Junk got the Funk

Hi there greens!

First of all, my deepest apologies for the cheesy title – hey it’s hard to come
up with phrases that make re-using sound cool! Ah yes this blog is about re-using – the forgotten R. While recycling is currently all the range in the Maltese Islands, re-using is still restricted to small-scale, home-made projects with little to no media attention being given to the matter. I was quite pleased to see an article in FM that included briefly the benefits of buying second-hand clothes, both to the environment and to personal style. To my knowledge there are no government incentives that encourage re-using either.

Recycling needs human, electrical and mechanical resources; Re-using effectively reduces the amount of waste that is thrown into landfills and for recycling, while making something useful.

I basically wanted to show everyone that re-using can be incredibly easy, transforming practically any junk into useful material with just a pinch of imagination and some hands-on work!

Recently someone invited me to this amazing page on facebook: ReUseConnection. It constantly uploads photos complete with links showing you how the re-use basically everything! Seriously, click on it and be amazed. I have to admit I'm hooked.

Just to give you a taste of it, here are some of my favourite re-using ideas..

The Cork Birdhouse

Watch it! Bracelet

Quirky Cutlery

Oh-so-cute Iron Minions

There is a lot of artwork made from re-used materials on sale at the moment. 
Check out the artist who made the above art here (fyi the page is in french)

Some Rocking Designs

It all starts with normal everyday waste, and some brainstorming about how it could be useful. Greenhouse members are teaming up with Girl Guides in Luqa this weekend to make bins out of scrap newspaper... we'll let you know how it goes! ;)

While I have your attention.. a few updates on the goings-on of the moment:

Don't forget our AGM is coming up next Monday 26th November @7pm..We will be electing a new executive and reaching out to new members.. Check out our facebook event for more deets.

Also Greenhouse members will be present at Graffiti's Solidarity Walk for Gaza next Wednesday. We will start at City Gate around 6pm and walk towards the Ministry for foreign affairs in Merchant's Street. Event page here.

An Impressive Upcycling Art Exhibition - This weekend!!

In completion of the Care Creates Change project

Greenhouse will participating in the Recycling Artistic Gallery behind held this weekend at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta.

We STRONGLY suggest you visit this event. There is some crazy Upcycling exhibited in it! :)

To read more about the project go here.

The Closing Event is on:
Friday 18th November. From 09:00 till 18:00
Saturday 19th November. From 10:00 till 18:00
Sunday 20th November. From 10:00 till 13:00

We are participating by setting up an stand on Endemic Plant species (most of which are for same if your into it :) ), Composting/Vermiculture and Permaculture (provided by the Permaculture Research Foundation.

In addition we are holding two workshops:

Saturday 19^th November from 12:00 till 13:00. (Simone Cutajar)

Don't waste your resources - Workshop on how what we

consider daily waste could be used as a resource.

Sunday 20^th November from 11:15 – 12:15 (Peppi Gauci)

Building Resilience in our Communities - Workshop on the function of our communities to address global challenges

The full programme of activities can be downloaded from here.

European Waste Reduction Week: Malta's Best NGO based project!

Good news! Our event for European Waste Reduction Week 2010 was selected as the best project in the NGO category from Malta :)

Next Monday the EU level results will be out and we'll know which NGO in Europe carried out the best event to promote Waste Reduction.

Visit the Wasteserv website to learn more about the various projects which were chosen as the best in their category.

Here's a summary of the Greenhouse event held on Campus for EWWR:

Association/ NGO- Greenhouse Organization

The project presented was spread over 4 days during the EWWR week, with each day focusing on a particular issue. These issues, although they might not be in the limelight, when it comes to waste-related issues, they are a major problem. The aim of the action was to make students and staff aware that a big part of the waste produced on a daily basis can be easily avoided by adopting simple actions which would make a big difference to our environment. Monday was dedicated to the distribution of rough paper stands across university facilities such as Student House, Library and computer labs where students could deposit or take rough paper to be used. This was done to promote the reuse of one-sided waste paper as rough paper.

Tuesday was about creating awareness about the large amounts of waste produced due to excessive packaging and to the promotion of fresh local produce and the selection of less packaged items in the marketplace. This was done jointly with a local supermarket where a stand was set up to display the different options there are to reduce this waste stream.

