At Gecco Interiors we have spent the last few years gathering all the fabulous, sustainable, chemical free products in our eco-friendly product range to help you to create wonderful design schemes for your own ‘green’ homes. We are often asked for information and ideas about how to create a safe, toxin free nursery or kids bedroom – after all the increase in asthma and eczema has its roots in off-gassing of new furnishings and children’s immune systems are much less developed than ours. We thought it was time to create a section on the website just for kids.

So how do you create an Eco-friendly, natural nursery? Here are the main things to think about:

Flooring – the main culprit in asthma and eczema is the dust mite, which lives in normal house dust. To keep this to a minimum choose a wooden, cork, rubber or vinyl flooring and then soften the look with rugs that can be washed regularly. Failing that, look for natural wool carpets in natural shades that have not been dyed, even though they will still have been treated with pesticide and often stain repellent.

Walls – there really is no excuse to use anything but natural paint these days as there are so manylovely shades to choose from. The natural paints are made using a mixure of plant oils and not petroleum. They have zero VOC emissions, are easy to apply and  smell fantastic! The best news is that the air will not be polluted by off-gassing for the first years of your baby’s life.

Furniture – look for wooden furniture that has been finished with natural oil or non VOC paints

Mattreses – there are many different natural and organic mattresses on the market today and the woollen fleece layer wrapped around them reduces the number of dust mites, whilst also regulating your baby’s body temperature (as recommended by FSID)

Bedding – look for bedding made of certified ‘organic cotton‘, in the UK the Soil Association has certified many gorgeous bedding ranges to fit all sizes of bed

Curtains & Blinds – don’t go and ruin the overall natural design by buying curtains made of fabric using chemical dyes and finishes, as they too will off-gas for some time. There is now a huge choice of organic and sustainable fabrics in vibrant or pastel shades that would compliment any kids room scheme.

For more inspiration, why not check out our new nursery and kids section, or call our in-house eco interior designer Angie Kraft on 01494 565459

Gecco Interiors Limited is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

The Printable Craft Shop helps home-based Artists and Designers
sell their creations as digital and printable craft supplies through our online store.

10 x Plate Card Kits
£15.00 £5.00
Save: 67% off

Printable ‘Plate Cards’ stand up on their display like regular ornamental plates, but can also be easily converted into a working clock by adding a simple mechanism, making them a useful, usable item as well.* Offer ends 17th July.

Video Close Ups of All Kits Here

*Search for ‘clock mechanism’ on eBay…a clock mechanism is a small black box which houses a battery and clock hands.  Attach the box to the back of the plate card, hands go on the front and hey presto!  Lovely gift idea and your card has less chance of being thrown away.

“Printable” Card Making Helps You Be More Eco-Friendly

- Refill your ink cartridges and use less ink via printer settings

- Print on recycled paper, or on the back of waste paper

- Pay once but re-use over and over again

The Printable Craft Shop is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

Make the washday blues disappear with Violet’s Magic Laundry range!

The success of Violet’s Magic Laundry Powder has inspired a new extended range of eco friendly and hypo-allergenic laundry products which has just been launched by Home Scents, www.homescents.co.uk

Demand for Violet’s Magic Laundry Powder has been so great that Home Scents has now developed three further laundry products which leave clothes and fabrics clean, fresh and gloriously scented, without the use of harsh or synthetic chemicals. The new product range now includes: Violet’s Magic Laundry Liquid, Softener, and Stain Remover which are scented with essentials oils: lavender flowers or grapefruit and hemp.

The Violet’s Magic Laundry Range is:

Made from pure plant and natural ingredients, Vegan certified

Biodegradable, kind to the planet and never tested on animals

Hypo Allergenic – ideal for babies and young children or those with sensitive skin or allergies

Super Concentrated and offering value for money

Violet’s Magic Laundry Liquid is perfect for machine or hand washing. It is made from botanical and natural minerals, scented with essential oils.

Available in 1.5 litre bottle (39 loads)

£7.65

Violet’s Magic Laundry Softener naturally scents and softens laundry to make ironing easier.

Available in 750ml bottle (50 rinses) £6.95

Violet’s Magic Stain Remover for naturally effective whitening & stain removal, recommended for “real or cloth” nappy wash and pre-soak. Sanitises and removes odours.

Available in 450gm tub (30 laundry boosts) £7.30

Violet’s Magic Laundry Powder

Available in 500gm tub 20 standard machine loads  £8.35

Or 1kilo tub 40 standard machine loads  £ 15.30

Violet’s Magic Laundry Range is guaranteed free from synthetics and it does not contain: opticial brighters, enzymes, phosphates, petrochemicals or artificial fragrances.

The range does contain: Northumberland Water, natural soap, sodium sesquicarbonate, washing soda, earth-friendly bleach, natural zeolite, food grade xanthum gum and pure essential oils.

The laundry range is packaged using recycled and recyclable materials, and refill packs will soon be available.

