target sustainability @ marrickville

Case Study 10 - The Bower

Hut 34, 142 Addison Rd, Marrickville 2204
T (02) 9568 6280
F (02) 9564 1034
info@bower.org.au
www.bower.org.au

Summary of business

The Bower Re-Use and Repair Centre Cooperative (The Bower) sells pre-loved household, building and office goods.

The Bower is a registered not-for-profit cooperative and charity, which aims to divert re-usable household and office items from landfill to the community at affordable prices.

The Bower also runs a service to refer customers to over 1,000 other organisations, such as charities, second-hand shops, community organisations or recycling service providers, for items that the Bower is unable reuse or repair.

Approximately 245 tonnes was diverted from landfill last year as part of the Bower’s operations

Sustainability vision

The objects of the Cooperative are to protect and enhance the natural environment, particularly aspects of the environment affected by waste generation and landfill by:

• Reducing the amount of ‘hard waste’ going to landfill.
• Raising awareness of the value of waste reduction.
• Generating employment opportunities and skills training in the community.
• Providing affordable goods sourced from the waste stream to low-income earners and other disadvantaged groups in the community.
• Encouraging community awareness of environmentally responsible design and manufacture.
• Advocating for long-life design, repairable products and the use of sustainable, recyclable materials for appliances and furnishings.
• Providing benefits to the community via these objectives.
• Involving the community in the development and achievement of these objectives.

Carbon dioxide emissions from electricity usage

As electricity for the Bower is paid to the Addison Road Centre, a baseline has not been established and following a reduction target for carbon dioxide emissions can not be set. The Bower has now taken a metre reading to establish a baseline value.

Energy Efficient Work Completed

The Bower has implemented a number of energy efficient initiatives:

• The straw-bale building (Sydney’s first) provides wall insulation and fire resistance.
• Foil lined thermal bats provide roof insulation.
• Skylights and windows allow natural lighting on sunny days.
• Fluorescent and Compact Fluorescent lights are used on rainy days.
• Electric appliances turned off at night.
• Computers and printers are sent to ‘sleep’ when not in use.

Planned Energy Efficient Work

• Accredited GreenPower usage to be discussed with the Addison Road Centre.
• Installation of a second roof for natural cooling airflows instead of using electric fans.
• The use of personal radiant heaters will be used in winter instead of electric heaters.

Water Imported from Outside the Catchment

As the Bower does not have a separate water metre, a baseline value for water usage has not been set and therefore water reduction targets can be set. However, the Bower has minimised water usage through a number of initiatives including:

• Large rainwater tank installed with water used for everything (washing, cleaning and watering gardens) except for drinking.
• Native gardens have been planted to minimise watering requirements.
• Gardens are re-mulched to further reduce watering requirements.

Waste to Landfill

Future targets - Waste

10% reduction in waste to landfill by December 2009

Waste Baseline

78 cubic meters of waste goes to landfill annually based on the skip bin volume, removing:

• Furniture past its functional life (e.g. broken chipboard furniture),
• Glass sheets,
• Un-recyclable general waste (e.g. plastic wrappers and food scraps),
• Computer shells and components.

Recycling and Reuse

• 18 m3 of paper and cardboard is recycled annually based on bin volumes.
• 12.5 m3 of co-mingled resources is recycled annually based on bin volumes.
• Oil and chemicals are recycled through Council and State Government ‘Chemical Clean Out’ days.
• Green waste (from gardens) goes to a communal green waste bin.
• Unsold metal items are sold to scrap merchants.
• All of the Bower’s office equipment, tools, appliances and furniture are reused items.
• Toner cartridges are recycled.

Recycling to Waste Ratio

28% of the waste stream is recycled based on verifiable volumes of recycling to waste.

Planned waste reduction work

• Compost bin to be revived
• Battery recycling to be introduced
• Computers and electrical equipment reuse (and/or recycling) systems to examined for feasibility
• Skip size or frequency reductions to be examined