If food waste were a country, it would be the third-highest emitter of greenhouse gases. Each year, Aucklanders put about 100,000 tonnes of food waste into their rubbish bins. Diverting food from landfill is one of the single biggest climate change interventions an individual can make.
Kerbside rubbish and recycling are continuing as normal, but you can still take steps to reduce your waste and save money.
Consider composting
Keeping food waste out of landfill is one of the single biggest climate change interventions an individual can make. That’s why more and more Aucklanders are starting to compost at home.
Dismayed (but not surprised) by the latest climate news, Ākina CEO Louise Aitken and Communications Manager Ed Watson sat down to think about what businesses could focus on as they work out how to operate in a way that’s better for the planet.
By prioritising suppliers that align with their environmental and social values, they can encourage a much wider range of companies to shift the dial on those issues.
“It could take 20-30 years to see global temperatures stabilise…” says the IPCC, but if we can control emissions, Earth will do the rest.
As we all process these findings, one thing has become clear: it’s collective action that we need to shift the dial in the right direction. This is the heart and mission behind CoGo, a free app and real-time API that helps consumers and businesses to understand, reduce and offset their carbon footprints, and align their spending with their environmental and social values. The team behind CoGo is based in Wellington and London.
DB Breweries is reducing its annual carbon emissions by 184 tonnes with a new fleet of electric forklifts.
The fleet replaces existing LPG-powered forklifts at DB’s two largest production sites, Waitemata Brewery in Auckland and DB Draught Brewery in Timaru. The carbon reduction equivalent to 350 return flights between Queenstown and Auckland.
Leading global hydrogen publication, H2 View features interviews with Firstgas Group and the Australian Gas Infrastructure Group (AGIG) about the role for hydrogen in decarbonising Oceania’s gas grids, and how both companies plan to power homes in the future with zero carbon gas.
Right now, electric vehicles are arguably the most polarising aspect of New Zealand’s motor industry. While some people love the idea, others pick apart the flaws until the cows come home.
One of the biggest arguments against electric vehicles is the idea that batteries are useless once they’re done their time in a car, and can’t be recycled in New Zealand.
One Kiwi group that’s looking to offer an EV battery recycling service in New Zealand goes by the name of B.I.G or Battery Industry Group, and is made up of some of our country’s heavy hitters in the electric industry.
Formed in 2018, B.I.G includes entities like the AA, Vector, Audi, the Motor Industry Association, and more.
Hawke’s Bay residents can now recycle their soft plastic packaging at The Warehouse stores in Hastings and Napier, as part of the Packaging Forum’s Soft Plastic Recycling Scheme.
A joint study by Beca, Firstgas Group and Fonterra reveals renewable gas is a viable, untapped solution to decarbonising New Zealand’s residential natural gas network right now, with the potential to replace nearly 20% of New Zealand’s total gas usage by 2050.
Lion Sustainability Report 2020
New Zealand’s first large-scale carbon zero beverages company Lion has released its 2020 Sustainability Report highlighting the progress it’s making in emissions and water use reduction and the growing success of its Alcohol&Me education program.