Making Green Building Mainstream

Top 5 Green Tips for Office Supplies

Date August 2, 2021 Category Eco Products

Office Supplies

Creating ‘green’ office spaces is becoming an increasingly popular trend, especially among industry-leading SEO and other digital companies. Doing so will help you reduce your business’s environmental footprint, saving the planet and ensuring a healthy climate for future generations.

You will also find that many potential clients will prefer to work with a company that’s committed to eco-friendly operations. Because of this, I’ve put together the following list of my top five tips to implement more eco-friendly office supply policies. Remember, it never hurts to do your own research and identify actions specific to your business.

  1. Reduce Printing Waste

One of the easiest ways to reduce your environmental footprint and make your office more eco-friendly is to simply reduce the amount of office supplies you use. And one of the best ways to do this is to reduce printing waste.

Rather than printing hard copies of everything, sit back and think carefully about whether you actually need to print a document before doing so. In many cases, you will find that a digital copy serves just fine.

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Common Habits Which Can Damage Your Teeth

Date June 23, 2021 Category Personal Health

Common Habits Which Can Damage Your Teeth

When you speak to Maddington Dentist about dental care they will be able to give a long list of reasons why people end up with damaged teeth. Some can often be unavoidable such as an underlying medical condition or an accident, however, there are also many reasons where the blame lies solely with the individual in question.

On that list of reasons, you will see many which you could have predicted, but there are also some which you may not previously have realised can harm your teeth. So, in a helpful spirit, and in the hope that you can avoid or stop any of these, here are the most common bad habits that cause damaged teeth.

Smoking

This seems to appear on every bad habit list but there is no getting away from the fact that smoking can harm your gums and teeth and there is no better evidence for that in the stained teeth that many smokers have.

Chewing Ice

Whilst this might seem a simple and harmless way of cooling down on a hot day and taking in water, chewing ice can actually harm teeth. The force required can be excessive and there is a risk your teeth’s roots can be weakened.

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Why a Website is a Sustainable Way to Advertise Your Business

Date April 12, 2021 Category Sustainable Living

Advertise-Your-Business

No matter if you run your business from home or have a dedicated office or warehouse in some other location, advertising is needed so people can be made aware of what you do or offer that they may need. If people don’t know about you, they can’t become customers. Most advertising is costly, but when you advertise with a website, online business consultants otherwise known as a digital agency can use it to take your business to the next level.

Here are some of the advantages of advertising your presence online with your own website.

  • A website may cost more than an ad initially – and that is doubtful when talking large ads – but it is there all the time. Compare this with a newspaper or magazine ad that only lasts as long as that edition – rarely more than a week.
  • With a website, customers can contact you directly via an email link. They don’t even have to write down the email address to take home with them.
  • A website offers several different ways for contact: the email address, a phone number, a contact form on the website or a physical address.
  • You can have a great deal more information about your goods or services on the website than you could fit into a paper advertisement.
  • You can provide a way for customers to purchase your products from your website without being dependent on a bricks and mortar store, with its limited business hours.

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The Advantages Of Trex Decking

Date February 16, 2021 Category Renovating, Sustainable Living

The Advantages Of Trex Decking

Whether you are looking to transform your garden with a new decking area, or merely want to upgrade your current decking, one of the most effective ways of doing so is to use Trex decking from deckingsydney.net.au. Trex decking is a composite decking, which has grown in popularity in recent years with householders, and for many landscape design companies is often one of the first types of decking they recommend to their customers.

Trex decking is manufactured using recycled wood and plastic, and as such is known as one of the most eco-friendly decking products on the market. It also has a number of advantages over other types of decking so let us look at them in some detail.

Durability

You obviously do not want to have to be renewing your decking every year, which is why the durability of Trex decking makes it a sensible choice. The reason it is seen as durable is that it can stand up to everything it might need to deal with. Changing weather, pets, children playing on it, lots of foot traffic, plus anything being dropped on it, can all be dealt with, and thus should not damage your Trex decking.

Easy To Install

Whilst we say easy to install, we would still recommend that you get a professional decking company to install it, especially if you want the best possible outcome.

Trex decking is lightweight and thus extremely easy to handle. It can be cut in exactly the same wood is, and so no special tools or equipment are needed, unless more intricate cuts are required.

Given these traits, you will also find that the overall time it takes any decking company to install your Trex decking is less than many of the other options that exist.

