24 July 2013

sustainable seafood guide

During my masters course I had to do a report on the current state of a fishery, the laws and regulations associated with it, and how stocks were monitored.  Let me tell you, reading about overfishing is depressing.  There are many problems ranging from fishing techniques to the enforcement of regulations.  Fish numbers are depleted while the laborious and time-consuming task of finding sustainable fishery solutions is underway.

Choosing sustainable seafood can be rather difficult.  One approach is to look for the "certified sustainable seafood" label, endorsed by the Marine Stewardship Council.  Their website has data on sustainable fisheries around the world.  My strategy?  I downloaded Australia's Sustainable Seafood Guide from the Australian Marine Conservation Society.  I can just search by the name of the fish and results pop up on whether this fish is a "say no", "think twice" or "better choice".  Details of why they have arrived at that conclusion are listed.  It's all about being a better-informed consumer!  Another easy thing to do is to shop at Aldi, who have an initiative to support sustainable fishing practices.

10 July 2013

soft plastics

Did you know that most types of plastics, including plastic bags, are recyclable?  The only problem is that not everything that's recyclable can get thrown into your recycle bin for weekly pick up.  RED group is "rethinking recycling" and the list of plastic products they recycle is impressive.  There isn't a heap more effort that needs to be put in since they have collection bins at Coles stores.  We have just put a box in the laundry room and collect things in there.  It actually takes ages to accumulate enough for drop-off, so the biggest change is in our behaviour.  I admit that it's pretty easy to remember to save the bread bags, but I often have to remind myself that frozen food and confectionary packaging can be recycled.  Between eliminating food and plastic waste, our bin is much less full.  I suspect if we look closer at what else we throw away we will probably find some other ways we can reduce our waste.