Ever feel ashamed of living in the UK? On the whole I feel highly privileged to live in this country, but just sometimes I’m forced to publically blush at the petty minded bureaucracy which plagues us. Case in point is a story I first came across on a US blog UK Barber Banned from Composting. It’s also been covered by The Telegraph. I had to read both articles twice because I simply couldn’t believe what I was reading.
It seems that a local barber, Jeff Stone from Blackburn in Lancashire, has been banned from taking hair clippings and salon newspapers home to compost: Why I hear you ask?
Is he stealing from the people whose head it once belonged?
They left it behind happily so apparently not.
Is human hair somehow toxic to our delicate eco-structure?
No, in fact quite the reverse, apparently all environmental agencies recognise human hair as fantastic, highly biodegradable compostable material, perfect for adding nitrogen to the soil.
Perhaps he’s taking home so much of it, it’s upsetting the neighbours?
Nope – only one small swing bin every two or three weeks.
Well then, obviously it’s because Blackburn and Darwen Councils have invested heavily in establishing domestic and retail recycling programs and by taking the hair home Mr. Stone is somehow confusing the system?
Absolutely not, documentation received by Mr. Stone confirms that the waste will be emptied at landfill sites at Whinney Hill, near Accrington, and Withnell just outside Blackburn.
Well then, what could possibly be the problem…? Surely it would have nothing to do with money? Surely no council would stoop so low as to force Mr. Stone to buy one hundred Council issued waste sacks, which he doesn’t need and which cost £100, in order to ‘comply’ with their guideline?
Apparently so.
Reassuring isn’t it that Councils have so little to do; that crime levels are so low, housing so abundant, local facilities so immaculate, that they have nothing better so spend our council tax on than paying people to search through our dustbins checking for people who might be ‘illegally’ trying to save the planet…
Looking for some green, environmentally friendly outer clothing? Well the Spudcoat could be the answer to your prayers. It comes in two styles the waterproof cloak (good for the festival goer) or the raincoat (for the more dapper eco-warrior). The spudcoat is made entirely from bioplastic which is derived from potato starch and other natural resources.
The coat is 100% biodegradable and compostable and even has a small clay ball with seeds in it so that once its lifecycle is over; you can dig a hole in the garden and bury it. So the garment doesn’t just return to the natural cycle, it also helps the seeds inside grow into plants – what more could you ask for?
Chew Magna, the beautiful, traditional village in Somerset, has been labelled ‘Britain’s Greenest Village’.
Following a parish council survey, it became clear that the biggest concern of the community was the environment and as a result the Go-Zero project was initiated.
Villagers now strive towards zero-waste and buy local produce including; fruit, vegetables, venison, ice-cream, medicinal herbs and trout from Chew Valley Lake. Action groups are discussing and encouraging the inhabitants to recycle more, change their transport methods and reduce their home energy consumption. Local energy companies have even donated light bulbs which the villagers can pick up for free. Approximately 85 percent of the village now recycles, that is almost 4 times the national average.
Chew Magna have also set up a ‘carbon-offset fund’; when someone books a flight with the local travel agent, the distance travelled determines their donation to the fund, even their journey to the airport will be eco-friendly, as the village has plans to run it’s own bio-fuelled coach shuttle service.
This community have many other plans in the pipe-line including becoming a Fairtrade village, following their support for African charities. What is truly inspirational is that all this came about because the community consolidated and discussed their concerns for the environment and together they were motivated to make changes – perhaps this small idyllic rural village will be responsible for providing a template for other towns and villages in the country.
The University of Bath is undergoing a project to find environmentally friendly building materials that can be used as an alternative to the current products used within the construction industry.
A straw house came up as a viable option. Straw is not only a renewable resource, but also a farming by-product, which made it a popular choice for the researchers. It can be locally grown and absorbs carbon monoxide, therefore buildings made from straw have zero or even a negative carbon footprint. It can potentially provide such good insulation that normal heating may not be necessary, keeping running costs low and minimising environmental impact.
The construction itself has been built using prefabricated panels, consisting of wooden frames filled with straw or hemp, then rendered with a breathable lime based system.
Research into alternative building materials is important as cement contributes up to 10% of all carbon dioxide emissions. Hopefully this project, which over the year is to be monitored, will prove that straw is a sustainable building material. Let’s just hope it can withstand all the wolves huffing and puffing and trying to blow the house down!
The Strauss family from Gloucestershire challenged themselves to only have their dustbin emptied once in 2009!
Exercising great care and discipline they examined everything they bought to ensure as much packaging as possible was recyclable. In doing so, they managed to cut their waste down to less than 100g (3.5oz) a week.
The website was born out of this mission and contains tips from readers on how and what can be recycled. Check out the site at myzerowaste.com
In 2010, the Strauss’s hope to create zero waste to landfill. Impressive!
Every year we produce a staggering amount of waste at Christmas, it is estimated that for every tonne of waste produced in our homes, five tonnes has been produced in the manufacturing process and ten tonnes at the point where the raw material was extracted. With a little thought, care and effort we can cut that down.
