Recycling Scheme Gets Recognition

Environment Minister Sammy Wilson this week paid tribute to a Lisburn recycling project which is helping people on low incomes.

During a visit to the Voluntary Service Lisburn’s (VSL) facilities, the Minister saw at first hand how electrical goods and furniture were being recycled for the benefit of the local community.

Voluntary Service Lisburn was established in 1981 to help meet the needs of the disadvantaged, disabled and elderly in the local community. In addition to its furniture refurbishment and white goods recycling, VSL operates a substantial volunteer system, and carries out environmental and community projects.

Financial backing from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency’s (NIEA) Community Waste Innovation Fund has enabled the project to provide an important service which is recycling goods which would otherwise have gone to landfill and which are sold on to people on low incomes at low costs.

NIEA’s Community Waste Innovation Fund is providing support to VSL until 2009, for its electrical (white) goods recycling project.

VSL Interiors is located in Haslems Lane in the city, just off the main shopping district Bow Street, and is part of the Lisburn Square shopping centre. They collect unwanted domestic white goods such as cookers, washing machines, dryers and small electrical items and repairs and refurbishes them for sale at low cost to those on low incomes.

This project to date has reduced the household appliances going to landfill by 132 tonnes to date, and any that cannot be reused and sold on is recycled in accordance with the latest environmental protection legislation.





Whilst I am impressed with such a service existing and this is a model example of recycle, reduce and reuse. But in the case of appliances, should we be putting old electrical appliances in homes which are less energy efficient than that of new ones.

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Milk Sludge Fertilising Willow

Dale Farm’s environmentally aware staff have come up with a novel solution for reducing the company’s carbon footprint – using sludge from the waste water treatment plant at Dunman to grow willows.

Traditionally the sludge, which is a normal by-product of dairy processing, has been spread on farmland – where it acts as a valuable fertiliser. However, the Nitrates Directive has effectively reduced the amount of land that can be treated this way and other outlets had to be examined. After reviewing a range of possible options, it was decided that applying the sludge to Short Rotation Coppice Willow for producing renewable energy biomass, was an environmentally friendly solution that was also cost effective.

The scheme, which is operated in partnership with Rural Generation Ltd, began on a trial basis in June. It uses bespoke machinery that injects the sludge below the surface of the ground in a willow plantation in the Cookstown area, relatively close to the Dunman factory.

A permit had to be attained from the Environment and Heritage Service to allow the sludge to be used this way. The effluent has to be treated using a belt press, which increases the solid content to approximately 12% – which results in fewer transport movements and thus reduces the fuel and labour required.

Willow production is a renewable and sustainable energy crop that is harvested and used to produce either heat or electricity. Harvesting is usually on a two yearly rotation when the willow is cut and chipped, and some local Councils are currently using willow as an alternative energy source for heating e.g. swimming pools.

Willow production does not contribute to global warming – the only carbon dioxide released upon burning is that which was fixed from the air whilst the willow was growing, making it “carbon neutral” unlike other fuels such as coal and oil.

The use of sludge as a soil conditioner and source of nitrogen on willow plantations is a good example of an environmentally sustainable, low carbon route for recycling an organic waste stream. It is well established in Europe and N America, but is still relatively new in N Ireland and Dale Farm is the first local company to investigate this opportunity.

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Charity Shops Reports Bumper Profits as Credit Crunch Crisis Continues

It seems as times get hard people are turning to charity shops as a way of beating the credit crunch. The profits of the top charity shops rose 7.4% to a total of £106.7m over the past year, in stark contrast to falls across the rest of the retail sector.

Recent figures from the British Retail Consortium show that retail sales values were down almost 1% from July 2008.

"Trading conditions, as for all retailing, are now extremely tough, however, evidence from previous slowdowns is that charity shops are well placed to weather economic storms as cash-strapped consumers turn to them for value for money. If charity shops continue to respond to consumer needs, then they are well-placed to come out of this downturn in a good position."
David Moir, Association of Charity Shops

Not that I frequent charity shops, but we can all look on the positive side, charity shops often make use of the stuff we would otherwise throw away, sending straight to landfill. Whilst I'm sure not everything recieved can be found a loving new home, most can, whether it be retro chic 1980's attire or used CD's, DVDs, games or jigsaws, its recycling. Could the economic crisis also yeild even more vintage and quality second hand clothes stores?

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MSC Napoli Dismantling Nears Completion

The dismantling of the MSC Napoli nears completion at Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast. The project has kept 80 shipyard workers busy, essentially "building a ship in reverse", the project has recovered 60 000 tonnes of ship-grade steel which will be reused in other building projects worldwide. Once the drydock is cleared it will be then used for a project constructing 60 wind turbines for a wind farm off the south west coast of Scotland.

Gordon Brown Outlines Climate Plans

Download the Speech (MP3)
Read the Speech
Watch Some of the Speech

Gordon Brown has outlined his plans for the British fight against climate change, fronted by a "green hotline" to advise people on how they can reduce their impact on the environment. The new Green Home Service, a website, telephone hotline and advice centres will be a "one-stop-shop" for advice and information on a range of issues including reducing waste and saving water.


