Reasons to hope No. 7

Image by Nathan Cowley

Some amazing sustainability efforts are being made around Australia and we thought you ought to know. 

• SaveBOARD opens a recycling plant in Western Sydney to recycle Tetrapak into walls and floorboards.

Over 4000 tonnes of beverage cartons a year are being turned into walls and floorboards at the facility that opened just over a month ago. Tetrapak packaging is the material that is normally used for nut milks or juice. It is currently not recyclable in the kerbside bin in many councils. By chopping up, heating and pressurising cartons, saveBOARD produces walls and floorboards that can be used to replace plywood, plasterboard or chipboard.

Image by SaveBOARD

• Students from Monash University launch Wonki; setlzers made from landfill-bound seasonal produce.

‘Wonki’ uses the 25% of edible fruit that might have slight imperfections in size and shape to help alleviate the amount of perfectly fine produce that goes to landfill. Wonki was developed at Monash’s Fastrack Accelerator program by undergrads and cofounders Gabriel Tucker, Max Moolman, and Briget Lansell.The packaging is also 100% recyclable which we love to see!

Image by Wonki

• Over 3,000 hectares of high-quality koala habitat is protected forever in NSW’s state national parks.

From Tenterfield in the north to near Cooma in the south, 7 new properties are being dedicated to the conservation of Australian wildlife to help further safeguard koalas in New South Wales. Not only will it be securing the future for Koalas, but also 30+ threatened species including potoroos, black cockatoos, gliders and owls.

• This red seaweed additive could be the start to a huge cut in carbon emissions for the dairy industry.

The March edition of the International Journal of Animal Feed Science and Technology found that introducing seaweed-infused canola oil into feedlots cut their methane emissions by 80 - 98%. That equates to around nine million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions or as much as taking 2 million cars off of Victorian roads. The seaweed is being harvested from Portarlington, on Port Phillip Bay near Geelong and is a promising start to the uphill battle of combating carbon emissions.