title: The eco-profile of thermoplastic protein derived from bloodmeal

authors: Bier, James Michael

subjects: life cycle assessment

abstract: Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a method that can be used to evaluate the eco-profile of a product over a portion of its life cycle. Novatein Thermoplastic Protein (NTP) is a second generation bio-based polymer being developed at the University of Waikato, using bloodmeal as a feedstock. The objective of this study was to estimate the cradle to gate eco-profile of a hypothetical commercial process producing NTP. Specific objectives were to:
 	● Estimate non-renewable energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.
 	● Identify which portions of the cradle to gate system have the greatest contribution to such impacts.
 	● Evaluate this material against other polymers.
It was found that the allocation method used for the multiple outputs of farming and meat processing had a significant influence on the non-renewable primary energy and greenhouse gas emissions attributed to NTP. This resulted in great differences between the eco-profile of NTP relative to other polymers.
The production of bloodmeal was found to have the largest contribution to both non-renewable primary energy use and greenhouse gas emissions of all life cycle phases. This was even more pronounced when impacts from farming and meat processing were allocated to blood or bloodmeal on a mass basis. This is in contrast to fermentation based polymers, which typically have impacts dominated by energy supply for fermentation and recovery, rather than production of biomass. If allocation from farming is based on the mass of blood as proportion of live weight, 13 kgCO₂e/kg polymer are attributed to NTP, considerably higher than the 1 - 2 kgCO₂e/kg polymer typical of other bio-based plastics (when using conventional energy) and conventional commodity polymers. Non-renewable primary energy in this scenario is 48.28 MJ/kg polymer, similar to that of other bio-based polymers. 
If allocation is based on the mass of bloodmeal, excluding wastes and losses, only 28.41 MJ/kg polymer are attributed to NTP. Emissions are still slightly higher than other bio-based polymers at 2.82 kgCO₂e/kg polymer, but in the same order of magnitude.
Alternatively, blood can be considered a waste with regard to farming and meat processing, and only the impacts of blood drying and associated transport are attributed to bloodmeal. In this case 24.03 MJ non-renewable primary energy and 0.35 kgCO₂e/kg polymer greenhouse gas emissions are attributed to NTP. For comparison, the production of polyethylene uses 72.3 MJ/kg non-renewable primary energy and releases 1.89 kgCO₂e/kg polymer.
It was concluded that the most appropriate allocation scenario is to only attribute the impacts of blood drying (and associated transport) to bloodmeal, and not any impacts from farming and meat processing. Under such as scenario, the production of NTP has the potential to reduce non-renewable primary energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by replacing synthetic polymers or other bio-based polymers. For each potential application, however, a full cradle to grave life cycle system should be considered to ensure that impacts from the use and end of life phases do not outweigh any differences in impacts from manufacture.

text: The eco-profile of thermoplastic protein derived from bloodmeal Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a method that can be used to evaluate the eco-profile of a product over a portion of its life cycle. Novatein Thermoplastic Protein (NTP) is a second generation bio-based polymer being developed at the University of Waikato, using bloodmeal as a feedstock. The objective of this study was to estimate the cradle to gate eco-profile of a hypothetical commercial process producing NTP. Specific objectives were to:
 	● Estimate non-renewable energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.
 	● Identify which portions of the cradle to gate system have the greatest contribution to such impacts.
 	● Evaluate this material against other polymers.
It was found that the allocation method used for the multiple outputs of farming and meat processing had a significant influence on the non-renewable primary energy and greenhouse gas emissions attributed to NTP. This resulted in great differences between the eco-profile of NTP relative to other polymers.
The production of bloodmeal was found to have the largest contribution to both non-renewable primary energy use and greenhouse gas emissions of all life cycle phases. This was even more pronounced when impacts from farming and meat processing were allocated to blood or bloodmeal on a mass basis. This is in contrast to fermentation based polymers, which typically have impacts dominated by energy supply for fermentation and recovery, rather than production of biomass. If allocation from farming is based on the mass of blood as proportion of live weight, 13 kgCO₂e/kg polymer are attributed to NTP, considerably higher than the 1 - 2 kgCO₂e/kg polymer typical of other bio-based plastics (when using conventional energy) and conventional commodity polymers. Non-renewable primary energy in this scenario is 48.28 MJ/kg polymer, similar to that of other bio-based polymers. 
If allocation is based on the mass of bloodmeal, excluding wastes and losses, only 28.41 MJ/kg polymer are attributed to NTP. Emissions are still slightly higher than other bio-based polymers at 2.82 kgCO₂e/kg polymer, but in the same order of magnitude.
Alternatively, blood can be considered a waste with regard to farming and meat processing, and only the impacts of blood drying and associated transport are attributed to bloodmeal. In this case 24.03 MJ non-renewable primary energy and 0.35 kgCO₂e/kg polymer greenhouse gas emissions are attributed to NTP. For comparison, the production of polyethylene uses 72.3 MJ/kg non-renewable primary energy and releases 1.89 kgCO₂e/kg polymer.
It was concluded that the most appropriate allocation scenario is to only attribute the impacts of blood drying (and associated transport) to bloodmeal, and not any impacts from farming and meat processing. Under such as scenario, the production of NTP has the potential to reduce non-renewable primary energy use and greenhouse gas emissions by replacing synthetic polymers or other bio-based polymers. For each potential application, however, a full cradle to grave life cycle system should be considered to ensure that impacts from the use and end of life phases do not outweigh any differences in impacts from manufacture.