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The 10 Stages Of Concrete Pool Installation

Date January 5, 2021 Category Landscaping

The 10 Stages Of Concrete Pool Installation

If anyone reading this is thinking about having a concrete pool installed on their property, then the first thing we say is congratulations and we hope it comes to pass. A pool not only adds value to a property, but more immediately it is a great focal point for your family and friends to come together and have some fun.

You need to be aware that the process from the initial decision to have a concrete pool, until it is completed and ready to use, is considerable.

To give you a better idea of how you go from idea to a finished pool, building maintenance and landscape experts share with us the 10 stages which the installation of a concrete pool must pass through.

#1 Ideas, Design, and Commitment

Admittedly that is three but together they form the process of your initial ideas, the design of your pool, and you agreeing to it and then making the commitment via a contract with your pool installation company to go ahead and start work

#2 Initial Digging

The digging out of the hollow where your pool is going to be is the stage where you might be thinking ‘What have I done?’ given that it causes considerable upheaval in and around your property. As the excavation proceeds you will start to see the initial shape of your pool within the earthwork.

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How To Draw Your Landscape Design

Date December 8, 2020 Category Landscaping, Sustainable Living

How To Draw Your Landscape Design

Building a professional landscape design is a challenging task . Nevertheless, it can be a fulfilling experience if you choose to invest plenty of time and some energy backed up by some defined guidelines. One of them is to draw a basic landscape design, which can be done without advanced tools, software, or high-end drawing materials which require experienced landscapers.

Landscape design can be defined as a floor plan specially designed for outdoor spaces. It is used to construct a visual illustration of garden spaces with the help of scaled dimensions. The new renovation design includes several elements, including the natural ones as well as those that are manufactured.

The first step to create a landscape design, whether you’re thinking of designing a new one or improving the pre-existing landscape is to identify the inventory you already own. The simplest way to do this is to accurately record the location and size of the permanent features of the garden.

When you have identified the features of your site, it is time to draw a rough outline of it by taking a suitable sized notepad and sketching your outdoor space. Include everything you see especially those items that you cannot remove or are not planning to remove.

Do not forget to include buildings, walls, trees and shrubs, paved areas, pools, fences, patios, and every other permanent feature. Add sideways and walkways and sketch the property lines too. This is a point where you should not be too concerned about accuracy and instead focus on including every permanent feature.

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7 of The Latest Eco Friendly Computers

Date September 20, 2020 Category Eco Design

Eco-Friendly-Computers

If you are into sustainable living and eco friendly products, you might be interested to learn about the latest computers that all have many elements of sustainability, meaning their carbon footprints have been reduced. If you use a computer a lot you may work in web design or a related area but these days almost everyone uses a computer of some kind, be it ever so small.

  • If you work as web designer or SEO and you’re on your computer all day, you might prefer a desk top PC. You’re in luck because DELL offers the LOOP desktop PC. All the parts are recyclable and rented out. They are updated weekly so you’ll hardly ever have to buy new parts. It can be assembled in 30 seconds or less because it is screw-less.
  • So how does a computer made of paper sound? It may not seem like the strongest thing around, but have you ever tried tearing a thick sheet of cardboard? Hard, isn’t it? This little laptop is made from stacked sheets of paper. If anything breaks, you can simply replace it by more of the same and send the broken part back to be recycled. No waste means green.
  • Another laptop is solar powered, with its own solar panel that folds out to power the device. This is ideal for those on the go who tend to sit in the park or drink coffee on the sidewalk while they are using their laptop. This will be a big savings in power use, with the solar panel being able to charge the computer whether it is opened or closed.
  • Another laptop is made from starch-based polymers so the frame can be recycled as well as all the inner components. It can also shine a laser on the wall to project a screen, so you don’t really need a screen or a keyboard.

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5 Signs Your Exhaust System Is More Polluting Than It Should Be

Date February 5, 2020 Category Sustainable Living

Newer cars have engines and exhaust systems that are designed to be friendly to the environment. This is accomplished primarily through the catalytic converter, which converts bad emissions and pollutants from your car exhaust system into compounds that are harmless to the environment.

When the catalytic converter starts to fail, or an exhaust leak occurs, this conversion stops, and the resulting pollution can be harmful to the environment as well as damaging to your vehicle. The following are 5 signs that your vehicle is causing harmful pollution due to a malfunctioning exhaust system.

