The EcoList

Recycled Lighting

2010-05-24T16:55:00.002+01:00

We are all encouraged to switch to more energy efficient light bulbs and, apart from the lower energy consumption, they offer an interesting benefit - new designs for lampshades.

As the low energy bulbs generate very little heat, a wider variety of heat sensitive materials can now be use for light fittings, particularly plastic which would have melted if placed close to the old stye incandescent bulbs.

Someone who has grasped this opportunity with both hands is designer Sarah Turner.

She makes beautiful light fittings from recycled plastic bottles.

The lamp shown here is from the ‘Lily’ range which are made from either 9 or 12 two litre drinks bottles. You can buy them on their own or with a table lamp base.

The Sprite bottle's colour makes the inside sections green with the outside white, but when switched on these colours seem to reverse and make the lamp truly stunning! Also available in plain white in both sizes.

For more stunning designs, which you can now buy online, visit Sarah’s website www.sarahturner.co.uk

Sarah has just been shortlisted for a competition over at Inhabitiat.com so, if you would like to make her day, you can vote for her here : and then simply click on the green leaf vote symbol at the top of the page.

Earth Hour - Impact

2010-05-24T08:54:00.001+01:00

Earth Hour this year created a great deal of publicity with landmarks such as Sydney Harbor Bridge, CN Tower in Toronto, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Rome's Colosseum and Egypt's pyramids all standing in darkness as more than 4,000 cities in 128 countries turned off their lights.

An interesting article exploring ‘Environmentalism as a bridge’ has been published by Joseph Mayer, in Kansas, USA. He writes: “ The desire to create a new global community focused not on political action but on environmental responsibility is uniting environmental experts, organizations and activists from the West and the Middle East.”

Read the full article at www.Kansascity.com

Greening West Bridgford: Challenge 1: if your journey is not far, leave the car!

2010-03-06T13:22:00.002+00:00

Soon the whole of West Bridgford will receive the Greening Campaign Challenge cards through their letter box.

One of the challenges is to walk/cycle if your journey is less than 1 mile.

I have just come across a wonderful invention to stay safe and visible on the road for walkers, cyclists, horse riders, and other road users. I hope you find it of interest too.

Anklelite
Baglite

To find out where to buy:

For those of you who don't live in West Bridgford you can still join in and do the challenges. The more the merrier.

From today I will post a Challenge per day, so watch this space!

The 2010 Green Electronic Ranking

2010-01-21T09:09:00.002+00:00

Nokia is still at the top of the Greenpeace 2010 Green Electronic Rankings and Samsung have dropped to 7th place. Seems they fell by loosing points because of “backtracking on its commitment to eliminate brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in new models of all products by January 2010 and PVC by end of 2010.”

The rankings are always an interesting list and well worth dipping into just to see how the large companies are dealing with their environmental responsibilities.

More details at Greenpeace.org

Recycled Jewellery to Customise Yourself

2010-01-21T08:54:00.003+00:00

Choice is EVERYTHING and now you can make your own ‘accessory’ decisions and be a little eco-friendly at the same time.

'Shains' are new customisable environmentally friendly accessories and jewellery for children, teens and adults which have interchangeable letters and icons for you to say what you mean and wear it proudly!

You buy all the pieces individually (or in small packs) and then clip them onto arm bands or cuffs.

Key Features

• Made of recycled materials
• Bracelets & Cuffs are made of recycled TRE (Thermoplastic Elastomer, a rubber)
• Elements are made of recycled ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene)
• Packaging is made of recycled papers
• Product is recyclable when you are ready to go and get new ones.
• Shainsware gives back a percentage of net profits to environmental organizations.

Everything Shains produces is certified lead free.

Have a look at the various elements on www.ticktocktrading.com

[Via Hippyshopper]

Ethical (Art) T Shirts

2010-01-15T08:56:00.000+00:00

If you are looking for unusual T shirts produced by a company with ethical standards then try I Dress Myself.

