There only a few days to go before WRAP’s Recycle Week is under way. It  will be running from June 22nd to 28th and has the theme ‘let’s waste less’.

In support of Recycle Week the teams at BemoreEco and MoreEco will be blogging their recycling exploits each day.  Visit the recycling page to see what is happening.However to give you a little taster of what we are planning to do we have chosen to carry out the following tasks/pledges;

• Look out for Gadgets / products which help with you with your recycling tasks and pledges.
• Raise awareness of public recycling bins and types off
• Recycle my food by using left overs for lunch each day.

You can now go to the Recycle Now website to make your pledge.

Also as bonus if you sign up to MoreEco during Recycling week we will give you an extra 100 joining points. Use offer code ‘recyclenow’.

‘Ethical Nutriceuticals’
Fushi a leading ethical health and beauty brand introduces a pioneering nutriceutical range that targets five most
common health concerns; skin repair, energy, stress,detox and anti-aging.

Termed as the ‘honest’ supplement, Fushi’s nutriceuticals come completely free from added fillers, bulking agents, and nasties that many mainstream brands often tend to use. They are vegetarian friendly and professionally formulated with 100 % pure ingredients in bio available form for the best absorption.

An ethically accredited brand and environmentally conscious, Fushi embarks on a ‘tree for eternity’ project ensuring a portion of the profits goes towards planting of more trees in the UK and abroad. This is to inspire customers to ‘consume with a conscience’.

Youth Totale Superfood
This potent certified organic formulation contains 10 Superfoods perfect to add to your favourite juice or smoothie. The unique blend including Spirulina, Kelp and Bilberry and is great to include in your anti-ageing regime, to maintain good health and as a potent anti-ageing food supplement.
RRP: £9.95 10 x 10g sachets

Beauty Totale
A unique complex with 24 essential nutrients, Beauty Totale has been designed to penetrate cells at a deep level to promote a radiant complexion, healthy hair and nails. It contains the key essential nutrients Alpha-lipoic acid, biotin and silica, to ensure glowing results within weeks.
RRP: £14.95 60 caps

Calmaid
As the name suggests Calmaid is a calming formula to promote a zen like feeling to the body. The essential nutrients L-tryptophan, inositol and magnesium help to promote mental calm and nourish the nervous system particularly in times of stress. It also contains individual amino acids that help regulate mood and the sleep wake cycle. Perfect for stressful lifestyles no doubt.
RRP 9.95 60 caps

Energiplex
A pioneering formula for energy, Energiplex offers a caffeine free alternative to boost energy levels and create a zestful feeling in the body. Combining Alpha-lipoic acid, L-carnitine and B group vitamins the formula ensures optimum energy levels and is particularly formulated for people with busy and active lifestyles.
RRP: £9.95 60 caps

Detoxipure
This advanced natural formula has been designed to help cleanse toxins and pollutants that come from modern living. Rhubarb root, L-glutamine and L-methionine combined with other essential nutrients work to repair and regenerate the liver and digestive function and is the perfect supplement to combine with a detox programme.
RRP: £14.95 60 caps

Available at www.fushi.co.uk and selected healthfood
stores and pharmacies nationwide.

The manufacturers of some of the most-polluting cars on British roads, including Bentley, Porsche and Rolls Royce, have today  signed up for the government’s scrappage scheme, an initiative described as ‘green’ because it aims to replace older vehicles with new, fuel-efficient models.  

In theory it means that someone who scraps a 1999 Volkswagen Lupo TDi 3L, (81g CO2/km) and buys a 2009 Bentley Arnage 465g CO2/km)
would receive a £1,000 taxpayer-funded payment. The Bentley produces over 5 times as much CO2 as the smaller car.

