Eco News

lifestyle Eco News

NEW HUB ENCOURAGES RESIDENTS TO THINK GREEN

The Greener and Cleaner Bromley and Beyond team is set to launch a new Community Green Hub, located in The Glades. The ambitious three-year project, has raised £270k of funding in donations for the lifespan of the project and is now seeking a further £30K to cover fittings and running costs for the first year. The aim of the Hub is to encourage residents to be more mindful about sustainability and climate change, as well as the benefits of a sharing economy. It is hoped that the model can be used as a blueprint that can be adopted in other parts of the country. For details see greenerandcleaner.co.uk

REPAIR DON’T REPLACE

With so many laptops and devices in circulation and now a vital tool in our everyday life, keeping them working and running is ever so important. Making a decision between replacing or repairing is an important decision, not just financially but environmentally. Always consider repairing your devices especially if they're under seven years old and when they're no longer viable or no longer supported consider the next best option and that’s to donate. One person’s rubbish is always someone else’s gold and plenty of schools and charities would be glad to accept a donated laptop to be repurposed and reused. Our Technician can support you through the entire eco process of your laptop. Visit www.ourtechnician.co.uk for information.

SEVEN Things You Can’t Recycle

1) Pizza Boxes

They are often tainted with food and grease causing problems for the quality of the paper and the binding of the fibres.

2) Juice Boxes

The plastic coating on much of the cardboard renders them unsuitable for recycling.

3) Styrofoam

Styrofoam is a petroleum product and highly flammable. It’s considered a danger to most recycling centres.

4) Wire Hangers

Most recycling centres are not set up to handle wire.

5) Ceramics

Ceramics have a higher melting point than other types of glass so can't be recycled. Consider giving them a second life with a houseplant or in your garden.

6) Books

Books are bound together using some form of glue which can ruin the pulping process and cause a whole batch of potentially recycled paper to be wasted.

7) Some Types of Wrapping Paper

REDUCING FOOD WASTE

Over one third of all food produced around the world goes to waste. In the UK alone we waste more then we think - throwing away 25 million slices of bread every day along with 6 million potatoes and 1.4 million bananas. Over half of all food waste in the UK is happening at home.

Much of our food waste ends up in landfill and 40% of the UK's methane gas comes from biodegradable waste. When food waste decomposes without access to oxygen it creates methane which is 23 times more deadly than carbon dioxide. It takes water, energy, fuel and packaging to produce the food we all love and buy, so even if you use the council’s food waste collection service, it still uses many resources and is an inefficient waste of energy. Food that is never eaten accounts for 25% of all fresh water consumption globally. It has been said that the average UK family throws away around £500 worth of food each year that could have been eaten. In the last three years we've reduced our food waste by 7% but we still need to do more. If we all make a few small changes and start using up the food we buy, together we can make a big difference. Planet Earth does not have the resources to feed the additional 2.3 billion people that will be joining the planet by 2050 – We need to act now and stop throwing away our food!