Mike Stopforth

Wendy (my wife) and I aren’t really the New Year’s resolution types. We’re of the opinion that if you cannot change your ways midway through the year, January is not a good enough motivator to kick the habit, start the habit, or whatever it may be.

Having said that we’ve become increasingly conscious of our household’s impact on the environment in the last while and started thinking about small ways we could contribute to a better planet (sniff sniff). And no, we did not rent An Inconvenient Truth or The 11th Hour over the hoidays either - neither of us have seen the films, so this is our choice…

We’ve read up a bit, bought our bins and are beginning to get into the swing of things. It’s not easy breaking lifetime-old habits around human and household waste though, so it’s going to take some time. I did find some pretty cool resources online - Biophile and Harmonious Living in particular - that help one to get started and more importantly, dispel some of the myths around the subject.

Interestingly, only a few weeks into our attempt, we’re seeing how our commitment to a more eco-friendly household is changing our buying habits. Just a simple thing - small plastic yoghurt containers by some brands are not recyclable while others are - we now buy only the recyclable ones. Many brands feel the pressure of using recycled, and recyclable packaging and others still are using it as a competitive differentiator. I think this is great and would like to encourage retailers to start thinking about 1. clearly indicating recyclable packaging over non-recyclable packaging and 2. providing bins in the store so that we can dump our paper, glass, plastic and metal waste on our way in to do the month’s shopping. Pick ‘n Pay? Checkers? Woolworths?

We’ve also decided to start a worm farm to make better use of our organic waste. The worm farm idea was made famous by the Mount Nelson hotel which fertilises all it’s gardens with an expansive vermiculture.

Earthworms are able to convert in a matter of days what would otherwise be a putrid, foul-smelling mass of food waste into earthworm compost. Another product produced by this process is ‘worm tea’, the liquid that drains from the worm casts and makes an exceptional liquid fertiliser.

If you’re interested, check out Wizzard Worms for more info.

If any of you gifted designer types are eco-inclined, perhaps you could consider making a badge of sorts that us green-converts could slap on our blogs to show that we’re trying to make a small difference?

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