Director at the Environmental Transport Association (ETA), Andrew Davis, said: “Buying a green Bentley does not make this scrappage scheme environmentally-friendly” 

Press
release

May
1st 2009

Conscientious
bargain hunters pledge support to JumbleAID.com – the website that
recycles ‘stuff’ while raising money for charity

A
website that combines the ethos of Freecycle with raising money for
charity is proving popular with those looking to bag a
‘conscientious’ bargain during the recession.

www.jumbleaid.com
was launched last November and aims to find new homes for unwanted
possessions while raising money for charity.

The
website is free to join and simple to use: you
suggest an amount to be donated in return for your ‘Gifts’ and
choose the charity to which you want the money to be passed on to.

There
are over 25,000 UK charities to choose from or you can nominate your
own preferred charity. Items can be found via the keyword or category
search and ‘wanted’ ads can be placed if you are looking for
something specific.

Items
posted on the site range from the usual jumble sale stuff (toys,
games and household goods) to the more unusual – a Ford Escort, a
Table Tennis table and paving stones have all exchanged hands in
return for donations.

Each
item is listed by location so you can look for stuff close to home to
save on delivery costs. Registered users are based across the UK from
Edinburgh to Cornwall with the largest community group currently
being West Yorkshire. To date, the oldest user is 83 and the youngest
18.

Since
launching, JumbleAID has donated money to 23 different charities
ranging from Barnardo’s to the Donkey Sanctuary Devon. The average
donation for an item is £15.26 and due to the website’s unique
set-up, none of the payment goes to JumbleAID but goes directly into
a Charities Trust Account¹
who add GiftAid where applicable and distribute the funds, less
transaction charges, to the nominated charities.

According
to JumbleAID if only 1% of the adult population of the UK were to put
one item a month on to the website and the average donation was just
£2, over £10 million per year would be raised for charity. An
average donation of £5 could generate over £25 million.

The team
behind JumbleAID include co-founders of internet service provider
Freeserve, Ajaz Ahmed and Rob Wilmot, Channel 4 ‘Secret
Millionaire’ Carl Hopkins, and Simon Pailin and Colin Feeley, two
business associates who had the original idea for the website two
years ago.

Simon
says: “In the current economic climate, people are starting to turn
their backs on the ‘throwaway society’ we have become accustomed
to. JumbleAID.com is a
simple idea and perhaps that’s why people ‘get it’ and want to
support it. It
is a perpetual jumble event hosted by a virtual community with a
conscience. We expect to see an increasing number of visitors in the
next few months as people start to reject materialism and look for
alternative solutions.”

• ENDS-

Issued
on behalf of JumbleAID.com by Faith PR. For further details or to
arrange interviews with the JumbleAID founding partners, please
contact Stefanie Hopkins on 07809 484978/ 01484 716244 or email
Stefanie@faith-pr.co.uk.

Editor’s
Notes

The
JumbleAID founding team includes:

Simon
Pailin – Marketing, advertising and design professional

Colin
Feeley – Web developer

Nadio
Granata – Marketing professional and university lecturer

Carl
Hopkins – Business and Social entrepreneur

Ajaz
Ahmed – Internet entrepreneur

Rob
Wilmot – Internet entrepreneur

Rob
Wilmot and Ajaz Ahmed were the team behind the Freeserve phenomenon.

Carl
Hopkins sold his marketing agency JDA in June 2007. He is now a
serial entrepreneur, investor and marketing ‘guru’. Carl recently
appeared on Channel 4’s popular philanthropy show, The Secret
Millionaire.

What
other people have said about JumbleAID.com:

Pauline
Lambert – NSCAN

“This
seems a really good way to support charities and contributing to
protecting the environment – funding from recycling, less waste so
protection for the environment”

Annette
Humphrey – World Vision UK

“Great
idea! We don’t have charity shops so a cyber-market is a whole new
opportunity to raise additional funds – for free too!!”

Keith
Ballard- OLSJ Catholic Arts College

“Sounds
like a really great idea – ethical and practical.”

