bemoreeco

The holidays are nearly over and it is now time to make sure that you have all your kids ‘back to school’ gear ready.

So the team at BeMoreEco have gone through its post archive and have come up with a few post that you may find helpfull.

• The Ultimate Round-Up Of Green Back-To-School Advice
• Eco Shopping Guide Going Back to School
• How to Set Up an Environmentally Friendly, Green Classroom
• Top 10 eco, green and fun websites for kids

The team at MoreEco are great supporters of BeMoreEco, they pay our bills! So we though that we should give them something back. So as a little to offering we have listed their top ten most popular eco shops.

There are as follows;

1. Ethical Superstore
2. BigGreenSmile
3. Nigel’s Eco Store
4. ECOutlet
5. Ecotopia
6. Natural Collection
7. People Tree
8. Adili
9. Love Lula
10. Biome Lifestyle

Are good friends at EcoTrendSpotter have been going for a year now so they have told what their top ten posts have have been.

It’s quite a random mix of eco, ethical and organic products!

1. Snake Draught Exclude
2. Rainmate Slimline Water Butt
3. Sun and Moon Jar – Free Sunlight Forever
4. Orla Kiely Wottle – reusable water bottle
5. ‘More Trees’ Green Eco T-Shirt
6. Alpaca Fair Trade Slippers
7. Handy Water Siphon Pump
8. Eco Design Wallpaper – PEONY
9. Brill Razorcut Premium 38 Eco Lawn Mower
10. Seagrass Laundry Basket

Well for all those at Glastonbury the weather has not held out but the show must go on. It is day 4 of Recycle Week and the team at BeMoreEco and MoreEco are really getting in to the swing of things. Today we took delivery of two new recycling bins for the office. One for plastic and the other for metal. For a great selection of recycle bins for your office check out this great post at EcoTrendSpotter <click here>.

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.”

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.

ECOutlet is one of BeMoreEco’s favourite eco retailers and they have given us there eco Top 10 simple and free things we can all do to save energy and money over the coming months. 

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 began in 2004 with 2 guys sitting in a 250 square foot office in Newcastle developing websites for Traidcraft and other fair trade organisations. Next thing you know (it sometimes seems it happened that fast), we’re in a 25,000 square foot warehouse with 40 staff selling 5,000 products to over 100,000 customers.

Ethical Superstore recently joined forces with Natural Collection, can you tell us a bit more about this?

Natural Collection was looking for a new warehouse and Ethical Superstore still had plenty of space, so after meeting at the Green Awards last year we started talking about how we could work together.  As we got to know each other, we soon realised there was so much more we could do together if we merged the businesses.  If all goes according to plan, the Ethical Superstore and Natural Collection online shops will be re-launched with all orders being sent from our (slightly fuller) warehouse in Gateshead in June. 

What makes the Ethical Superstore a great place to work?The Ethical Superstore team – good, friendly, hard working people.  And all the Fairtrade coffee I can drink.

What is the most rewarding part of your job?

Turning the ideas of social business into reality.

Who do you most admire in the green industry?

The person who leads the world to a global climate change agreement.  In the meantime, all the millions who are campaigning for one.

If you could change one thing in the green industry what would it be? 

More innovation of high quality products and services.

How do you feel about the term greenwash?

As part of the solution to the greenwash problem, the development of an independent carbon labelling system would be a useful tool to help consumers make “eco product” purchasing decisions, similar to what the traffic light system is achieving for food.

What advice would you give to someone starting out in the industry today?

Be fanatical about service excellence and quality.  Just because you’ve got a good cause doesn’t mean you can get away with providing an average service. 

What is your vision for an eco Britain ?

I dream about a return to village life.  My first choice would be a farm in Buttermere in the Lake District where I’d also work as a park ranger!

What is the most important piece of information you have ever been told?

Actions speak louder than words.

If you were prime minister for the day, what one thing would you do?

Well given any major decisions could be overturned the next day, perhaps I’d have more impact if I asked everyone who reports to the prime minister that exact same question “If you were prime minister for the day, what one thing would you do?”  Then I’d post their answers on Twitter and the video footage on Youtube.

How do you feel about Obama’s green policies?

I voted for him, but as I said above, actions speak louder than words, so we shall see.

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

Join today and receive FREE 500 start up points.

Latest Ethical Superstore Offers

Founded in 2006, Sustained is a printed magazine and online community. It’s an independent, upbeat, fun, cool-but-not-trendy, light-hearted and non-pretentious group, covering all the topics that surround sustainability – and what’s more it’s FREE! 

The printed magazine is distributed via local networks of organic vegetable boxes and shops, farmers markets, libraries, venues and events across the UK.

The latest issue of Sustained is out now. In Issue 9 and has been sponsored by ‘The Converging World” and is a Carbon Special addition.

They’re always on the lookout for new stockists so if you know an independent vegetable box scheme, organic shop or market trader, they can send FREE copies of the publication for all of their customers!