  1. Smoke From The Exhaust

The most obvious and direct sign of harmful pollution is smoke emitting from your car’s tailpipe. A healthy exhaust system on modern vehicles rarely emits visible smoke, if ever. When smoke starts to come out, it’s usually as a sign of some sort of problem. This smoke might appear in three different colors.

White smoke is a sign of coolant leak within the engine. Blue smoke is a sign of an internal engine oil leak. Black smoke indicates that your car is burning up too much gasoline, possibly due to a malfunctioning fuel injection unit. Any of these different colored smoke emissions are creating harmful pollutants and they are sure fire sign it’s time to repair your vehicle.

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5 Items You Didn’t Know You Could Recycle

Date January 10, 2020 Category Recycling

recycling

As you go to lift the lids of your recycling and waste bins, you may hesitate over which one to put your “rubbish” in. In a world that’s focusing more on sustainability than ever before, it’s quite essential to consider what you can recycle and what you can’t.

Even though many recycling centres have a list of do’s and don’ts, that doesn’t mean that products not on that list won’t make the cut. Confused about what you can and can’t recycle? Here are a few things you can recycle, but may not have realised.

Aerosol Cans

Aerosol cans have always been a little tricky. They are covered in warning and hazard labels and don’t seem like the easiest thing to recycle. But those who throw them in their waste bin often have a little hesitation. Surely, they can’t be doing much good for the environment? You’d be right.

Fortunately, you can recycle aerosol cans, including the deodorant variety. Pop them in your home recycling bin and enjoy peace of mind at knowing they will not be destined for the landfill.

Batteries

Batteries are not something you can throw in your home’s recycling bin, but that doesn’t mean you can’t recycle them. Rechargeable and single-use batteries can both find a new life, but you just have to go a little out of your way to make it so. Do your homework and find a battery recycle centre near you.

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Why Eco-Friendly Cleaning is Becoming More Popular

Date September 23, 2019 Category Eco Products, Sustainable Living, Toxic Free

Eco-Friendly Cleaning

The cleaning aisle of any local supermarket looks far different than it used to. While plastic packaging is still prevalent, there has been a recent insurgence of sustainable cleaning products with gentle ingredients and environmentally-friendly packaging. So, why the change and why are people choosing eco-friendly products now?

People Are Becoming More Conscious

Market research from commercial cleaning experts shows that eco-friendly cleaning products are making up a larger share of all cleaning products every year. While a supply of sustainable cleaning products makes it easier for people to buy them, consciousness can also be a driving factor.

People are starting to realise that some of the ingredients in standard cleaning products can be harmful to health and can also cause skin irritation in those who are sensitive. Parabens, sodium hydroxide, phthalates, and ammonia, to name a few, are chemicals that people would like to avoid having in their cleaning products.

Manufacturers are Listening

Manufacturers continually put out surveys to the Australian public to find out what they want, need, and prefer. Otherwise, they could spend millions on product marketing and manufacturing, only to find out no one is buying or wanting what they are selling.

Manufacturers are listening. They are hearing their customers talking about their passion for cleaner oceans, safer homes, and sustainable products, and they are spending time developing something that people want.

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Why Is Glass Fencing The Sustainable Option?

Date April 3, 2019 Category Eco Products

Glass Fencing

Glass pool fencing is becoming a popular choice for eco-conscious consumers throughout Australia and the world. As a completely recyclable, non-toxic substance, glass can be used for everything from building balustrades and fences to make your bathroom renovations perfect. In fact, glass is being used for more and more different things throughout the world every single year.

When it comes to things like pool fencing, glass is without a doubt your best choice. Although it may be more expensive to build a glass fence initially, the cost will be offset by long-term savings due to the durability and low maintenance requirements of glass.

With this in mind, let’s have a look at a few of the properties of glass that make it a great choice for sustainable fencing throughout Australia:

Glass Is Completely Recyclable:

One of the major positive aspects of glass is its ability to be recycled over and over again. Although glass can be relatively energy intense to create – depending on the process used and the type of glass – recycling doesn’t need very much energy at all. This means that glass is a very sustainable choice when compared to things like single use plastics and metals with a short life-span.

When it comes to pool fences you can expect a glass fence to have a working lifespan of anything from 10 to 20 years plus. However, the good news is that your old fence will be able to be fully recycled when it finally needs to be replaced.