year: 2010

title: 'Home is where the heart is': everyday geographies of young heterosexual couples' love in and of homes

authors: Morrison, Carey-Ann

subjects: Heterosexuality

abstract: This thesis focuses on the relationships between heterosexuality, love, and home. It examines the homemaking practices and relationship activities of 14 heterosexual couples, and in particular the experiences of women in these relationships, who are aged between 20-40 years, have no children, and live in Hamilton, Aotearoa New Zealand. It is argued that heterosexual bodies that ‘love’, and the domestic spaces they occupy, are mutually constituted and continually reproduced through the everyday practices of homemaking. ‘Couple’ interviews, solicited diaries and self-directed photography, follow-up individual interviews and evaluation questionnaires are used to access couples’, and in particular women’s, everyday geographies of heterosexuality, love and home. A combination of qualitative research methods and feminist poststructuralist theory is used to give rise to an embodied, emotionally situated and partial geography. My findings are organised around three spatial scales: body, dwelling, and household and beyond. Focusing on the first scale – body – provides an opportunity for foregrounding gendered and sexed bodies as important sites of homemaking. A multiplicity of homemaking practices occur at the site of the body, including: the feelings, emotions, sensations, and language of love; the expressions and spaces of physical affection and intimacy; and the presence of corporeal and domestic dirt. Focusing on the second scale – dwelling – allows for an understanding of the ways in which discourses of love are mapped on to specific materialities of home. Issues of privacy and the negotiated use of shared domestic spaces, the creation and enactment of domestic activities and routines, and the accumulation and arrangement of material domestic objects all come to the fore when considering dwellings. The third scale – household and beyond – is used to examine some of the ways in which households and homemakers are connected to broader social, cultural, political and economic relations of power beyond the physical dwelling. Paying attention to the household and beyond prompts a consideration of the ways in which housing tenure and the practices of household consumption can dissolve the public and private boundaries that surround home. The heteronormativity of geographical discourse means that the relationship between heterosexuality, love and home is often taken-for-granted as ‘natural’ and ‘normal’ and as such is left ‘invisible’ and unremarked upon. Making the relationship between heterosexuality, love and home explicit in the production of geographical knowledge displaces ontological and epistemological assumptions about the naturalness and normality of heterosexuality. This study responds to the lack of critical attention paid to the relationship between love, heterosexuality and home in geography. Considering the homemaking practices and relationship activities of heterosexual couples encourages a more critical understanding of the normative and powerful ways in which heterosexual bodies and domestic spaces are mutually constituted.

text: 'Home is where the heart is': everyday geographies of young heterosexual couples' love in and of homes This thesis focuses on the relationships between heterosexuality, love, and home. It examines the homemaking practices and relationship activities of 14 heterosexual couples, and in particular the experiences of women in these relationships, who are aged between 20-40 years, have no children, and live in Hamilton, Aotearoa New Zealand. It is argued that heterosexual bodies that ‘love’, and the domestic spaces they occupy, are mutually constituted and continually reproduced through the everyday practices of homemaking. ‘Couple’ interviews, solicited diaries and self-directed photography, follow-up individual interviews and evaluation questionnaires are used to access couples’, and in particular women’s, everyday geographies of heterosexuality, love and home. A combination of qualitative research methods and feminist poststructuralist theory is used to give rise to an embodied, emotionally situated and partial geography. My findings are organised around three spatial scales: body, dwelling, and household and beyond. Focusing on the first scale – body – provides an opportunity for foregrounding gendered and sexed bodies as important sites of homemaking. A multiplicity of homemaking practices occur at the site of the body, including: the feelings, emotions, sensations, and language of love; the expressions and spaces of physical affection and intimacy; and the presence of corporeal and domestic dirt. Focusing on the second scale – dwelling – allows for an understanding of the ways in which discourses of love are mapped on to specific materialities of home. Issues of privacy and the negotiated use of shared domestic spaces, the creation and enactment of domestic activities and routines, and the accumulation and arrangement of material domestic objects all come to the fore when considering dwellings. The third scale – household and beyond – is used to examine some of the ways in which households and homemakers are connected to broader social, cultural, political and economic relations of power beyond the physical dwelling. Paying attention to the household and beyond prompts a consideration of the ways in which housing tenure and the practices of household consumption can dissolve the public and private boundaries that surround home. The heteronormativity of geographical discourse means that the relationship between heterosexuality, love and home is often taken-for-granted as ‘natural’ and ‘normal’ and as such is left ‘invisible’ and unremarked upon. Making the relationship between heterosexuality, love and home explicit in the production of geographical knowledge displaces ontological and epistemological assumptions about the naturalness and normality of heterosexuality. This study responds to the lack of critical attention paid to the relationship between love, heterosexuality and home in geography. Considering the homemaking practices and relationship activities of heterosexual couples encourages a more critical understanding of the normative and powerful ways in which heterosexual bodies and domestic spaces are mutually constituted.

