Veronika Wild

I haven’t used a paper cup since I saw the tram full of used coffee cups representing a day’s worth in Melbourne, on the War on Waste last year.   It’s much nicer to sit down and have a break anyway and to drink from a real cup instead. I know that isn’t an option for everyone, but the Hobart City Council has now joined with Markets for Change to promote reusable cups with its Cup Conscious Café campaign.   Businesses which sign on, agree to refill reusable cups Click on the link to find one near you. This has worked so well here that the idea is catching on in other cities.   Even better, yesterday while I was in an unrelated business and they asked if I would like a coffee, a perfect cup of coffee in a china cup was delivered by the café next door – hot, strong and with a little jug of milk on side, just the way I like it. Now that’s service! Power tools are among several surprising finds at the Tipshop A green tick too for the council...

Still to come - December 2 -10  [ Greenpeace design - no time to make my own] I totally missed Recycling Week from November 13 th to   November 19. th    However, while it’s good to have a week to really think about what we are doing and better ways to do it,   recycling, like Mother’s Day, shouldn’t just be a one off thing which we forget about the rest of the year. Not everything sticks of course - we have abandoned our green bin since we rarely had enough to fill it and my attempts at rug making are languishing somewhere at the back of a cupboard, but the Bokashi composter which I bought last year is still going strong and we still have separate containers for batteries, plastic caps and so on. I am also proud to say that I haven’t used a single disposable coffee cup since I discovered what an environmental disaster they have become. There are also plenty of other things we can get involved in and new ideas to share. This is not exactly a...

Opening Moves in the Art from Trash Exhibition I went to the Art from Trash Exhibition this week and saw some wonderful creations. There were items made with high levels of originality and craftsmanship with prices to match, whimsical items created from unlikely objects which relied more upon wit and imagination – seeing a use for things which most of us would overlook such as sad teddy bears, abandoned Barbie Dolls and funeral flowers, all kinds of stunning lighting and also excellent projects created by children. I especially liked the scarecrows and tin men made by various schools and Albuera Street Primary’s Parliament of Owls.   Definitely food for thought and very inspiring to see young people thinking hard about the planet and reusing things which might otherwise have been thrown away. Run by the Hobart Resource Centre, their own stand included instruction sheets for making things like the owls and ready -made kits for kids to make pouches from recycled rubber. ...