Andrea
Beer – Goodwin Development Trust

“An
excellent way to raise funds, especially for the smaller charities
that don’t have the marketing budgets of the major players.”

Phil
Beckett – The Nerve Centre

“A
great idea – and excellent fund raising idea for smaller charities.”

Emma
Fox – Diabetes UK (Northern & Yorkshire)

“This
is a brilliant idea I am sure it will really take off !!!”

Cate
Birch – Freelance Fundraiser

“What
a fantastic idea – will be forwarding details to all my contacts and
encouraging them to join in.”

Emma
Dickens -Sheffield Hospitals Charitable Trust

“We’d
like to be one of the first charities on board with this scheme, as
we think it will help us reach a whole new market of supporters.”

Peter
Jones – Beatbullying

“Brilliant
idea. Wish you the very best of luck with this.”

www.jumbleaid.com

1
Charities Trust is a registered charity and the country’s second
largest HM Customs & Revenues approved Payroll Giving Agency.
They process all donations, adding GiftAid where applicable and
distribute the funds, less transaction charges, to the nominated
charities.

As sales for organic and Fairtrade cotton rise, a major event in
Bristol investigates the future of the fibre

April
2009

A
groundbreaking conference to be held in Bristol on 9 May will present
a new vision for sustainability in the cotton industry. [1]

‘COTTON
ON!’
will
be introduced by environment journalist Lucy Siegle and will offer
expert speakers from the Department for International Development,
Soil Association Oxfam, Fairtrade Foundation, Labour Behind the
Label, Gossypium, Monsoon, and more. [2]

The
event will cover everything from fashion and design to the chain from
cotton plant to high-street store product.

The
latest organic market report from the Soil Association reveals
significant growth in sales of organic cotton which increased
by 40% in 2008 and total UK sales of organic clothing and textiles
reached £100 million.

Consumer
demand for ethically produced cotton is clear – the question is
whether the industry can rise to this demand?

Tim
March, head of marketing for Howies clothing company, who are
sponsoring the event, said:

“We
are delighted to support this important and challenging event. Howies
is committed to ethical standards and we are keen to see the debate
develop and move on.

“This
is not preaching to the converted – we’re bringing together people
who might not often get the chance to sit at the same table, such as
campaigners, big retailers and government, with the aim of working
out some real solutions.”

Hannah
Durrant, campaigner for Oxfam in the South West, added:

“Many
cotton farmers compete in a world market that excludes them with
subsidies paid to farmers in richer countries. On a recent visit to
Mali I met farmers who said that producing organic and Fairtrade
cotton really makes a difference to them. We want to see more farmers
around the world get a chance at a fair deal.”

Ends

For
further information please contact the Soil Association press office:

Clio
Turton, senior press officer, 0117 914 2448 / 07795 562 556 /

press@soilassociation.org

Notes
to editors:

[1]
The
Council House, College Green, Bristol, BS1 5TR

9
May, 9.30am to 4.30pm

£12
/ conc. £8

Tickets
available at http://tinyurl.com/cotton-on-booking

[2]
The
event has been organised by the Soil Association, Oxfam Campaigns
South West, Bristol Fairtrade Network and Bishopston Trading Company.

Bristol
City Council is also supporting Cotton On and is currently
investigating ethical workwear for its staff. Bristol is leading the
green agenda and was recently the only UK finalist to become a Green
City.

Spring 2009 sees the addition of new mineral make up brand, Inika
Cosmetics, to the So Organic beauty department. Inika are made in
Australia from crushed minerals. They are 100% vegan and do not contain
any of the synthetic chemicals found in conventional brands.

The leading organic lifestyle store is excited to have this new make up brand as part of their total natural beauty selection and is offering 20% off all Inika make up until the end of April. Samantha comments: “I love this new natural make up range. THE best coverage from a foundation I’ve ever had but even better it’s so versatile – I use it as a concealer, foundation and powder.”

