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Major change being trialled in Coles to reduce waste

<p dir="ltr">Coles has announced that they will be removing plastic bags from their fruits and vegetables section in a bid to reduce the use of single plastic.</p> <p dir="ltr">The supermarket will trial the removal of plastic bags at their ACT stores from 31 August until 13 September.</p> <p dir="ltr">Customers will be required to bring their own bags from home or can otherwise purchase reusable mesh fresh produce bags.</p> <p dir="ltr">In a bid to help customers, shoppers who spend $5 in store on fruit and veggies will receive a free 3-pack of reusable mesh fresh produce bags that is made from 90 per cent recycled materials. </p> <p dir="ltr">Once the trial is over, all 12 Coles stores will have single use bags for fresh produce removed from September 14.</p> <p dir="ltr">Coles Chief Operations and Sustainability Officer Matt Swindells explained that the initiative is one of the many ways the supermarket is looking to reduce waste.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Under our Together to Zero waste ambition, we are always looking for ways to reduce reliance on unnecessary and problematic single-use plastics packaging and provide sustainable solutions to our customers,” he said. </p> <p dir="ltr">“This will be the first time a major Australian supermarket will trial a completely reusable method of helping customers purchase their fresh fruit and veggies. </p> <p dir="ltr">“We will be looking closely at how our ACT customers respond. These insights will inform our consideration for potentially rolling this out to our customers nationally.”</p> <p dir="ltr">It comes as Coles rolled out fresh produce bags nationally that are made from 50 per cent recycled plastic.</p> <p dir="ltr">The bags can be returned to REDcycle bins at Coles supermarkets to be recycled. </p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Supplied</em></p>

Food & Wine

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12 simple ways to reduce bushfire risk to older homes

