News

Grizzly-proof bins were Olympic metal winner

There’s no Olympic Games medal category for trash bins, but if they had one for metal, Dennis Neufeldt would be a clear winner.

Spectators who attended probably didn’t know it, but the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Whistler, B.C., were much safer because of Haul-All Equipment Systems, based in Lethbridge, Alberta.

Haul-All is North America’s leading producer of bear-proof trash bins, which can be seen in national parks in western North America (and were featured in The Marketplace back in 2001).

By keeping edible litter out of ursine paws, they’re doing people and animals a favor, whether the bears know it or not. Once bears develop a taste for leftover lunch, they keep coming back for more and can become a danger to humans and ultimately to themselves. That’s why wildlife officials say, “A fed bear is a dead bear.”

A hidden latch on Haul-All bins makes them inaccessible to black bears, which have curved front paws that can’t trip the lever.

Some grizzly bears, however, need special attention. They have less curvature in their claws and can find their way into places that black bears can’t. So some of the container lids had to be modified to keep out all bears.

Neufeldt took on the challenge of coming up with a special bin that would keep grizzlies out. He did it in record time, too. He received the contract only a few weeks before the games opened back in February of 2010. By the time patrons showed up, his obelisk-shaped trash bins could

Photo courtesy SouthGrow Regional Initiative

No free bear lunch: Dennis Neufeldt with his Winter Olympics entry.

be seen throughout the town of Whistler.

The bins are made of stainless steel and contain two doors (garbage and recyclables). Neufeldt kept watching the television to

Nutrition tagged as culprit in “hidden hunger” crisis

You don’t have to look far to know there’s a food crisis afoot. More people are going hungry as they have to use more of their scarce resources to get the daily calories they need. A common policy response is to ramp up food distribution, but that often comes in inadequate forms like more bread and rice.

Some authorities are saying the bigger issue for the poor is nutrition. Even people who are managing to get enough food on the table may not be getting enough micronutrients.

Diseases from malnutrition are “stunningly widespread,” according to a recent world health report in The Economist. It says more than half the see if he could spot one during the ceremonies, “but there were too many people in the way.” Haul-All makes 200 different products, and is an industry leader in the production of waste containment, collection and transfer systems. Besides seeing its animal-proof trash bins in national parks, you may have seen its recycling bins and side-loading collection vehicles in your neighborhood, anything a community needs for “a cleaner tomorrow.” It sells widely throughout the United States, as well as to South America. The company also makes on-site heaters for

women in India and two-fifths of those in Indonesia are anaemic from lack of sufficient iron in their diets. In Malawi, a third of the people do not get enough calories, but twice that number lack vitamin A.

The long-term social damage is pronounced. The “hidden hunger” of micronutrient deficiencies “harms even more people and inflicts lasting damage,” the magazine says. Children suffer more diseases (blindness, organ failure, etc.) and don’t perform well in school. Ill-nourished adults earn less and probably die earlier. “Famines lay waste to countries; bad diets cripple them silently.”

The magazine says governthe construction industry.

Haul-All’s Olympic performance was recently featured in SouthGrown Productivity, a publication of Alberta’s SouthGrow Regional Initiative. The magazine also drew attention to Haul-All’s workplace diversity, noting that its 100 employees come from 16 different countries and have earned it an Immigration Achievement Award. “On the factory floor, Haul-All is a mini-United Nations,” the magazine said. ◆

Haul-All’s story was featured in a Marketplace cover story in 2001.

ment food programs often do little to get the proper micronutrients (iron, zinc, iodine, vitamin A) to the people who need them. It notes that better success has been achieved by market garden programs that encourage the growth of vegetables. It proposes “little interventions” like adding iodine to salt and distributing vitamin A supplements. The benefits of such interventions — preservation from fatal diseases, higher lifetime earnings — “massively outweigh” their relatively tiny costs.

“Top-down efforts fail. But governments, companies and international institutions can do good by stealth,” such as by growing biofortified crops with extra vitamins bred into them. Education and “policy nudges” can do more good than the common default of subsidizing the price of rice, it says.◆

Afghan project closes; farmers vow to carry on

March 31 was a bittersweet day for the staff and clients of MEDA’s Through the Garden Gate (TTGG) project in Afghanistan. About 100 people gathered in Kabul, the capital, to celebrate the project, which has officially ended. But the women farmers at its core vowed its impact will continue.

The project, supported by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), reached the end of its term and was not renewed because CIDA is pulling out of economic development in Afghanistan to focus on humanitarian aid, education and health.

Over the past four years, TTGG has brought prosperity and hope to more than 2,500 women farmers and their families, said Catherine Sobrevega, MEDA’s Afghanistan country manager. “But more than that, it has given these women pride in their accomplishments and new respect within their community,” she added.

Sobrevega cited the example of Mahbooba Hashimi,

Help creative juices flow

“See, I am doing a new thing!” (Isaiah 43:19)

Want to sharpen your company’s innovative edge? You don’t need to have special genetics, for almost everyone has latent innovative capabilities, according to the RLB Newsletter.

To encourage innovation at your business, create an environment where ideas can cross-fertilize, like the Medici family in Italy who brought together first-rate sculptors, scientists, poets, philosophers, painters and architects. As these people’s skill-sets intersected, innovation thrived and ignited the Renaissance.

Here are ways to spark your own innovative renaissance: 1. Let staff experiment and take risks, even if it means a few failures. Thomas Edison needed many “failures” before he produced a light bulb that worked. 2. Create spaces for employees to bounce ideas off each other, explore trends and perhaps make connections that generate a new product or service.

3. Expose employees to fresh ideas. Invite outsiders to challenge and test their thinking. 4. Urge staff to network and attend idea conferences such as Technology, Entertainment, and Design (TED). 5. Encourage employees to ask Why? Why not? and What if? 6. Cultivate vigilant observation. Finding small details in the behaviour of customers, suppliers or other companies can provide insight into fresh methods or inspire new products.

Creative juices thrive in a vibrant, fun and perhaps even irreverent work environment.◆ TTGG village facilitator in her community of Balaghel. A mother of nine, Mahbooba’s son Abuljamin, a translator, was killed in a suicide bombing in Kabul four years ago. The boy’s death was such a blow that Mahbooba’s husband became despondent and could not work. So Mahbooba moved back to her home village of Balaghel and got involved with Through the Garden Gate. “Now I am strong,” she said. “Now, we have learned this new system of life, so things can be better and better.”

Among the dignitaries present at the celebration was Scott Gilmore, executive director of Peace Dividend Trust. He praised MEDA for its success in coordinating ministries, local partners and international organizations to work together with the private sector. “This project is a shining example of how to integrate all levels of expertise and implement locally at the grassroots level,” he said.

“When I asked if they will carry on,” reports Helen Loftin, MEDA’s director of women’s economic development, “the response was an overwhelming ‘yes, of course.’ They are having their weekly meetings and are involved in seasonal activities, such as planting carrots and cucumbers — all with skills and knowledge they have ◆learned through the project.”