I am becoming a bit disillusioned about some peoples views on the benefits of and commitment towards recycling following some recent press and media reports on the lack of market for recycled produce, i.e. stacks of paper being stockpiling in warehouses around the country.

However, people are beginning to think “what is the point of sorting my waste if it is just being stockpiled”. Well I will tell you the point, if it was not sorted then those large piles of paper, etc that you are seeing will end up in landfill and wasted, this is not what we want. I would encourage you all to keep recycling and to put pressure on your local authorities to continue recycling schemes which they may currently feel is uneconomical in financial terms, but as we all know it is not just money that matters in the world today.

What I would suggest in the meantime is a bit more micro household recycling and reuse. Just simple little things. Reuse plastic bottles rather than buying yet another bottle of water, use both sides of paper when printing, put waste paper in your compost bin, use shredded paper as pet bedding, and so on. This is much more efficient and productive than sending it to the local authority in the present economic climate. You may even see an improvement to your own ‘bottom line’ as a result!!!

Hi all,

Belated new year wishes to you all.  I hope 2009 is a happy and prosperous one for you all.

Has anyone made New Year resolutions, are you managing to stick to them or relented!

I have a few short term goals in mind don’t know if I could class them as New Year resolutions though, more a case of things that need done.  Number 1 is to construct a storage wheelie cabinet for sorting waste - at the moment it does done to cumulate in a boxes lying in various different places.  Hopefully I will get a storage solution that can be wheeled in and out from under a space on the worktop in the kitchen.

Number 2 task is to sort out some for of renewable energy generation for the shed that has no electricity supply.  Don’t know if solar would be as effective as wind so looking at some small scale turbines.

So lets have them, what are your resolutions/immediate tasks for the year.

Don’t be shy!

Following on from my post on the Christmas tree a few days ago I now turn my attention to the Christmas card - we received our first one through the door today.

I have a little misgivings about the Christmas card ‘issue’.  It is obviously an area of great consumption (and consequently waste) with literally millions, if not billions!, of cards sent and delivered every Christmas with a significant percentage ending up in landfill.  On the up side there is the fact that you are often sending cards to loved ones at what some people see as a special time of year, to let them know you are thinking of them. 

What really does annoy me is when people send Christmas cards to people they do not really know that well just because they feel they should, or because they have received one from them.  Now we will no doubt be receiving cards from people that we will not be “returning the favour” to and to a large extent I will not worry too much if they think any less of me for not doing so.  When I see them I will wish them a Happy Xmas surely this is enough?  Do I really need a card as well to say this?

For those of you that do receive cards please, please do not throw them in the bin in January.  But look to recycle them.  Where I live there are local recycling schemes and I am sure there will be ones near you to.  If you are in the UK you can also use the Woodland Trust Scheme

Hi all,

On a cold, wet and dark Sunday afternoon I have yet again turned to the internet for a little inspiration and I have come some very interesting sites concerning low environmental impact households, with one in particular: Simon Dale’s house in Wales attracting my attention.

At the moment I am can only aspire to such a home, but I am very keen on building my knowledge in this area.  I am currently taking small steps at the moment to improve/reduce the environmental impact of my ‘conventional’ home but my goal is to live in a home (that also includes the way of living in the home) that has zero environmental impact, how this comes about is still open to debate.  I am not sure if it will exactly follow Simon Dale’s lead or whether it will be more a compromise between this and more conventional housing.

Hi all,

I would like to draw attention to an article run I am doing on man made products and recycling.  This is part of my ‘grand plan’ to build a very useful resource of environmental improvement/awareness articles.  I would like to thank Simone who has kindly contributed these articles on recycling.  Although she is writing them from an American perspective the message holds true everywhere.

The latest article on plastic recycling can be found here: Plastic Recycling Benefits