Working effectively amid funding cuts

April 22, 2013 //
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Waste Watch, Keep Britain Tidy (our parent charity) and local government representatives recently came together to listen to local people and work with them to develop solutions to reduce litter and improve the local environment.

Keep Britain Tidy is going through a challenging period of rapid change. Our central government grant has been discontinued and while we have funding challenges, we are hugely optimistic about becoming more accountable to our supporters (and future funders) – the British public.

This process is mirrored across local government as central government grants are cut and power or responsibility is devolved to a local level. We’re rising to this challenge and will have to change the way we work with citizens. This means going from delivering services for people, to working with people to deliver services more efficiently and effectively together.

To kick this process off we conducted a citizen’s jury in Preston alongside our local authority network as part of a project called the Big Litter Inquiry. A citizen’s jury enables people to work with and question expert stakeholders to explore and set priorities (in our case for reducing litter), while developing practical ideas for meeting those priorities.

Sixteen individuals representing the people of Preston and the surrounding area spent two days together, initially developing their expertise and hearing different perspectives on litter before developing those ideas and solutions.

Litter continues to be a widespread issue, especially prevalent in more deprived communities. This is not just a problem for the environment but it also has a detrimental impact on people’s wellbeing and has links to the state of the local economy and costs local authorities close to £1bn each year to clean up.

Participants were shocked by the cost of litter and its environmental impacts, especially on the marine environment. Many people felt that we needed to shift our attention from cleaning to prevention. “Why are we wasting our council tax on street cleaning when it could be spent on other things like education or social care? People don’t understand the cost of what they drop,” one participant said.

The participants also felt more could be done by businesses, for example funding return deposit schemes for bottles and packaging. Finally, there was a clear feeling the government needed to demonstrate more leadership on improving litter and the local environment, especially as it can produce clear local economic benefits.

The second day looked at how priority needs could be developed into practical programmes or campaigns that local authorities and Keep Britain Tidy could deliver.

This included getting kids into good habits through working with parents, formal and informal education and after school activities. Another idea focused on building communities – for example by asking what if local neighbourhoods could win funding to spend on local community projects, chosen by the community for demonstrating improvements to litter in their community?

A second citizen’s jury is taking place in April in Croydon, south London and the ideas will be captured and developed further for local authorities, charities and other stakeholders, such as the police or local health and wellbeing partnerships, to utilise in the future.

The Big Litter Inquiry is only a first step to co-producing solutions and ideas with local people and our local authority partners simultaneously. We would recommend it to any local authority trying to change the way it works with its local citizens and with ever tighter budgets it is almost inevitable for changing the culture of how people and their council view each other and work together.

Most importantly it builds trust, leadership, innovative solutions where they are most needed, and at the same time fun for all involved.

Tim Burns is head of Waste Watch, part of Keep Britain Tidy

This article first appeared in the Guardian Professional.

Categories Uncategorized

Sharing gardening duties has benefits for everyone

January 29, 2013 //
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Hi everyone, I work with Waste Watch in the Our Common Place project working with three estate based communities managed by the City of London. I recently joined a team of volunteer gardeners on the Golden Lane estate to help out an elderly resident with a bit of garden taming.

An elderly gentleman’s view from his flat on the Golden Lane estate on the northern boundary of the City of London was being obscured by some large Buddleia bushes. Tackling them wasn’t a task he’d be able to complete alone and another resident had asked whether or not the Golden Lane Gardening Group could ‘donate’ a few volunteers to help get his garden cleared.  A quick rally round of the Garden Group contacts and we had a team of five volunteers ready to help. After agreeing what we would do with the owner of the garden all we needed were some basic tools and warm clothing to be able to make a start.

The offending buddleia:

Within a couple of hours we had removed any rogue weeds and tamed the buddleia. We decided against actually removing it completely. Whilst buddleia is fairly pervasive it’s actually a very nice plant, which bees and other insects, important to biodiversity in cities, love come the summer when it’s in full purple flowered glory. Secondly, as a gardening group, it seemed wrong to go slashing and burning and removing all visible trace of fauna from the garden. Yes a view beyond the buddleia would be great but you don’t want a view of a concrete yard!

In the end then the vigorous cutting back will promote new growth in the spring and the next few years should see the garden with nice new growth whilst still allowing some sunlight into the flat. We also left a nice ground covering plant which might have been pulled out by more militant gardeners. Again, as it flowers nicely and spreads to cover the rather boring paving slabs, we left it to grow and flourish.