In essence this seems like a government funded carbon copy of the independent Energy Saving Trust, and whilst I'm sure the Green Home Service will provide a competent and worthy service to the public on a range more diverse than currently captured by the EST. It still remains that people will need to seek advice before they change their habits, rather than implementing legislation, funding nationwide initiatives, or implementing voluntary agreements with retailers which forces change. Within his speech he cited that a third of households in the UK will be offered assistance to make carbon reductions in the next three years, equivalent to about 2.2 million homes per year. Potentially leading to reductions of 6m tonnes of CO2 per year by 2010, or 1.1% of total UK CO2 emissions.

"I believe it will require no less than a fourth technological revolution. In the past the steam engine, the internal combustion engine, the microprocessor transformed not just technology but the way our society has been organised and the way people live. Now we're about to embark on a comparable technological transformation to low carbon energy and energy efficiency and this represents an immense challenge to Britain, but it is also an opportunity."
Gordon Brown, Prime Minister, United Kingdom

In addition to the new information service, there was also plans to further co-operation with other countries including Japan and the US to establish a new "funding framework", to help developing countries adjust to low carbon growth, adapt to climate change and tackle deforestation.


In recent months the government has come under increased scrutiny over reports published regarding its commitment to, and likely failure in meeting targets regarding renewable energy. Currently approximately 5% of UK energy is provided by renewable energy sources, however Gordon Brown hit back at these critics stating Britain was absolutely committed to meeting our share of the EU's 2020 renewable energy target, further suggesting it could mean the UK will have to produce between 40 and 50% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. An exceptional target which almost seems pie in the sky to some. BBC environment analyst Roger Harrabin said this would be "staggering", but he said that the government was seeking to negotiate down the EU target.


However this part of the speech will be seriously considered tomorrow as Gordon Brown's government reveals whether consent has been granted to a new coal fired power plant in Kingsmill, Kent (beside an existing inefficient coal-fired power plant). The existing power plant provides up to 7.5% of the UK's current electricity demand by burning 750 tonnes of coal per hour. The proposed new power plant from electricity company E.on would improve efficiency by 20%, equating to carbon emission savings of 2m tonnes a year, however if the proposal is rejected the existing plant will need to close as it will not meet with legislation regarding emissions. This is a scenario facing half of UK coal fired power stations. With the closure of nine nuclear power plants over the next ten years this will result in a reduction in production of electricity of 30%. Eyes will be carefully watching the news tomorrow to hear the result.


There was many other initiatives mentioned in the Climate Change Bill regarding consultation with the British Retail Consortium to phase out plastic bags, a major expansion that will see five million more homes offered discounts of up to 100% on cavity or loft insulation, and another three million offered cheap or free low-energy light bulbs and other appliances. Over the next decade, every household will be offered a smart meter that shows people the true extent of their energy use, encouraging frugality.


With the suggested measures it seems difficult that these will equate to a faction of the 60% reduction in CO2 emissions proposed by 2050.


The reactions to the speech have been varied with quotable regular Philip Sellwood, Chief of the Energy Saving Trust commenting on his blog;

"This Green Homes Service will form the first genuine one-stop-shop for citizens to access advice on all matters 'green' - whether that is energy efficiency, renewable energy, travel, water efficiency and waste reduction. At a time when both Government and particularly Defra's budgets are under such pressure, credit must go to Defra for holding out for this additional funding over the next three years. Sorry if this sounds a bit like I'm being a cheer leader for Hilary Benn, but sometimes even the Government gets things right! I know that's not a very fashionable view these days, but let's at least give a small round of applause on this dark, grey and wet Tuesday!"
View Greener Homes Are In Sight!

Other Reactions to the Prime Ministers Speech;

"Six months in the job of prime minister, and Brown has finally got around to talking about climate change. Whilst I welcome plans to consider tightening the 60% target, the government is playing catch-up - and asking another committee to look at the figures won't help. To make real headway on curbing our emissions, we need to act now. We do not have time for yet more commissions and reviews, for more political delay. Today's speech was sorely lacking in real measures to reduce our emissions."
Caroline Lucas, Green Party


"In March, Tony Blair committed the government to an EU target for 20% of Europe's energy to come from renewables. Since then the government - and particularly the dinosaurs in the DBERR (Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform) have tried to wriggle out of it. It is good to see Gordon Brown recommit to this and get the renewables revolution back on track."
Keith Allott, WWF UK


"It's good news that the government will not renege on its EU renewable energy targets. But we need to look at the small print to see whether Mr Brown is really prepared to meet 20% of our energy from renewables without counting nuclear power as the French are doing. The government blithely talks of the opportunities created by green industries yet refuses to promote fledgling initiatives properly. Boasts of a new Green Home Service seem shallow when recent cuts to the New Millennium Grants will dissuade many homeowners from installing energy saving measures in their homes."
Chris Huhne, Liberal Democrats


