With long-term sustainability a key concern for society, all industries need to recognize the role they play in contributing to a responsible and sustainable future and find ways to address the challenges they face.

The Plumbing Life Saver

The Plumbing Life Saver

SYDNEY, June 10, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Late last year, Master Plumbers’ Association Queensland (MPAQ) and Plastics Industry Pipe Association of Australia (PIPA) joined forces with Iplex, Reece, Tradelink and Vinidex to launch the Construction Plastics Recycling Scheme in Queensland, with funding support from the Queensland Government. According to the leading plumber Port Stephens wide, The Plumbing Life Saver, the scheme highlights the need to educate and change behaviors across the industry.

The scheme was developed to help industry understand the volume of available PVC off-cuts and fittings from construction sites. With most plastic pipes installed throughout Australia being 100% recyclable, waste such as off-cuts should be captured and diverted from landfill. The Plastics Industry Pipe Association of Australia says PVC pipes can be recycled six to seven times without significant reduction in pipe material quality requirements.

Collection sites set up as part of the scheme have made it easier for the construction industry to divert their PVC off-cuts from landfill to be recycled. With clear benefits to the scheme, The Plumbing Life Saver hopes similar programs can eventually be introduced throughout Australia.

By shifting to a circular economy model where resources are reclaimed and recycled in an endless loop, the construction industry can move away from its current wasteful linear economy. While there is a widespread perception that virgin materials are better than recycled in the industry, The Plumbing Life Saver believes it comes down to education and availability.

Initiatives such as the Construction Plastics Recycling Scheme can help the industry make meaningful steps towards becoming more sustainable, says The Plumbing Life Saver, who hopes to see the construction industry become more green, sustainable and committed to creating a circular economy.

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The Plumbing Life Saver offers a one-stop solution for affordable 24/7 plumbing services including installation and maintenance of hot water Port Stephens wide. Providing a convenient, reliable and prompt service, for any plumbing issues including fixing blocked drains Port Stephens wide, contact The Plumbing Life Saver.

Contact: 0448 669 938

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The post Plumbing Trade Has a Function to Play in Contributing to a Accountable and Sustainable Future appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

Anti-Asian hate crimes in San Francisco spiked 567 percent in 2021 as police say a one-man crimewave was responsible for more than half the attacks.

Hate crimes targeting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the California city, jumped to 60 last year from just nine in 2020 and eight in 2019 – although officials believe the actual numbers are much higher because people are reluctant to report to the police.

‘That is significant, that is concerning and that is alarming,’ police chief Bill Scott said at a press conference in San Francisco’s Chinatown on Tuesday as he announced the police department would have a presence at next week’s Lunar New Year celebration while advising the community to remain vigilant.

Scott said 31 of the 60 reported attacks were committed by one man. He did not name the culprit but police later pointed to the arrest last August of 36-year-old Derik Barreto who rode around San Francisco on a scooter, vandalizing Chinese-owned businesses for five months until he was captured.

He faces 33 charges including 31 hate crime enhancements the DA’s office brought based on statements he allegedly made to police implying he targeted Asians.

Barreto is scheduled to appear in court for a hearing on January 31, according to court records.

Police believe that 36-year-old Derik Barreto (pictured), who was arrested last August, is responsible for 31 of the 60 incidents reported last year – more than half of the total number. From April to August he is alleged to have targeted Chinese-owned businesses and faces 33 charges including vandalism and burglary and 31 hate crime enhancements which the DA’s office brought based on statements he made to police

Preliminary numbers indicated hate crimes targeting Asian American and Pacific Islander in San Francisco went from nine in 2020 to 60 in 2021

In August, pFrancisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin announced Barreto was facing 33 charges, including hate crime allegations, for 27 separate incidents of vandalism and burglary targeting 20 primarily Chinese-owned businesses, CBS San Francisco reported.

The Democratic DA, whose progressive policies have been blamed for the overall spike in crime in the city, said Barreto rode around San Francisco on a scooter and shattered the windows of 20 separate stores using a slingshot, pipe, or hammer during a string of racially motivated offenses between April and August 2021.

Barreto is charged with 27 felony counts of vandalism, four felony counts of second-degree burglary, one misdemeanor count of possession of burglary tools, and one misdemeanor count of possession of a concealed weapon.

He will face 31 enhanced hate-crime charges after comments Barreto allegedly made to police suggesting he intentionally targeted businesses he believed to be Chinese-owned and that he was motivated by the perceived race and nationality of the victims, the San Francisco Standard reported.

‘Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen a deeply concerning increase in the incidence of hate and violence against the AAPI community. We will not stand for it and we will do everything in our power to stop it,’ Boudin said.

Reports of anti-Asian hate crimes in San Francisco increased more than against any other group, and even without accounting for Barreto’s crime spree would still have seen a 200 percent jump last year. There were just eight reported in 2019 in the city, where nearly 35 percent of its population of 300.00 is Asian.