On Thursday a collection of goods which are not needed any longer was organized. The aim was to give these goods to an animal charity shop for reselling and thus reuse. This day served also for the promotion of the free cycling concept via websites. This also reduces the waste going to the landfill and saves the world's resources.

Friday was dedicated to the promotion of effective composting. A stand, which provided ample information about the requirements to make good compost, was set up while an example of the final product was also set on display.

Each concept mentioned above was further promoted by the distribution of bookmarks to the students to serve as a continuous reminder of the benefits of waste reduction.

L-Aħrax Tal-Mellieħa, Cleanup & Tour of Yelkouan Shearwater (garnija) Conservation Site...

...on Sunday 20th March at L-Aħrax Tal-Mellieħa (Cross on the Map)

Event Desciption:
"After the success of S-cubed & Greenhouse’s last Clean up at tal-Ballut, we are organising another clean-up, this time at Ahrax in Mellieha together with Birdlife Malta. We feel that most effective way of raising awareness is by hands on experience. During clean-ups students see for themselves the state at which certain areas are and are given the opportunity to make a small difference. Moreover it helps people come to terms with the negative impact mankind has on the environment.

The site for this clean-up is a Natura 2000 site which is being managed by Birdlife Malta who are carrying out a conservation project on the Yelkouan Shearwater that breeds on the cliffs. We will be collaborating with Birdlife Malta as the clean-up will be part of a rat eradication project that shall be aimed to reduce predation on the Shearwater chicks and eggs.

Following the clean-up, we will also be given a tour of the Yelkouan Shearwater conservation site by members of Birdlife."

Hope to see you there! (See poster below for more details)

A Microcosm of Junk- Freshers’ Week and the Production of Waste

The following is a PR issued during Freshers Week by Greenhouse on the matter of Junk Waste being distributed by various entities.

Greenhouse, a University students’ organisation working on sustainability issues and ethical consumption, would like to express its disappointment at the large amount of waste being generated during this year’s Freshers’ Week.

Throughout this week numerous companies pack the University quadrangle to lure students to buy their products. Day after day many of these companies and other entities hand over paper leaflets to passing students, informing them of their offers, discounts or freebies and many of these papers end up littering the quadrangle. By the end of the day, the place is filled with coloured papers flying around – a show of complete waste of resources. Paper and ink is used to produce such promotional material, only to end up discarded a couple of seconds later.



The University of Malta is seeing a resurrection of green values,with various initiatives both by a number of student organisations, trying to raise the awareness on the environmental plight, and the University administration itself. It would be commendable if this wave of environmental consciousness is reflected by a more ethical and sustainable way of organising events and activities on campus, such as Freshers’ Week. Companies promoting their products during Freshers’ Week should be prohibited from distributing promotional leaflets and should be encouraged to use other, less waste-generating methods.

Greenhouse insists that companies should put the environment and resource-use at the forefront of their day-to-day management and thus should minimise the production of short-lived resources that are converted into waste very quickly.

These companies should lead by example and together with the student organisations on campus they can promote a culture of Zero Waste.

Published on: Malta Today

A Green Evening with the Sliema Cubs

Greenhouse members paid a visit to the Sliema Scouts headquarters to meet up with their cub scouts (all boys from the ages of 7-10) for an interesting session on waste management.

First, the cubs were given a short explanation on the three ‘Rs’ and discussed the ways in which they can Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, both in their own homes and at the Scouts’ Headquarters. The Pack of energetic cubs was then split into two teams.

One team gathered around a big basin and started making their own recycled paper; using a secret Greenhouse recipe which includes pulping used (and reused) paper. The cubs were very excited to be producing their own paper and had loads of questions to ask!

The other team started making notebooks out of used paper. Some of the cubs got quite competitive, trying to make more notebooks than their peers! They all learnt how to make the notebooks and will definitely be making some notebooks at home for their parents and siblings.

September Scavenging

Maybe the rain is still scarce for spring but in Students’ House cleaning has been the order of the day in the past few days. As some organizations switch offices, others plan to enter their first one but whatever the case the lower storey of the building has been buzzing with activity.

