Every year, each Australian throws away 145 kg of food. As a nation, that is over $5 billion worth of food items. For every 5 bags of groceries a person buys a week, 1 of those goes straight in the rubbish bin. That's almost 20% of the food Australians purchase. In Victoria and South Australia, 40% of what people throw out is food. In Sydney, the statistics are even more alarming - 50% of bin contents are food waste.
It is for this reason that Notebook: magazine has teamed up with Planet Ark founder, Jon Dee, to launch the Stop Food Waste! campaign in its September issue. The purpose of this campaign is to raise awareness and serve up the practicalities of dealing with an issue that has global and personal, financial implications.
"Food waste in this country is an environmental and financial disaster," says Notebook: magazine Editor Caroline Roessler. "In an economic climate of rising fuel costs and interest rates, not to mention disastrous food shortages in the Third World and the enormous environmental implications, throwing away good food seems like utter madness."
Please check out the STOP FOOD WASTE website to learn more about this issue and post your ideas on how Australians can minimize the amount of food that is wasted.
The Age reports of an ongoing tug of war within the Victorian State Governments on the viability of desalination plants verses rainwater tanks. The Age mentions they have obtained a report by by University of Melbourne systems scientist and microbiologist Peter Coombs which appear to challenge the Government's big-project desalination direction.
In one report Peter Coombs argues that previous simplistic estimates for water volumes generated by tanks in Melbourne are wrong, and badly misjudge the capability of tanks to supplement water supply.
Although he refused to comment on the reports, Professor Coombes confirmed his work showed a tank in each Melbourne household could deliver a city-wide 120 gigalitres a year, more than twice previous estimates by water supplier Melbourne Water.
More details at The Age
A study initiated by the National Water Commission analysed the cost-effectiveness of installing a rain water tank from the perspective of the home owner in different regions of Australia. The study investigates how cost effective rain water tanks are as a substitute for mains water supply.
The report highlights that the yield and the cost of rain water tanks varies significantly based on individual household variables, including the size of the roof collection area, water tank size, number of occupants in the home and annual rainfalls. A water tank's yield is determined by both the volume and timing of run-off into the tank and the volume and timing of usage.
The water tank report is available as a PDF download from the Victorian Water Industry association website.
After 18 months of good service, it was time to put the old GetGreen blog template up on blocks and implement this great new Venice Wordpress template (thanks to Billion Studio). Although GetGreen is a labour of love, I've added a little more room for advertising as it's nice when GetGreen generates a little bit of revenue to pay for hosting expenses etc.
Along with the change in design, there's also a Buy Water Tanks section which lists rain water tanks available for purchase on ebay. You can also subscribe through rss or through email.
We hope you enjoy the new digs.
If you're interested in heading along to sustainability focused events in your region then head over to the Sustainable Living Calendar website. The Sustainable Living Calendar highlights events and activities across Australia which inspire, promote and celebrate sustainable living.
Click on a link below to see view the events in your state:
Generally you don't need a building permit for a water tank under 5000 Litres, however, you should call your local council and confirm this. For example, the Mornington Peninsula Shire in Victoria states that you require a building permit for anything over 4500 Litres.
You could also ask your local water tank supplier for details too.
