Green Gleanings 4

Aksara Bookshop has BYOB - Bring Your Own Bag Programme, sells 100% recycled paper from Equinox whose Publishing Division has, since August last year, produced all its books using recycled paper. To date, their product had received greater interest from multi-national organisations. Local businesses have to create the demand from within.

XSProject buys plastic consumer waste from Jakarta’s trash pickers at well above market price, providing them with much-needed extra income. Working together with other foundations and small cottage industries, the waste is then transformed into functional accessories that make a strong environmental and social statement.

This blog is dedicated to XSProject's "Kitchen Sink" shoulder bag.
Our Kitchen Sink shoulder bag (is) named after the expression “bring everything but the Kitchen Sink”; this eco-friendly shoulder bag will hold all you need. Our artisans cut and stitch together pieces of plastic packaging waste to design a unique pattern for each bag. You will see packaging of familiar Indonesian brands of detergents, cooking oil, toothpaste, and drink pouches which otherwise end up clogging landfills.

The Harapan Project
Sean Marron, executive head of the Harapan Rainforest Project, a joint effort by conservation groups Burung Indonesia, the RSPB and Birdlife International, says: "All projects that aim to protect the carbon locked up in forests will face a conflict between long-term environmental goals and short-term local interests. Illegal extraction of timber can be very lucrative and is often controlled by powerful individuals, so getting them to stop is very difficult."

International Design Competition for Green Architecture
The facts are well-known, largely undisputed, and devastating: we are systematically destroying our home, the planet we live on. Buildings are a major cause of green-house gas emissions, wastage and pollution, yet today we know that holistic sustainable design can minimize a building's impact on the environment. The FuturArc Prize is the first architectural design competition to seek holistic Green design solutions in the Asia-Pacific region. It aims to become a catalyst for change, a showcase of ideas and solutions for sustainable design. We hope it will also become a platform for talented designers and a launch pad for architectural students who aspire to make a difference.