Home Scents also offer a range of cleaners scented with 100% pure essential oils, from room sprays and hand washes through to kitchen cleaners, laundry enhancers and furniture polishes.

For more information visit www.homescents.co.uk or www.babyscents.co.uk.

Tel 01434 607722 or email sales@homescents.co.uk. for images.

June 2011

Home Scents is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

New unique environmentally ethical ‘refill
and reuse’ cleaning range eco2life
launches in UK

A new unique household cleaning range - eco2life launches this week in the UK.

Made from naturally derived, readily biodegradable ingredients, tried, tested and proven to work, the range is available in a refill and reuse system, with fully recyclable packaging.

The new eco2life range of cleaning products – made in the UK by Planet Earth (Europe) Limited – has been carefully developed to minimise environmental impact by employing an easy-to-use unique ‘small wonder’ refill system and reusable trigger spray bottle.

The eco2life range consists of a multi-surface, glass, bathroom and floor cleaner. First invented in Australia, the aquatic safe, naturally derived formula includes core ingredients derived from; coconut, sugar cane, vegetables and citric acid. The range has been scientifically and consumer tested and proven to provide a high level of cleaning performance. eco2life is free of many chemical ‘nasties’ such as silicate, caustics, petroleum solvents, parabens, phosphates or chlorine.

Mark Sims, Planet Earth (Europe) Limited said:

“We’re really confident eco2life offers environmentally-conscious people a great cleaning solution. Its innovative and unique refill system is a first of its kind for this sector and doesn’t compromise on performance – in short, it’s easy to make up, it works and it’s eco-friendly!

“We’re also really proud that all our products are made in the U.K. The packaging used for the eco2life cleaning range is 100% recyclable and shoppers can kick start their green cleaning regime with a product starter kit including a 50ml ‘small wonder’ refill, a bottle and spray trigger or invest in a Cleaning Box (the complete range including four refills).”

The refill system – thought to be a first for the eco-friendly cleaning sector in the UK – is a simple 50ml formula which is mixed with tap water meaning less waste and packaging.

The eco2life spray trigger system has been designed and tested for up to 10,000 uses and is fully recyclable with no metal parts.

eco2life has a fresh signature scent – a specially developed fragrance with notes of lemon and ginger.

The new green cleaning range is on sale nationwide with prices starting from £2.09 and is available at independent retailers and e-tailers including Tree of Life, Suma, Planet Organic, and Big Green Smile.

For more information, visit www.myeco2life.com or contact howcanwehelp@myeco2life.com .

Planet Earth (Europe) Limited is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

This is your invite to join the Word of Mouth Adventure. Join Us in the battle to uncover the local gems you never normally hear about, and support the muchbetter local businesses.

In a world where most travel choices seem to be formulaic, mass produced, and greenwashed…a world of muchbetter adventures is out there.

Independent, individual and personal. Run by friendly people who share your passion for adventure, live locally, and know the best spots.

Hard to find aren’t they? If you have been lucky enough to find one, then support them and help others find them too. It is give and take – share your suggestion, and benefit from one next time you are planning a trip! Together we can revive the soul of adventure.

You can add your suggestion to the site here: www.muchbetteradventures.com/joinus

What happens to my suggestion?

We will add all suggestions to the site so others can get straight in touch.

We’ll check them out ourselves, reward the most ethical (or ‘muchbetter’, if you will) with featured profiles, and offer sustainability consultancy to help others start on the road to muchbetter-hood.

Know an area well?

You can become a muchbetter ambassdor.
As well as your suggestions, the travel guides are being put together by a collection of voluntary ‘ambassadors’ – skiers, surfers, climbers, cyclists, trekkers, divers and locals in adventure hot spots around the world. Help create the full muchbetter guide, get featured and earn money.

Much Better Adventures is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

EcoMoneySaving.com is a new website which offers consumers and small businesses a one-stop shop for all the latest money saving and eco-friendly products.

EcoMoneySaving.com (EMS) was created in order to cater for the growing demand among householders and small businesses for reliable, eco-friendly products and not only save energy and lessen the amount of waste generated by the manufacture and use of such items, but which also save money.

For example; solar power kits that can generate light for a shed or any dark corner of the garden, solar panel kits that can be fitted to caravans, yachts etc, dynamo (wind-up) powered radios, torches, and lamps, and solar powered chargers for mobile phones carried by travellers or people working far from the nearest wall socket. These are just a few examples of the products available.

Business owner Ben Lovegrove had this to say about the launch, “If there are products that we can use on a daily basis that both save us money and reduce our carbon footprint then using them must surely be a no-brainer. The fact is that such products already exist and we’re not talking about expensive light bulbs that give out a faint orange glow. We’re talking about innovative, cutting edge green technology available to all households and businesses. They are plentiful, inexpensive, stylish, and above all they work – they save money, reduce waste and encourage sustainable living.