"After a summer of lobbying, wriggling and confusion, the government's apparent change of heart on renewable power is fantastic news, but will only be credible if new policies emerge to actually meet targets. Britain lags a long way behind most of our European neighbours on renewable power, despite having the greatest wind, wave and tidal resource in Europe. We should be able to contribute our fair share of the EU-wide renewable energy commitment and source at least 20% of our energy from renewables by 2020."
Tony Juniper, Friends of the Earth


"It's positive that the prime minister has raised the bar ahead of the Bali conference by talking about an 80% cut in UK carbon emissions by 2050. Oxfam believes that only an 80% cut in rich countries' emissions will be enough to stop the worst impacts of climate change. The world's poorest people - already hard hit by climate change - depend upon rich countries like the UK moving first and fastest to set a clear course for a low carbon economy."
Phil Bloomer, Oxfam

Tesco Green Clubcard Point Rant

I am a Tesco shopper, mainly as it is one of the closest large supermarkets to my home. I have always used reusable carrier bags, since before the launch of Green Clubcard Points. At my local Tesco however Green Clubcard Points are not what they seem, as often I have left the store without the points being added, whilst this is not an issue for me (it's just an added benefit to being green), it just seems that Tesco are not keeping their promises, and that some who solely make use of the Green Clubcard Points offer as their main reason to reuse bags will simply stop. Going on the 4% rule (which normally refers to restaurants), where only about 4% of people actually complain, the other 96% might just simply never return or in this case reuse bags. Whilst I am criticising Tesco in relation to one store I'm sure this is just an oversight by some staff, and the green efforts by Tesco are highly commendable.

On a another note, Sainsbury's were giving out free bags for life all weekend. They might still have some left in store tht you could blag. Their efforts have helped to reduce 750 tonnes of plastic bags going to landfill.

Energy Saving Tip # 1 - Staples

I've decide to add a daily tip to the blog, some of which I am sure you have already implemented, and others you might not. I will try to add a new dimension to these tips by delving into some of the potential savings that could be amassed from taking on such tips.

If each of the 10m office workers were to use one less staple per day this would amount to 328kg per day and over 120 tonnes of steel over a year. In energy terms this would be over one million kwh of electricity used and almost 500 000kg of CO2 reduced. A viable alternative to staples are stapleless staplers (and can hold together upto 7 sheets of paper, not to mention office-chic in Japan) or reuseable paperclips.

Why Stapleless Staplers are Japan Office Chic?

• No Staples [You never have an emergency staple moment]
• No Need to Remove Staples
• Easy to Shread Documents
• Less Frequent Jams & Irritating Stapler Related Problems
• Safe for Children [Just search staple in YouTube]
  

Whilst Im sure you are not moved by the figures to ban staples in the office just yet, it shows the impact a small action can have on a national scale. I found this stapleless stapler for under $3 USD including shipping and can hold 5 sheets together. Take into consideration the number of staples you use or in some magazines, supplements, business document, retailers and mail. That's alot of staples.

Hong Kong October 2007

From 03 October 2007, I will be in Hong Kong for eight days, during that time I will be writing on various topics based on energy efficiency in Hong Kong, and how these concepts could be implemented into a low carbon economy in the UK. If you are part of an energy related project in Hong Kong that you would like to publicise, explain to me, show off to the world please feel free to contact me. Our site currently receives in excess of 50 000 hits (75 000 page views) per year and growing steadily month-on-month, with top international brands, and industry insiders reading on a regular basis.

Coke Aims for 100% Recycle Rate

Coca Cola has announced that it plans to invest over £30m in building a PET recycling facility to recycle or reuse 100% of its plastic bottles in the United States. The plant is being built in partnership with United Resource Recovery Corporation, and is expected to be fully functional by 2009. In addition to this ambitious target Coca Cola are strengthening their ties with kerbside collection organisations such as RecycleBank. The news comes after Coke announced plans for a line of eco apparel made from recycled PET, with environmental based slogans 'I'm wearing post-consumer waste, 'My white t-shirt is green' and 'My Bag is Green'.

It's good to see a strong corporate organisation make such an ambitious target for dealing with the consumer waste it produces, especially plastics, whether or not they can step up and meet the target they have set will be seen in the long term.

In the UK companies must recycle 25% of the plastics packaging they produce, and Petcore figures from 2004 said that Europe wide we recycled just over 30% of PET bottles. I wonder will Coke make this gesture in other countries and help us out a little.

Dumped

Next month sees the launch of a three-week reality tv series on channel four in the UK, titled "Dumped", the shows eleven unsuspecting volunteers are left marooned on one of Britain's biggest landfill sites for three weeks. Their challenge? To survive off the rubbish the rest of us have thrown out.

The participants have willingly agreed to take part in a testing eco-challenge but they don't know where. Most have assumed that they will be dropped into a pristine natural environment like the Amazonian Rain Forest or the Arctic.

Starts Sunday 2nd September 2007.

How Are Tyres Recycled?

Over 50 million tyres (just over 480,000 tonnes) were scrapped in the UK in 2001 and around 80,000 tonnes was disposed of in landfill. When disposed of in landfill sites, tyres in large volumes can cause instability by rising to the surface of the site, affecting its long term settlement and therefore posing problems for future use and land reclamation. Rubber materials contain proportions of organic chemicals and little is known about the long-term leaching effects of these materials.

