Archive for the ‘Waste Reduction’ Category

« Older Entries

One mans rubbish is another mans rubbish bin….

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

Magno Chutney Rubbish Bin

Check out our new bling bling Magno Chutney rubbish bin which we recently found abandoned on the streets of Brick Lane. When we spotted it, the empty container was lying on the side of the road with a load of other rubbish waiting for the binmen to cart it off to landfill.

Magpie Marco was instantly drawn to the bright colours and after a quick clean up in the shower it’s now looking well smart in the kitchen.  Someone commented on Twitter when they saw the pic that perhaps the manufacturers should incorporate the dual purpose into the design which is not a bad idea, its very fit for purpose and after hunting in the shops for a suitable bin for some time now, our freebie re-used little number is a more than welcome addition to our home.

Posted in ECOutlet, Green Living, Packaging, Recycling, Waste Reduction | No Comments »

Recycle Week – What’s your pledge?…

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

Recycle Week - Whats your pledge?

Recycle Week starts today, June 22nd and this years message ‘Let’s waste less’ is encouraging everyone to try something new in an effort to cut back on waste and reduce the amount of rubbish we send to landfill.

I’m pledging to recycle my old clothes which haven’t been worn for a while (inspired by Mary Queen of Charity Shops!).  I’m also going to get a lot stricter on food packaging this week and not buy anything over-packaged and finally one of my pet hates is seeing cans and plastic bags littering the street outside so whenever I spot any I’m going to take them home and recycle them.  And of course, it will be business as usual with all my usual recycling duties.

Over to you now!… what’s your pedge going to be?

Posted in Packaging, Recycling, Waste Reduction | No Comments »

Eco Cooler and E.G.G. – Helping reduce food waste…

Thursday, February 19th, 2009

Eco Cooler and EGG helping reduce food wastage

In the UK we throw away an estimated 6.7 million tonnes of household food waste every year which accounts for around a third of all the food we buy.  Approximately half of this domestic food waste is edible food which translates into a financial cost of £250 to £400 a year for every household.

By adapting a number of simple measures such as planning when to shop for food and only making necessary purchases, food wastage can be reduced considerably.  Food storage is also an important factor and proper storage eliminates premature aging of fruit and vegetables which in turn reduces the amount of wasted food.

Queue two new products just added to the ECOutlet store, the Eco Cooler and E.G.G……

The Eco Cooler is an innovative hand made terracotta fruit bowl and root vegetable store with natural cooling properties.  Water poured in the bottom plate is absorbed by the terracotta.  As the water evaporates it cools helping to create the ideal cool, damp, dark environment to store potatoes, onions, garlic, swede and other root vegetables inside.  Fruit like to be slightly chilled but stored in the open air and light, so Eco Cooler also has a bowl on top which cools fruit just a couple of degrees.

The E.G.G. Ethylene Gas Guardian is a little egg shaped device which absorbs the ethylene gas given off by ripening produce in the fridge.  Although harmless to people, much of the fresh produce in fridges is sensitive to even small levels of ethylene and it’s presence can accelerate the decaying process.  By keeping an EGG on duty in your fridge, a very low presence of ethylene is assured allowing you to enjoy crisp, fresh produce for longer whilst saving money at the same time.

Some food waste is of course unavoidable but rather than sending it to landfill these can be recycled with a Bokashi Home Composting Bin.  Every time there are scraps of fruit and vegetable peelings to be disposed off, place them in the Bokashi Bin along with a sprinkling of bokashi bran.  When the bucket is full, leave for two weeks and then either dig the resultant Bokashi in the garden or add to the compost heap.  As the Bokashi is ‘composting’ in the bucket, a nutrient rich liquor is also produced which can be used as a plant feed for the garden.

Posted in ECOutlet Products, Eco Tips, Sustainable Food, Waste Reduction | No Comments »

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 »

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 »

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 »

Happy New Year….

Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008

2008 Changes

Happy New Year everyone…so it’s 2008 and still no sign of my hover board! 2008 always seemed like such a far-off date when I was younger, a time to aspire to space travel and meeting aliens but here we are still on old Blighty drinking tea and gossiping about Eastenders, nothing really changes or does it?

My futuristic dreams have now been replaced by more modest and sustainable aspirations, think Richard Briers in The Good Life and you’re almost there.

