Recycle Week Reading

The two recycling week article which took my interest today were;-

Green think tank for kids held at recycling plant – In the first-ever green think tank for children in the UK, manufacturers and retailers have been urged to do away with unnecessary packaging on games and toys. The message came the youngsters attending the summit sponsored by British Gas, called Our Planet, Our Say. The event saw the launch of a new schoolchildren’s eco-group that represents more than 9,500 schools. (click here for full article).

Party goers can go environ-mental at this year’s festivals - Festival goers at Glastonbury festival, which falls on Recycle week, will be offered the chance to recycle their old electrical items as the organisers are encouraging revellers to be more environmentally friendly.

Workers at the event, as well as festival-goers, are being asked to recycle their old items at special collection points being set up in conjunction with waste management company and Recycle Week. All materials collected will be transported to a recycling plant after the festival and processed according to Environment Agency requirements.

Lunch (Recycle Week Pledge)

After being taken out for lunch yesterday I thought that today I should try and make something special with the left overs in my fridge and recycle them in to something interesting. So, I decided to make a home made organic pizza. With some tomatoes, chicken, spinach, sweetcorn, mushrooms and cheese i managed to use most of the left overs in my fridge and provide a healthy and wholesome meal for my kids.

Recycle week picture of the day

I came across the picture below from a site called  ’Eco Pic Of The Day‘. Titled Field Art – The Street Mike Skinner’s Crop Circles, I thought Mike Skinner’s Crop Circle could be classified as recyclable art because it can be recycled in to a normal  normal field again.

This may seems a bit week fro a recycle week news item, but it is a cool picture which i want to share with you all.

The crop circle image of The Streets musician Mike Skinner was created in a field in Somerset near the Glastonbury Festival site. Skinner, who is playing on the Jazz World stage at the event on Friday night, said he made the huge work of art because he wants his face “to be seen from space”

Recycle Week Daily Video

Following on the recycled art theme, i found this video which shows you how to make a plastic flower out of recycled plastic bottles.

The message came the youngsters attending the summit sponsored by British Gas, called Our Planet, Our Say. The event saw the launch of a new schoolchildren’s eco-group that represents more than 9,500 schools.

The think tank, made up of 20 of the schoolchildren chosen as the “greenest”, spent a day at Closed Loop Recycling plant in East London. Members discussed recycling issues and the part recycling plays in climate change and energy usage.

By the time the group concluded its discussions, it identified three policies to tackle energy wastage that it felt should be supported by the UK government.

All of the children involved agreed that new games and toys should be sold either with no packaging materials or have packaging significantly reduced. In addition, they urged soft drink companies to begin using only clear plastic bottles, which would reduce the energy required in bottle manufacturing and recycling.

The government was also advised to introduce more recycling bins and facilities in city centre, parks and other public spaces.

For more information on this article please visit www.clickgreen.org.uk.

Recycle Week Reading

Two articles have taken my interest today. They are;

Virtual food hall goes green to mark Recycle Week -VISION (Virtual Interactive Shopping Information Online) is a web-based interactive food toolkit to help consumers make more informed choices about the food they eat. The centrepiece of the site is an interactive food hall to explore and the ‘Are You Balanced?’ challenge based on the Food Standards Agency eatwell plate.

Working in conjunction with Gloucestershire county council’s Waste Management Unit, VISION can now demonstrate how easy it is to recycle everyday items from food and drink cans to cardboard cereal boxes. The site also points you in the right direction should you need more information.

Biodegradable plastic bags carry more ecological harm than good – The European Plastics Recyclers Association warned that they “have the potential to do more harm to the environment than good.” Technically what we are talking about here is “oxo-degradable” plastics. These are plastics made to degrade in the presence of oxygen and sunlight, thanks to the addition of tiny amounts of metals like cobalt, iron or manganese. Click here for full article by My Zero Waste.

Lunch (Recycle Week Pledge)

Today I did not do well. I received a phone call this morning from an old business colleague, who invited me out for lunch. I must admit it was great having a nice big lunch, but I did feel guilty. So I have decide that  tonight I am going to make something with the left overs in the fridge.  I need to make something with some vegetarian chili, bread, cucumber, roast chicken, peas, and 3/4 bottle red wine!!. I may tell you tomorrow what I did, but if you have suggestion please send us a comment!

Recycle Week daily Video

Miniature models of Manhattan, New York City by baybong38  at YouTube - “It’s a matter of two decades now to build the model of the entire city of Manhattan made of recycle pens,cigarette lighter,lego’s and anything small made of plastic. I collect them and paint,put some details so it adds a better look.But since then,i realized that vinyl eraser are more easier to design and more cheaper than lego.So enjoy the video and i’ll throw another clip on when the whole set is finish.”