Biscuits were handed round and to finish we planted some bulbs and pansies to add some extra colour from now until early spring.

A few hours work from a few committed individuals was fun and rewarding for those involved. Indeed it was a clear example of how doing good can make you feel good. We’d also made an improvement to one resident’s quality of life. He waved us off smiling and very grateful.

As a result we’ll be exploring the idea of a more formalised ‘buddy scheme’ for the Golden Lane residents. Hopefully more residents can then start sharing their time and skills with others on the estate providing more opportunities for helping each other out. Keep an eye on www.goldenlaneestate.org for more information.

Categories Uncategorized

Why weekly waste collections would be detrimental to human rights

November 26, 2012 //
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Eric Pickles, on the 22nd November issued a threat to local authorities that if they did not introduce weekly waste collections, funding from his department would be cut. These weekly collections of waste would, however be detrimental to the environment, society and the economy. The argument from Pickles’ has been largely based upon weekly collections being a fundamental human right. However, is Mr Pickles forgetting that with fundamental human rights come responsibilities?

To do so we need to start with the evidence (a term that has sadly been avoided in this debate).

Research by WRAP shows that if we forced all local authorities currently operating fortnightly waste collections to revert back to weekly collections it would result in lower recycling rates – expected to be a reduction of at least 5% in England. The same research shows this would be detrimental to both the economy – and the taxpayer, to  a tune of £530m in total over four years through higher disposal costs and vehicles etc, not including the £250m fund offered by Mr Pickles from the Department of Communities and Local Government as a sweetener for local authorities. Additional research from the Friends of the Earth demonstrates that recycling could provide 50,000 new jobs in comparison to waste disposal.

Overall this is clearly bad for the economy and the environment. But what about the argument for human rights? Human rights are commonly understood as “inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being”. To enable all people access to fundamental rights we also need to live in responsible ways – I would argue not only that access to a weekly waste collection is not a fundamental human right, but more importantly, it may be detrimental towards fundamental human rights in the UK.

Local Authorities across England are having budgets increasingly reduced and face difficult spending decisions often where vital services are competing for the same pot of funding. This means that vital frontline services provided by councils such as education, social care, support for the elderly, housing provision are under huge pressure and returning to weekly waste collections for local authorities would detract funding from other areas.

People often forget with rights also comes responsibilities. Therefore, based upon a human rights argument, would anyone really put – a weekly collection of waste above ensuring our fellow neighbours receive the care they need if they suffer from a disability or that the elderly receive support to heat their home in the winter?

These are the decisions that local authorities are facing and why they unanimously choose not to reintroduce weekly waste collections under Eric Pickles’ previous £250m fund that aimed do just this. Instead, they wisely applied for funding to improve recycling or invest in weekly food waste collections – beneficial for society, the economy and the environment.

There is another level to this argument which can be demonstrated if we look at food – the key concern of Pickle’s demands for “an Englishman’s right to a weekly collection of chicken tikka massala”.

In the UK, households currently waste over 20% of the food we buy. Weekly household food waste collections are proven to reduce food waste and increase the value from any food leftover. We have all noticed increases in the price of food recently – in fact a recent survey by Keep Britain Tidy showed that 87% of people were concerned today about the price of food. At the same time it is estimated that over 4m people in the UK are struggling to feed themselves and their families as the guardian recently reported in its excellent Breadline Britain series.

Food prices are increasing because of the pressure upon natural resources and the impact of climate change. Therefore if we all wasted less food and recycled more of it, the pressures upon the food system would reduce therefore making food more affordable to people. This is a clear example of how reducing and recycling food can support a fundamental human right: i.e. the right to food.

There is a simple solution to this debate and one we fully support at Keep Britain Tidy. We need to follow the lead of Wales and enable local authorities to introduce weekly food waste collections alongside good recycling collections. The food collected is sent to composting or to make renewable energy from which value is maximised. Leading councils in the UK have already been doing this, alongside weekly fortnightly collections, producing recycling rates of over 70%,  saving  the taxpayer significant money, helping  the environment and benefiting society.

 

Tim Burns, Head of Waste Watch, part of Keep Britain Tidy.

Categories Our views

Bio-trimmings

October 8, 2012 //
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Hoyan Ip’s fantastic project Bio-trimmings proposes to identify the relationship between food waste and waste from the fashion industry. The Bio-trimmings collection includes products such as shoulder pads, buckles, buttons and sequins; all made from food that were otherwise destined to be disposed of.

