Recycled Mice

Google have just released a wireless computer mouse made completely from recycled plastic.

If you need to replace your current mouse, or you want one for use with your laptop while on the move, this might be an idea choice. Ergonomically designed and available in red or blue, the Google branded mouse has an WiFi dongle integrated inside the housing so you just pop it our, plug it into a spate USB port and off you go.

The packaging it is delivered in also uses recycled materials and the whole thing only costs $19.20 (about £9.90). Available from the Google Store.

Follow the Eco Family

We all like to see how other people are doing – reality TV has been a massive audience ratings success. Personal blogs are all over the Internet and now, we can follow the adventures of a normal couple in New Zealand who are documenting (blogging) their attempts to be greener.

Matthew and Waveney live in Christchurch with their dog and two chickens. They want to last an entire year without producing any domestic rubbish and started their 'adventure' on February 1st

You can follow their experience on their website: http://www.rubbishfreeyear.co.nz/ where there is information about the challenge they have set themselves, how they hope to achieve it and what they are up to each day.

There is also a very helpful ‘Rubbish Free Guide’ packed full of useful information. Might just inspire you to reduce some of your own household rubbish.

Pay for your Plastic at M+S

UK retailer Marks and Spencer has announced that they will start charging for plastic bags in their stores nationwide. Shoppers will pay 5p for a bag and money raised will be donated to the M+S Groundwork charity which invests in green spaces.

Something like 13bn free bags are distributed each year and take 1,000 years to decay.

M+S tested out the idea in 50 stores recently and found (not really surprisingly) a 70% drop in demand for bags. Great that they are doing there bit but when you think that Germany found a way of not using free plastic bags almost 20 years ago, China is to ban free bags nationwide and Ireland reduced its bag problem by sticking a tax on them, it does make you wonder whether leaving this to individual retailers is the right move for the UK.
[Via: BBC News]

Just to give you an idea of plastic bag consumption, have a look at the numbers below calculated by www.reusablebags.com

Plastic bags consumed this year:

Ditch Those Bottles – Filter Your Water

We buy a lot of bottled water – we throw away most of them. In fact, in America they dump two million drinks bottles every 5 minutes! If you want to see that that looks like see our previous item on Chris Jordon.

Drinking tap water is a logical alternative but if you don’t like the taste you can buy a filter jug and filter your own. This reduces the price of a litre of water to pennies, you don't have heaps of plastic bottles to trow away and you can also recycle your filter cartridges. The ones from Brita are fully recyclable. Just take them back to the store where you bought them.

There is also an interesting refillable cartridge available from Natural Collection, which uses ‘rechargeable’ cartridges – you simply add more filter granules which means no plastic filter to throw away and a 90% saving on waste!!

[Via: Hippyshopper]

Helpful Recycling Bins – Barcode Enabled

Sometimes recycling can be complicated. Which bit of that wrapper goes in which recycling bin? Is it paper or foil? Can the plastic bottle be recycled at all?

I know - I’ve had this problem in German where there are multiple bins in public spaces and it isn’t always easy to know which one to throw rubbish into.

There is a possible solution in this set of recycling bins which use barcodes, printed on the rubbish, to work out if they can be recycled and which bin to place them in.

You wave your piece of rubbish over the bin; it scans the barcode and then unlocks the bin’s lid if the item is recyclable. This is a concept design by Woo Seok Park but a very nice idea if it ever went into production. As a way of encouraging the less green among us, this might just be the item. [A]

[Via: Ecofriend]

China Bans Plastic Bags

Here in the UK we are getting used to supermarket chains saying they are going to do something about all those free plastic bags they give away. Some have run ‘tests’ some have tried recycling schemes but generally it appears to have been more for ‘green’ publicity. Step in China.

The entire country is to ban free plastic bags from June this year!! Not just a small supermarket chain in a small European country – but the whole of China!

They have a real pollution problem generally but in this case with their “White Pollution” which gets its name from the colour of the flimsy white plastic bags they give away to consumers. China’s State Council commented, "While plastic shopping bags provide convenience to consumers, this has caused a serious waste of energy and resources and environmental pollution because of excessive usage, inadequate recycling and other reasons."

