The old saying Reduce Reuse Recycle still holds strong these days:

• Reduce your consumption and purchasing, reduce your packaging and use of throwaway paper and plastics so that  you’re using far fewer  resources to meet your needs and creating less and less waste
• Reuse as much as you can so that what was previously waste becomes an ongoing resource
• Recycle what you cannot reuse

A more recent addition to the ‘3 R’s’ is Rethink – think before you buy to make sure you really need the product you’re tempted by. If you don’t buy it in the first place your footprint shrinks immediately and you save money too!

One of the main goals for sustainability is ‘Zero Waste’, that is, nothing goes to garbage dumps or landfills at all; and even our invisible wastes such as carbon dioxide, are radically reduced. Another term for this process is ‘Cradle to Cradle’, that is a holistic economic, industrial and social framework that seeks to create systems that are not just efficient but essentially waste free.^[1] The model in its broadest sense is not limited to industrial design and manufacturing; it can be applied to many different aspects of human civilization such as urban environments, buildings, economics and social systems;^[1]

Here in the Scenic Rim there are a number of important initiatives underway to help us all rethink, reduce, reuse and recycle:

• Scenic Rim Regional Council offers a recycling service throughout all communities in the region.

• The Boonah Organisation for Sustainable Society (BOSS) is running a Natural Resources Awareness Program from April 2010 onwards. The focus is on preserving our natural resources and keeping things from landfill and there are lots of ways to get involved. Contact Julie Jackson from BOSS for more details: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it   Read More..
  
  

• The Junk Orchestra is a fun and educational program run by two Boonah musicians and teachers Jo and Rob Davies. Their orchestra’s instruments are all made from recycled and reused materials. The Junk Orchestra is available for hands on lessons and performances. For more information contact Rob Davies at: Phone: (07) 5463 1900; Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

• Growing Healthy at Tamborine Mountain is expert in composting systems. Growing Healthy is a business run by locals Bev and Geoff Buckley who are small-acre farmers and founders of the Green Shed (link: www.greenshed.org.au), a not for profit community market set up in 2001 to give Tamborine Mountain growers a place to sell real food. Growing Healthy’s business is food. They grow nutrient-rich, organic food. They sell organic food and they teach others how to grow nutritious, chemical-free food. They are also expert composters. Here’s their ‘recipe’ for composting. Read More...

Growing Healthy contact details: email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; web: www.healthygardenfood.com

• Planet Ark has a great website about recycling that includes a recycling map and directory, recycling news, recycling information and education and more, called “Recycling Near You”: www.recyclingnearyou.com.au Hotline: 1300 733 712