They say necessity is the mother of all invention. I agree and believe wholeheartedly.
Take a look at this little beauty I stumbled across yesterday. Expect to see more of these wonderful machines as oil becomes more scarce and roads become more clogged.

This one has what looks like a generator stuck to the pack rack and a voltage reader gaffered to the frame. I love it! Would have liked to have met the owner but I reckon he was inside the library.
wm over&over

For ages now I’ve been talking about using packaging to convey educational messages related to the environment (or more specifically waste).
This is the bag my meat came in from the butcher the other day. I was both surprised and impressed to find that one entire side of the bag was dedicated to environmental messaging - let’s hope the messages are read!
I would encourage you all to keep an eye out for environmental messaging on product packaging. Send me photos of some good (and bad) examples!!
wm over&over

Went to change the ventolin canister yesterday and was disappointed to find the plastic mouth piece in the box along with the  refill gas canister. I don’t need the mouth piece. I already have one.  I wonder whether or not you can purchase a refill without the plastic mouth piece. I intend to find out and report back.
This is another classic case of the ’send back scheme’ I was talking about with the shaving cartridge_ see here

Stay tuned…
wm

Apologies for disappearing for a while. I had to head back to wastron to deal with a little problem. The gromits have collected so much resource that we have to build another warehouse to store it all.

Anyway…just the other day I was at a street festival and came across the corn selling vendor. What do you notice about these corn that makes them a little different (and less wasteful) that other corn you would have seen at similar events?
answers to admin[at]wasteman.com.au
First correct answer wins a return trip to wastron!

I think this sign, found recently in a hotel shower, was supposed to read…
…’TO’ four minutes, and not as shown,  ’BY’ four minutes, but I get the idea.
I must say however, all jokes aside, having this little sign in the shower undoubtedly made me more conscious of my time spent in the shower. I also quite like the line
Relax, enjoy, contribute.

over&over

wm

I could be wrong… but would it be safe to assume that more water would be required to produce an envelope with printing on the inside?
This one I need to investigate…stay tuned!

wm

So.
You’ve just finished another take away late, and you approach the bin(s). Can somebody please tell me which bin do I throw my take away late cup (and lid) into. Yellow (recyclable) or Green (general waste)?
over&over
wm

When you receive a new credit card (or just about any new plastic card for that matter) they’ll ask you to destroy the old one. Everybody does it. We’ve all been doing it for years. It got me thinking…
What type of plastic  are these cards made from and what volume of destoyed card plastic are we talking about? At a guess I’d say enough to make a small mountain, perhaps even a small range.
It often amazes me that we don’t actually get to see, nor feel, the consequences of so many of our everyday actions.

I wonder if the card I destroyed and threw away just the other day is ever going to come back to bite me on the bottom!

wm

The Sustainable Living festival is definitely worth checking out…just remember to take your own water bottle and fill it up as you go!
Instead of the wasteman trying to explain, here is a link to the sustainable living festival site.

sustainable living festival

What I do know is that it’s on in Melbourne right now Feb 6 - 21 2010!!

Packaging is a major contributor to waste generation. You don’t really want to know how much there is. The point is  we have an opportunity to educate the community about what to do with packaging  by printing  educational messages on the packaging itself. In the past the messages have been small print, and more often than not, relegated to the ‘bum side’ of the packet.

Here’s a bag I found recently from the 3 shop. The message is large enough to read, situated where it can be seen and most importantly, it takes the massage to the next level in that it attempts to educate the user as to what they are to do with the bag once they no longer need it ie  remove the handles! (and they said please!)

I encourage you to look for the ‘environmental’ messages on the packaging you come into contact with. Let me know what you think. Are the messages clear or confusing? Are they there because the companies are genuinely concerned or does it look more like a little after thought the printer came up with?
over&over
WM