Biodegradable plastic bags

Biodegradable plastic bags are not as green as they are made out to be: they cost a lot of energy to produce, do not break down in landfills and may leave chemical residues. Their promotion is a greenwash.
The best approach to shopping is to be prepared: precycling.

Blog archived

This blog has now been archived and is no longer maintained. The information in it may no longer be current including information about opening hours, location and telephone numbers.
For further information about the Manly Food Cooperative shop, try the telephone number above.
Website survey results
Overwhelmingly, 85% of respondents preferred the new website.
Unfortunately, due to an ongoing stalemate with the board of directors about it being adopted officially, the designers have taken it offline. The designers wish to thank those who have been supportive of their efforts throughout this challenging time including Sublime IP for hosting the website for free whilst it was online.
This blog regrets that the efforts of the designers of the new website were wasted and that management procedures were not adequate to implement the excellent work put into the project.

Why the website is important

Not everyone is aware how important web searches are for organisations like the coop. They are however crucial especially when highly specialised services are involved such as unpackaged bulk organic food. They bring the interested people to the right address.
In the light of current discussions about the coop's website, the following extract from visitor statistics may be useful.
The image here shows a recent visitor to this blog who found what they wanted and how to get there in just 8 minutes 45 seconds. Many new members come to the coop via this route.

Volunteer and save money

The coop urgently needs enthusiastic people to work in the shop:

• behind the counter
• receiving & pricing new deliveries
• stocking shelves
• and many other important tasks behind the scenes

Volunteering has many benefits - including greatly discounted shopping!
Please contact the volunteer coordinator.

Website survey

This blog is conducting a survey (in the sidebar >>) about user opinions on the coop's websites to help in the decision making about which one is to be adopted as "official". The two candidates can be seen here:

• old website
• new website

Some criteria you may wish to consider in your decision making are the following:

• readability
• general appearance
• navigation
• modern look and feel
• up to web standards in 2008
• interactive - can you say anything there?
• other criteria you may wish to add in the comments section below

If you have any comments that go beyond the survey constraints, please add a comment below.

Newsletter and volunteer organization

Following the success of the general meeting on the 3rd November, there will be quick meeting to help co-ordinate the newsletter and other volunteer organization issues on the 10th November at the co-op, 6:30 – 8:30pm. This meeting will happen before the AGM where there will be an annual review from the board, the co-ordinators and election of board members on the 26th November, 2008.
The minutes of the metting on 3. November can be downloaded here (pdf).

Precycling

Precyclers are people who come prepared for shopping and seek out shops where they can buy only what they need, without all that extra packaging which they have to pay for and then dispose of. Most packaging which we throw away each week comes from food, so precyclers have to be most prepared when they go shopping for food (in the UK, 4.7m tonnes out of 5.9m tonnes of packaging waste is food related). Most shops don’t give you the option, you just have to buy the packaging as well as what you want to buy, so precyclers collect information about which shops meet their needs.
The precycling movement began in Berkley, California in 1988. It is just that much better than recycling. Also known as “wombles”, precyclers refuse junk mail, carry precycling kits including sandwich bags and cutlery, and read on the internet, refusing paper pulp news sources.
Buying unpackaged is initially inconvenient, until you know all the different suppliers. A shop in North London called Unpackaged even gives a discount if you bring your own container.
People practise precycling for ecological and economic reasons. Those who prefer to eat organic food already pay a premium, so paying for extra packaging as well makes no sense. In times of economic difficulties, where the budget has to be rationalised, it is preferable to precycle organic food instead of buying dearer packaged organics, rather than substituting cheaper packaged non-organic food from a supermarket and throwing your money away.

Annual General Meeting 261108

The Annual General Meeting is on the 26th November where the ‘new’ board will be elected. Members are most welcome to come along and vote for the future of the co-op!
The meeting starts at 7.30 pm.

Thursday shopping hours

The opening hours on Thursday have now changed. The shop now closes at 6 pm instead of 8 pm.
We hope that this does not inconvenience. Please note that the Board is reconsidering different opening hours as of November 30th, where we hope to have more opening hours including Mondays and possibly Sundays.
Keep an eye on this blog for the latest news.

General Meeting 031108

There will be a general meeting on Monday 3 November in the Coop at 6.30 pm. The meeting will be dealing with important matters concerning the future of the Coop, so it is important that members come and have their say.
The minutes of this now past meeting can be downloaded here (pdf).

Plastic bags

20 million Australians currently use around 5 billion plastic check-out bags every year.
Bring your own reuseable bags when shopping at the Coop and save lives.

Which recyclable bags?

Many US shopping chains are now promoting reusable shopping bags and no longer give away free throw-away bags. In some cities, such as San Francisco, the singlet bags are banned in supermarkets and chain stores. It is however proving to be difficult to determine what really is an environmentally responsible bag. Here are some of the concerns:

• Often bags are made in China and shipped thousands of kilometers using unique fossil fuels while polluting the oceans and shores with the exhaust from dirty marine fuel just to get them to the place where they are to be reused
• Often bags are made of plastic which takes a long time to decompose. They can't be washed.
  
• If bags are not reused they are more environmentally damaging than disposable thin bags because they are made with more solid materials.
• Many cheap recyclable bags are made in Chinese factories from polypropylene, using 28 times as much energy as a disposable bag
• Cotton bags can require a large amount of water and energy to produce and may use harsh chemical dyes. However they can be washed and reused for a long time like clothing.
  
• Paper bags destroy trees and the factories pollute water and air. They can be reused many times but usually aren't.
  

The biggest problem is to get people to use reusable bags even after they buy them. But at the same time disposable plastic bags are becoming unpopular. 100 billion plastic bags are thrown away each year in the US.
Producers of reusable bags have reported big increases in sales.