Tyres account for around 3.5% of the weight of an average vehicle, and as a controlled waste under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, a Duty of Care is placed upon waste producers to ensure that waste material is disposed of safely through registered carriers to licensed sites. According to the Used Tyre Working Group's 2001 survey 22% were recycled, 8.3% went to energy recovery, 9.9% were retreaded, 16% were reused and 3.3% were used in landfill engineering. The remainder (approximately 40%) will have been landfilled, stockpiled or illegally disposed of.

There are many ways tyres can be recycled in their original form;

• Reuse of part-worn tyres
  Extracting the maximum safe life from a tyre saves valuable resources (oil, rubber, steel etc).
• Reuse through landfill engineering
  Whole tyres can be used in the preparation/construction of landfill sites, where they are used as leachate draining systems.
• Tyre Retreading
  Tyre retreading is a major industry in the UK. Colway, now C-Tyres, processed 1 million tyres in 1999. Manufacturing a retread tyre for an average car takes 4.5 gallons less oil than the equivalent new tyre and for commercial vehicle tyres the saving is estimated to be about 15 gallons per tyre. Car tyres can only be retreaded once but truck tyres can be retreaded up to three times.
  
  

However when they can't be recycled in their original form they can be chipped. TyreGenics, the UK and northern Europe’s only cryogenic tyre recycling company has officially opened in Baglan, Neath Port Talbot, Wales. The £4m facility (£1.4m of which came from a grant from the European Union’s Objective One fund in support of the jobs and commercial opportunities) will process in excess of 9 000 tyres a day, amounting to 30 000 tonnes a year which would have otherwise been disposed in landfill or in some cases burned producing toxins. The launch follows on from a statement from the Environment Agency in 2003 that urgent action was needed to cut the number of tyres dumped illegally in Welsh beauty spots.

"The volume of tyres being recycled was the equivalent of all the tyres produced in Wales annually. Instead of those going for landfill, drainage or being burnt in cement kilns, they are getting recycled into usable product"
Nick Wyatt, TyreGenics

So how are tyres recycled?, first they are collected and reprocessed by shredding the tyres into millions of tyre ‘chip’, pieces of rubber approximately 50mm x 50mm that have a variety of uses. In the case of TyreGenics, this process is complete by their venture partner Credential Environmental, this company will also collect tyres for recycling in most parts of England & Wales.

This tyre ‘chip’ is the raw material for the cryogenic recycling process. The ‘chip’ is loaded into an enclosed freeze chamber cooled using quantities of inert liquid nitrogen. The 17m chamber takes the chip, cooling all the way along the 15 minute journey, to banks of mechanical hammers. When the chip reaches the hammers, it has been cooled to a temperature of –80 degrees centigrade where the rubber becomes very brittle. The hammers are enclosed in large steel chambers mounted some 2.5m below ground level, where drive shafts running through the chambers propel the hammers to strike against themselves thousands of times each minute. As these hammers hit the frozen tyre chip, they smash rubber off in pieces of various size (known as grade) of tyre ‘crumb’. This crumb is then extracted from the hammer chambers and graded and sorted within the plant into one of 6 grades of crumb for further treatment or direct use.

The process delivers three end products; rubber crumb, steel and fibre.

• The main by-product is rubber crumb, separated and graded for a variety of uses. Around 70 percent of the plants output is used by Field Turf Tarkett who designs and manufactures the surfaces at some of the world’s most famous sporting clubs and stadia including the Denver Broncos, New York Jets and Barcelona’s Nou Camp. Other uses for the crumb include as a component in the manufacture of durable recycled safety flooring systems, within specialist sound insulating wall coverings and in the manufacture of other rubber products.
  
  
• Annually the 4000 tonnes of steel that is recovered during the process at the plant is used by Welsh steel works to produce a wide range of steel products.
  
  
• Annually the 6000 tonnes of fibre extracted during the process is recovered and is currently sent to landfill, but soon hopefully to be used to produce energy. Other potential uses include insulation and cattle bedding.
  
  

If you have Tyres that need recycled find a company that can take them off your hands.

Paper or Plastic?

Never has the issue of how we pack our groceries been such a hot topic, with supporters for plastic and paper pushing their side, in addition to this we now have many stores stocking canvas bags as the next solution to reducing our dependance on paper and plastic bags. So which is the best solution? I've been researching each to find the related pros and cons, and would love to hear your arguements in the comments section of what you use and why.

Having already previously touched on plastic bag reduction last month in the article "Would You Like a Bag?" but not really gone into much detail. Plastic has long been used in the UK, and is used by the majority of shopping outlets, big and small from cornershop to supermarket. Plastic grocery bags consume 40% less energy to produce, 80% less transport energy and generate 80% less solid waste than paper bags. However, plastic bags can take 1,000 years to decompose compared to paper bags which take about a month to decompose (not if they are landfilled). In addition as plastic bags degrade in landfill the bags can emit toxins to the soil. A fact from the Environmental Protection Agency suggests that if every New York City resident used one less plastic bag a year, it would result in a saving of 2 250 tonnes of waste and $250 000 in disposal costs.

