Looking for Eco Friendly products

himbo

Recycled vending machine coffee machine cups and old yoghurt pots are recycled and made into fantastic slate like accessories for the home.

The shop has house names, clocks, placemats and sundials:

http://www.bubbledrum.co.uk/shop/category_53/Eco-Friendly-Range

Bramleyapple

We have to find a way to use less plastic - or find a way to degrade the plastics that are littering our environment. It's now possible to buy totally degradable plastic bags - a small step we can all take.

I'm very concerned about the plastic pollution legacy the last 50 years of the 'throw-away-society' has created.

There are a lot of videos on YouTube about the plastic pollution in the oceans. I've posted a link below - if it doesn't work just go to YouTube and put in 'plastic ocean pollution' - everyone needs to see this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnUjTHB1lvM

southerly

rogerblack wrote: »

Plastic isn't always bad.
It can - done right - be a very very low waste method of packaging.
A couple of examples that spring to mind are the orange polypropylene string bags around oranges, the wrap of slightly thicker than cling-film around cabbages, and meat joints sealed in tightly fitting fairly thick plastic.

In all these cases, the plastic weighs well under half a percent of the product weight.
It may in some cases be a net benefit, as it means - for example - you don't need to discard the outer leaves of the cabbage that may get damaged if it was unpacked.
If the energy used to grow those leaves was greater than the energy lost in producing and recycling the plastic - it's a net win.

Yes but how often would the plastic products you mention actually be recycled? I didn't think polypropylene was recyclable, none of those items could go in my recycling bin. They are more likely to end up in landfill.

Mama_Cookie

This is a great sight for eco friendly gifts, packaging is kept to a minimum & always re-used www.lovefairtrade.co.uk They have lots of recycled goods made from crisp packets, cotton rag, old inner tubes & scraps of metal. :T

Peter_Pan

billsavings wrote: »

Your find a fair few Wikaniko Distributors have tried to promote there network marketing business here,touting for recruits biz etc.

I'm declaring that i am a Wikaniko Distributor before anyone jumps on me as usual i joined initially as i saw it a way of covering my own spend on the eco-friendly products by sharing them with friends and family but i wanted to share a website which one of my Team came across (and is not connected with Wikaniko) on a biscuit wrapper and is a great way to recycle those biscuit wrappers, baby wipe packaging which can't currently be recycled in our bins locally http://www.terracycle.co.uk/en-UK/ also available in lots of other Countries as well as UK.

Debbie

Ben84

southerly wrote: »

Yes but how often would the plastic products you mention actually be recycled? I didn't think polypropylene was recyclable, none of those items could go in my recycling bin. They are more likely to end up in landfill.

One of the popular film plastics, LDPE (number 4) is recyclable in the plastic bag bins commonly found in supermarkets. This plastic is often used to wrap loo rolls, some fruit and vegetables and sometimes rice/pasta. It is possible to recycle it, but it's not so popular in home recycling services as it just doesn't represent a large volume of waste that is practical to recover. Recycling services tend to focus on packaging that is much heavier. In contrast, lightweight plastic film packaging largely helps the environment through reduction rather than recycling, so I often choose it in place of energy intensive glass and metal, even through I know it will have to be landfilled.

1echidna

We were told by the council that the problem with plastic bags and other very flexible plastic is that it gets wrapped around the rollers on the recycling plant conveyor belts. Our recycling takes all kinds of stiff plastic though.

sophlowe45

at the moment, Method cleaning products are on 3 for 2 at Waitrose and Ecover products are one third off if that makes things more affordable for anyone.

Just listening to the news saying demand for electricity will be outstripping demand in the next four years, particularly in 201t and 2016 and prices will go up.

can't they do some kind of thing where x amount of electricity used is charged at a lower rate, anything used by a household over that ampunt charged at a higher rate. Encouraging people to think about using less.

never though about economy 7 that way, just saw it as an expensive nuisance.

Martyn1981

sophlowe45 wrote: »

can't they do some kind of thing where x amount of electricity used is charged at a lower rate, anything used by a household over that ampunt charged at a higher rate. Encouraging people to think about using less.

never though about economy 7 that way, just saw it as an expensive nuisance.

I've pondered the very same. Maybe reversing our current charging policy where the tier 1 units are expensive and the tier 2 units cheaper.

Maybe use the VAT element (a bit like VED is used on cars), lower VAT for low demand, with rising VAT as demand rises.

Maybe adopt a similar system to S. Korea (I think?) where, as you suggested, the price goes up as you use more, with I believe monthly usage bandings.

Trouble is it smacks of anti-market practices, since normally you pay less as you use more of something. So we have to decide if energy is a right or a privilege.

Could luck with that one!

Mart.

sophlowe45

same thing on the news again, but they are making the energy shortage sound more serious now, bet this means more people will favour fracking now.

I'm liking the sound of South Korea's policy, maybe I should just hurry up and switch to goodenergy or ecotricty, then at least my money will go towards investing more the government minimum into renewable energy.

you wouldn't believe the words spellchecker changed those two energy providers names to!

but with mobile phones, internet, you pay more the more you use, more minutes, mobile internet you use, unlimited broadband costs more than capped broadband, so the more you use the more you pay.

have I got something wrong there?