Nigeria introduces recycling incentive

Nigeria introduces recycling incentive

Food waste bags for recycling

Food waste compostable bag

If you have a food waste bin, these compostable recycling bags are excellent because you can put all your kitchen food waste inside and then dump these into your food waste bin outside. It has the added convenience of preventing bad odours of decomposing food.

Illustrated on the outside of the bag are a number of suggestions on things that you can place in the bag. 

Some people may already be familiar with these bags. Some boroughs provide them for food waste recycling or you may have to buy some.

Generally, food that would go in these are food scraps or food that can no longer be eaten which has gone stale. Personally, I don't like to waste good food.

The following is a list of the items that you can place into the bags for recycling:

Bread and pastries
Dairy
Fish
Fruit and vegetables
Meat and bones
Tea and coffee grounds
Other food waste

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Top Green Tips for becoming more Green and Environmentally Friendly

Here are my top green tips - These have come off the top of my head, but I will add more when I think of them and then I will update this post.

Did you know that car parts and old electrical items can be recycled and used to make things like pens and pencils? I was given a few recycled pencils and a pen and when I read the information on the side, they were made from recycled car parts.

Selling off unwanted and used electricals - You can easily sell your unwanted and used electricals to people who need and want them, or you can give them away. Some people use the parts of these machines for spares or to build things. This will save landfill, which is where most of these items go once they are no longer in use. If not in this country, then they go to developing countries where they pollute the land for innocent people.

Buy re-usable or rechargeable batteries - If you buy re-usable batteries, you can use these for a number of years without throwing them away. This will not only save you money, but it helps to preserve the environment as single use batteries contain mercury which is not only poisonous but also toxic. There are many places that now provide battery recycling such as your local library and various retail outlets.

Recycle your old and unwanted clothing, shoes and accessories - You can give these to a reputable charity. Old clothes and accessories can easily be used to make new material such as quilts and blankets and can be re-used by others. If your shoes are in good condition, you can give these away as well. Also, someone, somewhere could make good use and appreciate this clothing. Instead of throwing these items away, give them to people who need them.

Use natural products - Natural occurring products are good for the environment as they require minimum manufacturing, energy, chemicals etc. These also have the added bonus of being biodegradable, decomposing and wearing away once left out in the open environment for a considerable length of time.

Use biodegradable products - These will waste away and disintegrate easily and naturally and will not litter the environment and pollute the sea.

Use a water butt - You can use one of these to collect water. The water can be used to water your flowers, as well as house and garden plants, these have an added bonus as plants like rain water. If you look at your house plants which are watered with tap water, you can see a white film and build-up around these plants. This is caused by the calcium and other minerals in tap water. The plants hate this. I used to have this on my plant, so I started using filtered water on the house plant and I sometimes leave the plants outside when it rains, this will help to wash away the calcium.


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Book Recommendation - Reduce Reuse Recycle - An Easy Household Guide by Nicky Scott

A few weeks ago, I attended the People and Planet Group meeting at my University.

At the last meeting, I was told about Reduce, Reuse, Recycle a book written by Nicky Scott, which is easy to read and highlights various ways you can recycle a number of household items, including reducing household waste output. The book is even printed on recycled paper.

The book outlines a number of recyclable items such as batteries, attic clearance, ceramics, old coins, old clothes, electrical appliances, your spectacles and much more.

After glancing through a copy bought by a People and Planet member, I knew I immediately wanted a copy of my own. I bought it at Blackwells bookshop for £2 reduced from £3.95, although it is still a bargain at the original price.

It is an enjoyable read and contains a lot of practical information that you can start using immediately. I have learned some new things from it such as recycling engine oil, recycling of fluorescent light tubes or lightbulbs, vending cups and even paint! As they say, you learn something new everyday!

Christmas tree recycling - Contact your local council for facilities

If you are wondering what to do with your real Christmas tree after the festive season, you can visit the website of your Local Borough Council to check what facilities they have in place for recycling and reuse of used Christmas trees.

A number of local councils have designated dates which they have allocated for collection of Christmas trees. Some local councils will collect the trees as well as Christmas cards to be recycled. Christmas cards can be put in the paper and card recycling boxes or bags provided.

Real Christmas trees can be left on the side of the pavement next to your wheelie bin along with other recyclable items, which will be picked up at the allocated times or days specified by your local council. Please contact your local council for information.

Recycled Trees can be used for a number of things such as firewood, mulch, which helps to keep weeds out. Those are already two uses I can think of. If you can think of any more, then leave a comment in the comment section below the post.