To combat the ill effects of plastic a sturdy, reusable bag can be obtained from many stores, including Tesco and needs only be used 11 times to have a lower environmental impact than using 11 disposable plastic bags. Tesco launched a scheme last year to reward UK shoppers who manage to work their way through 18 billion bags a year. A shopper gains a loyalty point for each, bag, box, wheelbarrow or other receptical that they bring with them to carry their goods home.

Co-op was the first supermarket in the UK to make use of biodegradable shopping bags to replace the plastic bags that they had previously used, these have the benefits of plastic bags without the environmental impact, however this does come at a cost to the organisation. On 1st May 2007, the town of Modbury became, what they believe the first town in Europe to be plastic bag free. All 43 local traders agreed that they would no longer offer plastic bags and instead only use 100% biodegradable corn-starch bags, recycled paper bags or reusable cotton or jute bags.

So what about paper bags, are they as friendly as they are made out to be, their popularity has fallen since the introduction of plastic bags in 1977. Paper bags are made from trees, which are a renewable resource, however they many not be sourced from sustainable forests. Most plastic bags are made from polyethylene, which is made from crude oil and natural gas, nonrenewable resources. Paper bags now accounts for less than 20% of all bags used in USA. As stated before paper bags are alot heavier, 2000 plastic bags weigh 30 pounds, 2000 paper bags weigh 280 pounds. Paper therefore requires more transport energy and more landfill space.

It takes 91 percent less energy to recycle a pound of plastic than it takes to recycle a pound of paper, and in manufacture more than four times as much energy to produce a paper bag as it does to manufacture a plastic bag. The energy required to produce the bags (in British thermal units): Safeway plastic bags: 594 BTU; Safeway paper bags: 2511 BTU. Statistics show that in reality a higher proportion of paper bags are recycled than plastic. But 80% of paper bags were still sent to landfill, and to add to this current research demonstrates that paper in landfills does not biodegrade at a rate substaintially faster than plastic. In fact, nothing completely degrades in modern landfills due to the lack of water, light, oxygen, and other important elements that are necessary for the degradation process to be completed.

So what is the solution, to the question Paper or Plastic?, the real answer is neither. Reusable canvas totes seem to have been adopted by many environmentalists as the real solution to the problem, and not only are they environmentally friendly they are the latest fashion accessory adorned by celebrities. This has caused loads of stores online and offline to start selling the bags and prices can range from $3 - $24. So if you want to get canvas tote bags without the price tag, I will be posting an article on how to make your own, with a video on You Tube very soon. In addition I will be giving away a few freebies too.

Mobile Phone Recycling

Every hour in the UK 1712 people upgrade their mobile phone. Only 30% of the redundant phones will be eventually recycled with the rest abandonned in drawers or sent to landfills. In the UK alone it is estimated there is in excess of 80m outdated phones gathering dust with an annual increase of 10m.

Waste from mobile phones has become a major environmental issue, in particular some of the many substances used to manufacture mobiles contain the deadliest toxins known to man, these include Arsenic, Mercury, Cadmium, Palladium, Lead and Beryllium. It therefore is essential that mobile phones are recycles to ensure disposal of any harmful toxins in a controlled manner.

Phones that are able to be refurbished are often refurbished, to an as new standard, extending the product life, the phones are then exported to developing countries providing affordable first time communication equipment and improving local communities and economies.

Phones that can be broken down for parts that can be reused, materials that can be extracted and recycled into the production of new phones. Remaining unsalvageable parts are sent for certified safe disposal to meet WEEE legislation that governs the cycle of electrical waste into the environment.

In the UK there are many schemes and companies offering mobile phone recycling, here are a few;

Tesco, has for several years offered mobile phone recycling, for exchanging your old functioning mobile phone you can claim 500 clubcard points or alternatively donate £5 to charity. Also available is ink jet cartridge recycling.

Oxfam recycle phones with all profits going towards their charitible work. In the UK alone their scheme has ensured 22 500 kilos of electronic waste has been diverted from landfill sites.

In the US the following organisations offer cellular phone recycling;

Collective Good offer a recycling service, a donation is made to a chosen charity for each phone and the owner of the phone is able to claim a tax credit.

Wireless Recycling offer a database of 40 000 locations where you can recycle your phone and help charities.

If you would like to recycle your mobile phone but can not find a solution in your country or area you can send them to, eWaste Recycling, 1 Conway Street, Lisburn, BT27 4AD, United Kingdom. For each working phone received a minimum donation of £5 will be given to Christian Aid. Christian Aid work in over 50 of the world's poorest countries regardless of race or faith.

Guide to Home Composting

With the average person in the UK disposing of 517kg of waste each year, the increasing need to reduce waste being landfilled is an environmental and financial dilemma for most councils and governments. The Environment Agency's National Household Waste Analysis project suggests that about 60% of all municipal waste is biodegradable and by 2020 the amount of biodegradable municipal waste sent to landfill must be reduced to 75% of the amount produced in 1995 to meet targets set by the UK government.

