Raw Materials Versus Recycling - Which Is Better?

Recycling, of course, has lots of benefits such as reducing landfill space and conserving resources, but how much energy is actually saved by recycling? Compared to creating an item from the raw material, how much energy is used in creating a recycled item?

Even if you take all your recycling by car to the collection centre, the benefits still seem to add up. A Carbon Unit (CU) equals 1 kilogram of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere.

[Via: BBC Focus Magazine]

Taking Liberties

Taking Liberties looks like an interesting book that has now been made into a film, on a limited release across the UK. According to the website:

“Freedom of Speech. Right to Privacy. Innocent Until Proven Guilty. Prohibition from Torture. TAKING LIBERTIES will reveal how these liberties have been systematically destroyed by New Labour, and the freedoms of the British people stolen from under their noses amidst a climate of fear created by the media and government itself.”

It’s out now.

Latest Green News

Tesco’s plans to put carbon labels on all of its 70,000 products have stalled over the definition of what a food item’s ‘carbon footprint’ should include. One dilemma has been whether the methane produced by cows should count towards the carbon footprint of a joint of beef or not. The project is being developed by Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute, which is also considering whether a product’s carbon footprint continues to grow after it has been purchased. Tesco has pledged £5mn towards the research.

The Soil Association is considering stripping food which is flown into the UK of its organic label. The organisation could introduce restrictions, or even a ban, on such produce. Supermarkets imported 34 per cent of all organic food in 2005, most of it by air, and it is thought that this trend is environmentally unsound. However, Oxfam said the loss of organic status would threaten the livelihoods of poor farmers in Africa and Central America, as organic food is more highly prized. It is also thought that if proposals go through, shoppers will find it harder to identify food which has been grown naturally.

The shadow environment secretary, Peter Ainsworth, has accused the Government of using taxpayers’ money to ‘bribe’ major companies into cutting Britain’s growing rubbish mountain. While millions of homeowners face punitive charges to get rid of their rubbish, supermarkets and food and drink manufacturers are benefiting from an £8mn fund set up to find
ways of reducing packaging.

The Grocer has accused Tesco and Asda of using an excessive number of plastic bags to deliver groceries to online customers. The magazine’s research found that Asda used 13 bags and Tesco 12 bags to deliver 33 products, three times more than the four bags used by Sainsbury’s to deliver 31 products.

The director of the Organic Research Centre, Lawrence Woodward claims that if businesses genuinely intend to turn ‘green’ then fundamental structural changes need to be made. The article questions the acceptance of claims by big companies such as Tesco that they are setting the pace in the fight against climate change and says that merely refocusing public relations and introducing green labels do not go far enough.

The Sunday Times featured a report on the issue of ‘food miles’. The matter has been highlighted recently and products which have been imported from thousands of miles away have been criticised for their environmental impact. However, new research has suggested that for many foods, imported products are responsible for lower carbon emissions than the same foodstuffs produced in Britain.

New research by the University of Wales Institute has revealed that consumers need more information about the environmental impact food if they are to make eco-friendly choices. Retailers including Tesco and Marks & Spencer have stated that they will label products that have been transported by air. However, according to the research, only 2 percent of the environmental impact of food comes from transporting it from farm to shop. The vast majority of its impact comes from food processing, storage, packaging and growing conditions.

The Co-operative Group has won the 2007 Business Commitment to the Environment award after reducing its carbon emissions by 86 per cent and introducing a policy that prohibits it from investing in ‘any business whose core activity contributes to climate change.’

Sir Richard Branson has criticised Marks & Spencer for its policy of reducing ‘food miles.’ The Virgin Atlantic boss said that cutting food imports from Africa will leave millions of farmers in poverty while doing little to stop global warming. He added that moves to reduce imports were a ‘knee-jerk reaction’ by firms desperate to appear to be green.

The Daily Star reported that there is a deep level of public mistrust about worthy causes and politicians and companies boasting about their green credentials according to a new survey by eBay-owned internet shopping site DoorOne.co.uk. Two-thirds of those polled were confused about the titles ‘fair trade’, ‘eco-friendly’ and ‘organic’ on the products they buy.

All news is copyright of it’s original owner and reproduced for information only.

Move House The Green Way

Moving home can create a huge amount of waste as packaging materials get bought and then thrown away. EarthFriendlyMoving try to offer eco-friendly moving supplies.

They offer a Recycled Ecological Packing Solution, or RecoPack for short, that provides recycled plastic containers that are rented from them so can be re-used by other movers. They also only cost a US$ a box per week, and are available in 5 sizes.

They also provide recycled packing paper, made in a honeycomb structure to replace plastic bubble-wrap. Also, instead of foam “popcorn”, they provide RecoCubes, which are made from recycled paper sludge that can be used as compost after use. All items are deliverd by bio-fueled trucks. Check out their top 10 reasons for moving in an environmentally friendly way. Hopefully they can be successful and expand further than Southern California.

[Via Springwise]

How To Make Money From Blogging

As a companion to our series on Making Money From Your Blog, two fantastic free resources have just been released.

Firstly Yaro Starak has released his FREE Blog Profits Blueprint eBook as a prelude to his paid Blog Mastermind Mentoring Program that has just launched.

Secondly John Chow’s Make Money Online - a free 59 page eBook that links all his blog articles over the last year or so together, showing how he now makes a fortune from blogging.

If you’re serious about making money online from blogging, then these two free resources are worth taking advantage of.

[Thanks to Blogtrepreneur]

Competition Winner

The winner of the Universal Monster DVD competition is Vivien Brook from Truro, congratulations. Another competition will be coming soon.

World Naked Bike Ride - 9 June London

Now into its fifth year 3-17 June marks this years London Sustainability weeks! As well as naked bike riding there are also organic food fairs, Greener Home events and a whole range of community events London wide celebrating the theme of sustainability. Check out the full list of events http://lovelondon.london21.org

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