthispack via flickr CC
The Courtauld Commitment (UK) is a voluntary agreement aimed at improving resource efficiency and reducing the carbon and wider environmental impact of the grocery retail sector. Phase 2 follows the original Courtauld Commitment (Phase 1), launched in 2005. At the launch of the Commitment (Phase 2) on 4th March 2010, 29 major retailers and brand owners had already pledged their commitment to this voluntary agreement. Using 2009 data and working to a 2012 deadline, Courtauld Commitment 2 moves away from solely weight-based targets and aims to achieve more sustainable use of resources over the entire lifecycle of products, throughout the whole supply chain.
The three new targets are:
* Packaging – to reduce the weight, increase recycling rates and increase the recycled content of all grocery packaging, as appropriate. Through these measures the aim is to reduce the carbon impact of this grocery packaging by 10%.
* Household food and waste – to reduce UK household food and drink wastes by 4%.
* Supply chain product and packaging waste – to reduce traditional grocery product and packaging waste in the grocery supply chain by 5% – this includes both solid and liquid wastes.
The original Courtauld Commitment has succeeded in stopping growth in packaging despite increases in both sales and population in the UK. Some 500,000 tonnes less packaging was used over the period 2005 – 2009 – that’s enough waste to fill a queue of refuse trucks, bumper-to-bumper, stretching from Southampton to Newcastle.
Liz Goodwin, WRAP CEO, said: “One of the biggest challenges society faces over the next decade is reducing the environmental impact of the things we buy. This new agreement will bring about changes ranging from more efficient methods of production right through to the impact of household consumption.”
—
Plastic Bag Tax: Consumption Drops By 19 Million
Posted in Models by Kate Archdeacon on April 21st, 2010
Source: Treehugger
Image: samuel mann via flickr CC
From Plastic Bags Used in DC Drops From 22 Million to 3 Million a Month by Brian Merchant.
Washington DC’s 5 cent tax on plastic bags, instated just this past January, has already proven to have a phenomenal impact: the number of plastic bags handed out by supermarkets and other establishments dropped from the 2009 monthly average of 22.5 million to just 3 million in January. While significantly reducing plastic waste, the tax simultaneously generated $150,000 in revenue, which will be used to clean up the Anacostia River.
Council member Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), sponsor of the bag tax bill, said the new figures show that city residents are adapting to the law far more quickly than he or other city officials had expected.
The tax, one of the first of its kind in the nation, is designed to change consumer behavior and limit pollution in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Under regulations created by the D.C. Department of the Environment, bakeries, delicatessens, grocery stores, drugstores, convenience stores, department stores and any other “business that sells food items” must charge the tax on paper or plastic bags.
I love this–I really do. A simple 5 cent tax–with revenues going towards an environmental cause voters rallied around–and consumer behavior is changed for the better in a truly big way. I love that 5 cents, which makes up a tiny percentage of total cost of your purchase even if you were just buying a bag of chips and a beverage, was enough to make consumers reconsider taking a plastic bag.
We’re going to have to wait to see if this trend continues, of course, but the results are nothing short of stunning so far–there are 19 million less plastic bags in a landfill because of this tax.
Let’s hope other municipalities–and dare I suggest, states?–are paying attention.
See the full article by Brian Merchant on Treehugger.
—