One way we can assist is through composting our biodegradable waste. I have now collected my composter from my local council for only £5. A quick look on the website with the accompanying literature suggest that the recommended retail price is £40. Many councils in the UK offer this reduced and subsidised scheme, some will even give you an accompanying kitchen caddy and free delivery. Find your local council to see what scheme they offer.

For more information how to reduce your household food waste.

Financially each tonne of waste is taxed by government at £24, then the additional cost charged by the landfill owner per tonne, if this is the council then they incur cost through construction and this ultimately passed to the local community in council taxes .

So you have your composter, what should you do?

Place your compost bin on well-drained soil in a sunny part of the garden, loosening soil beneath the composter. This improves drainage, and encourages worms and bacteria to enter the composter from the surrounding earth.

By placing a layer of manure or kitchen waste on to the loose soil this will attract worms and bacteria quicker.

It is best to add different types of materials in levels, 3 to 6 inches in depth.

If not included get yourself a kitchen caddy or bucket, this will save you having to travel to the bottom of the garden at the end of every meal.

A good mix of waste is essential to aid in the decomposition of waste.

What's In

• Vegetables and Fruit
  High in essential nitrogen and carbon
  Best in small pieces, peelings are fine but chop up full sized waste fruit
• Tea Leaves & Coffee Grounds
• Crushed Egg Shells
• Weeds
  Compost heaps should rise above 66 degrees Celsius killing off weed seeds and disease
  Do Not Compost - Couch grass, bindweed or creeping buttercup, the conditions in a compost heap are ideal for them to keep on growing
• Grass Cuttings
  High in nitrogen, they act as a good activator
  Mix with kitchen and woody waste
• Hair
  From people and pets, it will all break down
• Paper
  Ideally in small amounts and shredded
• Animal Manure
  Vegetarian pets only
  Best mixed with straw
• Evergreen Clippings
  Taking a long time to decompose (especially conifers), these should be used sparingly
• Leaves
  Contain lignin, taking a long time to decompose, best composted separately
• Prunings
  Add only in small amounts and chopped up well
• Straw & Hay
  Used is best
  Dry straw and hay should be soaked before adding
• Spent Hops
  High in nutrition
• Vacuum Dust
  Only from woollen carpets
  Synthetic threads will not break down
  
  

And what to avoid ...

• Disposable nappies, used tissues and excrement
  In case disease is not destroyed by the composting process
• Hard objects, stones, bits of glass, metal and plastic
• Household or garden chemicals
• Brightly coloured or shiny card or printed papers
• Meat (cooked or raw)
  The smell can attract animals

To get the best results your composter should be kept warm, moist and oxygenated. Placing the composter in direct sunlight, and away from wind will allow the the plastic to absorb UV rays and heat the compost. By ensuring the lid is on at all times allows the heat and moisture to be confined. If your compost starts to dry out, add water as and when required. Most compost bins are specifically designed to allow the sufficient aeration, however you turning the materials you will increase aeration and speed up the decomposition process. You can add air pockets with scrunched up newspaper or shredded paper.

Your compost when ready should be an odourless crumbly brown material, by digging it into your soil in early spring or late autumn you will improve the soil structure, it will also act as a fertiliser. Mixing with clay soil will improve drainage and aeration, whilst mixing with sandy soil will slow over-draining and hold essential moisture.

Using a 3" mulch of compost around the garden helps retain moisture and prevent weeds. In releases its nutrients into the soil and improves texture. Worms will pull the mulch down into their burrows, passing it through their gut breaking it down even more and mixing it into the soil at the same time.


Troubleshooting

• Compost is not getting hot enough to break down material
  Compost mix not right, add more soft sappy nitrogen-rich activating materials (eg grass)
• Composter slows in winter
  Bacteria slow down, add additional activators in the compost heap will increase the heat
• Compost heap dries out
  Evaporation of water due to heat, water you compost until moist, keeping the lid on should help lock in the moisture
• Flies
  Larvae feed on the vegetation.They are not a nuisance, however excessive levels are unwanted. Avoid pesticides. Cover the pile with paper and bury kitchen scraps
• Unpleasant smell
  Not enough air is getting to the compost. Aerate the compost using a fork or aeration stick.

It may sound that composting is a pretty arduous task and may not be suited to everyone, however once you get used to separating the waste and composting once a day. It should take no longer than five minutes work. By composting you will prevent a large proportion of your household waste going to landfill, by composting you will also save your local authority some cash each year to spend on real things not big holes in the ground.

For more indepth information on composting visit Master Composter

Why Recycle?

Recycling is now part of every day life in the UK, and figures from DEFRA show we produce 517kg of waste per capita per year, 21.86% (113kg) of which is recycled. But there is still room for improvement with the majority of the remaining 404kg of waste recyclable. The United Kingdom is near the bottom of the class compared with the rest of Europe.

There are many reasons why we should all make the effort to recycle, and not only is it environmentally friendly it also reaps financial benefits. Recycling creates employment in your local area and provides a source of income for individuals, councils and companies, by reselling the collected material. By not recycling, we end up using more raw materials, more energy to produce the product and release huge amounts of Co2. The additional cost incurred to the manufacturer is ultimately passed on to the consumer.

