June 2012

Green Business Platform: Savings through recycling

Douw Steyn from Plastics S.A. and Bertie Lourens from Waste Plan will discuss the latest state of play with regards to recycling. Gauteng is thought to produce around 6 million tonnes of waste per year, most of which goes straight to the landfill. However the demand for recyclable products is increasing, along with the profits associated with recycling and the infrastructure to collect, sort and process it into a number of everyday goods, reducing the demand for primary resources. [Read on...]

The next Restorative Breakfast: Food & Trees for Africa

The Restorative Breakfast team are very pleased to host Jeunesse Park, the inspirational founder of Food & Trees for Africa, who will share with us the fantastic ongoing work done by FTFA.

“The challenges facing non-governmental organisations (NGOs) today are measurably greater than in previous years, despite the fact that they provide essential services to an ever growing number of desperate people. NGOs such as FTFA, which addresses issues of food insecurity and climate vulnerability, fill a void between slow moving bureaucratic governments and the growing population of refugees, homeless, hungry, abused and destitute. This is set to become ever more pronounced as the effects of climate change on the poorest, especially here in Africa, worsens.” [Read on...]

Avoid Pollution & Save Money

In South African cities most people travel to work from the same source to same destination for their daily work. By linking these people together few vital things can be achieved:

1. We can reduce the number of vehicles in our street, which in turn reduces traffic congestion.
2. We can reduce the amount of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere, which preserves our environment and gives cleaner air to breathe and contributes for slowing down factors related to global warming.
3. We can save more money which will improve our living standards.
4. It also reduces the number of parking places required.

In consideration of all these factors, Travel Share South Africa have developed a website www.TravelShareSouthAfrica.com for commuters to communicate with each other, and job share. The website does not charge anything for the service provided.

For more information please send an email to support@travelsharesouthafrica.com.

NAA-SA – State of Tourism for Smaller Accommodation (<20 rooms)

The National Accommodation Association of South Africa (NAA-SA), in collaboration with the University of South Africa and go2natural, is in the process of creating a state of tourism landscape report for B&Bs, guesthouses and smaller establishments across South Africa.

The NAA-SA, through the Tourism Business Council, has been tasked with gaining an understanding of the barriers to running a successful Small Accommodation Establishment (<20 rooms) in South Africa, as it is currently of great concern that establishments are closing down at an alarming rate, and this at a time when South Africa has the vision of becoming one of the top 20 Tourist Destinations in the world by 2020.

If you operate in the smaller accommodation arena, please could you take 15 minutes to complete this survey:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=4H_2f9XjcMYKCqH8tTpmPkhg_3d_3d

All data collected will be treated with the strictest confidentiality. No data will be published or shared with any 3rd party in a way which will link data to an establishment’s identity thereby ensuring anonymity and confidentiality.

Greenwashing – the good with the bad?

Grace Stead from Steadfast Greening gave a presentation at Markex, on the behalf of the Event Greening Forum, on Greenwashing. The presentation covered what is greenwashing, what are the ‘types’ of greenwashing, how you can recognise them – and what the consequences of it are.

A danger of greenwashing is the fact that people will continue to buy products and services that are harming the environment, unaware of the harm they are doing. They will therefore not be motivated to change their behaviour and switch to truly green products.

Another danger is that, on discovering they have been misled, consumers may become distrustful of green marketing claims, and could be turned-off from buying green products and services – or at the very least, unconvinced by them.

However, the question was also posed as to whether greenwashing can also serve a good purpose – at times, in some cases – by promoting awareness around greening, and thereby making consumers conscious of it. This is obviously an initial effect. As the market becomes more educated, this is not a valid benefit.

Using strict definitions of what greenwashing is, many South African companies who are trying to do good, and become more environmentally aware, are actually culprits of it. So perhaps, especially in a developing market, consumers need to be aware of greenwashing, and criticise it, but also be open to educating marketers of where they have gone wrong so they can improve their products and services to become truly green, without boycotting them.

What do you think?

An interesting current example is how Fruit and Veg City is being criticized on facebook for apparently selling endangered fish, despite their claims to support sustainable fishing. Read the Media 24 story here.

Download the greenwashing presentation here.

Green Drinks – Johannesburg – 21 June

Details for the next Green Drinks event:

Green Drinks: Solar Savvy Session

The next Green Drinks session will be held on Thursday 7 June, and will include a presentation titled: Solar Savvy Session, Solar Water Heating & Heat Pumps for Dummies. It will be presented by Mr Dylan Tudor-Jones, who is one of the leading expert in this industry. He is going to cover the new energy efficiency building regulations and Eskom’s rebates system.

Time: 18:00 for 18:30 (presentation starts at 18:30!)

Venue: Voodoo Lily Cafe, 64 St Andrews Street, Birdhaven (for more information and directions, please visit: www.voodoolilycafe.com/)

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