Archive for the ‘Eco Websites’ Category

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CD Recycle…..

Friday, September 19th, 2008

CD Recycling

One of the problems living in a digital age is that it’s never too long before the next big thing comes along rendering the last big thing obsolete.  Before were we had VHS Tapes and CD’s these days UK households are equipped with Sky boxes, MP3 and DVD Players.  The result being that for many of us we have mountains of unwanted and unused VHS tapes and CD’s sitting on shelves at home gathering dust.

If that sounds familiar it is now possible and very straight forward to recycle your unwanted CD’s, DVD’s or even Video tapes rather than sending them to landfill.  The Laundry CD Recycling will accept any amount of CD’s or DVD’s including the plastic case and inlay cards.  Polymer Recycling is another company who recycle CD’s and if you’re a business they will arrange to collect them for free too.  Failing that you could always donate them to a charity shop where they’ll find a new home or for some more imaginative ideas check out these two posts on How Can I Recycle This? for plenty of suggestions on CD and VHS recycling.

Finally if you know any professional or ex-professional video documenters, another site which we came across, Creative Video Associates deals with professional video tapes and will help clear out old tape archives without sending them to landfill.

Posted in Eco Tips, Eco Websites, Recycling, Waste Reduction | No Comments »

Rising Food Prices – Grow Your Own can help….

Tuesday, September 9th, 2008

Homegrown Chilli Plants

Last week the BBC reported on the increase in food prices which have now gone up by an average 8.3% since January.  Meat and fish saw the biggest jumps, up 22.9% whilst fruit and vegetables were up 14.7%.

Meanwhile my little experiment at ‘growing your own’ has almost come to an end for another year.  It’s been a relative success, five chilli plants were grown from seed and are still producing fruit for mealtimes.  We’ve not bought any herbs (basil, mint, oregano or thyme) from the shops since May now and the tomatoes are just about ready for picking.  The only disappointment or failure this year has been the salad which didn’t seem to favour the wetter conditions the summer brought with it.

It’s fair to say the savings made in our weekly shopping bill wouldn’t be described as massive but nor were they insubstantial.  If food prices continue to increase in the same vein next year then more and more of us may well consider the Grow Your Own option as a means of tackling the rising costs of a weekly shop.

For those lucky to have an outdoor patch or anyone thinking about giving Grow Your Own a try due to the increase in food prices, the Gardeners Calendar and the Royal Horticultural Society’s website are two very good starting points with advice available on starting a vegetable plot and monthly tips on what to sow.

Posted in Carbon Footprint, Eco Tips, Eco Websites, Grow Your Own, Sustainable Food | No Comments »

Myzerowaste….

Sunday, August 24th, 2008

Zero Waste

In 2006-07 we threw away a lot of rubbish in the UK, 29.1m tonnes of the stuff to be exact was collected by local authorities from household collections.  Landfill sites are rapidly filling up across the country and the manner in which everyone deals with rubbish will no doubt have to change over the coming years if we are to meet the Waste Strategy 2007 for England’s target of reducing household waste to 15.8m tones in 2010 and 12.2m tonnes in 2020.

If you’re concerned about how much rubbish your household sends to landfill and are looking for ideas on how to reduce the figure then check out the Green family’s website Myzerowaste for a whole wealth of inspirational actions and ideas.

The Green’s have set themselves the challenge of creating zero household waste and after only a few months have managed to reduce their weekly rubbish weigh in from around 1kg in May to approximately 100g in August – a great achievement.  Not content with just doing their own bit to help the environment, the website also features a regularly updated blog and is full of excellent tips on how to do your bit such as the monthly waste challenge.  Coming up in the first week of September, Myzerowaste will also be launching Pledge&Win week where visitors can join in with the Zero waste challenge by pledging to action one or more areas where waste can be reduced.  The more pledges you do to reduce waste going to landfill, the more chances you have of winning a spot prize for your efforts!

Posted in Eco Tips, Eco Websites, Waste Reduction | No Comments »

Calling Green Gardeners…..

Wednesday, July 9th, 2008

Green Gardeners

Earlier this week London Wildlife Trust launched a new campaign entitled ‘Garden for a Living London’ which aims to highlight the importance of the capital’s gardens to wildlife and people.  New figures show that London has over 3 million gardens covering an area of almost 38,000 hectares, a huge resource which could potentially help tackle climate change – gardens provide shade, absorb carbon, soak up flood water and help cool the city.

Urban gardens are also a great help to wildlife.  I’ve noticed this at home, our little roof terrace patch might be small but the birds love it and the same regular visitors pop around every day looking for grubs and insects.

As part of the campaign, London Wildlife Trust are asking gardeners in the capital to make a pledge to do one thing to help make a stronger ‘Living London’ – a city more resilient to climate change and better for wildlife.  I don’t think you need to live in London to be part of this cool idea, any urban gardener across the country can gain inspiration from the ideas suggested.  The seven pledges are listed below and you can check out the website for some handy ‘How to’ guides to get started.