JEF- an organization that will be moving to a new office in the next scholastic year- thought of an innovative yet brilliant idea. Offices would be ceiling-full of stuff gathered from last year’s activities and events. While most of this stuff is only worthy of recycling, some is most definitely in a good enough condition to be reused. And JEF proposed to organizations cleaning up their offices to put their unwanted stuff in the corridor while other organizations scavenge for things that might be useful for them this coming year.

And lo and behold! Boxes filled with all sorts of crazy stuff filled the narrow corridors while the offices breathed a sigh of fresh air as their empty spaces were re-found.

Greenhouse members visited the activity and, being an organization with its first office, found a plethora of stuff that where considered handy. Throughout the time Greenhouse members spent going through the boxes of unwanted stuff, JEF and MUSC were clearing out their offices.

Greenhousers were scratching their heads (and washing their hands) handling all the brimful boxes.

Among the things that were recovered by Greenhousers were cutlery, banners, ropes, crayons, a cupboard, a fridge and much more. We had more capital than we ever had throughout the organization’s history! And all this would have ended up being thrown away in a skip!

Greenhouse members also gave a helping hand sorting out the materials in the waste boxes and separating them into paper, plastic, metal and other waste. The former three were disposed of in the bring-in site containers while the other waste was thrown away in a skip brought over for this clean-up event. One sided paper was placed in WINK/Greenhouse’s rough paper stand in front of canteen.

And thus we sorted all our newly acquired items in our new office satisfied that we reduced the amount of waste that would have been generated and content that we now had some useful stuff that might come in handy come next October. We commend JEF for the initiative and all organizations that participated.

The Green Summer Bash

Exams were over and the time for chilling out began! It’s summer 2010!

But while many a student was victoriously celebrating the end of another scholastic year in some loud, crowded and smoky discotheque, Greenhousers set off for Buskett.

Together with That’s Rubbish- a group of volunteers who organize clean-ups usually at the Ghajn Tuffieha beach- Greenhouse decided to clean up an area of Buskett to start off their summer season.

After obtaining the necessary permits from a government department, a police station and MEPA a group of around 15 people gathered on a sunny Sunday afternoon equipped with garbage bags, gloves and water bottles.

The area which was to be cleaned was filled with all sorts of stuff. We carefully put all recyclable material in grey bags while the rest was disposed of in the black garbage bags. Volunteers scrambled all over the place with protective gloves on to clean the place of glass bottles, packaging waste, shotgun shells, beer cans and a plethora of other stuff that was thrown away by some people who thought the ground would swallow up the waste they would throw at it.

Thirty three full bags were collected!

After the cleanup, sweaty but satisfied, Greenhouse organized a relaxing couple of hours. With salads and water to replenish the drained volunteers and acoustic music to up the spirits of those around, people gathered and chatted the night away. When night time came, we packed up everything careful not to leave any waste behind.

And so ended a very fruitful afternoon- happy with our taking away over thirty bags of rubbish from Buskett and relieved that summer is with us and we can all enjoy the company of our friends in good spirits.

As I was picking up the various waste from the ground, I realized that the commonest waste was packaging waste. Everything from wrappers, water bottles and food packages were fluttering all over the place. So I thought I can share with you some suggestions as to how you can reduce packaging waste. Remember, everything you buy from a supermarket is packaged in some sort of material which is only used for a brief period of time and solely for transporting the product from one place to another. It is immediately thrown away as waste once you take what’s inside. So we can spare an extra thought before buying something and choose those things which have little packaging or, at least, avoid those products which are uselessly packaged in excess material.

These are some hints that would be good to keep in mind:

• Buy in bulk. It’s better if you buy a packet of 500g, for example, rather than two of 250g. This also applies for bottled liquids.
  
  

• Carry your own bags while shopping.
  
  

• Try to buy loose products were available. This applies for fruits and vegetables and things you can buy over the counter rather than those which are pre-packaged.

  

• Try to avoid products which have various layers of packaging. For example, try to opt for cereals which have only one outer layer of packaging rather than those having a plastic bag placed inside a cardboard box. Sponges which are individually wrapped in a plastic bag and then placed in a cardboard box together with numerous other sponges use an exaggerated amount of packaging.

• Choose packaging that is made from recycled material, and preferably, is recyclable.

• Choose paperboard boxes instead of plastic bags.