To mark the New Year, we’ve had a little brainstorm here at ECOutlet and came up with a Top 10 Green New Year Resolutions for some inspiration on making this a truly eco year:

  • Switch to a green electricity supplier such as Ecotricity or Good Energy
  • Insulate insulate insulate
  • Shop locally, at farmers markets or get an organic fruit and veg box scheme to deliver to your home
  • Say goodbye to plastic bags in 2008 and look all affronted at the shops if one is offered
  • Avoid over-packaged groceries and products when shopping
  • Leave the car at home and cycle or walk more
  • Avoid flying wherever possible and take more holidays and short-breaks here in the UK
  • Turn down the thermostat a couple of degrees
  • Grow your own herbs and veg – all you need is a windowsill
  • Eat less meat
  • Buy second-hand and vintage, it’s so 2008!

Posted in ECOutlet, Eco Tips, Energy Saving, Sustainable Food, Waste Reduction | No Comments »

Christmas Tree….

Monday, December 10th, 2007

Christmas Tree

To Christmas tree or not to Christmas tree that is the question of today’s blog.  So should you dust down the artifical one or buy a live one?

If you are going to buy a tree, buy British as it will save on transporting it from the far-flung corners of Europe. I’d go for a tree which is root-balled or grown in a pot. Root-balled trees are trees which have been carefully prepared so that they can be dug up with minimal disturbance to the earth around the root system.
Earth is retained by wrapping the roots in sacking or similar material. The roots should be kept damp and the trees having had the sacking removed should be potted in moist earth. These trees should remain fresh, retain their needles and have a reasonable chance of survival if planted out after Christmas.

To find out where you can purchase British trees take a look at Christmastree. Of course it’s worth bearing in mind where you might plant the tree afterwards as a Norweigan spruce picea abies can grow to 30 metres so only opt for this option if your garden is large enough to accomodate it. The more modest 12-metre Korean fir abies koreana is a better bet for smaller plots.

My personal recommendation is to get creative and forget about fir trees altogether. My grandmother was Finnish and even though she lived in a country awash with fir trees every Christmas she preferred to decorate with tinsel a large piece of driftwood she had salvaged from the shores of a lake.

Posted in Eco Tips, Waste Reduction | No Comments »

International Clean up Day

Thursday, September 6th, 2007

Beach Clean up

The Project Aware Foundation was set up to conserve underwater environments through education, advocacy and action. On Sep 15th they will be calling on divers, snorkelers and beach walkers to make a splash for trash and help make clear water around the world a reality.

Every year the population of planet earth produces around 200 million tonnes of plastic. Of this figure, it is estimated that as much as 10% ends up in the sea causing suffering and death for more than 1 million sea birds and 100,000 marine mammals each year.

The Marine Conservation Society’s annual Beachwatch report also found litter on British beaches last year had increased by over 90% since 1994 and now averages two items of litter per metre of beach. Dumped rubbish and plastic being a result of irresponsible beach visitors, fishing debris and sewage related waste.

Last year 350,000 vounteers worldwide were successful in removing 103 tonnes of rubbish from shoreline and underwater environments but as the figures highlight the problem of marine pollution will be with us for many years to come. For details on how to help or get involved, Project Aware have a list of UK locations with clean up events taking place.

Posted in Eco Websites, Green Events, Waste Reduction, WildlIfe | No Comments »

Eco Friendly TV

Sunday, August 19th, 2007

Outrageous Wasters

TV is going green over the next few weeks with two new series coming to our screens highlighting the UK’s wasteful household practises. First up is Outrageous Wasters starting on BBC3 this coming Tuesday. Each week a team of eco experts challenge a different family to drop their energy wasting habits and spend five days living in a purpose built eco-camp. In the families absence, their home is given an eco-makeover and on the return they have to live in the house and waste as little as possible under the scrutiny of the mentors. The first episode features the energy intensive Fowler family who have a staggering 15 TV’s and 20 games consoles between them and should prove interesting.

Over on Channel 4 it’s more reality TV time as they launch Dumped on Sep 3rd….think Big Brother but a lot smellier. The series is based around 11 volunteers who will be taken to one of the countrys biggest landfill sites and left there for three weeks to fend for themselves. Everything they eat, wear and use must come from the rubbish dump so we should see some interesting recycling going on. Dumped may sound like extreme reality TV and I’m sure being Channel 4 they will stick some rather foul tasks in there for the volunteers but with every household in the UK now producing around 1 ton of rubbish annually and many landfill sites expected to reach capacity in the next five years, Dumped has the potential to raise awareness on a number of important environmental issues.

Posted in Green Media, Recycling, Waste Reduction | No Comments »

« Older Entries