An independent screen printing business established in 2006, they hand print limited edition shirts (posters and bags) from the heart of Nottingham and ship world-wide.

Designed by a small selection of artists (many local to the city), and printed on organic cotton, using water based inks, I Dress Myself have found an interesting sector of the market for themselves. They have clear ethical principals, print using ecologically sound materials, bank ethically and produce some stunning, and unique designs.

I just received Peter Conway’s Dead Rabbit T shirt as a gift from an inspired member of my family. A limited edition of 200, the quality is impressive, the design hilarious and I know that I now belong to a very exclusive ‘club’ of 200 people around the world who have something special which supports ethical standards and inspiring artists. Great present!

With the festive season just over the horizon this might be the place to source some unique quality gifts online. They package their products in recycled materials and have an easy to use website where you can view their entire collection. More details at www.idressmyself.co.uk
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Energy Saving Trust's advise: New Year’s resolutions to save you money

2010-01-11T16:29:00.001+00:00

Make 2010 count by making little energy saving measures that could knock up to £300 a year off your fuel bills. It really doesn’t take long to make a difference. There’s always something you can do, however little time you have. If you want to get the full details why not visit the Energy Saving Website

Recycle those Cards

2010-01-08T11:16:00.001+00:00

They are fun to receive, sometimes stressful to send (who did I forget) and easy to recycle.

If you have a heap of Christmas cards at home, or in the office, don’t bin them, take advantage of the Woodland Trust recycling scheme until January 31st 2008.

You can drop them off at WHSmith stores, TESCO supermarkets, TK Maxx stores or M&S and by doing that you will help them reach their target of recycling 100 million cards. The money that the Woodland Trust raises from the recycling will allow them to plant 24,000 trees in the UK.

So, turn your card back into a tree, de-clutter your house and make yourself feel good about all that paper which came through your letterbox in December.

More details can be found at: www.woodland-trust.org.uk

The Big clean up with Bicarbonate of Soda

2009-12-27T08:26:00.002+00:00

A New Year, a new start and possibly time for a good tidy up and deep cleaning session!
If you would like to have some green cleaning tips have a look at this website

Bicarbonate of Soda, Baking Soda, Bicarb, whatever you want to call it, this is a great versatile addition to your household.

It can neutralise acid, scrub shiny materials without scratching, deodorise, and extinguish grease fires. It can be used as a deodoriser in the refrigerator, on smelly carpets, on upholstery and on vinyl. It can help deodorise drains. It can clean and polish aluminium, chrome, jewellery, plastic, porcelain, silver, stainless steel and tin. It can soften fabrics and remove certain stains and also soften hard water.

For more ideas of the many uses of Bicarbonate of Soda go to our Eco Info pages.

Please note that this is not food grade Bicarbonate of Soda as it isn't packaged in a Food Standard environment.

Our Bicarbonate Of Soda now comes packaged in degradable polythene bags.

Also available in 500g & 1kg Pack

Christmas Twinkle in New York

2009-12-23T14:00:00.000+00:00

Not exactly close to home but the Rockefeller Centre Christmas tree has gone all ‘Eco’.

A main attraction of the Centre in New York, the tree normally consumes a vast amount of energy due to all those tiny lights. This year the tree will be illuminated with 30,000 LED lights which use much less energy and are expected to reduce the consumption from a previous 3,510 kilowatt hours per day to around 1,300.

That saving, it seems, is the equivalent to the amount of electricity used by a small house in a month!

[ Via Engadget.com ]

Christmas Food Shopping - Buy local

2009-12-21T11:52:00.000+00:00

With Christmas just around the corner, the discerning foodie will already be planning from where to source the best festive produce. This year they need look no further than Localfoodshop, where more than 200 producers have nearly 4000 products to choose from. Have a look at http://www.bigbarn.co.uk/ and let yourself be dazzled by the amount of local producers at your fingertips.