Glass Is Completely Non-Toxic:

Glass is built from three abundant natural substance – limestone, sand and soda ash. These substances are all non-toxic, and can be mined in relatively non-destructive manners which don’t require a lot of harmful chemicals or other environmentally damaging processes.

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Top 3 Ways To Build An Eco-Friendly Garden

Date October 26, 2018 Category Sustainable Living

Eco-Friendly Garden

People throughout the world are becoming more environmentally conscious every single year. This has led to a rise in things like sustainable landscaping and eco-friendly gardening. Basically, practices like this refer to the construction of new gardens using environmentally friendly techniques.

These include things like reducing chemical and fertiliser use, planting native species and encouraging local wildlife to visit your garden. If you’re thinking about using eco friendly landscaping materials in your own environmentally friendly outdoor space, then keep reading! Here are my top 3 ways to create an eco-friendly garden:

  1. Plant Native Species

According to www.gardenspec.com.au planting native species is probably one of the best ways to make sure that your new garden is a environmentally friendly gardening. Try and choose species which grow in your local area, and try and plant a variety of different natives that complement each other.

Although they aren’t as commonly used in urban gardens as they probably should be, native plants come with a whole range of benefits, including:

  • They provide essential habitat for native wildlife like birds and small mammals.
  • If you choose natives from your area, they will be tough and suited to the climate. This means that they will need little maintenance.
  • In the same way, they will be suited to your soil type. Most Australian natives are very hardy, requiring little fertiliser or nasty chemicals.

If you’re not sure what sort of native species you should plant in your area, do some research online or head into your local nursery and speak to an expert.

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Top 5 Tips For Environmentally Friendly Fire Safety

Date October 10, 2018 Category Recycling

Environmentally Friendly Fire Safety

Environmentally friendly fire safety is becoming a major part of the fire protection plan of businesses throughout Australia and the world. People today are a lot more aware of their environmental footprint than they perhaps were in past decades. As business owners, it’s up to us to do what we can to reduce our environmental impact so that we’re more attractive to consumers.

With this in mind, I’ve put together a list of my top five tips for environmentally friendly fire safety in the office. They include:

  1. Use A Fire Suppression System With Non-toxic Gases

Many fire suppression systems use toxic or harmful gases that are very pollution. Although laws are changing and it’s becoming harder to use toxic fire suppression systems, you still need to choose carefully. Go for something that uses an inert gas – like argon – that won’t contribute to things like global warming or the destruction of the ozone layer.

  1. Don’t Store Toxic Chemicals Near Fire Risk Areas

As a business owner, one of the the worst things you can do is store dangerous, toxic or polluting chemicals near areas which have a high fire risk. If a fire does occur, these chemicals could be vaporised or otherwise make their way into the environment, causing significant damage to sensitive ecosystems. Make sure that you always follow appropriate fire safety measures and sustainable business practices when you’re working out where to store chemicals.

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Benefits of Using Natural Deodorants

Date September 29, 2018 Category Eco Products, Toxic Free

Natural Deodorants

In recent years, studies have shown that choosing natural body care products like the range from Dianne Caine, such as aluminium-free deodorant offers a range of benefits. While there is no denying that the significant range of regular deodorants makes it challenging to buck the trend, you will soon come to realise that aluminium-free natural deodorants is the correct path down which to travel. Here’s why.

They Unblock Your Pores

Everyone knows that when you clog up your pores, your skin suffers as a result. That’s why there are so many natural body care products on the market that are designed to unclog them – to keep your skin healthier. However, deodorant featuring aluminium use pore-blocking as their method for eradicating underarm odour. They form a chemical reaction, plugging your sweat ducts and causing acne and dermatological issues in the process.

If you opt for natural body care products such as aluminium-free deodorant, however, you get all the benefits of odourless armpits but without clogging up your pores.

They Feature Safer, More Natural Ingredients

Nothing gives you a better feeling of satisfaction than using natural body care products. You don’t have to worry about synthetic chemicals causing havoc, and that offers a sense of relief to many. Instead of ingredients that you can’t pronounce, aluminium-free deodourant uses such ingredients as lime and orange essential oils, as well as witch hazel.