Today, trims such as buttons, metal buckles and zippers are all manufactured industrially where there are concerns on the impact it has on the environment; it consumes huge amounts of energy and fuel. Bio-trimmings uses food that would have otherwise been wasted by separating, drying, cooking, blending and transforming it.

Hoyan believes it is worthwhile to preserve what we already have in our closets and to make items ready for when they become trendy again. “It can be argued that nothing in fashion  is new; trends are re-interpreted season by season. As more designers emerge, there is very little we can do to dispose of unwanted clothes ethically, especially when you think about the sensitivity and thought that has gone into making a garment”.

“To avoid as much wastage as a possible in this project, a further product was developed from the cut out waste of buttons which resulted in the production of sequins. They can be used to embellish and alter the character of a brand. Furthermore, the sequin products can be used as a resolution to repair old, ripped garments that can be updated with coloured sequins of different shapes and sizes”.

We think the project is simply beautiful and shows just what is possible with resources that would otherwise be considered ‘waste’.

Visit Hoyanip.com

Categories Rethinking Stuff, Sustainable Food

I shop, therefore I am? The ‘one dress one week’ challenge

September 17, 2012 //
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I have been doing my ‘I shop, therefore I am?’ challenge for the last few months and I had been getting rather cocky, as coincidentally I have also been doing Weight Watchers; this has meant that items of clothing long forgotten have been making a rather welcome comeback!

My wardrobe

But my cockiness was to be short lived. One of my friends, who’s a member of Greenpeace, an avid environmental activist and a vintage shopper, had the extraordinary thought that I was having it a bit too easy and challenged me to an ‘one dress one week’ challenge. Being the fool that I am I agreed to this challenge, forgetting that during the seven day period in question I would be travelling down to Whitstable for the weekend.

It may not surprise you to learn that I have not mastered the ability to pack light – meaning I can’t help but  take everything with me including the kitchen sink!

Backpacking

When travelling around Australia and New Zealand my ruck sack made me appear less like a free spirited adventurer and more like the pack horse for a family of four! I was determined to show my friend just how far I had come over the past few months, and also more importantly demonstrate to myself that  I was changing and more aware of my actions.

The challenge

Step one: choose a dress.

The dress was a second hand number originally from Dorothy Perkins but purchased at Cancer Research in Crouch End. It’s an easy dress to wear: it stays pretty much crease free and it is a fairly forgiving outfit because it is black with a bold flowery print on it.

Day one

Day One: although it was the middle of July, the weather was pretty hideous which made my decision about how I was going to wear the dress fairly easy. I opted for brown boots and a purple cardigan which I had purchased many years before.

Day two

Day two: the weather had deteriorated further - not only was it pouring down with rain, to add insult to injury it was now pretty chilly.  Although it was the middle of July, (yes I know I have already said that; but I really believe the point has to be reinforced that it was the middle of July) I was now sporting 100 denier black tights, and Doctor Martens mid leg boots! Don’t let the smiles fool you.

Day three

Day three at the beach!

Day three: quite an interesting day, as this was the first day of my weekend away in Whitstable. I was still going strong and yes, it was still raining. Maybe if the weather had been a bit better (i.e. not raining) the cracks in my one dress one week challenge would have already been showing. However, fortunately for me the weather was so incredibly bad I was happy to put on my dress for the third day in a row.

 

The dress was teamed with black tights and black patent loafers with a turquoise cardigan. You may have noticed that in the photo there are no tights. Something miraculous had happened: the sun had come out and tights were immediately discarded! And within moments I was paddling in the sea. Ok, admittedly the water was freezing; but I was in Whitstable and the sun was shining, it had to be done. After all, what better way to live the Waste less, Live more ethos?

Day four

Day four: the day started miserably but the sun eventually made its appearance. The dress was teamed with white sandals and white belt.

Day five: after spending a whole day at the beach on the hottest day of the year, the dress was in need of a good wash.  I finally cracked and wimped out of wearing the dress, opting to wear shorts and a t-shirt. I have to say it was lovely to be wearing something different, and maybe I had always known that I would eventually crack, as I had packed a couple of emergency items.

Day six

Day Six: the dress was now freshly washed and ironed and ready to be worn on a date. I teamed the dress with a green belt and white denim jacket. I was looking and feeling good. The date went ok but there was really no spark; I doubted very much that I’d be seeing him again.