So Organic and The Girl’s Experience will host an organic make up night to demonstrate the products and explain the benefits of natural cosmetics. So Organic founder and organic beauty guru, Samantha Burlton, will be joined by two specialist Inika make up artists for The Girl’s Experience evening at Boujis in South Kensington on the 28th of May 2009.

The complete range of Inika make up, available from www.SoOrganic.com 

When you drop into UK AWARE (Olympia 2, London – Fri 17-Sat 18 April) be on the lookout for freebies.

More especially, free 2009 Calendars of Climate Change. Creator and eco publisher Diana Korchien of Flipside Vision will be walking the floor buttonholing members of the public to talk about the joys of Freecycling and urging them to join this wonderful network. 

She hopes to garner as many as 200 new Freecyclers at the event (a very
modest and wholly achievable target, we think), and is giving a
calendar to each person who pledges to sign up. In case you still
haven’t heard of Freecycle, it keeps perfectly serviceable goods out of
landfill through a global yet local trading and swapping network. (See
http://www.freecycle.org/)

Fact: By 2010, all landfill sites serving the London area will be full to capacity. 2010. Not 2012. 2010. Just think about it.

Imogen Stone, the online flower and gift store, has recently become a Fairtrade licensee

They became licensees to support the Fairtrade Foundation in their goal to transform trading structures and practices in favour of the poor and disadvantaged. You can support flower growers in the developing world this Valentine’s Day by purchasing flowers from Imogen Stone. Chocaid Fairtrade chocolates are also available with flowers for the perfect gift for your lover. Visit www.imogenstone.com

Go Eco Store has provided sponsorship to the Environmental Team at the University of Leicester (UoL) during their recycling campaign in early 2009.

UoL have a strong eco ethic and the Environment Team has an extensive list of issues that they intend to address covering all kinds of environmental impacts at the University. These range from the energy used and the things they buy, to how people get around the University sites and managing the estate to improve conditions for wildlife. It’s not just about how they manage their waste but anything that is of an important environmental concern.

Last year in 2008 UoL ran a Big Green Week and started their recycling scheme, both of which received “Green Apple Awards”, they also enlisted the help of the Carbon Trust to calculate their carbon footprint, and then implemented a carbon management plan with ways of reducing energy.

Some of the things events taking place during 2009 include a recycling campaign which consists of “Golden Bin Challenges” and a Fancy Dress competition evening where all students are required to dress up in “recycled” outfits. The best dressed students will win some eco products supplied by Go Eco Store which are intended to encourage students to adopt an eco lifestyle.

In 2008 the staff at Go Eco Store wanted to improve their lifestyle to be more Eco friendly and started to look at what was available in the high street. They struggled to find many suitable products so investigated the “independent” market. It became obvious that there were a great number of products available but it was difficult to tell which ones offered real value for money. So with this in mind they felt that there would also be many other people trying to do the same thing, and so Go Eco Store was born.

Go Eco Store is trying to help everyone to support their Eco lifestyle by offering a range of products which are not only better for our planet but also kinder on your pocket. We have spent a great deal of time evaluating many products that are eco friendly and have brought together a selection of products that in our opinion offer high quality and great value for money.

The eco qualities of each item have been assessed; their performance evaluated and then compared the cost of using these items to similar products available in the high street. You will find the value for money assessment against each product on the website with it being expressed in the following ways: cost per use, life cycle cost, equivalent cost or quality.

The eco products are energy saving, natural, organic or recycled products and all are intended to reduce the impact on the environment while supporting your Eco home, encouraging an Eco lifestyle….

Please click here to see the full article > > >

In a Sustained exclusive the man with thousands of Christmas’ under his belt, Santa Claus himseELF, talks candidly about work, being green and elfsploitation
Interview by Jeremy Piximan 

Piximan: Recent statistics have shown that a team of nine reindeer would emit methane equivalent to 40,667 tonnes of CO2 as they covered the 122 million miles needed to deliver presents to every house in the world, making your sleigh ride almost as environmentally unfriendly as an aircraft, which would produce 41,480 tonnes of CO2. How do you justify that?

