DB Green 2nd meeting (20 April 2007)
Hi to all fellow DB Green members,
‘Clear the air’
Last night we had our 2nd ever meeting for DB Green. Some new faces from the last meeting including Phil Smyth known to many as the leader of ‘clear the air DB’ and if I have it correctly now chairman for ‘clear the air’ in Hong Kong. He spoke about the direction to take and had some pearls of wisdom with how to approach things. I am sure that Phil will be most helpful on how we can be as effective as possible and in what direction to work on the pollution problem. To see more about ‘clear the air’ visit the website www.cleartheair.hk
Renovating
Thinking of renovating? Sophie who joined us last night is renovating her apartment and trying to do so in a way that will prevent the use of harsh chemicals and also make her apartment more energy efficient. I have asked if she will write an article when she’s finished that we can add to our new website (more to come). Also see below seminar conducted by Catherine Touzard which will also deal with renovating.
Seminar
Next month Catherine is conducting a seminar on May 30. I have attached information for you to have a read but basically there will be something for everyone! Catherine needs to get an idea of numbers before she books the venue so if you can make it please contact her;
by email: AgreenerlifeHK@hotmail.fr
by phone: Catherine: 90358127
or fill in the form with the attachment above.
Recycling bins:
It has come to my attention through the DB forum and after enquiries from my local management team that the government has a project whereby they will subsidize the cost of recycling bins to housing estates in Hong Kong. They have allocated a max amount of money to DB and I hear from our estate manager here at Siena 2 that out of the 13 villages, 7 villages committees have voted NO- they don’t want to pay the other 50% to get more bins.
I feel sure that many people don’t recycle in DB because it’s just too much of an effort, but if recycle bins were right next to their normal bins they would find it easy. In a low rise this would mean in the rubbish room there would be recycling bins adjacent to the other bins. For every high-rise on every level in the hopper room there would be one bin where all recyclables sit together to be sorted later (as I believe already happens). This is one of the aims of DB Green- to get DB to increase it’s number of bins and I can hardly believe that villages are not taking advantage of this government offer. IF you are owner or otherwise, and not in Siena 2A or 2B or DB Plaza apartments (who are the only 3 villages to have agreed) then you need to contact your owners committee. In your lobby there should be information on who to contact- an estate manager for example. I’ve attached the letter I sent to my estate manager Jennifer Lee a couple of days ago. It won’t suit most of you but adjust as need be or just make a call and tell them you want more bins!! We should be definitely taking advantage of the governments offer and out of all the money our owners committees spend this would have to be the most useful. When you find out the right person could you forward the names for your villages and we can start a list.
If your owners committee is not interested in you opinion then action you could take would be to get everyone you know in your village to call or sign a petition, maybe even a door to door knock- a bit of work I know- but this offer has a limited time frame and then will be gone so an effort now could save much more effort later.
Website
That’s right- thanks to Gaelle we have a website!!!!!! It is still in formation but you could have a look at it and feel free to send Gaelle contributions to any or all of the pages and any other comments. In theory I should be able to add to the page also but am already finding my time is consumed with other parts of DB Green so if anyone else has an interest in keeping the website up to date please volunteer and I will send you the required passwords to make changes and put you in contact with Gaelle. Her tis: www.dbgreenhk.com – add it to your favourites NOW!!!
Logo
Doris, our group stylist, has designed a few logos and we need to vote on which one you prefer. Gaelle’s going to set up a vote on the website so please click on and see which design you like the most. Thanks Doris for your artistic inspirations!!
Discussed topics:
§ Fiona updated us on how she’s going with information on recycling- she is going into the environmental department to get some stickers that would be placed with bins so we know exactly we need to recycle and hopefully a comprehensive list that we can publish on our website.
§ Neelam has been getting more information on composting and will soon be ready to make the suggestions to DB Management. She has found some sites dealing in composters and we have put the links on the website if you are interested in starting up one in your own backyard.
§ Kate Brigham has taken on a letter of introduction to DB Management which, I have to say, I received by 11am this morning and is, I think, perfect for what we want to say. I will attach a copy and after a few minor changes I will send off within the following week. After reading I promptly told Kate she could be our communications manager! I was told at DB Office to send to Angela Ho (Community Relations Manager). I’m thinking it could be something we send to each owners committee with a slight variation also.
§ Steve Brigham is going to look into where to recycle electronic equipment, CD’s and batteries in DB.
§ Doris will be finalising the logo- don’t forget to check it out.
§ Tracey is going along with submitting the Clean Up Day proposal to HSBC and I feel even if HSBC doesn’t take it on that we go ahead with it anyway. It would be a fabulous family fun day and a great social gathering.
§ Gaelle and Sophie are going to quickly put together another proposal for HSBC with a Green Day idea – much like a typical plaza stall day with bands etc but where the stalls invited are only green companies around Hong Kong- a ‘showcase’ if you like of green living and shopping in Hong Kong. Various organisations would also have stands and information like green peace, clear the air, ourselves of course, Green Peng Chau association, Friends of the Earth etc. If anyone has any ideas to add to this day please email gaelle@kinoa-shop.com or Sophie at srocher@mac.com or if you’d like to help, or have experience with proposals, please contact them as time is of the essence with the proposal required to be in by the end of the month. Phil suggested that maybe more proposals could be put in if anyone thinks of any more green ideas!!!
Rechargeable batteries
OK- the big push for this month is these little beauties. I had no idea how much money I had been losing before discovering rechargeable batteries. I just didn’t know anything about them but have since discovered how bad disposable batteries are for our environment and how much money I am saving by investing in a recharger and several AA batteries and AAA batteries. You can buy them at various points- including the photo shop and at Gaelle’s online store- go to www.kinoa-shop.com Gaelle also has this wonderful thing arriving next week that will convert your AA batteries into size C batteries as the recharger units only do AA/AAA so I have already ordered a few. Here is a link with extensive information about rechargeable batteries http://www.uniross.com/upload/pdf/guide_rechargeable_en.pdf
The main thing that hit home to me is that rechargeable batteries can be used up to 500 times- so that’s like saving on buying 499 batteries multiplied by however many batteries you use in your home- with kids (and dare I say boys) it’s a lot! And then think of a sack of 500 batteries (multiplied by x amount of batteries) to dispose of- what an environmental disaster for our landfill. And yes we are finding out where to dispose of both of these types of batteries in DB or Hong Kong and will let you know.
Keep all your great emails coming- there are plenty of jobs so if you’re looking for one just give me a call or email and I will give you a choice. I will update our objectives with the updated action plans above and send out in the next week. I think that several smaller meeting will be in order with one big one per month so let me know if you have a particular area of interest and I will start to formulate some groups together. Next meeting date to come. It might have to be a weekend day in May!- I’ll let you know…
SO what to do NOW-
Find out who is your estate manager and send them a letter or call and ask for more bins please.
Contact Catherine and book in for the seminar. AgreenerlifeHK@hotmail.fr or ph90358127
Get your friends to join up even just for support by contacting me on nickandkate@netvigator.com
Visit our new website and vote for the logo www.dbgreenhk.com .
Purchase a recharger and rechargeable batteries and don’t buy those terrible disposable ones again!
Continue to avoid Kleenex where you can- not a great choice I know- and avoid goods that are over packaged.
Volunteer for any of the above project or a new one by contacting me or people already mentioned.
Have a great weekend!!!!
All the best and keep it green,
Cheers, Kate
Kate Wade.
DB Green