Although I don't think it has caused a ripple effect yet, I do know it works.
I know of at least one person who has changed the way she disposes her family's household rubbish because of something I wrote. Like me, she is aiming for one black rubbish bag every three weeks, but I think we can do even better than that.
Up to two-thirds of household rubbish can be reduced, reused or recycled. Reducing rubbish lowers carbon emissions, saves energy and resources and cuts your rubbish disposal costs. It's as simple as that.
Only two weeks ago, I wrote that I was hoping our Government would stop pretending everything is sweet and wake up to the threat of an impending global environmental disaster as this has been predicted in a recent Nasa-funded study.
One reader commented on the story on bayofplentytimes.co.nz that there are bigger issues than degradeable bags.
He said we need to look at our motor travel, our large cars, over-consumption of meat and imported gadgets - the lax control of fisheries and other natural resources and our willingness to extract more coal and oil. This gentleman is absolutely right, but you've got to start somewhere. I've done some more online digging into the matter since and found more initiatives that, if widely adopted, could lead us in the direction of a cleaner world.
The first story that caught my eye was about pistachios. They are great nuts, as they contain fewer calories and more potassium and vitamin K per serving than other nuts. Yet in Turkey, the third biggest producer of pistachios, the leftover shells cause a huge waste problem.
Scientists have discovered that pistachios shells can be burned for bio-gas.
Officials are proposing to burn pistachio shells for heat in what is planned to become Turkey's first eco city. The environmentally friendly city is planned for Gaziantep in southeastern Turkey, which is also the heart of the country's pistachio harvest.
It's not the first time someone has come up with an idea to turn food waste into energy, but this is a good one and the Turkish Government is keen on it, too.
Turkey aims to build up a 3200 hectare metropolis that will house 200,000 people and primarily heat the city by burning pistachio shells. The eco city is still in the planning stages, but isn't it great to know they've already found a local and sustainable energy source?
The other grand idea I came across on the web recently was a pilot project that's being carried out in the Netherlands. It's about a futuristic, energy preserving stretch of highway.
A 400m stretch of highway in the Netherlands, about 100km southeast of Amsterdam, now features light-absorbing glow-in-the-dark road markings instead of streetlights. An interactive artist and a civil engineering firm have worked on the design together and, if the project is if proven effective, it could significantly reduce the need for streetlights.
I've seen these stories being shared on social network pages, which proves to me that there are plenty of people out there who, like me, care about improving the shape our world is in.
I'll keep looking for ideas and adapt them where I can. Feel free to share your own thoughts on sustainability. You can comment online after 2pm today.
Martine Rolls is a Tauranga writer and digital strategist - www.sweetorange.co.nz