Hateful attacks against the AAPI community surged nationally during the pandemic, fueled in part by then-President Donald Trump’s calling COVID-19 a derogatory nickname that insulted China.

In San Francisco, Anti-Jewish hate crimes also saw a slight increase from five to eight reports in 2021, while reports of hate crimes against Arabs or Muslims and Latinos decreased slightly, preliminary police reports indicated.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed speaks at a news conference about crime against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in San Francisco, California, US January 25, 2022

‘That is significant, that is concerning and that is alarming,’ San Francisco’s police chief Bill Scott said at a press conference in Chinatown on Tuesday about the increase in hate crimes

Scott’s press conference came on the same day Anh Lê, an elderly Asian American man who was attacked two years ago in San Francisco and left with PTSD, announced he was suing the city’s District Attorney’s Office about allegedly mishandling his case.

Lê was walking through Chinatown when he sustained a ‘brutal’ assault by a father and son, who beat him with a baseball bat and threatened to kill him.

The 69-year-old, who is Vietnamese American, was able to escape and call 911. His attackers were arrested later that day by SFPD officers, on November 2, 2019.

The father was identified as Jimmy Tanner Sr. His teenage son had taken a baseball bat out of his mother’s bag after Lê told him to be careful while he was riding his bicycle on a busy sidewalk, and had nearly crashed into him.

Tanner Sr.’s teenage son hit Lê repeatedly with the bat, before his father held up a glass bottle and threatened to kill the elderly man. According to NextShark, Tanner Sr. was detained for battery, felony elder abuse and terrorist threats.

However, the San Francisco District Attorney refused to prosecute either Tanner Sr. or his son with a hate crime, and agreed to a lenient plea deal with the father.

In order to avoid jail time, Tanner Sr. pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor battery charge. He received a year of probation over the incident.

Lê says the Office of District Attorney Chesa Boudin never informed him of a lenient plea deal cut with his attackers or the lack of a hate crime charge until after the fact.

He is now arguing that the office of DA Boudin has systemically refused to uphold the rights of Asian Americans victimized by racial violence.

‘The San Francisco District Attorney’s Office allowed the adult male attacker to plead to a misdemeanor with one year probation, restitution to the victim and (a) criminal protective order,’ Mr Lê said during a news conference on Tuesday.

Anh Lê was walking through Chinatown when he sustained a ‘brutal’ assault by a father and son who threatened to kill him and beat him with a baseball bat. San Francisco District Attorney refused to prosecute either Tanner Sr. or his son with a hate crime, and agreed to a lenient plea deal with the father, with telling Mr Lê

‘They did this without consulting me, without any input from me at all, and in violation of my rights as a victim.’

During the conference, the man said the attack was ‘the most brutal, terrifying and humiliating experience of my life.’

The Stop AAPI Hate coalition out of San Francisco State University tracked more than 10,000 incidents of hate from March 2020 through September 2021.

In San Francisco and elsewhere, video clips of Asian Americans being attacked and robbed on public streets alarmed the community so much that frightened seniors stayed home.

Most recently, former San Francisco Bay Area resident Michelle Go died in New York City after a mentally disturbed man pushed her in front of a subway.

Officials there say there is no indication the man was motivated by racial bias, but Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are still rattled.

San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott said at Tuesday’s news conference they have expanded the crime tip line to include more languages ​​and are sharing safety tips for Lunar New Year celebrations.

But he also acknowledged his department is only part of a criminal justice system that includes prosecution and judges.

Statistics do not show the whole picture because not everyone reports incidents. Also, prosecutors are unable to tack on hate crime enhancements without a clear statement of bias by the alleged attacker.

This has frustrated some victims and their families, who see the charge as a sign of accountability.

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Between June 2020 and June 2021, San Francisco passed 679 “camp resolutions” used by city officials to describe the evacuation of homeless camps in the city.

The department that implements these “resolutions” is known as the Healthy Streets Operations Center (HSOC), a multidisciplinary multi-agency effort that is highly controversial among homeless rights activists in the city.

“What we have seen over and over again is that HSOC operations are not followed,” wrote Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness San Francisco, in a recent Street Sheet article titled “When Tents Are Removed There.” there is no way “. Home. “” But even if they were, the HSOC’s approach is highly problematic, traumatic and likely to make homelessness worse.

Friedenbach said that while HSOC says it won’t do sweeps unless it has enough services to serve the people, “that’s just not the case”.

“They may have protective beds … but living in a common room doesn’t work for a lot of people,” she said. “These people may not want to share an interior space with hundreds of people.”

In Street Sheet, Friedenbach calls for the dismantling of HSOC, arguing that a “compassionate alternative response to homelessness that is not an institutional answer,” “fully equipped to work with people and try to meet their needs,” should take their place should kick.

