If you’d like to support the Kimberley ‘No Gas Hub’ campaign, head to Cottesloe beach tomorrow, Saturday 25 June from 11am to noon, and become part of ‘Hands Across the Sand’. Similar events have been held worldwide to bringing organisations and people together who are committed to advancing clean energy initiatives and protecting earth, oceans and oxygen from pollution.

Tips of the Day
1. Use only approved beach accesses and parking.
2. Create as long a line or as many lines as you wish.
3. Be courteous and respectful to those who disagree with your view.
4. Please steer clear of bird nesting areas.
5. …enjoy yourself, it’s the beach!

These bags are always 'onya'

We love brilliant ideas. Even better if they come from Fremantle. Here’s the story of Jon from South Fremantle, who’s putting an end to plastic bags:

Hi, I’m Jon Brousson. Having known since the mid ’80′s that plastic bags are incredibly convenient, but terrible for the environment, I was troubled everytime I forgot to take my re-useable bags to the shops. I was ok, or should I say ‘getting better’ at taking my ‘green’ bags to do a weekly food shop, but never really had a bag everytime I needed one…. Sound familiar?

One night whilst laying in a hammock gazing up at the stars I put some thought to this problem. A brilliant solution would need to be with you for every shopping trip, for all those unplanned ‘spur of the moment’ trips; as convenient as a plastic bag and certainly not bulky to carry around. Realising that current alternatives available have only really been aimed at the ‘commited’, a true solution would need to be appealing to all ages and genders.

Over and over in my head I would think, ‘Attractive, Desirable & Convenient’.

Soon I was very close to the answer, infact I had been sitting on it for the past 5 minutes. My hammock was made from strong parachute material, had great colour and simply stuffed away into it’s own convenient pouch. Brilliant! These are the perfect principles for the bag we all need. I just needed to make sure it would never be forgotten, so I pondered, could a bag also fit on my front door key?

Ever since that humble begining we have made bags and sold them in the Fremantle Markets. This has given us over 5 years of constant feedback and market research to constantly improve what we do. These days we consider what we do is provide desirable lifestyle accessories that are incredibly useful no-matter what you are getting up to, and they’ll also stop you using those pesky plastic bags.

To date we have made 850,000 bags. With every good reusable bag having the ability to eliminate 1,000 plastic bags. Potentially our delighted customers have helped rid the world of 850,000,000 plastic bags.

Onya Bags
PO Box 8, South Fremantle WA 6162
Phone 08 63971782
enquiries@onyabags.com.au
onyabags.com.au

Get your Onya bags at the Freo markets or check out the list of more than 100 stockists.

Some dune repair was and is still going on at South Beach today…

This involves gathering up lots of plant matter like branches for a base.

The guy in blue is thatching them in to the sand.

Then the wind and the sand does its work and gradually builds up a dune around the man-made base.

For more info about dune regeneration and the guy behind it (Shayne Boyle) have a look at page ten of Fremantle City News

www.pawrepresentation.org

This isn’t a rally or a march just a stroll through Fremantle with dogs… to help raise awareness and overturn the alfresco dog ban. THE social event of the year if you’re a dog.

There’s some more info for the event over at www.pawrepresentation.org if you’re interested in going along.

It’s a common sight in Fremantle to see people and their dogs outside cafés. It’s part of Fremantle’s café culture, it’s good for business, it has never presented as a health risk. Recently there has been a long standing law that has been revisited, which enables dogs to be banned from alfresco areas in WA.

You can show your support to stop the dog ban at the Dogs Breakfast it’s on at the South Beach Café Sundays at 11.00 am.

If you want more information on how you can help please contact Phil for further details on 0414 096 847 or e-mail info@globalfreedomtechnologies.com.

South Beach Cafe Sundays at 11.00 am

Lead Carbonate Transport Bag

I’ve been thinking a lot about the freight train derailment on Tuesday. It’s an unfortunate and unusual event but nevertheless it happened. Accidents are always unexpected, it’s their nature.

So it’s starting to bother me that lead carbonate is being transported in bags through Fremantle.

A bag, even if it is double laminated, water-proof, sieve-proof and designed to withstand pressure six times its own filled weight, could split in a derailment.

As a precaution the lead carbonate within the bags is kept damp and has the consistency of damp sand, it’s safer because it doesn’t dust. I’d speculate that during the summer months this could dry out pretty quickly and the Fremantle Doctor would easily scatter the contents of a split bag over the city before any Emergency Response Plan is initiated.

Update 31/07/09: Make sure you read the comment on this post from John Yeates of Magellan Metals.

Update 06/04/11: Lead-contaminated soil was discovered on a shipping container that reached the Port of Fremantle.