Anya Hindmarch I'm not a Plastic Bag Shopping Bag

A few days ago I was leafing through a newspaper, which had pictures of people excitedly queuing up at Sainsbury's stores all around the country in order to grab their very own Anya Hindmarch I'm not a plastic shopping bag. Nice to see more people doing their part to go greener while being fashionable at the same time. Celebrities such as actress Keira Knightley have been seen shopping around London with this very trendy bag.

I also spotted at least two people on the Underground/Tube this week with the green Harrods shopping bags which incidentally lasts for at least 10 years (I know because someone I know has had one of those souvenir bags and it has lasted forever).

Anyway, the Anya Hindmarch I'm not a plastic bag, which retails at Sainsbury's stores for £5 (don't forget your nectar points) is still selling furiously on one auction website for some ridiculous prices.

See some of my earlier posts in this blog with more "go green" tips.


Related Blog Topics

Go green - Become more Environmentally Friendly


Related External Link

Planet Earth's new nemesis

Green Invention of the day - Baygen wind-up radio by Trevor Bayliss

The Baygen wind-up radio designed by Trevor Bayliss, a British born inventor, is an ingenious device designed for regions where electricity is limited and batteries are expensive, it is also very green as the radio requires no batteries or mains electricity. Trevor had the idea to design the radio after watching a documentary about Africa. This battery-less radio can be easily used and winds up in just seconds and generates power for up to an hour.

Read more about one of the worlds ingenious green inventions at http://www.windupradio.com/trevor.htm

The Guardian Climate Change Summit 2007

The Climate Change Summit on how to succeed in a low carbon economy is being held at the Victoria Plaza in London on the 11th June 2007. This one day summit will focus on how organisation's can prepare for and combat climate change. There will be a host of people attending to discuss the pressing issue of global warming, to reserve your place and for more information email climatechangesummit@choicegroup.co.uk or visit www.guardian.co.uk/climatesummit.

Keynote speaker: Ken Livingstone (Mayor of London)

Green tip of the day - Quick tip for descaling your kettle

My friend's bathroom

Limescale build-up in your electric kettle can cause it to take twice as long to boil. You can save energy by descaling your kettle and reducing the amount of time and energy your kettle will use before it boils. This is particularly helpful if you live in a hard water area. It is fairly easy to determine whether you live in an area with hard water due to the obvious encrustations of limescale deposited around the taps in your bathroom and kitchen and the quality of the water, which is fairly hard to lather with a bar of soap. Another characteristic of hard water is its cloudy appearance when boiling. Also, after using hard water to bathe, you will notice that your skin feels dry and possibly itchy.

You will find some quick tips of how you can descale your kettle effectively and save energy at the same time.

A simple and cheap method for descaling around your home

Simply putting some vinegar into the kettle (about half a large bottle or the whole of a small bottle) will quickly and efficiently decalcify your kettle leaving it as good as new. For stubborn limescale, just use a bottle brush to quickly scrub clean any residual limescale crusts on the inside of the kettle after you have left the vinegar to sit for a few hours.

You can mix the vinegar with water and even boil the kettle, the heat helps the calcium to dissolve faster. I usually leave the kettle overnight and then rinse it out in the morning.

This is a quick and effective way to descale your kettle without chemicals, and as an added bonus, vinegar is very cheap and because it is something you put on food anyway, you won't have to worry about chemical poisoning if somebody accidentally boils the kettle to make a cup of tea while you have the vinegar sitting inside. However, I find that leaving a note on the kettle usually helps to alert family, friends and housemates that the kettle should not be used.

Additionally, I have found that using a water filter will help to reduce the build-up of calcium encrustations in your kettle and you will notice the difference in the colour of your tea from dark and cloudy brown to rich and golden.

You can also use citric acid powder derived from lemons and limes to descale your kettle and other things around the house affected by limescale build-up. This also works as well as vinegar due to its acidic nature and helps to decalcify limescale encrustations naturally.

Vinegar and acetic acid is also great to use around the house to keep your taps gleaming and full of shine. You can also use it in the bath to keep the bathtub and shower areas free of scum and dirty build-up, which can leave the area looking unsightly. Spray some on your shower curtain to keep it looking clean and fresh and also around the taps and sinks to keep limescale encrustations away.

Leave me a comment if you have any other household cleaning tips!

Recycling in England, what a waste!

Comment: Very disappointed!

Video: Recycle your old batteries

This is a short Youtube video about recycling your old batteries. You also have the option of buying re-usable batteries or rechargeable batteries, which you can recharge very cheaply at home.

You can now take your old batteries to your local library and drop them off in the battery recycling bins provided there.


Update 18/01/2009

PS Rechargeable batteries can be also recycled and VARTA, Ever Ready and Panasonic have a freepost scheme in place that takes them back according to some information provided by Alan, a friend of mine who is interested and involved in green issues.

Recycling your old batteries

Related External Links

Waste Online - Battery Recycling G & P Battery Recycling Specialist

Video: The benefits of using cloth nappies as an alternative to disposable nappies

This is an interesting video highlighting the advantages for the environment of using cloth nappies over disposable nappies/diapers and at the same time saving money.

Video on cloth nappies

Personally, I feel that nappy manufacturers could do more for the environment by using biodegradable materials for disposable nappies, they would naturally decompose once exposed to the environment.

Additionally cloth nappies are useful for the environment because the cloth can be recycled once the nappies are no longer required.


Related External Link

Nappies - A messy situation