Tag Archive for: reduce reuse recycle

Creative Ways to Win the War on Waste

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We absolutely love hearing about the creative ways that people use some of our ‘waste’ items. As a business committed to sustainability, it’s a relief to us to know that people can use some of the items that would otherwise have to go in the bin. Reducing our waste has a significant impact on the environment, and protects our oceans and coral reefs.

Some of the items that we give away rather than put into waste include:

  • Small plastic buckets
  • Egg cartons
  • Bottle lids
  • Vege scraps
  • Used coffee grounds

So, what do people do with this stuff? Check out some of these ideas…

On the Farm

Splitters Farm take kitchen scraps and fruit pulp to feed their rescue pigs and chickens. They also take small buckets for general use around the farm such as storing seeds and portioning out feed for the animals. Visitors even use the buckets to collect eggs on the weekend tours. Carly says she loves the sense of community created by working with other businesses to reduce waste along with the social aspect of coming to town to collect the bins.

At School

We have several schools, kindies and day care centres who use our buckets to store loose bits and pieces such as buttons, beads and eye balls used for art and craft. The egg cartons get cut up and made into everything from tiny seed planters to rocket ships. One person even takes our bottle lids as they make great learning aids for tasks such as counting and probability.

On the Worksite

We are told our buckets are the perfect sizes for tradies who need to keep small amounts of excess paint, fibreglass and oil.

In the Garden

We have several people who take our used coffee grounds to add to their compost or directly to the soil. Apparently worms love it and if the worms are happy then it’s a good sign the soil is packed with nutrients. Our buckets also get used for small pot plants. They are the perfect size to start seedlings off until they are ready for transplanting.

Fundraising

Some groups use the buckets for raffles. They are especially handy when you need several containers for multiple draws.

…and Something a Bit Unusual

One of our ‘bucket beneficiaries’ uses them in their coral collecting business. They are much stronger than the single-use ones used by many in that industry and having something that can be reused is obviously much more sustainable.

What Can You Use?

If there is something you can use and help us to minimise waste in the process, please feel welcome to get in touch so we can let you know what’s available. We’d love to have you on board as part of the movement towards a more sustainable way of doing business.

READ – How we have reduced our waste to landfill by two whole industrial bins per week!

READ – 13 Ways to use Old Coffee Grounds

READ – More about out War on Waste!

WATCH – Come along with us as we visit some our suppliers and surprise them with some of our delicious, house-made gelato – made using their very own produce.

https://youtu.be/b8CpIY0caiw

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – Alowishus Making A Difference In The World Of Waste

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war on waste

In the past several months, Alowishus has further increased its efforts in the recycling arena. We have been trying extra hard to always sing to the tune of “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” and have further reduced waste to landfills by two whole industrial bins per week.

That’s a whopping 156 cubic metres a year, NOT going into landfills.

With a saving in waste collection dollars of over $3000, this is great for the Environment AND Alowishus, but not so great for the Waste Collection Company.

How we did this

We have changed many things within our business and in the ways, we work with our local suppliers. Furthermore, we partnered with some great other local businesses to further reduce our waste.

war on waster

  • We’ve partnered with Splitters Farm to collect our food waste.  They have provided us with branded, coloured wheelie bins and collect the scraps daily. Be sure to follow them on insta @splittersfarm
  • The team at the Endeavour Foundation are collecting our used coffee grounds for their worm farm and apparently, the worms are LOVING the caffeine
  • JJ Richards recycling collects our cardboard for processing twice a week – and BOY! Do we get a lot of cardboard, literally, truckloads of it
  • Our daughter Ally collects all the 10c eligible containers that are left at Alowishus (a budding entrepreneur).  She did cash flow projections and with compounding interest factored in, she has calculated she can save $20K by the time she’s 18.  I’ll keep you posted on how that goes!
  • We recycle our Honey Pales back to our local supplier, Hummock Honey and he passes them back onto groups for non-food use
  • All food pales that come in are given away to people who reuse them for various things, from crafts to water bowls for their animals.
  • Our egg trays (and there are loads of them) are taken for all sorts of reasons, from people who have chickens, to kindy classes and musicians attempting to soundproof their studios.
  • Our 20-litre drums are also given away for repurposing as they are emptied.
  • All eligible plastics are placed into a JJ Richards Co-Mingle recycling bin and are processed back through the Bundaberg Regional Council Waste Management Facility. Milk bottles, cans and dressing bottles are among the bin load of plastics recycled on a weekly basis.
  • Doing all of this has reduced the number of garbage bags we use from around 500 a month, down to 300!  And we are still working on reducing further.

REDUCE REUSE RECYCLE

Unfortunately the $3000 a year we have saved on waste management will be taken from us by the State Government come the first of July 2019.  The Labor Government are introducing a controversial Waste Management ‘levy’ of $75 per tonne and this is set to increase annually by $5.  This ‘levy’, which in reality is a TAX, is predicted to generate $1.3 billion in revenue, of which a mere $150 million will go into developing Qld’s recycling industries or into helping our environment.

Read State MP David Batt’s address to parliament here

Where is the other $1,150,000,000 ($1.15B) going?  That is the same question I’m asking?

Believe me, I’m all for:

  • helping the environment
  • recycling
  • and improving our waste management

I just don’t think that this so called ‘waste levy’ will be effective in helping the environment, not when less than 10% of it is actually going to the environment.

That’s just my opinion ………

What are your thoughts on the matter?

 

 

 

2018 Cafe of the Year Winners below – To vote for Alowishus Delicious in 2019 click here