Last week I was given a graphic example of the challenge we face to reduce waste.

I have a small table lamp, one of the ones with a switch part way down the cable. It’s nothing special, but last week the switch stopped working. 

Other than the switch it’s in good condition so I headed along to a hardware store, one of the huge cavernous warehouses that stocks everything you could wish for; 80 isles and 8 staff.  I wandered up and down the aisles and found some switches that would work but they were $15 and to be honest I thought that was a bit much for a simple on off switch. 

I walked around and found a shop assistant stacking items in another aisle and I asked him whether there were any cheaper switches.  He followed me back to the aisle looked around and said “nope, that’s all we’ve got”. 

 “There is another option

The Liquid and Hazardous Waste Code of Practice was originally published in 2003, together with a Waste Operators Handbook.  The Code and the handbook had not been updated since they were originally published and the waste industry has undergone significant legislative and

On Saturday, Christchurch was hit by a 7.1 earthquake and has had over 300 aftershocks since.  My family have got off quite lightly compared to some, losing both our chimneys, damaging our hot water cylinder and some minor internal damage, but many have lost their entire homes. 

On Tuseday Nick Smith announced that Scion and RDC were the recipients of a $1 million dollar grant made by the Waste Minimisation Fund.  The largest grant for this year. 

If you’re not measuring, it’s hard, if not impossible, to manage your resources effectively.  That’s why it’s good to see the government trying to address this issue for freshwater management in New Zealand with the introduction of the Resource Management (Measurement and Reporting of Water Takes) Regulations 2010. 

After years of waiting New Zealand now has a national fund for waste minimisation projects.  The Waste Minimisation Fund (WMF) closed its first funding round in March with 163 eligible applications received by the Ministry for the Environment (MfE). Applicants this year requested a total of $55 million in funds, far exceeding the $6 million available for the 2010 funding round. For the 29 successful applicants invited to proceed to stage II it will be time to put their plans into action and I wish them all the best, but what separated these from applications declined at Stage I? 

Last week UPS expanded their carbon neutral postal programme to 35 countries, although New Zealand was not one of them.  This programme enables senders to opt in and mitigate the carbon emissions generated by posting their packages around the world.  This obviously is at an extra cost but it does show an increased awareness by both consumers and businesses of the impacts that moving materials and items around the world, has on the environment.

A Christchurch company director has just been fined $150,000 after admitting illegally dumping electroplating waste.  An action which caused affected trees to weep blue sap and die.

Environment Minister Nick Smith today announced the Government's accreditation of two new product stewardship schemes for recycling and reducing harm from used farm plastics and glass packaging.

Business and Government have launched the second edition of the paper buyers’ guide “Which Paper?” an influential guide to buying sustainable office papers.

Published by the Business Council and sponsored by a member, Blue Star Group, the guide is the only one in New Zealand listing all office papers certified by third parties as coming from sustainable sources.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world's largest retailer, will pay $27.6 million to settle a lawsuit alleging it improperly stored, handled and dumped hazardous waste at stores throughout California, state investigators said on Monday.

The accord ends a five-year probe in which California investigators said they found violations at 236 Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores, distribution centers and storage facilities in the state.

On Wednesday, police said cobalt-60 had leaked from an irradiation machine sold by the university earlier this month.

A scrap metal worker who was exposed to the radiation died on Monday of multiple organ failure. Several of his colleagues are still in hospital.

In pictures: Ten worst 'ecocides'

A campaign to declare the mass destruction of ecosystems an international crime against peace - alongside genocide and crimes against humanity - is being launched in the UK.

The proposal for the United Nations to accept "ecocide" as a fifth "crime against peace", which could be tried at the International Criminal Court (ICC), is the brainchild of British lawyer-turned-campaigner Polly Higgins.