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Advantages of Eco Friendly Landscaping for Commercial Areas

Date September 16, 2018 Category Eco Design

Landscaping-for-Commercial-

Most commercial areas benefit from having landscapers craft some beautiful landscaping, but it is also important these days to ensure your landscaping is environmentally friendly. The best way to achieve this is to get advice from a professional landscaper who considers eco friendly landscaping to be not only desirable, but essential for this day and age.

There are many advantages to having eco friendly and sustainable landscaping.

  • Sustainable landscaping costs less to maintain. This is because plants that are hardy, suit the climate and have less need for water or additional fertiliser all cost less to keep looking nice over the years of their life.
  • Sustainable landscaping makes less use of water and depends on more stable elements that don’t need to be renewed frequently. Hardware such as benches and other seating, statues, garden walls, attractive gravel and pavers are long lasting but attractive elements that have a low cost over their lifetime because they need little maintenance, yet they also enhance the commercial area and make it attractive to the general public.
  • Sustainable landscaping provides shelter and shade to clients, creating a pleasant area for them to enjoy while they conduct business. Studies have shown that people prefer to conduct business in pleasant surroundings, so you and other businesses in the area will have a larger clientele once you upgrade the surroundings with good looking landscape design.

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Water Wise Plumbing

Date May 4, 2018 Category Recycling, Sustainable Living

Water Wise Plumbing

It’s a no-brainer that in a dry continent like Australia, people are keen on water-wise plumbing. Throw in some extremes of weather along with El Nino and we get even worse drought issues.

Can you save water and money with some retrofit changes to your house and habits? Here’s a couple of ideas to get you thinking:

Harvesting Water

J Sutton Plumbing tell us that water harvesting means collecting the rainwater off your roof, and possibly other surfaces, and storing it in a tank to be used later. Rainwater is great for gardens and flushing the toilet. You can also use it for filling the swimming pool and washing the car. And the big attraction for collected rainwater? It’s free, so it can reduce your water bill.

Most households, if not all, can install a tank and collect the rainwater off the roof. Your driveway is a good option for collecting ground runoff. In apartments, rain can be collected for the whole building and the water can be used to benefit all the residents. Think small gardens, for instance.

Do the Math

Before embarking on tank purchase and installation, it’s a good idea to get some data together. What size tank do you need? What is the area of my roof? What is the average rainfall where I live? Is there room for the tank and to what use will I put the water? Where is the tank best situated for optimal rain harvesting and should the tank be connected to the household mains so the water can be used indoors – flushing toilets for example. Think about this – using rainwater for your toilets, laundry and gardening will save you 70% of your annual water bill!

Also check with your local council about incentives or rebates that may apply if you go down that harvesting path. Councils are well up to date with sustainability issues and can point you in the right direction to specialists who can help with your project.

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7 Eco Friendly Packaging Materials

Date February 25, 2018 Category Eco Design

Eco Friendly Packaging

Packaging comes in a range of different materials. Sometimes what is used depends on the kind of freight or goods that it needs to protect, other times it is simply a matter of what the company finds cheapest or easiest to use, or what the transport company insists on. Plastic is a much used material that has certain benefits, but it also has a downside in that it takes a long time to break down.

There are several options for eco friendly packaging materials and more are being found as the swing to sustainable practices becomes more important and more popular. Here are some of the most used sustainable packaging materials.

  • Cardboard and paper. While they both originate from trees, often it is the waste product from timber that is used. And since both can be used over and over and they break down quickly in landfill leaving no residue they can be considered sustainable. If recycled, other products can be made from them.
  • Cornstarch biodegradables. Packaging made from cornstarch break down easily and is a compostable product. It is often used for takeaway foods or made into pellets that can be used as a filler in boxes or cartons. While it does have a negative impact on the environment when in landfill, this is only for a limited time.

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The Reasons Behind Sustainability Practices in Business

Date January 23, 2018 Category Sustainable Living

Sustainability Practices in Business

Many businesses such as SEO companies jump on the green bandwagon by following sustainability guidelines in an effort to attract more clients, but this does not always work. For a start, adopting environmentally friendly practices – while often simple – does take at least some effort. If you are only doing it to get more customers and this doesn’t happen in a way you can quantify you’ll lose interest. Once that happens employees cannot be expected to get behind you.

It is important to have at least some enthusiasm for the concept rather than just for the results in terms of the bottom line. People don’t like to change the way they do things unless there is a good reason that they can agree is important. While employees may be mildly interested in your bottom line they are often more interested in their own, or in the way any change will affect them personally.

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