bemoreeco

….with a splash!

International songstress Natalie Imbruglia has joined forces with ecological cleaning experts Ecover to create a compelling podcast video that explores the environmental importance of the global water cycle.

Shot in Natalie’s home, the short film explains how our actions in the UK can impact on the rest of the world and is packed with useful tips from Natalie on how to reduce water consumption.

“The protection of the environment is very important to me”, says Natalie “so I was delighted to work with Ecover to create this podcast. There’s often an abundance of water in the UK, so it’s easy to forget the very real issues of water shortage and pollution in other parts of the world. The podcast is a great way to learn more and offers some really simple tips on how we can all make a difference.”

The podcast supports Ecover’s unique partnership with conservation organisation WaterAid which provides sustainable and ongoing access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene education to 11 villages and over 14,000 people in Ethiopia. Ecover has always recognised water is a precious commodity but it was the desire to highlight the importance of protecting the water supply on a global scale that led to the unique partnership with WaterAid.

Watch Natalie Imbruglia Ecover WaterAid Podcast Video

Would you like to make a difference?

To buy Ecover Products online visit the MoreEco who list the best Eco Shopping sites and be part of the 5% of families safeguarding 1/2 million Olympic swimming pools worth of water.

Also MoreEco, the Eco Shopping reward site, will donate £1 for each person who sign up using the offer code ‘wateraid’.

Other Ecover WaterAid Articles

To read more article on the Ecover Water Project <click here>

Ecover’s unique partnership, Ecover WaterAid, with conservation organisation WaterAid, provides sustainable and ongoing access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene education to 11 villages and over 14,000 people in Ethiopia. For pictures of Ecover WaterAid’s last visit to Ethiopia <click here>

Ecover has always recognised water is a precious commodity but it was the desire to highlight the importance of protecting the water supply on a global scale that led to the unique partnership with WaterAid. 

Free DVD & Water Care Pack

• To request your free Ecover WaterAid DVD ‘ Working with Water’ <click here>.
• To help you do your bit Ecover WaterAid is also offering a free watercare pack which includes a hippo water saver for your toilet as well as tips on how to save water and reduce water pollution, both locally and globally.

Previous Posts

Click here for previous Ecover WaterAid posts and video’s.

MoreEco Support

Also MoreEco, the Eco Shopping Reward Site, will donate £1 to WaterAid for each person who sign to their site (offer code ‘wateraid’). To buy Ecover Products online visit MoreEco who list the best Eco Shopping sites and Eco offers.

About Ecover

The people at Ecover, the world’s leading manufacturer of ecological cleaning products, make products designed to have minimum impact on the environment after you pull the plug. Ecover products help minimise the burden on the global water supply and aquatic environment as they require significantly less water to neutralise after use than conventional alternatives.

For example if 5% of families in the UK switched to Ecover Biological washing powder from a conventional product, in excess of ½  million Olympic swimming pools worth of water would be safeguarded against pollution in a year.

About WaterAid

WaterAid is an international charity. Their mission is to overcome poverty by enabling the world’s poorest people to gain access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene education. WaterAid and its partners use practical solutions to provide safe water, effective sanitation and hygiene education to the world’s poorest people. They also seek to influence policy at national and international levels.

Whoever you are and whatever your interests, WaterAid needs you to get involved.

The team at MoreEco have just sent BeMoreEco their latest newsletter with the latest Eco Shopping Offers currently running on their site. So if you want to;

• Shop for great ethical, eco, green and organic products.
• Save Money with great % off deals.
• Receive free eco gifts.
• Receive 500 FREE points (for new members).
• Earn MoreEco points on every purchase.
• Earn FREE carbon offset with every 10 points earned.

Capturing 31 percent of the votes, MoreEco.com won our first annual Earth Day poll for the world’s “Favorite Green Website.” Congratulations to UK eco-shopping site founder, Mark Philip-Sorensen.

“We feel that the majority of people in the UK still do not understand climate change and how it is happening or that it is a global issue and affects everybody. However the tide is slowly turning. As our commitment to you shopping through MoreEco.com we will offset your CO2 for you – free of charge.”

For this tremendous achievement of being the top vote-getter, Mark will receive the all-organic, and brand new Water - Use It Wisely t-shirt.  This victory has, indeed, made Mark “Shirt Worthy.” 

Now, if you want your own “Keep Calm, and Conserve Water” t-shirt that launched today for Water -Use It Wisely, you can WIN ONE through the campaign’s Twitter contest. Tweet WUIW in 140 characters or less why you’re “Shirt Worthy.” The most creative tweets as determined by some crack creative team will win a FREE shirt. But you only have one week.  The contest ends sometime on Friday, May 8.

Here are ten simple tools to help your organization save energy and the environment. And you do not even have to be a tree hugger to do it!