Dispose.... until there's nothing left to dispose of

As you may know Greenhouse collected a number of small plastic bottles from students for us to fill up and place two in each flushing unit of each University toilet to conserve the equivalent volume of water that would otherwise be flushed down the sewers.

But where would these plastic bottles ended up? If they were thrown in a bring-in site or a waste separating skip, they would have ended up at Sant’Antnin. So Joseph and I decided to pay the place a visit to see what the place is all about.

And we were impressed.

We found huge warehouses filled with waste. Large excavators (gafef) shoving mounds of our containers and other packaging.

Look at that! That is one pile of many that were there staring at us. And it really says something about our lifestyle. I don’t want to put words in your mouth…but does it convey any message at all?

The picture above is one of the plastic piles. The most abundant items in this pile were detergent and water bottles. Easter egg wrappings and all sorts of fancy packaging lied there. How many of these containers did we really need? How long did we use them? Could we have done without them?

Transparent and colored plastic items are separated and treated differently. At the end plastic is shredded and the final shreddings exported.

A kind worker showed us around and he explained what happened in this waste treatment plant.

Paper waste is also astronomical. Paper is separated from carton; white paper is separated from colored ones, glossy paper from non-glossy.

Huge carton boxes filled with all sorts of paper lied there- junk mail of all sorts, old and worn out books and papers, magazines, leaflets and boxes of the ‘Government Gazette’- I couldn’t believe my eyes.

These papers are then packed into large batches and exported. They are then treated with a special dye to remove the ink and the paper re-used. This process is what makes recycled paper more expensive.

There was also a mound of box files but these are not easy to recycle as they have to be dismantled and the metal treated differently than the plastic covering.

Our guide also showed us a box full of transparent plastic tubes.

This is what your plastic bottle looks like before it is moulded into what we know as a plastic bottle. Bottling companies receive these tubes and, using their machinery, give them their proper shape. Apparently, some of these tubes are received damaged and they have to be thrown away.

Our guide concluded by pondering on some things: how very few people attend their Open Days, how many people still decide to mix their waste and how University students are not sensitive to the issue and decide to also mix their waste (Note: he was talking about skips and bring-in sites. The tri-bin system that was in place in the quad has nothing to do with this.)

As we left the place, passing by a mound of broken deckchairs some thoughts came rushing to my mind.

We are extracting the planet’s resources, turning them into things and then throw them away.

We are using very precious material to turn into useless, stupid things we can do without.

We are filling our landfills with waste and exporting an enormous amount of more waste.

I want to share with you two quotes:

“We don’t throw things “away,” we simply put them someplace where they defile the land, foul the water, pollute the air or change the earth’s atmosphere.”

-Brian Walsh & Sylvia Keesmaat, Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire, 2004

“Source reduction is, on the face it, perhaps the most appealing of all the possible approaches to solid-waste management. “

-William Rathje and Cullen Murphy, Rubbish!, 1992

Rough Paper stand for Collective Use!

To see the blog in full format click here.

A section for rough paper has been added to the University Wink stand in the last few weeks as hopefully most of our followers have gotten to know. This is meant to encourage the uptake of rough paper and the reduced waste of paper for study purposes.

We all know the large amount of notes we take which may later need to be rewritten, for this reason and much more start using the rough paper now to be available at the Wink stand at University.

So far the uptake has been very encouraging. Actually we have to inform Print Express to help us pile up more rough paper since we just run out of the first batch given. Anyways on the first try we have to say the feedback which has been flowing in our direction has all been positive. Also contributions are becoming more frequent with people leaving their excess rough in stock instead of accumulating it for themselves. Also the posters from past activities are given here also as rough paper.

Make it a collective effort people! If you got rough paper in excess add it to the present pile. ;)

Special Thanks goes to:

Print Express - Stationery on Campus

Wink Magazine - Positive News

Without their support this would not have been possible.

Bottle up the flush. Challenge 100!

To view this blog with pictures press here.

We have set up a blue tank at the Quad. No it got nothing to do with election time. The colour is merely a coincidence!

Malcolm suffering from slave labour

With is (hoping students will understand its purpose) we hope to collect a 100 empty bottles of plastic. Not for any fancy recycled art exhibition even if we had the human resources and facilities to do it we could. But, rather to simply stuff each one with stones, fill it up with water and place it in flushing tanks at the University. Something like what you are told on the discovery channel of people trying to either save some more or as we are doing to reduce the consumption at the university... How far can it go?.. good question.

