Sustainable Business by Design conference

Ok I know it was about two months ago now but here's some of the highlights from the highly inspirational event at Somerset College...

http://www.sustainable-design-uk.com

Brilliantly hosted by the eloquent Andrew Knutt, the day was mostly filled with design industry related speakers, interspersed with breakout sessions by each speaker, giving attendees a chance to discuss chosen topics in smaller groups.

There were presentations from the Design Council, the very amusing & entertaining Mark Shayler of eco3 - http://www.eco3.co.uk - ex Asda Environmental Manager. Good to hear a less serious view on sustainability.

Also speaking were John Boult, John Luff & Lynne Elvins.

My personal favourite however was Peter Hopton of VeryPC - http://www.very-pc.co.uk - and his story of how he got the BroadLeaf PC produced in the most environmental & ethical way humanly possible. From removing harmful chemical flame retardants, asking for the wires not to be individually bagged, to sourcing the Yorkshire chassis manufacturer (using Icelandic Aluminium), all put together in Sheffield.

And it uses half the energy of the greenest big brand option for the same performance, and less energy when asleep than some PC's do when turned off!

A real genuine & humble green genius.

Screw you Apple...

I'd had occasional problems with the scroll ball in my mighty mouse, but had always managed to fix it with some bashing on the desk and upside-down blowing!

However, after a couple of years the mouse finally stopped scrolling completely - no amount of desk-whacking, up-blowing or even feeding with alcohol would bring it back to life.

I tried gently prizing the mouse apart but to no avail, it seems apple don't WANT you to fix them! So, with my refusal to let apple (& consumerism) win, I turned to Google.

...a couple of searches later and I was following a Youtube video (of which there are many) of a helpful chap dissecting, cleaning and reassembling a mighty mouse. Pretty darn easy, though you DO need to 'break' the ring around the bottom and glue it back on afterwards.
It was easy to see why it would no longer scroll - there was thick dirt & fluff stuck to the tiny wheels (see pics below).
The whole process was a little fiddly but it worked perfectly again, just like new, in about 20 minutes.

How many of these plastic mighty mouses have been chucked in landfill so far (and replaced by a new one), when they could have been so easily fixed?

Then today in the news I saw this story of Apple attempting once again to stop customers self-fixing with the introduction of a 'pentalobe' screw:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/01/pentalobe-screw-apple-war.php

Do you want the Good Green News, or the Bad Green News?

Everything I saw today seemed to have a negative impact on our big greeny-blue planet;

From POM taking pomegranate seeds out of their packaging and putting them in packaging;

Britain STILL not taking any action on BPA in food packaging and babies bottles;

Premier Foods changing Sun-Pat Peanut Butter from glass to plastic containers, claiming "the switch to PET helped reduce the product’s carbon footprint." and that "the sustainability and logistics benefits deliver major solutions,” - perhaps major solutions for those huge holes in the ground that need filling? and for increasing their profit margin with a switch to cheap throw-away plastic jars rather than easily recyclable glass.

http://www.pomwonderful.com/products/freshfruit/pom-wonderful-arils/

http://www.packagingnews.co.uk/news/materials/france-and-denmark-ban-bisphenol-a-from-babies-bottles

http://www.packagingnews.co.uk/news/premier-foods-moves-sun-pat-from-glass-to-pet-containers

...THEN I stumbled across this great 15 minute special from Stella Artois, part of their Recyclage de Luxe campaign, which put me back in a good green mood again!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwYCFnIo5FI

Bonnes nouvelles vertes!!

Green paint? or Greenwash?

Dulux (ICI) recently launched a range of 'Eco' Low VOC paints (only Matt paint seems to be VOC free), all packaged in lovely disposable plastic!

Very little information is given on their website about levels of Volotile Organic Compounds, or how the paint is produced, so it hard to get excited about this move:

http://www.icipaints.co.uk/products/ecosure/index.jsp

Waitrose gain Greeny Points over Sainsbury's...

As Sainsburys this week face court action over their overpackaged Taste The Difference Beef, Waitrose head in a far more positive direction by announcing a move to flow-wrapped packaging.

How many of their meat products will be repackaged is not clear, and the more cynical may feel they are just reacting quickly to avoid being taken to court themselves, but any step away from the the current 'norm' of unnecessary hard plastic trays has to be for the better.

I just hope the new format will be accepted by customers (unlike their milk pouches, which had to be scrapped last year) and that all the other supermarkets follow their lead, because - as anyone old enough to remember butchers shops will remember - pieces of dead animal haven't always come packaged in clinically sealed plastic boxes.

http://www.packagingnews.co.uk/bulletin/environmentbulletin/article/1027830/?DCMP=EMC-EnvironmentBulletin

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/sep/16/sainsburys-court-excessive-beef-packaging

Bright Green Brand of the Month: Unpackaged

I'm not sure whether I should describe Unpackaged as a 'brand' as such, if anything it's an anti-brand, as almost everything that is sold in this quirky little shop comes in no packaging at all, and therefore 'Unbranded'.

What Unpackaged definitely IS though is a fantastic idea and hopefully a movement way ahead of its time - the shape of things to come. And maybe surprisingly, as someone who earns a living from designing brand packaging, I welcome this vision of a life less plastic.

The shop is a little off the beaten track - vaguely between Farringdon, Kings Cross and Angel at 42 Amwell St, but this only adds to its charm - more like a local shop, which I guess may well be overlooked on a busy high street with all the big bold brands shouting for attention.

Visit the site, but more importantly visit the shop - it's like travelling way back in time, while also being way in the future.

Hopefully.

http://beunpackaged.com

Beautiful Beach Plastic!...

Steve McPherson is a UK artist who, for over 15 years, has been picking up bits of plastic washed up on beaches in north Kent, then turning them into artworks...

It does seem slightly wrong that I should love this so much, but I guess that's the point - to draw attention to this endless plastic trash washing up on beaches all over the world, when otherwise most people wouldn't think twice when they see it on the sand.

Artworks are all for sale too!

(click images to enlarge)

see more here:
http://www.stevemcpherson.co.uk/category/marine-plastic

...and if you find any of your own plastic treasure you can register it here:

http://www.marineplastic.org