Day seven

Day Seven: it was funny to be doing the walk of shame without the shame. Although I was wearing the same dress the day after the night before it was a signal of doing the right thing. I had completed the challenge and although I had not succeeded in completing the whole week in the same dress it was still a good feeling. My one dress one week challenge clearly demonstrates that you don’t need loads of clothes to feel good and have a good time. However, access to a washing machine does help!

 

Categories Uncategorized

Representing environmental interests

September 3, 2012 //
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An expert’s perspective in standardisation  – by Martin Baxter, Executive Director of Policy at the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA)

My role at IEMA puts me in a fortunate position – I have a passion for the environment and I’m able to contribute to making positive environmental change.  By working through standards bodies, such as BSI British Standards (BSI) or the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), – helping to establish common standards, tools or methods that will reduce the environmental impacts associated with products, or in the ways that companies operate – your contribution and the difference you can make can be magnified many times.

As the UK head of delegation for the suite of standards in the ISO 14000 environmental management systems (EMS) series and a member of the ISO working group revising the ISO 14001 EMS standard,  my work in standards centres around environmental auditing, labels and declarations, performance evaluation, life-cycle assessment and GHG management.

With more than 250,000 organisations in 155 countries around the world being ISO 14001 certified, it’s on a scale that’s difficult to match and provides a great opportunity to catalyse environmental improvement.

However, to be truly effective, it’s not just about knowing the subject area – it’s about maximising your impact from the time you commit.

Understanding the Process

The standards making process comes with its own language and terminology.  It’s important to understand these so that you can channel your inputs at the right time to best effect.  Box 1 below sets out ISO’s key principles for developing standards.

Box 1 – Key Principles in Standards Development
1. ISO standards respond to a need in the market: ISO does not decide when to develop a new standard. Instead, ISO responds to a request from industry or other stakeholders such as consumer groups. Typically, an industry sector or group communicates the need for a standard to its national member who then contacts ISO.
2. ISO standards are based on global expert opinion: ISO standards are developed by groups of experts from all over the world, that are part of larger groups called technical committees. These experts negotiate all aspects of the standard, including its scope, key definitions and content.
3. ISO standards are developed through a multi-stakeholder process: The technical committees are made up of experts from the relevant industry, but also from consumer associations, academia, NGOs and government.
4. ISO standards are based on consensus: Developing ISO standards is a consensus-based approach and comments from stakeholders are taken into account.

 

National and international standards are developed through a ‘consensus’ building process and no one member of the standards committee has a veto.

Developing consensus is not without its challenges.  English is used as the working language – for drafting text, commenting on various drafts, and in meetings.  As there’s no translation or interpretation available, English-speaking country representatives need to work hard to support international colleagues – editing their amendments to text, acting as a ‘thesaurus’, giving them adequate time to think about the meaning etc.  This is an important part of building trust.

The standards making process has a number of different stages – progressing from the proposal, preparatory and committee stages to the enquiry and approval stages and finally to publication.  The most intensive period is in the reparatory stage – this is where the text of the standard is prepared and as an expert, where you have the opportunity to make the biggest impact.  The consultative processes are also important as these give the broader community of users time to comment on drafts so that, when it comes to balloting for approval there is widespread support.

Agreeing a standard shouldn’t be the end of the process, it’s what happens in practice that is the test of whether your hard work makes a difference.  So use your networks and all available communication channels, it’s in everyone’s interest.

 

 

 

Categories Uncategorized

Olympic Challenge: Rediscovering local food retailers

July 26, 2012 //
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By Clare Rowley

The community campaign team trial their determination by sourcing all of their food from local retailers for the whole of the Olympic season.

The Recycle for your Community campaign office in East London Recycle for your Community is in the midst of Olympic fever. We’re excited about the events in our local boroughs, so we decided to do something to mark the occasion.  As we aren’t Olympic athletes, we chose to set ourselves a slightly less physically-demanding challenge, involving something we can do and are passionate about: wasting less and living more.

Inspired by an intrepid member of sustainability charity The Otesha Project embarking on a month-long plastic fast plastic fast, our team of four at Recycle for your Community thought about some of the issues our residents in East London face: high levels of food and non-recyclable packaging being thrown away at home, alongside a wider loss of community cohesion.

An Olympian Challenge

We wanted to take on a challenge of Olympic proportions: no supermarkets or chain-stores for the duration of the games, just local independent stores and markets.