year: 2010

title: Kaitiakitanga o te Taiao - Reconciling Legislative Provisions and Outcomes for Māori

authors: Kennedy, Nathan Charles Karaua

subjects: Kaitiakitanga

abstract: The Resource Management Act (1991) (RMA) was heralded as internationally ground-breaking for its integrated approach, and for cementing 'sustainable management' as its overarching purpose. It was ground-breaking also for its recognition of First Nations’ rights and values. This includes directing decision-makers to recognise and provide for the relationship of Māori and their culture and traditions with their ancestral lands, waters and treasured resources, to have particular regard to Māori customary practices, and to take into account the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. The RMA provides for councils to transfer or delegate functions and powers to Māori, and for joint management arrangements.
In 16 years as environment officer for my iwi, I witnessed the failure of the RMA to protect Māori values and interests. This experience prompted me to undertake research to thoroughly investigate outcomes of the operation of the RMA for Māori. Two questions framed my research; the first asking whether kaitiaki have been empowered by the Māori provisions in the RMA, and the second seeking to determine overall outcomes for Māori from the Act.
Assessing such outcomes required an understanding of Māori values and interests, evaluation of the law, of the statutory plans that govern council administration of the RMA, implementation of these by councils and the Crown, and their treatment by the courts. To answer the two questions I present in this thesis a geographically focused study of two take (causes or significant issues) at Whangamatā, the construction of a marina, and the removal of mangroves.
I compare Ngāti Whanaunga experiences with those of Māori nationally. By doing so I provide the evidence base for an 'overall broad judgement' (as the RMA requires) that despite apparent empowerment by the Act and its statutory plans, Māori have suffered widespread and significantly negative outcomes under the RMA. Rather than being empowered, Māori struggle to participate in planning processes, and see ancestral values and interests eroded by waves of resource consent processes, in which effects on Māori are little considered.

text: Kaitiakitanga o te Taiao - Reconciling Legislative Provisions and Outcomes for Māori The Resource Management Act (1991) (RMA) was heralded as internationally ground-breaking for its integrated approach, and for cementing 'sustainable management' as its overarching purpose. It was ground-breaking also for its recognition of First Nations’ rights and values. This includes directing decision-makers to recognise and provide for the relationship of Māori and their culture and traditions with their ancestral lands, waters and treasured resources, to have particular regard to Māori customary practices, and to take into account the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. The RMA provides for councils to transfer or delegate functions and powers to Māori, and for joint management arrangements.
In 16 years as environment officer for my iwi, I witnessed the failure of the RMA to protect Māori values and interests. This experience prompted me to undertake research to thoroughly investigate outcomes of the operation of the RMA for Māori. Two questions framed my research; the first asking whether kaitiaki have been empowered by the Māori provisions in the RMA, and the second seeking to determine overall outcomes for Māori from the Act.
Assessing such outcomes required an understanding of Māori values and interests, evaluation of the law, of the statutory plans that govern council administration of the RMA, implementation of these by councils and the Crown, and their treatment by the courts. To answer the two questions I present in this thesis a geographically focused study of two take (causes or significant issues) at Whangamatā, the construction of a marina, and the removal of mangroves.
I compare Ngāti Whanaunga experiences with those of Māori nationally. By doing so I provide the evidence base for an 'overall broad judgement' (as the RMA requires) that despite apparent empowerment by the Act and its statutory plans, Māori have suffered widespread and significantly negative outcomes under the RMA. Rather than being empowered, Māori struggle to participate in planning processes, and see ancestral values and interests eroded by waves of resource consent processes, in which effects on Māori are little considered.

year: 2017