  • Seven gardening actions:

    1. Plant drought resistant plants
    2. Plant a mixed hedgegrow
    3. Plant a broad leaved tree
    4. Make a pond
    5. Use mulch
    6. Add a green roof to my shed
    7. Wild up my decking

Posted in Eco Tips, Eco Websites, WildlIfe | No Comments »

Giant Green Awards

Thursday, May 29th, 2008

Green Awards

We had some happy news last week on finding out that ECOutlet has been short-listed in our local borough of Islington’s upcoming Giant Green Awards.

Looking at the range of nominees you’d be forgiven for thinking Islington covered a much bigger area (it’s only 6 square miles!) with familiar names on the green scene such as the Duke of Cambridge Pub, green taxi firm Ecoigo and trailblazing wholefood shop Unpackaged all up for potential awards.

In our own category, Green Champion, we’re short-listed with eight other nominees including Bere Architects who already have a mantle of trophies having won the Eco House of the Year at the 2007 Grand Designs Expo as well as Small House of the Year in the British Homes Awards 2007 for the stunning, energy efficient Focus House they designed last year.

The presentation is next Monday so we’ll let you know how we get on, whatever the outcome it’s nice to be short-listed amongst such good company.

June update: Well no prizes for ECOutlet at the Giant Green awards in Islington last month but we did have a very nice time indeed and after some free champagne (paid for by the sponsors) we went home with smiles on our faces!  A full list of winners is up on the Islington Council website, the winner in our category was A Chest of Drawers, a local furniture shop with the UK’s first ethical and environmental label for furniture. Worthy winners we thinks!

Posted in ECOutlet, Eco Websites, Green Awards | No Comments »

Spring Cleaning……

Wednesday, March 12th, 2008

Spring Cleaning Eco Style

This period of the year is traditionally the time when we give our homes a little overhaul and spruce things up with a spring clean. For the domestic among us we’ve come up with a few short tips to help make the yearly workout a little more eco-friendly:

  • Rather than chucking stuff out give it a new home, what’s rubbish to one person might be very useful to someone else. Check out sites like Freecycle, Preloved and Rehomeyourstuff to give your goods a new home and keep them out of landfill.
  • Dust down the coils at the back of your fridge. If the pipes on the back are covered in dust this can act as an insulator and can waste up to 30% extra electricity. A quick once-over with the duster will correct this, saving you some money and keeping the fridge in better shape.
  • While you’re down there, defrost the fridge which will improve efficiency and if there are any large gaps in there, fill with newspapers to further enhance the efficiency.
  • Turn the central heating thermostat down a couple of degrees. It might be a little too chilly still to switch the heating off altogether but outdoors temperatures have picked up a little so your heating should reflect this.
  • If re-arranging furniture, make sure nothing is in front of the radiators and if appropriate and you’re a DIY-er, fit shelves above them as this will deflect heat into the room.
  • Switch to chemical free cleaning. Eco Balls are a perfect replacement for traditional laundry detergents and will reduce the amount of chemicals going into the water supply. Similarly E-Cloths allow you to switch from chemical cleaning to cleaning with just water. They are particularly effective on hard surfaces such as glass, chrome or stainless steel and will definitely come in handy if you are planning a major cleaning frenzy.
  • If you’re a cyclist give the bike a service or take it to the nearest bike shop for one. It may cost a few quid but will save you money in the long run and make for a more comfortable and safer ride in the coming months.
  • Introduce a few new house plants to your home. These can help improve the air quality in rooms and they look nice too!

Posted in Eco Tips, Eco Websites, Energy Saving, Recycling | No Comments »

Energy Saving Day…

Wednesday, February 27th, 2008

Energy Saving Day

The first I heard about Energy Saving Day or E-Day for short was last night when the Tip of the Day from Friends of the Earth dropped into my inbox. As I dip into the green press on a daily basis I was surprised to learn this event is already upon us and therefore suspect other people might also be unaware. So for anyone else out there not in the know, it’s taking place from 6pm today Wednesday 27th until 6pm tomorrow evening.

The aim is to highlight the potential for making energy saving measures in the course of a typical 24 hours and everyone across the UK is invited to save electricity by leaving any electrical items not in use switched off and to leave them off for as long as possible. Everyone can get involved tonight and tomorrow by making sure as many lights as possible are turned off, TV’s are not left on standby, computer’s are switched off and mobile phones are not left charging all night. Any action however small you can think of will make a difference.

And what’s interesting about this event for me is the whole experiment is going to be recorded and the energy savings accumulated will be visible on the homepage of the E-Day website throughout the course of the day. The site includes a dial displaying the amount of electricity currently in use across England, Scotland and Wales which is updated every minute. The plan is for the homepage to show the electricity consumption across the UK on a normal day compared to the electricity we are all using over the 24 hour period which is E-Day. Hopefully this event has been well publicised and I’m just a rare case in being slightly late on the uptake, either way the figures will speak for themselves and it should be an informative experiment.