Why? If all goes to plan, we’re hoping to show that by changing a few habits, us consumers have choices in what food and drink we buy and can ‘vote with their feet’ to support local economies and communities.

Big chains do arguably have their place in a community, providing jobs and opportunities, but this shouldn’t be at the expense of everything else – i.e. ‘as well as’ not ‘instead of’. This challenge is about shopping locally for healthy and fresh produce and doing our bit to support and maintain our communities.

How do supermarkets and chain-stores affect us?

-       The rise in supermarkets and chain stores have directly correlated with a decline of local, independent shops 1 – previously important community hubs

-       You’re more likely to do a big shop and buy in bulk from a supermarket – ok for some generic things, but how much fruit and veg, meat and bakery products do you throw away, that were such a ‘great deal’ at the time? A lot, according to the Love Food Hate Waste campaign 2

-       Supermarkets and chains buy in bulk from far and wide, meaning less fresh, local and seasonal produce and more packaging on everything (for transporting food long distances)

 

A big shift

Like the majority of people, we admit that we rely on supermarkets for the weekly shop or just a quick sandwich for lunch, so it’s going to be a complete change of habit for us at Recycle for your Community HQ.

Will it be harder to make more frequent local trips than one big shop in our out-of-town superstores? Can four people working full-time and living in different parts of East and Central London successfully survive without popping to their nearest superstore? Will we get our gold medals?

We’re excited to see what’s out there…

Watch this space and follow us on Twitter @RecycleFYC to see how we get on!

 

Clare Rowley, Sarah Mills, Julia Roebuck and Siddiq Khan

 

 

Technical stuff:

1 Guy C M, (1996), “Corporate strategies in food retailing and their local impacts: a case study of Cardiff” Environment and Planning A 28(9) 1575 – 1602 http://www.envplan.com/abstract.cgi?id=a281575

Cliff Guy, Graham Clarke, Heather Eyre, (2004) “Food retail change and the growth of food deserts: a case study of Cardiff”, International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Vol. 32 Iss: 2, pp.72 – 88 http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=857455&show=abstract

2 Love Food Hate Waste campaign http://england.lovefoodhatewaste.com/content/facts-about-food-waste-0

 

Categories Sustainable Food

‘Staygrading’? Learning to love what we already have

July 19, 2012 //
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In common with around 91% of the UK adult population, I own a mobile phone. In fact, I own several; but more on that later. My phone is an unglamorous affair; I’ve had it for about two years and aside from the occasional uncooperative fit that is the wont of modern mobiles, it does more or less what I want it to.

A short while ago I received a call from my mobile network provider to inform me that I was entitled to a free upgrade. Would I like to choose from a selection of shiny new phones, at no cost? I replied that I was happy with my phone, and that it still worked, so thanks but no thanks; and that I would come and find them when my phone had stopped working or been dropped in a pint glass.

Undeterred, the cheery network representative offered another cherry: having looked at my current monthly spend, he had deduced that I could save money by switching to a new contract, with more free minutes and a smaller monthly charge. Again, I replied that I was perfectly happy with my current outlay and terms, so no thanks.

At this point, breeziness turned to incredulity, and I was asked why I did not want either a free phone or to save money; to which responded: if I am happy to use an old phone and to spend more money with you, why is that a problem for you?

I am enough of a technophile not to be immune to the lure of a new phone, especially given the rampant progress made by smartphones in the last couple of years. On the other hand, I already have one spare phone languishing unused; why consign a perfectly working piece of kit to the drawer simply because a newer one is available?

As long ago as the 1930s, the copywriter Earnest Elmo Calkins wrote that advertising – or consumption engineering as he termed it – “must see to it that we use up the kind of goods we now merely use”. In other words, advertising creates an artificial need for products; encouraging the procurement of newer versions of items we already own.

The culture of the free mobile phone upgrade is symptomatic of the trend for economic “incentives” to consume more. Epitomised by the classic supermarket “3 for 2” or “buy one, get one free” offers, marketing is geared towards increasing throughput: an obsession with more.

