Buenos dias!

Welcome to a sample edition of 'All Things Good', your friendly e-zine of bite sized environmental tips and facts. The most up to date online version can be found by clicking the link above.

In this issue of All Things Good:

Green Tips
This week in Wasteminster
Organic delights
The Best Things in Life.....
Return to Sender
Re-spond...your questions answered

Green Tips

A recycled aluminium can saves 95% of the energy needed to make a can from raw materials - recycling aluminium requires less mining, reduces co2 emissions and it can be recycled time and time again.

Is it a bird? is it a plane? No it's Spider Plant: These friendly little fellas can remove up to 87% of indoor pollution in 24 hours.

One hectare of woodland grown to maturity will absorb the carbon emissions of 100 average family cars driven for one year.

A single washing machine cycle uses up to 100 litres of water, the average family uses 26,000 litres a year, so... fill it up...only use a washing machine when you have a full load and if your clothes really need it.

A PC monitor left switched on overnight wastes enough energy to laser print 800 A4 pages and lighting an empty office overnight wastes enough energy to heat water for 1000 cups of coffee.

This week in Wasteminster

When speaking to one of the constituents of Wasteminster, he said 'you'll have to tax me to get me to recycle' and it seems that big brother may have been listening, as last week details emerged of a report due to be presented to parliament in October.

One of the key recommendations will be to provide every household with a free doorstep recycling service.Householders who still don't recycle, but instead continue to throw out unseparated rubbish, could be charged £1 per sack after the maximum two sacks per household have been collected, or alternatively a £5 a month charge, but this would only be on a trial basis to begin with.

Why Us? Because under European law the UK Government has to ensure that less than a third of our domestic waste goes to landfill by 2020. The UK currently languishes near the bottom of the European recycling league table. Only around 11 % of the UK's 28 million tonnes of domestic waste produced annually is recycled. This compares very badly with our clean neighbours such as Switzerland (52%), Austria (49.7%), Germany (48%) and the Netherlands (46%).

Organic delights

Organic farming is growing fast. It severely restricts the use of artificial chemical fertilisers and pesticides, helps to develop a healthy, fertile soil, animals are reared without the routine use of drugs (which are often used in intensive livestock farming) and to top it off you can often see a greater diversity of birds, butterflies and plants on organic farms.

To enable you to see these farms first hand; the Soil Association are organising free days out on organic farms across the country. Take part in cow milking, tractor driving (steady, boys!) and treasure hunts. To find an organic farm close to you, visit www.soilassociation.org

Many organic stores sell everything from wine to mascara, you can either visit a them or they will deliver to your door - saves on shopping miles! Support the British Organic Farming community by trying to buy British when possible.

The Soil Association website above will give you a full listing of places to shop throughout the country -or call 0117 929 0661. And here are a few little tasters:

Simply Organic - Huge range & national delivery service: Tel: 020 8545 7660 www.simplyorganic.net
Fresh & Wild - 6 shops in London, everything you want and the odd bargain thrown in: Tel: 020 7792 9020, www.freshandwild.com
Planet Organic: It's right up there, 1st ever Organic shop in London: Tel: 020 7727 2227, www.planetorganic.com
Abel & Cole - home delivery, fresh from the farm and truly affordable: Tel: 020 7737 3648, www.abel-cole.co.uk

And if you don't want to do the organic thing, support British farmers by buying from your local farmers market. To find out details about the one nearest to you, visit www.farmersmarkets.net or check your local press for details.

The best things in life.......are free.

This months free offer is - Junk Funk. For those of you who haven't got plans for Wednesday and are going to be near the South Bank Centre in London at 6.15pm, why not come along to listen to some the innovative, explosive percussion of a canadian band playing industrial and household junk. The band play for about 30 - 45 mins and the stage is outside the National Theatre.You wouldn't believe how much it will get your feet tappin' and it is a great way to spend a (sunny?!) summer's evening.

Return to Sender.

Fed up with leaflets, junk mail and being told you are the only person on your street to have been entered for the £100,000 prize drawer?? A 100 million trees each year are used to make junk mail. 44% of which goes straight in the (recycling) bin unread.

The Wasteminister's top tips for cutting down on the mail coming through your door:

1. Put a message on your letter box to prevent the free flyers advertising pizzas, cleaning ladies and ways to sell your house landing on your mat.

2. Watch out!! Every time you give a company your name and address, unless you tell them you do not wish to be contacted, they will add you to their database, share information with 'partner organisations' and so it goes on....When filling in a form, look for the box to tick to say you don't want to receive further information, and if you are on the phone, tell 'em good.

3. Register with the Mail Preference Service - 020 7291 3310, or write to Freepost 22, London W1 7EZ. They cannot promise to cut outstop all the junk mail, but they can help to cut it down.

4. Write 'Return to Sender, addressee unknown' on the envelope, telling them to update their records.

Obvious stuff, probably....but it is worth saying.

Re-spond...your questions answered.

Q. I want to set up recycling in my office, who should I contact?

A. The people you want to get in touch with are:
Paper Round (020) 7620 3131 or email: 'info@paper-round.co.uk' or Pulp Faction (020) 8374 0184 Simon Aldridge (pulpsimon@blueyonder.co.uk)
They will give you advice about the best way to go about setting up systems in your office. Both will provide confidential shredding services too.

Also, you can 'close the loop' by encouraging your office to buy recycled paper - Evolve paper is the only recycled paper produced in England – collected from London and the South East, reprocessed in Kent. Making one tonne of recycled paper saves 15 trees, uses 64% less energy, 50% less water and creates 74% less pollution than if it is make from virgin materials. Evolve paper is also chlorine free.

To get 2 free sample reams - go to www.londonremade.com and click on the appropriate box on their home page, or call 020 7665 1426, ask to speak to Tina and she will help you.

Q. We went on holiday to Cornwall. At the end of the week, we wanted to recycle all of our bottles and papers but couldn't find recycling bins anywhere.

A. If you call 01579 349316 they should be able to help you, or go to www.remadekernow.co.uk website go to 'ReMaDe Kernow' and go to the 'Useful links', press on '+' sign and look for 'Recyclable Collections'. There is a useful table in there which gives hyperlinks to relevant pages containing precisely the info you need.

Q. I live in Kensington and Chelsea....how do I recycle?

A. The number you want for K & C is 020 73415148. They have a pretty comprehensive multi material kerbside collection scheme. You have to get hold of some tags to put on your bags, or have a bin which is designated as your recycling bin outside your flat. They will send you a starter pack to get you on your way.

Q. I live in Devon. When talking to a councillor about paper recycling the other day, he said 'well it all ends up in the tip anyway'. Is this true?

A. From Ralph Mackridge of Devon Community Recycling Network
'Let me assure you that the councillor you refer to has it completely wrong. It's that kind of cynical misinformation that does the efforts of so many people a great deal of harm. The newspapers and magazines and other papers that are collected through the recycling banks scheme and through the kerbside recycling collections that operate in the Teignmouth area (and throughout Devon) are all recycled. They go to Aylesford In Kent, one of the few pulp mills in the country set up exclusively for newspapers and magazines and brochures. It is made in to newsprint. All the Devon authorities take part in this scheme and in April this year they reached a grand total, since they started in the late 1990's, of sending 100,000 tonnes up for recycling. That's impressive.

...stories about "everything going to the tip" are simply untrue and are the result, I'm afraid to say, of ignorance and prejudice. If your story about the councillor is true, then I'm sorry to hear that ignorance and prejudice affects those who should know better.'