Recycle Week Reading

I have come across two interesting articles last night while using yahoo search. The first article was about how to get rid of an old computer.  The UK is particularly bad at recycling electronic waste.

A survey, commissioned by the computer manufacturer Dell and published last month, named us as the worst consumers in Europe when it comes to recycling technological waste. Eighty per cent of Germans dispose of their old gadgets in an environmentally responsible way; we manage 50 per cent. For the full story of Terence Blacker Recycling Week pledge a separate post has been created.

The second story I came across came the Recycle For London website which details top tips sent in by readers. My favourite was “Plastic takeaway containers make perfect sandwich boxes for school or work!”. Click here for the rest of the tips.

Lunch (Recycle Week Pledge)

It is going to be hard task to top my lunch yesterday, when I made a great chicken and vegetable soup with left overs. I had very little to go with today. However as part of my Recycle Week pledge I had to create something which was edible.

This is what I had to make lunch with, Pita bread, raw spinach, cooked carrot, two boiled potatoes and 1/4 avocado. I had to rush this morning as I had to take my three boys to school, so I toasted the pitta and then piled everything in and pressed down hard. This may sound strange, and it was. Never mind maybe tomorrow I will have more luck.

Recycling Video

Garbage! The Revolution Starts at Home is a feature documentary about how the family household has become one of the most ferocious environmental predators of our time. Concerned for the future of his new baby boy Sebastian, writer and director Andrew Nisker takes an average urban family, the McDonalds, and asks them to keep every scrap of garbage that they create for three months. He then takes them on a journey to find out where it all goes and what it’s doing to the world.

Recycle Week Reading

Last night I used Google to search for interesting Recycle Week news articles. My first favourite was provided by WRAP titled ‘More plastics could be recycled from packaging‘. Much of this plastic packaging ends up in landfill, but WRAP’s research based on the trials shows this does not have to be the case.

The work shows for the first time that collecting of non-bottle household plastic packaging, reprocessing it and finally manufacturing it into useful popular items, is both technically and commercially viable. Recycling of this plastic packaging is also the best environmental option. WRAP is also launching a £2 million capital grant competition to help the recycling supply chain build the capacity for recycling more plastics packaging.

The second article I found encouraging was at www.letsrecycle.com titled ‘Councils gear up for 2009 Recycle Week’. This article details the efforts being made by City of York and Cherwell local counsils.

Lunch (Recycle Week Pledge)

Day three lunch and what am I going to have today. Well last night we had roast chicken so I decided to make a soup with the leftovers. The office was very jealous of me today when I heated up my organic chicken and vegetable soup and ate it with a nice wholemeal roll. This has definitely been the best lunch this week.

Recycle Bins

This collection of recycle bins have been taken while on my travels around the UK. A few years ago they would off been a rare site, but now they are becoming more and more noticeable and prominent.

This is a positive sign demonstrating that Councils, Shops, Festivals, Beaches, Public Places and Museums are taking an active role in trying to encourage people to place their rubbish in the correct recycling bin.

Recycling Video

This recycling you tube video  may seem a bit corporate and boring, but I found it realy interesting on how rubbish can be sorted and recycled.

Did you know that Bywaters hosts the largest undercover dry recyclables Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in London? The MRF processes a wide range of co-mingled office and commercial dry recyclables and being largely automated efficiency and recovery rates are maximised.

Also as bonus if you sign up to MoreEco during Recycling week we will give you an extra 100 joining points. Use offer code ‘recyclenow’.

Last night I was searching twitter for any interesting recycle stories. The one which caught my eye was as a stunt which those clever marketing men at Coca-Cola have come up with. They have created a 50m artwork made up of 200,000 aluminium cans by Robert Bradford. Click here for pictures, video and BeMoreEco post.

The second story which I found interesting was found at www.which.co.uk. Their stating that Britons waste billions of pounds and are damaging the environment by throwing old clothes in the bin.

A You Gov poll found that 63% of people’s clothing ends up in landfill sites, rather than being recycled or reused. Some of this clothes waste will go on to biodegrade to form methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. The poll also revealed that British consumers spend £38 billion each year on new clothes, but only 16% of the clothes they throw out are recycled. According to the study, the average UK consumer spends around £600 on clothes a year and discards £400 worth.

Out of nearly 2,000 people questioned, 39% said they did consider what impact throwing away clothes had on the environment.