<p>Seventy-five years of Australian research into how houses respond to bushfire has identified 21 main weak points in houses and the area immediately surrounding them.</p> <p>In recent decades this knowledge has been used to inform <a href="http://www.as3959.com.au/">new building construction</a>. But older houses are generally not built to the same standard, unless they have been significantly renovated.</p> <p>Older homes make up the majority of buildings in bushfire prone-areas. There are some simple things that can improve the performance of an older house in a bushfire. Here are 12 suggestions: six simple projects that could be done over a weekend or two, and six low-cost things you could do in a single afternoon.</p> <p><strong>Six weekend projects:</strong></p> <p><strong>1. Remove some garden beds next to the house</strong></p> <p>This is particularly true for garden beds near timber-framed windows and doors. For timber and fibro homes, garden beds adjacent to the house should be avoided entirely. At the very least prune dense bushes close to timber-framed windows back hard.</p> <p><strong>2. Sand and repaint weathered timber door and window frames</strong></p> <p>Over time, paint peels and cracks appear in the exposed and weathered timber. During a bushfire, embers can lodge in these cracks and ignite.</p> <p><strong>3. Enclose the subfloor with a metal mesh</strong></p> <p>Flammable items are often stored underneath the house. If this area is not enclosed these items will catch, often due to ember attack, and pose a threat to every room in the house. The exposed underside of timber floors can be protected with a lightweight, non-combustible layer.</p> <p><strong>4. Repair or replace weathered timber decking</strong></p> <p>Just as embers can land in cracks in door and window frames, the same can also happen to weathered timber decking. Most decks are right next to the house and if they go up fire easily spreads to the home.</p> <p><strong>5. Have a 1-2 metre non-flammable area immediately around your house</strong></p> <p>Think of it as an additional protective defence area. You could use gravel, paving tiles, bricks, concrete, or ground rock such as scoria.</p> <p><strong>6. Get a professional roof inspection</strong></p> <p>Roofs gradually weaken and require maintenance. A professional roof repairer can check that tiles are in place, repair damaged ridge tiles, and ensure that skylights, air vents, evaporative coolers, and solar panels are in good order and are free from gaps where embers could enter.</p> <p>The product specifications for timber door and window frames, metal mesh, and decking materials can be found in the relevant <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=AS+3959+(2018)&amp;oq=AS+3959+(2018)&amp;aqs=chrome..69i57&amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;ie=UTF-8">Australian Standard</a> and <a href="https://www.nash.asn.au/nash/publications/nash-standards">steel construction standard</a>. Actual requirements for houses vary according to the <a href="https://www.bushfireprone.com.au/what-is-a-bal/">bushfire attack level</a> associated with a specific block of land.</p> <p><strong>Six easy afternoon projects</strong></p> <p><strong>1. Replace natural coil doormats with synthetic</strong></p> <p>While they appear harmless, natural organic doormats can cause a fire to grow if they ignite. Due to their density they burn for a long time, and can spread flames to timber door frames. A synthetic mat will only flare up for a short time.</p> <p><strong>2. Remove organic mulch from garden beds next to the house</strong></p> <p>Burning embers can easily ignite dried-out organic mulch, setting fire to surrounding plants. If garden beds are near the house, particularly timber door and window frames, the danger is increased. Either remove mulch in garden beds next to the house or – if the mulch is suitable – dig it in deeply.</p> <p><strong>3. Store firewood in an enclosed metal container</strong></p> <p>It is best to store wood well away from the house, but no one wants to walk metres in cold winters to get that wood. So some firewood is often stored close to the house on a burnable deck, and often it’s left there over summer. Putting it into a large metal container can remove that fire risk.</p> <p><strong>4. Remove flammable material from the front porch, roof cavity, decking and underfloor area</strong></p> <p>When embers enter the roof cavity and underneath the house, flames can rapidly spread to every room. It is vital to keep these areas clear of flammable materials.</p> <p><strong>5. Replace timber benches on timber decks with synthetic ones</strong></p> <p>A timber bench on a timber deck next to a timber house is an unnecessary risk, similar to having a wood pile on a timber deck.</p> <p><strong>6. Turn pressure relief valves on outside gas bottles away from the house</strong></p> <p>Both the <a href="https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/bushfire-canberra-2003/">2003 Canberra</a> and the <a href="https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/bushfire-wye-river/">2016 Wye River</a> bushfires showed the danger of having gas bottle valves facing the house. In both fires, houses were destroyed when either the gas plume flamed or gas bottles exploded.</p> <p>While these projects will improve the bushfire protection of your home, they can’t guarantee your home will survive a bushfire, especially during catastrophic bushfire conditions. It is also crucial to upgrade your home insurance so you can meet the higher costs of <a href="http://www.as3959.com.au/">new building standards</a>, in the event you have to rebuild. And in all cases, act on warnings given by your state or territory fire authority.</p> <hr /> <p><em>The advice given in this article is general and may not suit every circumstance.</em><!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122712/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: http://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/douglas-brown-106914">Douglas Brown</a>, Casual Academic, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/western-sydney-university-1092">Western Sydney University</a></em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/12-simple-ways-you-can-reduce-bushfire-risk-to-older-homes-122712">original article</a>.</em></p>

Home & Garden

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“Torture device”: Derryn Hinch says vaginal mesh recipients were “kept in the dark”

<p>Victorian Senator Derryn Hinch has made a passionate plea at the senate inquiry into the use of vaginal mesh to treat urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse, which has left thousands of women with life-changing physical damage and pain.</p> <p>After the senate committee made the recommendation that vaginal mesh only be used as a last resort and only with fully informed consent, tabling a report with 13 suggested changes to its use, senators from all sides of politics agreed that such a devastating medical scandal can never happen again.</p> <p>“Many women who have had transvaginal mesh implants have had devastating complications resulting in ongoing emotional trauma, embarrassment, shame, depression, debilitating pain, recurring infection and a poor quality of life,” Greens senator and committee chair, Rachel Siewert, said.</p> <p>Senator Hinch said the committee had heard from many women who felt they had been let down by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.</p> <p>“Having first been told there’s only a one per cent chance of an adverse reaction, they have since been treated like mushrooms,” the Human Headline said.</p> <p>“Kept in the dark and fed bulls*** by doctors, hospital administrators, the drug companies and sadly even the TGA.”</p> <p>He described the tragedy as “the biggest medical scandal for Australian women since thalidomide in the 1950s and 1960s, when kids were born without arms and legs.”</p> <p>Senator Hinch said people affected by this “torture device” deserve justice. “This should never have happened. We need to fix it. We need to be providing support for these women.”</p>

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