Of course, an economic “incentive” will never be as such. For the mobile network provider, the carrot of a new phone or a cheaper monthly tariff begets the stick of an 18 or 24-month minimum contract. As is usually the case, the webcomic xkcd sums it up nicely:

Part of the problem stems from the obsession with newness. In the same way that the fashion industry churns out regular, seasonal collections, instantly rendering last season’s must-haves old hat (depending on how suggestible you are), the electronics industry works to a schedule of planned obsolescence, each new model containing indispensable – yet curiously, until recently unheard of – features. Those with the “old” model are left to contemplate a choice between an upgrade or, in technological terms, second-class citizenship.

There is an undeniable satisfaction to be had from possessions. A 2011 Defra report into the marketability of second-hand bulky products found that those interviewed reported a pleasure in buying things that are “new and shiny”. Yet there is just as much material satisfaction to be had from old possessions – items that have given loyal service over a period of time – as new ones. (Nowhere is this more clearly demonstrated than amongst electric guitarists, who will happily pay more money for a new guitar that is artificially aged than for a brand-new one.)

Amongst the possessions that I derive the most pleasure from are my bike, which I had to take a running jump to get on as a 13-year old in 1996; my digital watch, which was a present for my 10th birthday; and the mobile phone (them again) that I use as my work mobile, which is ten years old this year. All of these things have had periods of disuse, but have been pressed into service when their replacements gave out. The upshot: not only reduced consumption and expenditure, but also decluttered garages and drawers. At Waste Watch, when we talk about wasting less, we mean wasting less of anything: in this case not just materials, energy and money, but also potential.

There have been other benefits too. Having an old bike has meant I have learnt a lot about bike maintenance: both because the bike has needed it, and due to a lack of fear of breaking anything. The mindset of looking to use existing possessions (partly – I’m not going to lie here – driven by chronic skintness) has also seen me read books I hadn’t got round to reading, listen properly to albums I had never got into, and finally find a decent recipe for kale.

This appears to be a burgeoning trend: the current economic climate, as well as concerns over the climate itself, has led to a number of recent initiatives prioritising skills, sharing, repair and reuse. Networks such as ecomodo let you lend and borrow objects, skills or spaces; the London Re-use Network finds new homes for unwanted appliances and furniture; and even businesses such as micycle let members use tools and space to wash and tinker with their bikes for free.

In the grand scheme of things, using a comically old mobile phone or repairing an old bike is unlikely to either avert climate change or end global inequality. And you will get the odd funny look. But 428 million mobile phones were sold worldwide in the first quarter of 2011 alone; anything that can be done to stem the constant demand for new possessions, and rebel against the continuous stream of advertising telling us that “new equals good”, can only be a good thing. Placing a value, rather than a stigma, on items that are used and repaired to the end of their lifespans will bring not only environmental but social and long-term economic benefits.

Sadly, by the time I had made this point the chap from the mobile network had long since hung up.

Categories Uncategorized

What does it mean to shop sustainably?

June 26, 2012 //
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For me it has meant that I have been making clothes last, fixing what’s broken, buying used clothing when possible, buying from retailers whose values are in line with my own, and whose policies are acceptable and transparent.

Most importantly I have reduced my purchases, instead of heading off down the high street for my fix of retail therapy. I have been making my first port of call my own wardrobe! Over the years I have acquired a considerable amount of clothes. It is a treasure shrove of outfits dating back over twenty years. Yes I am bit of a hoarder! Over the last few months I have been rediscovering my clothes.  Hidden gems that due to the tight confines of my wardrobe lay forgotten.

What I cannot find lurking in the back of my wardrobe I seek to borrow from friends and family. Unfortunately, I may have setback the sharing movement as I managed to lose one of my sister’s favourite cardigans, the less said about that the better. So I have been a bit too shame faced to ask to borrow anyone else’s things. I have thankfully discovered that there are a number of commercial websites to assist people like me who are completely rubbish:
Bag Borrow & Steal, Fashionhire, FromBagsToRiches, Renttherunway,

Girl Meets Dress

Being the hoarder I am has meant that I have struggled with the concept of swapping and swishing my way to a sustainable new wardrobe. I keep saying that I am going to go to a swishing event and I have packed a bag full of clothes to swish. Did I say I had a bag full of clothes? Actually, it was full, now not so much. Every time I pass the bag I retrieve another item of clothing that I am just not ready to give up.  However, if you are able to stop yourself from unpacking your swishing bag here’s a couple avenues you can go down: Swishing Swapstyle, Clothing Exchange, 99 Dresses, Big Wardrobe

I have also been making clothes.  I have dusted off my sewing machine and I am currently making a summer dress. However, I will probably not finish making the dress until the summer of 2015! Regardless, the fact will remain the same, I will have made it and that gives me great pleasure. Even if the seams are not straight and you can see the pulls in the material where I have had to unpick the stitching and sew it all over again.