Lunch (Recycle week pledge)

Day 2 of my recycle week pledge ended up me having another wrap made with organic turkey burgers and green beans (Monday nights kids meal), toasted with some mustard. This may seem like an interesting meal, but surprisingly it tasted OK (with extra ketchup). Tomorrow I am going to have baked potato or soup!

Eco Recycling Bins (Recycle week pledge)

My second pledge for recycling week was to to post and promote recycling bins. I have been trawling through flickr example of recycling bins which can be found through the world. Below is  selection of my favourite ones.

Also as bonus if you sign up to MoreEco during Recycling Week we will give you an extra 100 joining points. Use offer code ‘recyclenow’.

The 50-metre artwork is made from aluminium cans and lies on top of the chalk cliffs of the Sussex coastline. Dubbed Precious Metal, the work is inspired by a classic 1949 Coca-Cola summer poster of a woman in a swimsuit relaxing in the sun. Coca-Cola hopes that it will inspire consumers to recycle more this summer.

Coca-Cola is currently working with WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) to install Recycle Zones around the UK to help make it easier for consumers to recycle their cans and bottles.

Launching a year ago, the scheme now has 20 active Recycle Zones with another 60 on the way before 2011. The brand has also teamed up with WRAP’s Recycle Now campaign to encourage the public to up their recycling efforts during Recycle Week. Consumers can go to a dedicated website to make a pledge and also have the chance of winning a bespoke recycled sculpture from Robert Bradford, the lead artist behind the project.

In support of recycle week the teams at BemoreEco and MoreEco will be blogging their recycling exploits each day so please visit are recycling page to see what we have been up to during the week.

First task of the day

My first task this morning was to make sure that our curb side recycling boxes were fully loaded and ready for collection, which i must admit I sometimes forget to put out. It was satisfying to see that by the time I walked to work they have been dutifully emptied.

Lunch

Before I left for work I had to prepare my lunch (Recycle Week pledge). The fridge door was opened, arms were extended and left over food items were taken out.

So what did I end up with. Well with some home made avocado humus, cucumber, roast chicken and finally a bit of sweetcorn, I made a lovely left over wrap. Sounds interesting, but tasted very good and healthy. I also used my kids school water bottle for my drink and had some left over red wine….joke.

Eco Recycling Bins

To keep my cost low I share and office and over the weekend there was an office move. It was agreed that we were going to buying our own office recycling bins. So I have now ordered two recycling bins (paper and plastic). Click here for a detailed description and of eco recycleing bins which has been put together buy the team at EcoTrendSpotter, or vie the slide we have put togther.

Daily Recycling Video

Each day I will be posting an recycling related video. This video was created by Animal Planet.

If you sign up to MoreEco, the green and eco cash back shopping site, during Recycling Week they will give you an extra 100 joining points. Use offer code ‘recyclenow’.

Below, are all the posts have made were made.

Recycle Week Posts

• Sun 28th June – Day Seven -
• Sat 27th June - Day Six – Recycling at Glastonbury, Mike Skinner Crop Circles, Lunch and making plastic flowers from recycled bottles.
• Sat 27th June - Green Think Tank for Kids
• Fri 26th June - Day Five – Vision Food Hall, lunch (woops!), Miniature New York made out of recycled items video – cool!
• Thurs 25th June - Day Four – Computer waste, Garbage and dodge lunch
• Thurs 25th June - So how do I ditch my old computer?
• Wed 24th June - Day Three – Plastic recycling, lunch, and recycling centre video
• Tues 23rd June - Coco-Cola, Sussex Woman & Chalk Cliffs! – pictures and video
• Tues 23rd June - Day Two – Lunch, clothes, more recycling bins
• Mon 22nd June - Recycle Week Poem by Nils
• Mon 22nd June - Day One – Lunch, recycling bins and amusing video

Pre Recycle Week Posts

• Recycle Twitters
• Top 10 Favourite BeMoreEco recycling articles
• The BeMoreEco Pledges
• National Recycle Week Summary – make a pledge

Also as bonus if you sign up to MoreEco during June and July they will give you an extra 100 joining points. Use offer code ‘recyclenow’.

Nils’s first acrostic was about why we should recycle.

My wife and I were delighted to be inform that Nils’s Recycle poem had been selected for publication. Therefore to celebrate the start of ‘WRAP’s Recycle Week’ I thought that my first post for Recycle Now readers should be this poem. So here it is;

WHY RECYCLE by Nils (7)

Why should we recycle?

How can you help the environment?

You can be recycling

Recycling is good

Every day reuse

Cycle to school

You must throw waste in a recycling bin

Carry your bottles to the bottle bank

Learn to put litter in the bin

Each of us must be responsible.

Don’t forget you can now go to the Recycle Now website to make your pledge.