Below is a detailed look at each of the materials that households can (and are) recycling in the UK, and you may just be shocked how beneficial this is to you the consumer, your local council and the environment.


Aluminium (840£/tonne)

Aluminum scrap is ground and shredded into small chips before being melted and cast into ingots. The ingots are sent to manufacturing plants where they are molded or rolled into sheets that can be shaped into various products. By recycling aluminium cans, it takes only 4% of the energy to recycle them than to produce them from raw materials. Saving 64 300 kWh/t. Taking the UK average price of 7.52p/kWh, this equates to a saving of £4 835/t of aluminium in energy costs and emissions of about 29t of Co2. This is enough to power a Virgin Pendolino train for 4537km, that's over 15 one-way journeys from London Euston to Manchester Picadilly.


Plastics (90-320£/tonne)

Plastic needs to be sorted by type (PET, HDPE, PVC etc.) because many plastic resins are used that are incompatible in the recycling process. The plastic may be shredded, baled or chipped before it is shipped to the reprocessing plant. Resins are melted and remolded into new products. Plastics are derived from energy resources such as coal, petroleum, and natural gas, so any material recovered is an energy savings. 90% of the manufacturing process energy needs to produce new plastics is saved by recycling.


Steel Cans (90£/tonne)

Tin cans are really tin-coated steel cans. The tin coating on steel cans is removed with a caustic de-tinning solution by electrolysis. The remaining steel is rinsed and baled and sold. The tin is also a valuable ingredient for many products. One tonne of tin or steel saves 1.5t of ore. Tin saves an estimated 2 600 kWhs (saving £196 in energy costs) per tonne. Steel saves an average 4 300 kWhs (saving £323 in energy costs) per tonne or 47% of the energy required to process steel from raw materials. Preventing 1.17t and 1.95t of Co2 per tonne respectively.


Newspaper, White Paper, Cardboard (60-130£/tonne)

Recycling one tonne of newspaper, white computer paper or card saves three tonnes of wood pulp. It saves the equivalent of 3 000 kWhs (saving £225 in energy costs) of electricity, or 23% of the energy required to process a ton of newspaper from new pulp.


So as you can see, recycling can be beneficial financially and environmentally, however by not recycling additional landfills will need to be constructed by government paid through increases in council taxes. So not only is this a personal commitment, this is a community commitment, spread the word and reap the benefits that recycling can gain for your local economy.

April's Questions and Answers

How to calculate carbon footprint?

It would be very complicated to offer a manual calculator due to the huge variations in regional areas, carbon emissions from varying types of cars and each source saying varying amounts sometimes with a huge range.

If you still wish to go with the manual calculation here are some of the multiple factors for the calculator from sources I have looked at in the past.

Electricity - 0.43kg of Co2 / kWh (Defra 2005), if from renewables, then 0.00kg/kWh

Natural Gas - 0.19kg of Co2 / kWh

LPG - 1.49kg of Co2 / litre

Oil - 2.69kg of Co2 / litre

Coal - 2.55kg of Co2 / litre

Car Milage - You can find Co2 data for all car types at
VCA Car Fuel Data it might be best to offer 3 to 5 different types of car in varying engine ranges.

Bus - 0.073kg / mile (Department of Transport, Canada)
Train - 0.027kg / mile (Virgin Trains)
Underground - 0.070kg / mile (kingston.ac.uk)

Flights - This is not hugely accurate however you can break this down to; Short-haul (within US) 600kg of Co2, Medium-haul (transatlantic / east coast to west coast) 1300kg of Co2 or Long-haul (world wide) 3700 kg of Co2. If you want to work this on miles rather than types a factor of 0.15kg of Co2/km (Defra 2005)


You should also include a secondary carbon footprint as follows (these are UK figures);

Food and Drink - 585kg
Clothes and Shoes - 486kg
Car Manufacture - 715kg
Buildings, Furniture and Appliances - 982kg
Recreation and Services - 1,546kg
Finance and other services - 361kg
Share of Public Services - 1,276kg

Total Secondary Footprint - 5,950kg

What is the amount of water Singapore consumes in a year currently?

Using figures from the Ministy of the Environment and Water Resources, the daily requirement of water in Singapore is 1.36 billion litres per day, of which 0.72 billion litres are for domestic use. Over a year this equates to 496 billion litres total use and overall domestic use of 263 billion litres.

50% of this consumption is supplied by rainfall, with the remainder originating from imports from neighbouring Malaysia. Two contracts for water importation from Malaysia are due to end in 2011 and 2061, the two countries are engaged in a price dispute over the charges which has lead the government to implement measures to become self-sufficient in its water supply. These include conservation, building additional reservoirs and the worlds largest desalination plant.

What are some ways to make my house more eco friendly and save money?

A few ways you can save money around the home are;

Installing CFLs in your home can reduce your annual electricity bill by 14% and last 6 to 8 times longer than incandescent bulbs. They are now widely available in many styles and designs for as low as $1.50 a bulb.

