Some mo

re questions and an answer in my latest Bathurst Burr column, here.

Lots more questions and answers in my books, Sustainable House and Sustainable Food.

Enjoy, M

These folk do – Responsible Runners – and every day they prevent some of it getting into the ocean – Responsible Runners.

This is an extract from their website:

“The Australian coastal region is world-class, serving host to millions of residents and visitors throughout the year, especially during the summer, who unfortunately leave a tremendous amount of rubbish behind. Much of this consists of plastic, which is made from oil and, in its highly processed form, is virtually non-biodegradable. Over hundreds of years it slowly photodegrades into smaller and smaller plastic pieces fish, birds, and other marine life easily mistake for food, severely disrupting the ocean food chain and posing serious entanglement hazards for all sea life. There are now 5 irreversible continental gyres of swirling bits of plastic in our oceans as a direct result of our reliance on short-sighted convenience over long-term solutions. A recent study even found over 50,000 pieces of plastic in only 1 square kilometer of Antarctic waters, far from any area of human habitation or commercial activity. Disposable plastics are quite simply not part of the long-term solution we so desperately need.”

With a few wonderful exceptions the barren political Australian landscape is populated by politicians who actively say ‘NO’ to stopping plastic recycling being mandated, banning of plastic bags and stopping this ocean wounding rubbish at source.

Each time I look at a politician I wonder how they look at themselves in the mirror.  My guess is they look at themselves and imagine how they’d look in the paper or TV, and never as a person who kills whales, fish, and ocean life.  And that’s probably how they see the world and themselves.

The 17 minute interview and background is  here:

May the food waste, the soil and the hope this project offers bring a smile to your face,

M

“Hello Michael,

Jason is based in South Africa’s Cape Town.  He sets up ‘green businesses’ to sustain natural resources, such as fisheries.

One of his new businesses is fly farming, turning waste into larvae, and a protein-rich, natural animal feed.

To get his ideas Drew reads and travels.  He believes that the world is running out of food.  He says, “Every day, 25,000 people die from starvation, yet as many die of obesity-related conditions. Nearly 1-billion wake up hungry as a result of environmental damage we have caused.”

Drew’s new business, Agri-Protein, is a venture he runs with his brother, David Drew, outside Stellenbosch. They’re recycling waste nutrients by fly farming and selling a product called Magmeal.  Agri-Protein’s website says:

“Aquaculture uses up to 2kg of marine caught fish to produce 1kg of farmed fish, of which we eat only 60%, the rest being waste nutrients. 25% of all marine catch is used in animal feed preparations; fish stocks globally are in rapid decline.

Drew says, “Chicken and fish eat flies. It’s their natural food. We’ve worked out a way to use the eggs of those flies. We hatch them into larvae fed on existing waste from slaughterhouses, dry the larvae, and make sustainable protein for animal feed, Magmeal, used in our industrial agricultural businesses.’

If viable, the fly larvae food can replace the fish meal that’s fed to fish and so make fish farming more sustainable.  That’s a wonderful goal and a great idea; good luck, David,

M

Called BuildBITS, once a user downloads it they may take a photo of the surplus products, enter a short description and price – and the product appears for sale in the BuildBITS online marketplace.

There are no commissions or fees for sellers and buyers.

It can be cheaper for a builder to list, say, waste bricks on BuildBITS for free and give them away rather than spend money to put them in a skip bin and dispose of them.

This app is similar  in operation to the free mulch service where landscapers or those mulching trees may give away the mulch by the truckload and save tipping fees, Mulchnet.

The designer of the program, Alison Winn, says:

“I originally designed the ‘Halve Garbage Waste’ program and secured a $100 000 grant to roll out a smaller garbage bin service to residents.  Residents who signed up received either a compost bin or a worm farm and a $20 rate reduction.  I think the smaller bin was a 60L bin.  The program incorporated a large education program teaching children about worm farming, waste reduction and composting in partnership with I think 3 schools.  Composting and worm farming workshops were also offered to residents on the program.  I think we might have weighed the bin waste too to gather data on how successful it was.  Now I originally designed the pilot study for 100 residents but really hoped to engage 1000 residents on it and I think they have now offered it to 1000 residents.   More residents want to participate now.  The last I heard of it was that they have received another grant to expand the service. “

The Council says this on its website:

“Funded through Sustainability Victoria, the Half Garbage Waste project involved 1000 households from across Frankston City. These households were given a free compost bin or subsidised worm farm and received a $20 rebate on their Annual Rates, and, in return, changed from weekly to fortnightly household garbage collection, with their garbage bin identified by a red lid.

So far the project has been a great success! By February 2007 99% of participating households were composting or worm farming their kitchen scraps and 60% composting their garden waste! Most participants reported that the compost bin or worm farm was easy to set up and use every day. Many participants also reduced their household waste by other means, such as buying products with less packaging or with packaging that could be recycled and using reusable bags when shopping. “

There are fact sheets, application forms and other useful document on the website.

I particularly like halving the number of garbage collections from the participants.

The Sustainable Communities Plan proposes a rate rebate for composting and other acts by ratepayers – both residents and businesses – which cut council costs and deliver public benefits – such as, for example, road gardening.

Go the citizens,

M

I like that.  We all excrete and the more of us who think about what to do with it the better, I hope, for our Earth’s water, soil and energy.

Here’s one:

“Hello Michael ,

A  very good book ………. a lot of information and I will try to do
what you have done
Yesterday  I  went  to  a home show …. they had a sewerage treatment
system but it was only good enough for watering the garden.
He could not make it good enough to be like yours
I wonder if a water filter & UV lamp like yours is all that is needed to be added
to make things work
Do you have any brief comments to point me into the right direction

Best regards,
I”

Mr I, the answer is, “yes’.

Add a water filter and a UV and you’re away; safe water with a system easily serviced by you or a local plumber.  The best filter is about a meter of sand; roughly equal in its capacity to kill viruses and pathogens when combined with UV to a several hundred thousand dollar reverse osmosis filter. Options for the sand filter include the one used for irrigation shown in my book, Sustainable House, or a 1500 litre to 3000 litre tank filled with sand will do the trick.

Ensure you keep the water flow to the UV about half the rate of its design capacity so it’s sterilizing efficiency is kept at its highest. So, for example, if the UV will handle a flow rate of 20 litres a minute keep the water flow down to 10 litres a minute.  If you’re using the water to irrigate, to flush your toilet or to wash your clothes that’s plenty.

May the reused water be with you, Mr I,

M

My answer:

Great question; thank you.

A composting toilet was not an option on my small inner city terrace site because:

• it requires a large holding space and, as the bathroom was above the kitchen that would have taken up half the kitchen;
• to disconnect from mains water and sewer I needed to reuse all waste water to meet the demand for the toilet, clothes washing machine and garden;
• the house is more marketable with a flushing toilet.

Go well,

Michael

vimeo.com…

Sustainable Communities Plan

vimeo.com…

Michael Mobbs has a plan to create sustainable suburbs, and he is coming together with Chippendale residents and City of Sydney to make this ha