bemoreeco

In the UK we throw out 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 British household. In addition to the economical impact, food wastage has an enormously detrimental effect on the environment impacting on landfill and contributing to the production of greenhouse gases.

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

The Eco Cooler is an innovative new 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. Root vegetables last longer if stored 3-4 degrees below room temperature and in an environment a little warmer than a fridge. Fruit likes 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.

Another nifty gadget which can help food last longer is the Ethylene Gas Guardian (RRP £3.99) This ingenious little egg shaped device can save households money by absorbing the ethylene gas fruits and vegetables give off in the fridge thus keeping them fresher for longer.

Many fruits and vegetables, especially if they have been damaged, give off ethylene gas as they ripen. Although harmless to people, much of the fresh produce in fridges is sensitive to the presence of even very low levels of ethylene gas and the refrigerator acts as a trap allowing the ethylene to build up to damaging levels.

The easiest way to combat this and save the costs of prematurely aged produce is to declare the refrigerator an ethylene gas free zone. By keeping the ethylene gas guardian on duty in the refrigerator, a very low presence of ethylene is assured regardless of what produce is stored there and users can continue to enjoy fresh produce for longer whilst saving money at the same time.

Both the Eco Cooler(RRP £69) and the Ethylene Gas Guardian can be bought online at Ecoutlet.

The weather is still holding out which must be great news for al those who are doing outdoor recycling week tasks and pledges.

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.

This article was written by Terence Blacker from The Independent.

It is National Recycling Week. There is a website, revealing all sorts of national and local initiatives. The government body Wrap, (standing for the Waste and Resources Action Programme) has come up with a slogan: “Let’s Waste Less”. Celebrities have made pledges for the week: Antony Worrall Thompson is going to recycle glass; Kim Wilde is planting vegetables; Gabby Logan will not use plastic bags when visiting supermarkets.

My pledge is almost as simple. I have various working electrical items – lamps, lights, a printer, a couple of telephones – which I would like to recycle. This, it turns out, is considerably more complicated than it may appear. One option involves quite a lot of fannying about online; another requires that my goods are smashed up and dismantled for parts, a process which seems somewhat at odds with the Wrap mantra.

The UK is particularly bad at this kind of recycling. 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.

Yet, to a non-expert, these are precisely the goods that present the most urgent environmental challenge. Manufactured with an eye to profit, they are usually impossible, or uneconomic, to repair. Their use is accelerating every day. Material which is both valuable and toxic is used in their manufacture. It must be more irresponsible to throw away a computer or TV set than, to take a new campaign as an example, a cigarette butt.

Yet, in a 24-page, full-colour, award-winning free brochure produced for Recycle Week by my local council, there is not a single mention of electrical goods. Michael Rosen is there to explain that books should not thrown away. There are articles about second-hand clothes, vegetable-growing and making jewellery from rubbish, but nowhere can I find an answer to my problem.

There is a reason for this; it is politically sensitive. Charity shops cannot sell electrical equipment without a safety certificate. The council recycling centre smashes them up. Local councils rightly direct people like me to the useful website recycle.org, but using that system takes time, a Yahoo address.

If waste management is going to be effective, then it needs to be made practical and easy for everyone. Concerned, greener-than-thou folk may use the internet to dispose of unwanted items, but most people are too frazzled by daily life to have the time.

The council’s problem, unsurprisingly, turns out to be financial. Testing electrical goods for safety would cost public money. Hundreds of thousands of pounds can be spent on leaflets, posters and campaigns but, when if it’s taking action rather than bossing people around, the environment suddenly becomes a lower priority.

It is politically easier to dump the responsibility on the consumer. The reaction to the Dell survey was unhesitating. Consumers needed to be made more aware of the EU’s Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive. They required “educating and encouraging”. Another Wrap campaign will doubtless soon be on its way.

There is something about the environment which seems to attract bogus hot-air initiatives. The problem is not that the British are too lazy to recycle. It is that we are governed by those who prefer spinning guilt and blaming the public to making policy.

We are now in day three of Recycle Week and we are getting more and more people to accept the fact that they need to recycle more. Our daily format is simple, we will talk about what we have been reading, having for lunch, discuss recycling bins and post any amusing and informative recycling video’s.

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’.

This article was written by Zoe at Rekindle, we thought that BeMoreEco readers by learn a thing or two about sustainable gardening. So take note!

For some garden essential  products why not visits EcoTrendSpotter.