Here are a few ideas:
• Avoid presents and food that is over packaged
• Buy drinks in large recyclable containers – one large bottle results in less waste than a lot of small ones and is generally more economical
• Use recyclable bags or reuse plastic bags when shopping
• Avoid using plastic or paper plates when entertaining
• Buy durable gifts so they don’t end up as discarded rubbish
• Buy recycled products such as; glass, tableware, photo frames and ornaments
• Consider buying presents that are environmentally friendly or produced in a sustainable way
• Choose hardy decorations that won’t break, so can be used year in, year out
• Wish friends and family ‘Happy Christmas’ electronically rather than sending cards
• Use recyclable wrapping paper
• After Christmas recycle cards, paper and your tree – municipal sites generally use old trees for chipping and compost, but probably best to check first.
What could be more environmentally friendly than renting a Christmas tree? Yes, I know just leaving it in its natural habitat and buying a recyclable fake one! But many of us insist on sticking with tradition and having a real tree over the festive period.
Well, if that sounds like you, Christmas Tree Man could be the answer to your prayers. The tree of your choice is delivered to your door (oh, joy!) in its own pot, where it will stay over the holidays. When you have finished with it, it will be collected (even deeper joy!) and returned to its rightful place in the ground.
If you are a real stickler for tradition, you can even have your own tree labelled and reserved for your use every year, that is until, it gets too big for your home.
Halloween is fast approaching, so why not keep it green and keep it cheap? Give the ghouls and ghosts an energy saving, healthy treat by:
Making your own sweets
Grape lollies – take a bunch of loose grapes, rinse them (dip them in sugar, if you must) and put them in the freezer for an hour or so.
Choc fruits – dip strawberries, raspberries and satsuma segments in melted chocolate and set in the fridge.
Ensuring you have no-waste pumpkins
Separate the flesh and seeds as you go and use the flesh to make a warming winter soup or pumpkin pie.
The pumpkin seeds can either be roasted or eaten raw as a light snack. -After Halloween, put your hollowed out pumpkin lanterns on the compost heap so they can be later used to fertilize your garden.
Creating your own costumes
Collect old rags, rip them up into strips, dye them black if desired and pin onto conventional clothes.
Make witches/wizards dresses and capes out of black bin liners
Make monster masks from papier-mâché.
Make scary ‘hands’ by padding out latex gloves.
Use old pillowcases to collect ‘treats’ – dye it with the rags or decorate with felt-tips.
Creating a Gloomy Glow
Switch off the lights and fill the house with candles.
Torches – when out and about use ones with rechargeable batteries or the wind-up versions.
Car Sharing
Share the fuel, hassle and expense by all bundling into one car on way to your trick or treat venue.
Recycling Take a bin liner with you to collect up all the ‘treat’ wrappers. Recycle what you can on your return.
Closing Doors
When Trick or Treaters appear, close the front door behind you to conserve energy
Eco groups say they are ‘recycling’ empty buildings to save the planet. Welcome to the new face of recycling – squatting with a purpose.
This is a craze which is rapidly spreading all over the country, vacant buildings and unused land are being ‘rescued’ by squatters and turned into ecologically sustainable communities.
An example of this is The Spike in south London, an old Dept of Transport building; it was transformed by eco warriors and artists from a crack den into a community centre, with a well-being clinic and yoga classes. Another community have set up at Kew Bridge; it has 15 full-time residents who live on produce or food found on ‘skip-runs’; sound systems, drink and drugs are banned as they alienate people.
Although these groups attract the stereotypical squatter they are also joined by graduates, activists and young professionals. As a result they are well informed on their rights and manage to research their next locations via tip-offs on Google Earth. The groups are insistent that they only ever intend to make use of the property or land while it is vacant and not prevent any development projects.
Is this an acceptable way to beat the housing crisis and/or the credit crunch?
Billionaire, eco-warrior David de Rothschild has built a catamaran out of re-used plastic and re-cycled waste. He plans to sail ‘Plastiki’ from San Francisco to Sydney via the ‘Great Garbage Patch’.
The purpose of his journey, scheduled for late summer, is to highlight the floating plastic of the North Pacific Gyre; the enormous ‘garbage patch’ caught up in the swirling currents of the Pacific Ocean and which is now believed to have grown to the size of France or Texas. This pollution is now devastating populations of seabirds and fish that live in the area.
“The plastic water bottle epitomises everything about this throwaway, disposable society,” says de Rothschild, who originally trained to be a showjumper and who has trekked to both the north and south poles. However, he added that he is not aiming to demonise plastic, but is trying to show its alternative uses, as well as focusing global attention on the dangers posed to the ecology in regions such as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
During his trip, which is being sponsored by The International Watch Company and Hewlett-Packard, de Rothschild will collect water samples and post blogs, photographs and video clips of the area, in an attempt to publicise the perils of plastic pollution.