Santa: Did you know that 82% of all statistics quoted to prove a point are made up on the spot and 43% of those are worthless! Seriously though, we should remember that this is an essential journey for the children of the world, just once a year, and reindeer are also part and parcel of their eco-system and have helped to sustain indigenous peoples for millennia.

That’s not to say that I think people should stop flying but they should consider why they are flying, how often they do it and perhaps it would be helpful if they stop making comparisons with living creatures in order to justify their own arbitrary actions. Anyway, it’s a sustainable option as it’s the methane we use to power the sleigh! Phewww!

Piximan: Mmm. So what does sustainability mean to you?

Santa: Children.

Piximan: Children?

Santa: Yes. Sustainability is all about children. People need to think of them as I do; not just your own children today, but all the generations of the world’s children to come. Thinking like that, with loving kindness, is the key to sustainability.

Piximan: I notice that you’re wearing a green suit, not your usual red one. Is Santa just jumping on the green bandwagon or, should I say, the green sleigh?

Santa: My dear Jeremy, let me tell you that I am wearing green because I have always worn green and will continue to always wear green. Green is my traditional colour and the only reason you are used to seeing me in red comes from a fairly recent representation of me in that colour which was widely publicised in the advertising campaign of a soft drinks corporation.

Piximan: On the subject of yuletide advertising, marketing and consumption, do you think Christmas is in crisis Santa?

Santa: Indeed it is dear boy, indeed it is. You see Christmas is about giving and about sharing but western culture has taken the beauty and necessity of those values and turned Christmas into a time of excess. It’s as simple as that. Your world is under threat because of your fixation with consumption and Christmas is the time when you take that to its extreme.

Piximan: So you’re not actually supportive of a consumer Christmas filled with toys, cards, decorations, gadgets, clothes, food, drink, TV specials, advertising, packaging, wrapping, crackers, tinsel, perfumes, deodorants, Christmas lights, chocolate, cheap plastic junk, nylon Santa hats and reindeer horns and, and . . .

Santa: Slade?

Piximan: Yes, Christmas singles!

Santa: Yes.

Piximan: Yes?

Santa: Yes, I’m not supportive of all that but I do actually like Slade. “Look to the future now, it’s only just begun.” Great line don’t you think; very now!

Piximan: Indeed, but if you could elaborate on Christmas consumption. . .

Santa: Ah yes, well, as I’ve said, Christmas is all about people, about family and community, about not leaving anyone out in the cold, about thanksgiving for the goodness of your life, for the returning light and warmth that promises a future crop and a future harvest, for the presence of the light and warmth of love that promises your future security and future joy. There are plenty of ways to celebrate it, to give gifts and enjoy the festive spirit, without going over the top. Think simple, think sustainable, think kindness. Approach it like that and it will bless you. Approach it in a frenzy and, well, you get the idea.

Piximan: Indeed. Now, contrary to your popular image as one of the good guys are you not guilty of running an over-centralised, multinational corporation powered by an exploited workforce of underpaid and overworked elves operating in sweatshop conditions.

Santa: Bit cold for a sweatshop!

Piximan: Come on, answer the question.

Santa: Well Jeremy, the truth is that the Christmas operation is actually run by the elves as a worker-owned co-operative with production and distribution centres all over the world sourcing natural products from indigenous elfin communities. I’m just the delivery man.

Piximan: Thank you Santa. Our readers will be very glad to hear that. Just one more thing?

Santa: What’s that?

Piximan: Can I get off your knee now? 

‘So here it is,
Merry Christmas,
Everybody’s having fun,
Look to the future now
It’s only just begun . . ‘

The ‘Recycle Santa’ illustration is by Yana Foltice.