Growing your own veg is undoubtedly better, for you and the planet, than buying them from the supermarket.  However, the way you grow your vegetables also has its own effect on the environment.  The obvious issue is whether to use chemicals (including fertilizers, weedkillers and pesticides) or whether to go organic.  But beyond that, there are still ways you can reduce any negative impact from your vegetable plot.  These sustainable and thrifty tips will help you save money and reduce waste.

Plant Pots

We all know that we should try to avoid using plastic bags – but what about plastic pots?  Plastic plant pots are actually very difficult to recycle because of the variety of different types of plastic that they are made from, not to mention the number of different colours that are available.  This is where the three R’s come into play.  Firstly, instead of trying to recycle pots, simply reuse them, as many times as you can.  Plastic is quite tough and long-lasting, which is one of the reasons why it is such a problem when it ends up in landfill, but when it comes to reusing, this makes it ideal.

You can also reduce the number of plastic pots you use by buying biodegradable pots, or even making your own.  For example, this year I am using loo roll tubes as seedling pots.  They are an ideal size, you can write what you have planted straight onto the pot (instead of using plastic labels) and you can just plant them straight into the ground, as the cardboard will rot away, which will minimise root disturbance for the plant.  Plus, you will already have a free supply of them, and if you need lots you can always ask your friends to save theirs for you.  It’s a win-win situation for you and your plants!  Just make sure you press the compost in well so that it doesn’t all fall out the bottom when you pick it up!  Alternatively, you can use a loo roll tube and some newspaper to make your own Newspaper Plant Pots, which do have a bottom.

In addition you can also reuse any type of tray packaging as seed trays.  In the picture shows I have used a tray from a ready meal and the lid from a punnet of fruit.

Composting

If you are growing anything in your garden, you will need compost at some point, either to fill containers and raised beds, or to use as a soil improver.  Making your own compost is a great way of turning your garden and food waste into a valuable resource.  It also requires minimal effort and it all happens a bit like magic!  I chuck all my fruit, veg and garden waste into my compost bin, along with crushed eggshells, teabags and a bit of shredded paper (take that identity thieves!).

I have a two bin system which I have just set up.  I have one bin to fill up and one bin to use up.  Once the second bin is empty, I will empty the contents of the first bin into it, as a way of turning the compost.  The only downside is that it does take a long time to get anything useable, but if you can be patient it is well worth it.

Recycle Week Reading

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’.

In the second in our series on UK Eco holidays we look at sustainable holidays for couples.

Looking for a romantic getaway with the love of your life but want to make sure you don’t damage the environment at the same time, why not check out the many eco hotels in the UK? Try Responsible Travel for a whole host of hotels across the UK. The company hand pick inspiring holidays from all over the UK and the globe to give you a fantastic experience and make a real difference to local people and the environment.

Apex Hotels is a chain of hotels in the UK that believe in being as sustainable as possible and have a whole heap of environmental awards to their name. They do some great 2 night romantic breaks in Scotland from just £120. Check them out here.

www.organicholidays.co.uk is a brilliant website for those looking for an organic holiday in the UK. Featured on the Timesonline as one of the top 100 travel sites in the UK, www.Organicholidays.co.uk has hundreds of hotels, lodges and cottages to choose from in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Want to stay somewhere different from a hotel then how about ‘glamping’? Glamping is more comfortable camping where there are many more amenities available to make your stay that extra bit special.

Try Jolly Days for a great escape to get away from it all in Yorkshire. Out go nylon sleeping bags and in come four poster beds, chandeliers and sofas by the fire!

Ever thought about staying in a Yurt? Try Ecoretreats in Machnlleyth in Mid Wales. These guys provide eco holidays and give you the opportunity to escape from the hussle and bustle of modern life, and enjoy a fantastic stay in high quality, eco friendly, tipis and yurts. The accommodation is ‘nestled’ on a 1300 acre organic farm, in a remote location where you can forget about the outside world. There are optional meditation and reiki sessions available during your stay, so you can really relax and begin to enjoy the beautiful surroundings.!

There are many more Yurt Holiday companies the length and breadth of the British Isles. Also check out www.trellyn.co.uk and www.yurt-holidays.co.uk.

Check out EcoTrendSpotter’s Summer Essentials Eco Buying Guide.

Coca-Cola has unveiled what it claims is the world’s biggest recycled artwork in order to mark Recycle Week, which runs 22-28 June.

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.

So WRAP’s Recycle Week has started!

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’.