All you need to do is ask your local wholefood shop to order copies of Sustained for you from their suppliers with their next food order (they are delivered free of charge and come in bundles of 50).  National wholefood suppliers that distribute Sustained are the Suma, Essential and the Rainbow Wholefood co-operatives. If your local shop chooses to order from Suma there’s a catalogue code they can use – BK820.

Then just return a few days later and collect you copies. And if you have an event where you’d like to give them out just get in touch.

To view the magazine online and have a quick read before you order go to www.sustainedmagazine.com.

Sustained: small change – big difference…

The team at BeMoreEco spent 5 minutes with Nicola Alexander from Daisy Green Magazine. This is how it went.

Talk us through your business Day.

Well I work from home so I get up with my husband at 6.30 and potter on until he leaves the house at 8. I love to make him breakfast and lunch, it’s a cool way to start the morning.  At 8 I sit in the office and the first thing I do is check the statistics from the day before. I am pretty obsessive when it comes to how many people are reading and which articles they like. Emails next and this normally takes at least a couple of hours. I love chatting to people and feel that’s important to respond personally, although it can take over if you are not careful.

As the founder of the magazine, I manage everything from the sales and advertising, write articles and organise our events. It’s a jam packed day and I am quite reactive, its hard to stay on task! Generally, I can sit at the desk for 10 hours straight without noticing the time, so I have to force myself to have a break. I am lucky though, as I can go and check on our plants in the conservatory and have a cup of tea looking at the garden.

Sally Anne, our Editor, is normally online for the whole day throwing ideas back and forth. The other members of the daisygreenmagazine.co.uk team currently work full time for other companies.

On an evening I can generally be found promoting the business and the events on social networking sites. I try to get finished by 8pm so I can have some down time.

Tell us about daisygreenmagazine.co.uk?

Daisygreenmagazine.co.uk is unique in that the team who work on the magazine are normal women who want to lead by example. The magazine was conceived back in April 2008 and started life as a personal blog – a bit of a rant actually. Mainstream magazines just didn’t give me what I wanted and therefore my husband suggested I start one of my own! Now as a Senior Manager in a school this was really removed from my area of expertise but I thought, why not. I have always wanted to run my own business and now I do! We LOVE fashion, homeware and beauty products but realise that every single thing we buy has an impact somewhere along the line. Whether it be because people aren’t being paid a fair wage, or the land is getting drowned in pesticides or the landfill sites are just too full, it all adds up.

Daisygreenmagazine.co.uk is an example of the environmental and social changes you can make, easily and cost effectively, and still have fun, still shop, still be girlie. If we can, anyone can.

What makes the company a great place to work?

Well its fun, busy, no two days are the same. Its hard work, which we love and we meet and speak to lots of like minded people. Also, we are based in our homes which is fantastic. And we believe we are making a difference.

Who do you most admire in the green industry?

I admire all the people who have started their own small, independent, companies because they really believe in what they are doing.

What is the most rewarding part of your job?

Working for myself for a company that has lots of energy and sound ethics.

If you could change one thing in the green industry what would it be? 

People using scare tactics to try and encourage change in individuals. My personal belief is that leading by example, and being as positive as you can has a bigger impact. We are heading for serious problems if great change does not occur, but scaring people makes them hide away from the reality.

What advice would you give to someone starting out in the industry today?

Just go for it. If you really believe you can do something have a go. Research the idea thoroughly, check out the competition but harness your passion to make a difference.  

What is your vision for an eco  Britain ?

People buying local and using the local transport more. Businesses turning off their shop signs through the night. The majority of homes and businesses swapping energy suppliers to a green tariff. The government putting some REAL money and time into the environment. Carrier bags being banned.

Have you any  final eco pearls of wisdom you would like to share?
Make change today. No matter how small; start a compost bin, take your own bags to pick up the shopping or change a light bulb. It all adds up to positive change.

We all receive them when shopping, if we are good then we use are own, but there are occasions when we just need to ask for the. Below we have listed are favourite to ten reuses for plastic bags.

1. Take them back to the supermarket to bring home your next batch of groceries.
2. Put them in a bag recycling bin at the grocery story.
3. Use bags to wrap or cover items stored in the basement or garage to prevent dust build-up
4. Keep manuals for your lawnmower, weedwhacker, and snowblower handy by storing them in a plastic bag that hangs in the garage.
5. Tie a string to the handles of the bag, then tie the other end of the string around an action figure’s arms, and voila: a parachute.
6. Wrap your shampoo, conditioner, and sunscreen in bags to prevent leaks while traveling.
7. Keep some in your beach bag to bring home wet bathing suits and towels.
8. Ball up bags and stuff them into purses to help them keep their shape in the off-season.
9. Stuff one in the bottom of a plant pot to fill up space between the bottom and the dirt.
10. Wrap fresh bread in plastic bags to keep it fresh—just like the pros.

What ever use you have for them please make sure that you recycle them. Don’t let this happen!