Helping hands, stars or angels

2009-12-15T23:00:00.005+00:00

Make some salt dough and roll out very thinly, then cut out a shape of a small hand, star or angel.With a straw make a hole in the middle finger for a ribbon to be thread through when dried. Dry on top of a hot radiator or airing cupboard. When dried, you can either decorate or keep it plain. Make a label stating:

You can call upon this hands/star/angel in the coming year and I will happily help you to .......

Merry Christmas to you,

Your name

Telephone numer

This ornament can be left plain or decorated and hung anywhere in the house during christmas or the rest of the year and will remind the recipient of your pledge

Babysitting,
Shopping,

Decorating,

Cooking some meals,

Glifts, etc are some examples of the sort of things you could give.

Mince pie party

2009-12-13T17:07:00.002+00:00

Traditionally mince pies are served around Christmas. When looking around the shops there is a huge selection of the little cakes. ALL very heavily packaged may I point out.

Foil, plastic cup holder, cardbord box and some cellophane all for just 6 mince pies...

It is so easy and I believe even tastier to make them yourself. If you organise a group of friends to join you it is a lot of fun too!

A friend of mine told me the other day that every year she invites a group of friends for a mince pie morning. They all bring their baking tins, pastry ingredients and fillings (no doubt also a roling pin), tins are going in and out the oven on a regular basis, they share their recipes, some are doing the washing up and drying, they have a chat and when all activity has died down, have a lovely cup of cinnamon coffee with a freshly baked mince pie.

If you keep them in a tin, they will last for quite a few weeks without the need of preservatives and lots of packaging.

Have fun!

Presents for a gardener friend

2009-12-12T14:00:00.004+00:00

Buy a collection of seed packets. (f.e. different lettuce and herb seeds).

Mix them up and divide them again into different little envelopes. These can be made out of brown envelopes that were sent to you. Write your own instructions on this mix pack of salad seeds to be grown in a window box in spring. This way you can give organically grown lettuce. No food miles, a fun activity for just a little bit of effort.

For those who have an allotment and would like some help with planning, a year's subscription to growveg.com will be a real helping hand. £15

To present, get an acorn, pine corn etc and attach the little seed packet to it.

Happy growing!

First Aid for Teenagers

2009-12-11T23:00:00.002+00:00

It is not always easy to find an appropriate present for your fast growing up offspring. This might give you a fun but simple way out.
Buy a basic First Aid box (poundland or similar) and fill it with emergency items for teenagers items. Examples :

stamps
change for a call box
a taxi card with local taxi phone numbers on.
£1 Boots voucher
a mini bar of chocolate
a simple hairband a sachet of hair gel
a sachet of shampoo
an awful photo of yourself as a teenager
a note giving them one free lift somewhere in the car no moans guaranteed.
a note guaranteeing you will listen to a 'confession' without getting mad
a note giving them a phone call to you anytime of night or day, for any reason
a note saying you will cook their favourite dish when they have a low day
a heart shaped note with the word 'Hug anytime' on it
a note saying you will say 'No' if any girlfriend or boyfriend in the future asks if you have any cute baby photo's of them etc etc
This can be adapted to any age obviously....

A present for a good friend and the family

2009-12-10T11:26:00.001+00:00

Make a Christmas hamper with a selection of (home made) biscuits, jams and juices, a jar of organic hot chocolate, coffee, tea or malt drink, some fairtrade chocolates, nuts, etc. A bees wax Candle with a Christmas wish from you all.

Go to your local vegetable shop for a small wooden tangerine box. There is no need to wrap this box, just put your goodies with some tissue paper (from the local shoe shop) into the box and put a nice tag on it and a wonderful gift is created.

A 'green' presents that benefits the environment in more ways than one!

2009-12-09T08:00:00.002+00:00

Are you looking for a present for a family that enjoys films?

Why not give them a membership to a web DVD rental service? It will reduce transport, packaging and production costs (as you hire the DVD and share one copy with hundreds of other members) and it will give the recipient a long lasting surprise.