Joseph realising its his turn now!

Let me draw the assumptions first.

Assume:

There are 9,000 students full-time at university. Excluding staff

That these each use the bathroom facilities once a week (excluding holidays and days of exams) for 195 days. Therefore, 27.8 weeks

Putting two 500ml Kristal bottles in each flushing.

The figures made are enough to make one realize that the figure of water saved from this simple 'Blue tank' exercise may save up to 250 thousand litres. Not bad for a flush a week per student case study.

Now try make it once, 7 days a week, for every person in a year in Malta.

1 x 7 x 410,290 x 365... well the (small)calculator I have brings about an error.

The original layout for the tank

So the scope is really not what we do at University! But, what we should do in every space we inhabit. We have to minimize the impact we are having on the resources around us NOT only because it makes perfect economic sense, but ALSO because it defines us as people and our relation to the environment we inhabit.

End result

Try to follow this tutorial into introducing this and other similar systems at your home. Educate your family and friends and see what changes you register in the meter by the end of the year. Its with small changes that we can change the quality of life we are living. Think small and incremental and take it as a learning experience.

Tutorial:

http://www.wikihow.com/Save-Water-While-Flushing-(Soda-Bottle-and-Pebble-Method)

Tank location for the coming days

Dealing with waste on Campus.

Little is known about the waste management scheme on campus by the University students except for one thing - it doesn’t work!!

This is a blog on the information that Greenhouse has gathered over its 1 year on Campus on the waste management of public area waste at University.

The three bin tripod system which we have grown accustomed to does not work. It simply does not entice students to start seperating waste in public spaces and the stories published in the past by Insite show the insignificance of this system. It’s not a simple task to pinpoint who is responsible for the lack of a proper system of waste separation.

So how have things developed?

Firstly one must note that the colour code of the bins was one drawn from an Italian model which was replicated using the University resources. By now the story has dragged on for 2 years as Joseph Camilleri from Precincts Office explained. A year ago, while Greenhouse was in its infancy, there was a common consensus among its members that if it were to start any projects this ought to be waste management. Therefore, we moved on to contact Precincts Office which gave us the go ahead to contact Wasteserv and set out a plan of proposals on how the waste scheme on campus ought to function. Wasteserv were interested to work with us and introduce a system at University, but KSU was already in contact with them to try get things sorted out. The responsibility was entrusted to Andrew Busuttil (‘il-Buzu’) - the educational commissioner of the then KSU executive , who for some reason or another always procrastinated on this issue. One can only guess that the furore over the negotiations between the government and UMASA in the now infamous lecturer strike re-directed KSU’s and the commissioner’s efforts away from this issue of a proper waste system and thus this never materialized.

After last summer’s holidays, Greenhouse - having closely monitored the electoral manifestos of both parties running for office - approached Vivenne Bajada as she referred to the waste management separation scheme in the run-up to the elections in one of her messages. After she accepted the proposal, Greenhouse contacted Wasteserv immediately and a meeting was set up between the three stakeholders together with GreenMT a private entity which sought to provide the service.

During the meeting it was decided that KSU, which has Students’ House under its jurisdiction, will take care of the waste separation scheme there. On the other hand GreenMT had to contact the Precincts Office since it is responsible for the outdoor areas. After some correspondence between the Precincts Office and GreenMT, the latter offered a deal to supply the bins. Since then the ball has been in the Univeristy’s court and more pressure is being put on the administration which presently finds itself overloaded with other projects.

Therefore now it’s hopefully only a matter of time until the system is in place. Once that is ready we hope all will be supportive of the new system and would start managing our waste responsibly.

Furthermore we ought not to keep on waiting for somebody else to take the initiative! If you have an idea share it with us! A few days of work is all it takes to see things change around you.

All recommendations on waste management and facilities will be forwarded to the Precincts Office for further consideration. So please do take note of what’s happening around you and if you wish to see some changes, share with us your ideas!!

References

Insight: SDM campaign Video: 'SDM in KSU would rebuild Students' Hut and would press for waste recycling at the University.'

Inisght: How Green is our Univeristy?: 'While waste separation never took off, it is evident that more can, and should, be done for our only university to become greener.'