The city now has HSOC. SFGATE wanted to understand what exactly its goals are and how it wants to achieve them. To understand the controversial agency, SFGATE spoke to Mary Ellen Carroll, executive director of the emergency management department that coordinates the city’s response to the camps of the homeless.

What is the aim of the “liquidation of the camp”?

Carroll said the primary goal of “camp resolutions” is to provide services to people on the street, but that is not the only goal.

“We also try to create security, which also means hygiene and cleanliness,” she added.

The overall purpose, especially during COVID-19, is to “make the road safe for everyone. … Children deserve safe access to school or business, and it is important to us to ensure safety for all of us. “

Who usually clears stores?

The Healthy Street Operations team is clearing the warehouse. The team consists of the Homelessness and Supportive Housing Department, Public Health Department, Emergency Management Department, Public Works Department, San Francisco Police Department, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, and San Francisco Recreation and Park. The fire brigade is also on duty when a paramedic is needed.

Who exactly will order the evacuation of an area?

The HSOC arranges warehouse clearings in cooperation with the above-mentioned offices.

Who decides where and when a warehouse is cleared?

HSOC regularly conducts tent and vehicle counts and examines camps with six or more tents, Carroll said.

“With this information, we will develop a schedule for developing inventory releases,” she said.

She said “there are all sorts of things” that determine where camps are on this schedule, including whether a school or daycare center opens nearby and is “at risk” or a construction project is about to break.

“In general, we look at the greatest and those that pose the greatest risk to people in the area,” said Carroll.

Carroll said HSOC is also tracking 911 and 311, “so in a way we are tracking hotspots around the city and seeing if they match the list we have and what we know from our road operations.”

Are those involved specially trained?

Mostly yes. The team consists of members of EMS-6, the main paramedic unit for the ambulance service, including a paramedic who is trained in street medicine. Clinical social workers from the San Francisco Department of Public Health are also involved.

All other non-clinical workers have training that includes police officers and people from public works on the street.

“Everyone in this field has experience at different levels,” said Carroll.

How big is the team that clears a warehouse on a particular call?

The size of the team depends on this, but usually ranges from four to eight people. Typically it is a core group of a paramedic and homeless team members (two to four people).

Later, a group comes to remove any items left behind, usually made up of two to six people with two policemen.

Which places are evacuated most often?

Carroll said there are “certain areas” that require frequent attention, including the alleyways on Van Ness Avenue.

“There are certain areas where we’ve gone back more than 20 times,” she said. “We were able to successfully keep some areas free from camps, but not others.”

When does the city not get away with a “dissolution”?

“One [scenario] We’re going to a solution with say 10 beds, but there are 12 people who want these services. Then we would stop the breakup, ”said Carroll.

Friedenbach denied this claim. “It’s just not true,” she said.

“When we looked at the FOIA inquiries, we found that they had a number of people in the camp and not the right number of accommodations. We also know that from observations, ”she said.

Carroll said it was “important to understand that we must obey the law, which means we cannot find a solution without having an alternative option for the person on the street.”

What if people don’t want the services offered?

Carroll said if there are 10 beds and only five people show interest, the remaining people will be asked to pack their belongings and move out of the area. This was confirmed by Friedenbach.

Currently, people can stay in shelters “indefinitely,” according to Deborah Bouck of the San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing.

“We have been subject to an automatic residence extension policy since the beginning of the pandemic,” she said via email.

Will people’s property be taken away during the trial?

Carroll said the people’s property will not be taken from them; However, if they go to emergency shelters, they will be asked to leave tents.

If someone declines to provide services, their tent won’t be taken away, Carroll said.

Friedenbach told SFGATE that this is not always the case. Sweeps are typically done between 7am and 10am or 11am, and during this time not everyone is able to pack fast enough, forcing them to leave their belongings behind.

“You have to crawl and pack quickly,” she said. “We often see people who are older and cannot move as quickly, or they have a limited mental function, a developmental disorder. … You can imagine how difficult it is to get everything together so quickly. ”

What resources are available for HSOC?

“I think some of that isn’t that much money, but the challenge was having the resources that people are more likely to love,” said Carroll. “Safe sleep [city-sanctioned tent sites] while COVID was created and we still have, and that is a very popular resource for people. Collective accommodation is probably the least popular. It’s not a secret. “

The resources that flow into the HSOC include beds in emergency shelters, safe sleeping places, navigation centers and treatment beds, among others. There is staff in every department.

Aside from one HSOC manager, “there isn’t a big budget or really a dedicated budget,” Carroll said.

In the 2020-2021 budget proposed by Mayor London Breed, she called for the HSOC to be allocated US $ 4 million over two years to “maintain existing services in the participating departments, with substantial new funding for additional staff at HSH and the Ministry of Health to be provided”.

Do you have any questions about homeless sweeps? Send them to SFGATE reporter Michelle Robertson at michelle.robertson@sfgate.com.

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