The Bower strives to be a model green business.
Some of its everyday actions are listed below
Transport
- collections and deliveries are organised by geographic zones to minimise excessive driving.
- the Bower truck runs on mostly 100% biodiesel (non-petroleum) fuel, when available.
- most staff live locally and walk or cycle to work.
- our bicycle racks, and nearby bus stop (428) are promoted at all opportunities.
Office
- only scrap paper is used for note taking.
- all envelopes used by the Bower are reused ones
- almost all stationery goods are reused (not purchased new) including staplers, staples, sticky
labels, sticky tape, rubber bands, pens, hole punches, calculators, etc.
- most office equipment has been salvaged, or purchased secondhand, included computers and
printers.
- all office furniture is secondhand; desks, chairs, tables, fans, heaters, shelving, bookcases, etc
- 100% post-consumer recycled paper is used for printing and photocopying.
- everything in our staff area is secondhand; the sink, fridge, cups, microwave, toaster, cutlery,
whiteboard, table, etc
- we buy biodegradable dishwashing liquid
- we use self-refills or remanufactured toner cartridges for our printers
- all cabling for computer networks, telephone systems is from salvaged product
Waste
- we divert, very conservatively, 200 tonnes of ‘waste’ per annum from the landfill, through our
normal operations
- we compost both garden trimmings
- we recycle glass, plastic, aluminium and tin through the council collection system
- we use a commercial paper and cardboard recycling service
- we do drop-offs to scrap metal merchants of unsold metal goods
- we operate a Reuse Referral Service database of close to 1000 secondhand businesses in Sydney
- all hand tools and most power tools in workshop have been rescued from other people’s discards
Water
- a large capacity rainwater tank harvests rain from the Bower roof for use washing, cleaning and
watering gardens.
- ‘mains’ water only used for drinking
- we planted native species in our front gardens and rear landscaping to minimise need for
extensive watering.
- we regularly remulch these gardens to further reduce water usage
Energy
- passive solar design minimises need for artificial lighting and air conditioning.
- due to extensive skylights and windows we rarely need to turn on efficient fluorescent lights for
the main shop area
- workshop space also makes significant use of skylighting
- all electric appliances turned off at night to reduce ‘phantom energy loads’ from standby
functions.
- computers and printers are set to energy saver mode settings to ‘sleep’ when not is use.
Building
- believed to be Sydney’s first strawbale building. Made from agricultural waste. Has high insulation
and fire resistance
- the building utilises reused roof trusses, roofing iron, doors, windows, paving, light fittings, etc.
- the roof is insulated with foil lined thermal batts
- all reused shop-fittings, shelving, storage units, counter displays, etc are from salvaged goods
- all internally painted surfaces have used preloved paint
- all paved flooring reused secondhand pavers
- relocated workshop made entirely of secondhand materials, the only exception being the new
concrete floor
Education
- our website contains articles on a repair and reuse culture, plus links to other reuse businesses
and organisations
- our printed brochure contains information about our building and remanufactured prototypes
- we maintain a large library of books and journals on reuse, recycling, repair and DIY and eco-design
- we keep a ‘truth window’ for the strawbale building so visitors can see that it really is made from
straw
- we continue to participate in a sustainable schools (primary & secondary) education program called
EcoSnapShot
- we attend community events like the Newtown Festival and council waste education days to help
spread the message
- reciprocal membership benefits are offered to members of another community co-op, Alfalfa House
- the Bower promoted 11 other eco-businesses in Sydney’s inner west, through the Sustainable
Sydney Lifestyle Card
- The Bower is a participant co-op organisation in the 'Bag-On' project (thanks to Wendy Dyson),
where bags made from reused materials will be handed to students containing information from The
Bower, Alfalfa House and Reverse Garbage.
- soon we'll be constructing another mezzanine level to set up an Eco-Library!