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Recycle your old inkjet cartridges

Tommy's the baby charity participate in a recycling scheme to recycle old Hewlett Packard and Lexmark printer cartridges. This scheme is provided through www.inkagain.co.uk. Their recycle centre raises money for Tommy's vital research into the causes of miscarriage, premature births and stillbirths. They have a goal of £55,000 this year. When you visit the Inkagain website, there are other charities that are sponsored through the ink cartridge recycling scheme.

The environmental benefits are as follows:

• Inkjet cartridge recycling helps to reduce carbon emissions, a major cause of global warming, conserves resources and reduces waste

• Inkjet cartridges will take about 1000 years to decompose in landfills sites

To order their freepost recycling bags for your chosen charity you can:

1. Call: 0800 435576 quoting "Tommy's bag"
2. Email: tommysbags at inkagain.co.uk (just replace the at with the @ sign)
   
3. Fax: 020 8838 6777
4. Order via their website at www.inkagain.co.uk and click on charity scheme

Inkagain currently have a prize draw for some goodies up for grabs for everyone who sends in their used ink cartridges.

Tommy's the baby charity is a registered charity no. 1060508

Do you know of any other places where ink cartridges can be recycled or donated. If so, leave a comment below.




Comments on this topic......

alfred said...

"Ideally, used printer ink cartridges should find their way to special recycling centers where the materials these cartridges were made of are retrieved for future use. Unfortunately, only 25% of all those millions of cartridges consumed every year go that way. Most of them end up at some landfill or some other garbage facility instead. Save The Environment & Use Recycled Printer Ink Cartridge Always be conscientious even with the printer ink cartridges that you use. Recycle empty printer cartridges and buy remanufactured ink as much as possible."

Reduce the volume of your waste and save landfill

A few ideas on reducing the volume of your household waste are:

1. Use kitchen waste to make compost with the skins of fruit and vegetables such as potato peel and the rind of fruits such as oranges. You can also use your garden waste to make compost as well. Take a look in your local garden centre and invest in a small domestic compost bin.
2. When recycling plastic bottles or water bottles, collapse the bottles by taking the lid off and squashing the bottle down, the grooves on the bottle will help with this. Once the bottle is fully collapsed, put the lid back on and it will stay in place allowing room for other materials.
3. Don't throw your old clothes or shoes away, give them to charity or take them to a clothes or shoe bank in order to be recycled or re-used by someone who needs them.
4. Cut up and collapse cardboard boxes so that they use up less space. You can also do this to small boxes such as pizza and other food packaging.
5. Re-use your padded envelopes and use them to send fragile items in the post.
6. Look for products that contain minimal packaging instead of unnecessary and excessive packaging, which only serves to drive up the cost of production anyway. Also look for packaging that can be recycled or re-used.
7. Re-use the packaging from products around the house, for example use empty ice cream containers to store food in the fridge or freezer or re-use plastic containers from takeaway or for storage in the fridge or freezer.
8. Instead of throwing out old cupboards and wardrobes, check to see if other people can make use of the wood in a building or DIY project. There are a number of websites online where you can exchange, swap or giveaway your unwanted items.

Go green - Become more Environmentally Friendly

One of my passions has always been green issues and finally I have created this blog to write about ways that we can all go green. One of my pet hates is going shopping and seeing customers taking all the shopping bags that end up in the bin afterwards, an unnecessary waste, it's funny but at Lidl's, where people have to pay for the bags, you notice that they bring their own bags....LOL

Re-use - Take your own shopping bags when you're going shopping or get the stronger re-usable cloth shopping bags, organic shopping bags or hard wearing bags available from Tesco, Harrods etc or look out for the 'Bag for life', an environmentally friendly alternative to plastic carrier bags. If you are going to use plastic bags, look for biodegradable bags that will eventually decompose when exposed to the environment.

Go Green - Energy and Water Action Sheet

Put all recyclable materials you don't use into recycle bags, boxes or take them to a recycling bank.

Give away or exchange your used furniture if you no longer need it and have bought a replacement.

Save energy - Turn off electrical items and appliances not in use and don't leave them on standby.

Conserve - Don't waste water, electricity or food.

Leave your car at home - If you are travelling a short distance, try cycling, walking or getting a bus instead.

Recycle your old printer cartridges, clothes, shoes, bags, paper and all items that can be recycled.

Unplug appliances and mobile phone chargers if not in use, this will also help you to save on your energy bills.

Use energy saving light bulbs, these will use less energy and will also save you money in electric bills. Apparently, some people are allergic to these energy saving lightbulbs and they contain some harmful chemicals, so I have been reading, so these would have to be disposed of and recycled carefully after they have been used.

At work, turn off your computer and printers when you're leaving, also don't forget to turn off the lights.


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