EcoMoneySaving.com is now despatching orders to householders and businesses all over the UK. Why not visit the site and see what money saving gadgets you could be using in your home or office?

Eco Money Saving is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

Today we launched our new Charcoal People website! It features our natural, eco-friendly bamboo charcoal water filters and our new hand-crafted bamboo charcoal pendants.

We have also added a new blog to the website and Michihiro, founder of the Charcoal People, will soon be blogging about various charcoal-related topics and his own personal experiences with charcoal.

Please come take a look at the site and let us know what you think.

Best wishes from the Charcoal People team.

The Charcoal People is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

An affordable housing development in Brecon has been dubbed ‘super-green’ due to its eco-friendly use of air source heat pumps and solar thermal. The development meets Level 4 of the Code for Sustainable Development.

Nu-Heat’s involvement in the project occurred after plans were sent to Pendragon (Design & Build) Ltd for a separate potential project. Nu-Heat’s Heat Pump Design Manager Andrew Butt was called in to discuss the requirements for the 6 apartments within the new development and Pendragon was very impressed by the standard of Nu-Heat’s system design.

Various options were weighed up including exhaust air heat pumps, considered too big for the compact apartments, and individual air source heat pumps which were deemed impractical. The definitive solution was a communal air source heat pump and 8 panel solar battery combined, feeding into the plant room buffer vessel. The ground floor plant room then supplies the entire block of apartment.

Nu-Heat’s design included sizing the radiators to cope with a flow temperature of 45°C and the specialist supply of high gain domestic hot water cylinders capable of extracting the maximum energy from the lower hot water temperature produced from the heat pump systems.   

All energy supplied is heat metered – measuring the supply to each individual apartment. Nu-Heat incorporated a building management system to ensure smooth running of the system and the potential for remote billing.

Nu-Heat provided all system components along with mechanical and electrical design to enable ease of installation.

The heating and hot water system was installed by Mike Dowell of Micaul Solar. Mike saw the potential in renewables some years ago and undertook much of his renewables training at Nu-Heat’s training centre.

The Brongarth development was built by Pendragon for Wales & West Housing Association with Powys County Council and was completed in March 2010. Residents are so far delighted with the performance of their systems. 

Nu-Heat is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

Ethical Sustainable Shoes from Simple ShoesSuede is from an eco-certified tannery.Soft and fuzzy certified organic cotton fleece lining.Natural rubber, non marking soles. Recycled PET and natural latex elastic laces with user friendly pull toggle. (PET is made of recycled plastic bottles) The foot form inserts are made of post consumer recycled paper. Washable!! Whoohoo Boxes made of post-consumer recycled paper, soy based printing ink, natural latex and starch based glue                                                                         Simple Weetire available in sizes 0-6m, 6-12m and 12-18m Click here to view                                                                           Simple Doodle available in UK Toddler sizes 4-9 Click here to view   Just a little reminder that our Summer Sale is still on! Click here to view

Globalkids is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

Available in Bamboo, Organic cotton or recycled plastic bottles (RPET), the E-POUCH ™ & E-SOCK ™ are constructed from clever combinations of these eco-friendly materials; from the outer fabrics and recycled filler, through to the recycled plastic strengthening elements and the recycled packaging.

Two E-POUCH™ designs from the range by Anokimobi

Launched by Anokimobi in response to the growing demand for eco- friendly products without the ‘green’ price tag, the E-POUCH ™ provides environmentally aware retailers and consumers a green alternative to mobile phone pouches on sale in the high street. Even the e-pouch.co.uk website is hosted on a carbon–offset server.

Tom Tranter, Director of Anokimobi Ltd explains, “For the last few years Anokimobi has been designing and developing environmentally friendly products for the retail and promotional markets.

As specialists in the mobile phone accessory market it was a natural progression to design a range of functional, attractive and eco-friendly phone pouches without charging a ‘green premium’; an extra cost which can inhibit uptake of many green products by both retailers and consumers.

And just because it’s an eco-friendly product doesn’t mean it has to be basic, we have produced the E-POUCH ™ in a variety of smart designs which incorporate clever integrated features. Within the range are plain E-POUCH ™ versions as well as pouches with printed designs, many of which are eco-themed which has been very well received by our test market.”

Although initially Anokimobi are launching a range to suit the mobile phone market the E-POUCH ™ can also be used to hold cameras and Mp3 players. The E-pouch can be produced in any size or shape to house other electronic items and Anokimobi will shortly be launching a more protective, robust version suitable for the iPhone and other gadgets.

Versatile, stylish and low cost

The E-POUCH™ is made from eco-friendly, sustainable or recycled materials
The E-POUCH™ is designed to fit most mobile phones, Mp3 players and cameras
The E-POUCH™ does not carry a green price tag
The E-POUCH™ comes in a variety of styles, colors and prints
The E-POUCH™ can be made in any size and shape and can incorporate a variety of extra features
The E-POUCH™ has a Patent Pending status

E-Pouch ™ is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more