I actually haven’t been doing much shopping lately but when I do shop, I have been shopping consciously, actively thinking about my purchases, rather than sleepwalking into consumerism. I have been buying less, unfortunately it has not been reflected in my bank balance as shopping more sustainably comes at a price and it is not cheap! However, whenever I baulk at the price of a single pair of knickers costing £12 when a pack of five would cost me the same price! I am reassured by the fact the ecological and social impact of my consumerism is much reduced. Here’s a couple of my favourite websites for getting your fashion fix in a more ethical way:

http://whomadeyourpants.co.uk/

http://www.fashion-conscience.com/

http://www.peopletree.co.uk/

http://www.ascensiononline.com/

I have also been inspired by  http://thatcharitystyle.com/ I have been going into more charity shops to buy second hand clothes or should I say have become a vintage clothing convert!

However, sustainable shopping always makes me question whether consumerism can ever be sustainable – can you shop sustainably or is it an oxymoron? I was recently reading an article about Patagonia is an outdoor clothing company that has been leading the way on sustainability for more than 30 years. Their recent advertising campaign basically asked customers to not buy their products!  “we are greener, better than the others”….. however still to not buy it would be the most sustainable……..”

So maybe the question should not be what is sustainable shopping but is it possible to truly shop sustainably?

 

Categories Uncategorized

Eye on Rio +20

June 20, 2012 //
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You may know that the UN’s Rio+20 conference is happening this week. But you may not know that the IAP  (a collaboration between 105 of the world’s leading science academies) have just released a statement ahead of it.

The paper calls upon policy makers to take ‘decisive action’ on population and consumption. It states (with scientific evidence) that both are growing; and without a decline in both we will cause irrecoverable damage to local and global environments and ecosystems. So far, so obvious.

Recommendations on how to deal with what they call ‘two of the most important challenges facing humanity’ is focused largely on ways to limit population growth – better education for young women; better access to family planning programmes; and more consideration given to consumption and population in all government policy making.

Discussion around consumption is related to recommendations that policy makers are better prepared for the consumption demands caused by urbanisation and migration. They also recommend stepping up the process of transferring to sustainable consumption – in this regard; it mostly talks about ‘alternative’ ways of consuming, rather than ways to reduce consume overall.

It is significant progress that the often taboo subjects of consumption and population are being explicitly put on the table at a major international conference. These emerging understandings signify a possibly fruitful opportunity; can those at Rio +20 afford continue to leave it unexplored?

Although they do talk about well-being, the statement is slanted towards the material wellbeing of the poorest and increasing their quality of life (sustainably). Disappointingly, they do not challenge the paradigm that consumption and wellbeing are forever positively related*. They do not make any nod to research suggesting that there is a high price to materialism for the wellbeing of those living in wealthier countries.

An opportunity for Rio+20

Without an exploration of the true relationships between our material aspirations and our wellbeing, progress towards sustainability will continue to be unhelpfully framed as a ‘reigning in’ of our behaviour. Or, involve doing what George Bush Snr memorably said he was unwilling to do in Rio 20 years ago –negotiate on the American way of life. Whether or not people and politicians truly believe that consumption and wellbeing are inextricably linked, a major stumbling block remains. Overcoming fears around de-coupling material consumption from economic growth is a huge challenge. Serious debate of the material wealth = happiness assumption is central to this, it will be interesting to see if it happens at all in Rio. IAP’s statement has not created this nudge; I suspect that – politically – it is a step too far right now, hence the conservatism of their statement.

Fortunately though the door is left open by their final recommendation:

 

To use existing knowledge more effectively and to prioritise research in the natural and social sciences that will provide innovative solutions to the challenges of sustainability.

 

Action-research in the social sciences demonstrating that we can Waste Less and Live More is perhaps one of these priority solutions. At Waste Watch, we will continue to do it, sing and shout about it and collaborate with others who see a positive future.

Guardian Article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jun/14/rio-earth-summit-population-consumption

IAP statement: http://www.interacademies.net/File.aspx?id=19193

*Consumption and wellbeing are related up to a point – we need clothes, food, shelter and a certain degree of mobility. But after our basic needs have been met, there is no guarantee that continuing increases in our consumption will lead to equal increases in our wellbeing.

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