Or you can buy a £35 Tesco voucher for the same service and get a free gift.
www.tescodvdrental.com/freegift and enter promo code TSZZ9876

I have been a member of the Amazon rental scheme for some years now and have found them excellent. Tesco DVD rental and Lovefilm, I have just read the reviews...

If you join the scheme by going through www.buy.at/SharedGarden click on Amazon, Tesco or Lovefilm, they will all contribute a percentage towards the Seed Fund of the Shared Garden Project. A community garden project in West Bridgford http://www.sharedgarden.co.uk/

Eleven Million Phones this Christmas

2009-12-07T13:39:00.004+00:00

Tesco Mobile, the mobile phone service of the giant supermarket chain has carried out some research and found that around 11 million people are expecting to have a new phone in the run up to Christmas this year. Great for mobile phone companies but the worrying side effect is that 20% of people are expected to simply throw their old phone away!!

Why? Well, it seems we don’t really know how to recycle them so throwing them away is an easy alternative! To try and help a little Tesco have a mobile recycling service where you can earn cash, vouchers, green club points or donate money to charity. Even if your phone won’t switch on they will still give money to charity.

Full details can be found at www.tesco.com

The Eco List top gift websites

2009-12-06T23:00:00.004+00:00

Over the last few months we have come across lots of fantastic websites where plenty of Christmas ideas and presents can be bought from.

The following were my favorite ones:

1. Biome lifestyle: www.biomelifestyle.com

2. Nigel's Eco Store: www.nigelsecostore.com

3. All things green: www.allthingsgreen.net

4. The Green Box Shop
5. The Natural Collection: www.naturalcollection.com

6. Oxfam unwrapped: www.oxfam.org.uk

7. Essential Oil Direct: www.essentialoilsdirect.co.uk

8. The Shared Garden:buy.at/SharedGarden

9. I want one of those: www.iwantoneofthose.com

I hope you all have a stress free and Happy Christmas!

Should we send Christmas cards?

2009-12-04T14:26:00.002+00:00

Christmas brings out the best in all of us, whatever our religious beliefs, we can all enjoy its spirit.
Family and friends can use the occasion to stay in touch. Cards are a token of that social outreach.

Charity cards increase the good feeling of giving to those less fortunate

An email and a direct donation makes good sense. (make sure you Gift Aid it to let the taxman help out a bit at the same time!)

Those friends from whom you don't hear much during the year it is great to get their family update through an email or letter.
But let's not be too prescriptive, you know your friends, family and collegues and you no doubt know what they would appreciate best.

Depending on how you want to balance between tradition and sustainable living, there are quite a few options from which you can choose.

Over the next few days I shall be looking at:

making your own Christmas cards
Sending recycled Christmas cards (like these designer ones from Nigel's eco store)
If you buy recycled Christmas cards from charities they donate up to 20% to less fortunate people.
Pick up the phone and surprise 10 friends or family members on your Christmas card list to have a chat and say Merry Christmas!

You will no doubt receive Christmas cards from other people. Those you don't want to reuse to make your cards for next year with, make sure they don't go to waste – take them to a Woodland Trust recycling point.

Craft your own Christmas – County Council workshops show you how!

2009-12-04T12:08:00.002+00:00

The County Council is getting in the festive spirit and wants to get Notts residents thinking ahead too.

On Saturday 5th December West Bridgford Library, Bridgford Road, from 10-12.30 and 1.30-3.30pm

Over the Christmas period an additional three quarters of a million tonnes of extra waste is generated in the UK. Typical Christmas-related waste includes a staggering 13,350 tonnes of glass, 4,500 tonnes of tin foil, 500 tonnes of discarded Christmas tree lights and enough wrapping paper to reach the moon if laid end to end.