1. Utilize PG&E;’s online energy analyzer.
2. Set your computers to go to “sleep” during the day after 10 minutes of non-use. Remember that the screensaver does not save power. This can reduce computer usage by 70%.
3. Replace old light fixtures and bulbs for energy saving ones. These use two-thirds less energy than regular ones. 
4. Save paper. Consider placing your company manuals and policies online. Have your copy machine defaulted to double sided copies. Make it a habit to recycle your paper with blue trash cans. REMEMBER: Be sure that your cleaning company is recycling the paper and not just putting it into the regular waste.
5. GO GREEN with HR Logic. Obtain employment forms and information online.
6. Request paperless bills from your vendors and pay online.
7. Consider telecommuting. If you are a company that requires meetings with employees in different locations you might want to think teleconferencing. Although, some meetings may require face-to-face, many do not.
8. Recycle your toner. Many suppliers, such as Staples, have wonderful programs that can assist you.
9. Are you purchasing fair trade coffee for your office? 
10. Mobile phone recycling. 

Source Merchant Circle

ECOutlet’s is one BeMoreEco’s favourite shops. As the summer is coming they have provided us with their top 10 simple and free things we can all do to save energy and money over the coming months.

Their top 10 eco energy saving tips are as follows;

1. Let the sunshine in - clean windows and pull back curtains during the day to benefit from as much natural light and warmth from the sun as possible.

2. Defrost your fridge and freezer for greater energy efficiency.

3. Descale your kettle so it will boil faster.

4. Clean the coils at the back of your fridge which will help improve efficiency.

5. Leave the car at home and walk or cycle to work - saves energy and lets you enjoy the warm weather.

6. Clean your oven door - you’ll be able to check on food without opening the oven door.

7. Adjust your thermostat to take account of the warmer weather or better still switch it off completely.

8. Check the arrangement of furniture so that they dont block any heating sources and waste energy.

9. Take a shower rather than a bath.  It saves water and the energy associated with transporting and heating that water.

10. Turn off the tumble dryer and let clothes dry outdoors in the warmer weather.

MoreEco Members can earn 8 MoreEco points for every £ they spend at ECOutlet. Also for every 10 points  earned  MoreEco will offset 1kg fo carbon for free.

Join today and receive FREE 500 start up points.

It is unlikely that the global recession has completely dampened people’s enthusiasm for new gadgets this Christmas.

But for cash-strapped consumers with a shiny new mobile in their hands, there is a way of making money from their old, unwanted handsets.

According to mobile phone trade-in website FoneBank, only 20% of UK consumers are recycling their mobiles but those that do can recycle their old mobiles for cash.

A survey it conducted to find out what people did with their mobile found that 28% put them away in a drawer while 23% simply threw them away.

“It’s crazy that a lot of people out there are still just chucking their phones in the bin when they no longer have any use for them,” said Mark Harrison, director of Fonebank.

The need to recycle electronic devices such as phones, PDAs and digital music players is more than just a financial one as many contain materials that can be harmful to the environment.

The main problem lies with the batteries used to power the phones, some of which contain toxic substances such as cadmium, which can contaminate the water table.

Mobile phones now come under the WEEE directive, a piece of European legislation which aims to reduce the amount of electronic waste that ends up in landfill sites.

It requires member nations to collect and recycle the equivalent of 4kg of e-waste for every person living in the country.

Manufacturers, importers and retailers of electronic equipment are obliged to put systems in place that allow customers to recycle their obsolete devices free of charge although households are under no obligation.

Fonebank recycled around 10,000 phones in November, the majority of which are earmarked for Africa, Pakistan, India and South East Asia.

“It is a lot more difficult to buy a brand new phone in Africa and they are prohibitively expensive, so a good, second-hand phone is very attractive,” said Ollie Tagg, director of Fonebank.

Right thing

During November Fonebank sent out £200,000 worth of cheques, with an average per person of £50, although an iPhone can raise much more.

“One of the most popular ones traded in during October was Nokia’s N95 which can raise £102 for the owner,” said Mr Tagg.

“People recycling their phones make a bit of money and feel they are doing the right thing. The whole process takes three minutes online and then they just have to stick their phone in a jiffy bag,” he added.

This year Fonebank has teamed up with Oxfam to donate a minimum of 10% of the value of the phone to aid the charity’s work in the developing world.

Other charities, including Age Concern and the British Red Cross, are also offering people the chance to donate phones.

During December some six million handsets will have been exchanged.

And for those who really can’t be bothered to post off their old handset there are other ways of recycling them.

“I have spent literally hundreds over the years on toys for my kids but the thing they’ve liked the most are old mobiles, particularly ones that flip and flash,” one respondent to the FoneBank survey revealed. 

To exchange your phone for cash and earn moreeco points <click here>

The team at BeMoreEco have put together some New Year Resolutions.

<click here> to read them