Posted in Eco Tips, Eco Websites, Energy Saving, Green Events | No Comments »

EfficienCity…..

Tuesday, February 19th, 2008

Greenpeace - EffecienCity

There’s a nice little multimedia demonstration on the Greenpeace website at the moment called EfficienCity. This virtual town is a demonstration into how communities across the UK are using decentralised energy as a means to reduce their carbon emissions and produce cheaper and more secure energy supplies.

Taking a look around EfficienCity, there’s lots of video demonstrations, animations and slide shows which demonstrate how localised efficient energy systems work. Local Hospitals, Leisure Centres and Breweries for example meet their own heating, cooling and electricity needs through the use of CHP (Combined Heat and Power) systems and feed back any excess into the local community. There are explanations and examples of localised Biomass Plants and CHP Plants in operation as well as video demonstrations on tidal, wind and wave power.

This virtual world is not too far from reality in the UK though as cities including Manchester, Eastleigh, Southampton, Woking and Birmingham are all currently pursuing decentralised energy schemes. For more information on decentralised power including an explanation of CHP, take a look on the Greenpeace website which gives a good insight into how it all works and also points out how decentralised energy could meet the UK’s energy needs much better than the planned 10 new Nuclear reactors the government recently gave the go-ahead for.

Watch out for the virtual seagulls though, they make my ears hurt…..

Posted in Eco Tips, Eco Websites, Energy Saving | No Comments »

Supermarkets sweeping the nation…

Friday, January 18th, 2008

Supermarket Sweep

It’s not hard to notice the increasing dominance of the major supermarkets. You only have to walk 100 meters or so up any highstreet these days before passing the next big shiny giant of hydrogenated ready-made meals.

Lets be honest though, the vast majority of us all shop in supermarkets at some point or another but when you look at some of the facts , buying locally and from smaller independent grocers needs to be up there at the top of new years resolution list for 2008.

An average big supermarket emits three times more CO2 per square foot than an average greengrocer shop and it would take more than 60 greengrocers to match the CO2 emissions from a single average superstore. Supermarkets also generate vast quantities of waste – both in terms of packaging and wasted food as fresh produce is often rejected because it fails to meet supermarket cosmetic standards.
Something which was highlighted in the recent Channel 4 food series is also the huge purchasing power of supermarkets which allows them to push down the prices they pay to farmers thus making it harder for the farmer to invest in ethical or environmental measures. Then there’s the fact that most people tend to travel to them in cars, increasing pollution and congestion.

Friends of the Earth are currently running a campaign to slow down the increasing expansion of the giant supermarkets. In a recent report the Competitions Commission recommended the Government free up planning rules to allow more supermarkets to be built on the edge and out of towns. There is a Government Consultation on the subject until April so now is the time to have your say. If you agree with Friends of the Earth that the Government should instead be tightening planning rules and introducing new tests to ensure high streets and independent stores can thrive then take action and email your local MP here expressing your concerns.

If we don’t do something it could all go horribly wrong. To see what might be in store for us check out this clip from Armando Iannucci’s brilliant satire Time Trumpet on Youtube.

Posted in Climate Change, Eco Tips, Eco Websites, Packaging, Sustainable Food, Waste Reduction | No Comments »

More reasons to cycle….

Tuesday, January 8th, 2008

Cycle Lane

If one of your new years resolutions was to cycle more in 2008 then the following info might just be of interest. First up for anyone in the market for a new bike, the governments Cycle to Work Scheme is where employers can offer staff the option of buying a bike out of their pre-tax income thereby discounting the retail cost by up to 50%!

Under the scheme the employer technically buys the bike and reclaims the VAT. The VAT-free price is then deducted from the gross salary in 12 or more installments. Higher rate tax payers save 41% in tax and NI contributions whilst basic rate tax payers save 33%. These schemes are normally run via local bike shops where you can also add helmets and locks under the same terms. Most employers seem unaware of this tax break, so spread the message at work and make sure your boss knows all about it.

Another bike tax perk I recently cam across in a copy of the Financial Times is a little known 20p per mile allowance for work related travel on your bike. You can’t claim for commuting but if say you use your bike to travel to meetings then your employer can pay you up to 20p per mile tax-free.  If your employer pays you nothing or less than 20p per mile you can claim a deduction from taxable income to reduce your tax bill..Hooray!  So say you cycle 20 miles a week to meetings you could claim £160 of mileage allowance thus saving up to £64 in tax.  The two schemes above however do not work concurrently so you can only claim the 20p allowance if you fully own the bike yourself.

The strangest perk of all though is that as a cyclist you can also claim for ‘cyclists breakfasts’ as a no-cost tax free benefit! The only small catch though…you’re only allowed 6 breakfasts a year!

Posted in Carbon Footprint, Cycling, Eco Tips, Eco Websites, Green Travel | No Comments »

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