Nottinghamshire County Council and local craft artist, Lucy Brown will be hosting a series of workshops across the county in December showing Nottinghamshire residents how to transform their rubbish into top quality Christmas gifts and decorations using a little bit of creative know-how.

Councillor Richard Butler, Cabinet Member for Environment and Sustainability said: “These workshops will demonstrate just how fun and easy it can be to make something unique for Christmas from materials that you might normally just throw away. Making gifts, decorations and wrapping will also save the expense and extra packaging that comes with buying brand new items.

“The County Council are committed to helping people reduce, reuse and recycle their waste and constantly seek new and innovative ways to help them achieve this. So far, we have achieved a recycling rate of around 41 percent and with your help we can increase this further. We want to break the myth that people have to do big, dramatic or expensive things to help the environment – it is simply not true and we can all make a difference.”

Lucy Brown will be demonstrating how material that could of ended up in the bin can be turned into an array of eye catching decorations and gift wrapping. Local people will be able to join in at one of the county’s library’s for either a free morning or afternoon session, or all day if they wish! If you are interested in taking part in one of the workshops please contact the Waste Management team on 0115 9774172 or email waste.management@nottscc.gov.uk to register your interest. It's best to ring if you're interested but spaces may be available on the day dependent upon numbers or come along if you just fancy watching.

Nottinghamshire residents have already achieved a fantastic recycling and composting rate. However, the celebrations and holidays we enjoy over Christmas do end up creating more waste and it is important we keep reducing, recycling and reusing our household rubbish wherever possible.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

If you’re interested in setting up a photocall at individual workshops please contact us.

For further media information please contact the Sarah Bailey in the corporate communications team on 0115 9773729.

The Gift of Electricity for Christmas

2009-12-03T14:10:00.001+00:00

As we all start switching on those Christmas lights (which are hopefully low energy!) and begin cooking and baking, spare a thought for your energy consumption. This is quite an 'energy heavy' season and might just be a great time to consider switching your provider to something more easy on the planet.

Good Energy is the only UK supplier providing 100% renewable electricity. Many others offer a 'Green Tariff', but no one else obtains all of the electricity they supply from renewable sources.

So, get a quote, see how much CO2 you could stop being pumped into the atmosphere and bathe in that warm glow of knowing you are using a renewable source. Perhaps now is the time to give your home a green Christmas present by switching - it takes about 5 minutes and you can do it online now.

www.Good-Energy.co.uk

Earthwise - Environmental activities for Children

2009-12-02T23:00:00.005+00:00

Excellent book giving environmental activites for children. This book is a 'must have'.

Divided into Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer, the book guides you through various crafts and activites appropriate to the season. All are related in some way to the world in which we live, and aim to increase childrens' awareness of their natural environment.

I really liked the gift section for Christmas. Each activity is graded by age - many being suitable for children from 2 years of age.

I would recommend this book to any parent of pre-school or primary age children, and also to play group leaders and teachers as a valuable resource to enhance the learning experience of children.

You can buy it online, just click here.

Christmas crackers with a difference

2009-12-02T23:00:00.004+00:00

Crackers, although good fun, can be such a waste.

Now Biome Lifestyle exclusively brings you the new ‘eco cracker’!
The exterior of the cracker is formed from handmade seed paper. The paper is very unique as it contains seeds within the paper. So if you plant the paper, you will be left with beautiful wild flowers to remember your Christmas by instead of an overflowing dustbin!
Inside the cracker there will be a handy eco-tip and a small gift, which will range from a fantastic charitable donnation to a fair trade key ring! For more details contact:
Biomelifestyle

Make your crackers worthwhile this Christmas and not another addition to landfill!
Biome Eco Seed Crackers - Box of 6 £25

What about this as an alternative Christmas Tree?

2009-12-02T09:52:00.003+00:00

Are you a keen beer drinker, interested in recycling/re-using and arty at the same time?
this is what could be done to make an alternative Christmas Tree.
Start saving these bottles, find some mirrors and no ball games allowed indoors!