Insulation, you could consider installing cavity wall insulation or roof insulation. 25 - 40% of heat is lost through the walls and 25% through the roof. Installing both will signifigantly reduce your annual heating bills and you should beable to recoup the cost within 2 to 3 years. This will save about 2-3 tonnes of Co2 per year. The cost is about $750, but grants are available.

Purchase local produce and use tap water not bottled, not only does this support the local economy it also reduces the carbon emissions from food transport, which accounts for about 19% of all emissions.

The average household wastes $76 in stand-by a year, turn your appliances off when not in use.

Reduce your heating thermostat by 1 degree can reduce your heating bills by 10% per year. Reduce your hot water tank thermostat to 50 degrees, each 5.5 degree reduces you hot water heating cost by 13%. Put a thick insulation jacket on your hot water tank (about $20), this prevents heat loss from your tank and can save about $20 a year in hot water costs.

Also check out these free energy saving tips.

Considering the mercury content of fluorescent bulbs will the disposal of these bulbs cause a bigger environmental problem than the energy consumption posed by the more common bulbs used now?

Whilst the amount of mercury used in production a CFL bulb is at most 6mg, the average mercury content is 4mg. The total emissions of mercury created by a CFL bulb from electricity consumption over its lifetime is about 2.4mg of mercury. In comparison the emissions from an incandescent light bulb is about 10mg. Therefore overall CFLs result in a slightly less amount of mercury emitted over the lifetime of a CFL bulb. The real gain is the reduction of 38kg of Co2 per CFL per year and an overall saving of 14% on your electricity bill.

To ensure the safe disposal of CFL bulbs you should return them to the retailer or to an appropriate recycling facility. Once collected the bulbs are crushed in a machine that uses negative pressure ventilation and a mercury absorbing filter allowing the mercury to be reclaimed.

In countries where recycling facilities do not exist, you should contact the manufacture who should have details of how you can safely dispose of the CFLs.


Note: It is assumed the emissions from electricity consumption is from standard electricity supply. Should renewables be used then the emissions of mercury would be 0mg (not including the production of the renewable source), however for the use of incandescent bulbs to be effective we would need to be using a high proportion of renewable energy.

PS ... you can now get CFLs with ultra-low mercury levels.

Regarding the total road humps in the UK (a) how much have they cost (b) how many tonnes CO2 have they caused?

Road / Speed humps are extremely popular the world over as an effective traffic calming measure. However there are many negatives to them;

In 2003, the chairman of the London Ambulance Service, Sigurd Reinton was reported as claiming that delay due to speed bumps was responsible for up to 500 avoidable deaths from cardiac arrest each year, however, he later denied the statement.

Research in the USA from Boulder, Colorado suggests that for every life saved by traffic calming, as many as 85 people may die because emergency vehicles are delayed.

Each speed hump slows the average fire engine by 3-4 seconds and an ambulance by 10 seconds.

The Association of British Drivers is critical of speed humps claiming Drivers are distracted by the bumps, therefore ignoring other hazards such as children.

(a) On average a road / speed hump cost from £500 to £4 850, the upper range being for the latest "smart hump" which reduce or eliminate negative effects of speed bumps such as increased noise and pollution, uneven traffic speed, and impeding emergency vehicles. Traffic tables can cost upto £10 000.

I have been unable to find a figure for the total number of speed humps, however statistics from Edinburgh Council Meeting Questions & Answers state there are 794 in Edinburgh, which has a population of 448 624, or about 1.77 per 1 000 residents. This is a lower figure as it does not include private developments. Taking the Edinburgh figure and muliplying it by the UK population of 60 609 153 this would equate to 107 269 speed humps in the UK (however this is a very unstatistical analysis of the total).

(b) Speed humps cause atmospheric pollution from the speeding up and slowing down of traffic between the humps. For example, TRL reports a 59% increase in CO, about 50% increase in HC and about 25% in CO2 from petrol catalyst vehicles averaged over all types of traffic calming measures, with even higher numbers over more "severe" measures such as speed bumps. In addition the use of bumps and cushions seems to encourage the use of larger vehicles which are more polluting.

Why should I recycle, when the government can always build a new landfill? Recycling just takes too long?

The main reason you should recycle is that it does actually save alot of energy. That in turn actually saves you money. If packaging companies have to continually use new raw materials that will mean that the price they pay for packaging will be higher than purchasing recycled material.

For example by recycling aluminium cans, it takes only 4% of the energy to recycle them than to produce them from raw materials. Saving 64,300 kWhs per tonne. Taking the US average kWh price across all states at 8.14c per kWh, this equates to a saving of $5234 per tonne of aluminium in energy costs and emissions of about 29 tonnes of Co2.

Any additional landfills that are provided by the government will increase your taxes through land purchase, construction and legal & consultancy fees.

So as you can see recycling is financially beneficial as well as environmentally friendly.



If you have any Questions please feel free to ask them in the comments section or email us at support@howtosaveenergy.co.uk. If you need immediate answers for that question that's just nagging you why not try out Yahoo! Answers Environment & Ecology section where you can get a plethora of answers from other members of the public.