From June 1st all supermarkets, department stores and shops are banned from giving away free bags. They must charge for them and clearly show the price. They are also prohibited from adding the cost to the price of goods they sell.

[Via International Herald Tribune]

Recycled CD holders

If you work with computers you have CDs around.
Perhaps you use them to store your music, archive your photos or back up your hard drive. You have probably realised that buying in bulk is an economical alternative to all that packaging. The thing is, you end up with all those strange plastic containers.

Artist Julie Frith has a solution - convert them into toilet paper dispensers!! A brilliant idea, simple to make and great fun. Give it a go, you only need a sharp knife and the desire to pull the cardboard tube out of your toilet paper roll!

Julie also has an interesting blogsite: http://www.curbly.com/frithmobiles/posts.rss

Flat Packed Lighting

‘Stealth’ is made from polypropylene plastic, which is easy to recycle at the end of its life and uses low energy bulbs. These types of bulbs have given designers a greater degree of freedom as they produce very little heat and can be fitted into small spaces.

Stealth comes flat packed, with six interchangeable filters so you can select the colour of your light to match your surroundings – or mood.

Designed by Blue Marmalade, a Scottish based company, this architectural light can be used on a table or free standing. Not only is it low energy but also comes in recycled cardboard packaging!

At the moment it is on offer at www.ecocentric.co.uk for £32.00

Swedish Bags of Fun

You know how you go to Ikea and always come away with more than you thought you needed!! Well you wont be coming away with any plastic bags, as Ikea is the first major retailer to abandon them completely.

They began their commitment to go ‘carrier neutral’ in their 15 UK stores by starting to charge for carrier bags and, at the same time, offering their blue ‘bags for life’ at a tiny price. Previously they had been giving away 32 million carrier bags a year. Consumers liked the new initiative and bag 'consumption' dropped to 1.6 million!!

So now, when you just pop in for some new napkins and come away with an entire room full of accessories – take your previously purchased big blue bag, or treat yourself to a new one there.

[Via The Observer]

Carry your Juice Box

It seems we drink a lot of juice. Healthy and good for you but we then throw all the packaging away – tonnes of the stuff.

A women’s cooperative in the Philippines is doing something about it and making a range of bags, purses and accessories from recycled juice packs - non-biodegradable foil and plastic packaging that would otherwise go into landfill sites and incinerators.

The Cooperative began as an environmental project with the aim of 'cleaning and greening' the local neighbourhood. It has since become increasingly successful and now employs over 200 women and distributes its innovative products world-wide.

They have a huge range and orders are processed in London for UK delivery.

More details at www.doybags.com

Recycled Light Shade

In December we featured a chandelier made using Bic pens and now, something even more eco friendly in the shape of an elegant light shade/sculpture made from recycled rubbish.

Berlin based, British designer, Stewart Haygarth has produced this “Tide” chandelier as part of a larger body of work using ‘man made’ debris washed up on the Kent coastline. This large lamp measures 150 cm in diameter and is illuminated using a 100w incandescent light bulb. There are ten in the edition and price is on request.

Haygarth has also made light shades using discarded party poppers and disposable plastic wine glasses. His site is well worth a look. www.stuarthaygarth.com

Curious Coasters

There are a lot of products made from recycled materials but UK company Revolve have added some serious style.

They produce a full range of ‘things made from things’ including business card holders, notebooks, rulers, organisers and some very stylish coasters - made from recycled plastic bottles. Well worth a look at their web site which has a relaxed sense of humour.

Now, where’s that pen?

People, all over the world, just can’t find a pen when they want one. Millions are missing and one design studio aims to recycle them.

The Madrid based studio enPieza has produced the Volivik chandelier, replacing all those cut glass prisms with Bic ball point pens. The edition is limited to 30 and will set you back a substantial $1,000. You might be inspired to make your own? Normally objects made from recycled products tend to disguise the original – here you can marvel as the light twinkles through your Bic.