The Correct Way to Get Rid of Old Gadgets 💻

Where on earth are we meant to put electronics and gadgets when we're done with them? Definitely not in your normal bin. No, no, no. Don't do that. According to research by Material Focus, if you throw or hoard your old gadgets, it contributes to the equivalent of 1.3 million cars on the road, or 28 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. You will also be putting dangerous materials in landfill. 

There are a lot of reasons why you should recycle old gadgets (you don't have to recycle and make them into different things yourself, that would be very hard if you don't have experience) but one of them is that lots of electrics - for example mobile phones, toasters etc - contain raw and valuable materials like gold and aluminium. However, there are also reasons why people don't recycle their gadgets. Probably the biggest reason is that you don't know where to recycle them. 

So, where can you recycle them? There are places like Recycle your Electricals, Recycle Now or Emerge Recycling. You can find 2000+ recycling points (in the UK, I'm afraid) if you enter your postcode or location and they will find you your closest one. But you have to check your local one to see if they're open and allowing people in. All electrical gadgets (that is; everything with a plug, chargers, batteries or the WEEE wheelie bin logo - picture of a crossed out wheelie bin) can be recycled. 

You can learn more about the WEEE (which stands for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Directive on the website. It tells you facts and percentages about the waste of electrical things - for example an estimated 2 million tons of WEEE items are thrown away by companies and homes every year in the UK - and which things you should recycle. 

Thank you for reading this blog, I hope you have learnt something from it and will recycle gadgets that are too old or broken to use properly anymore.

Violet

        xxx

Eco Friendly Gifts for Father's Day!💝

Today, in the UK at least, it's Father's Day. Father's day might mean everything to you, it might mean nothing. You might have some sort of tradition you do every year. And, if you have not done so already, I don't think it's too late to give a gift. However, if you order something it probably wouldn't come today, but then you could just say it's late. 🤷‍♀️

So, the most meaningful and the best gift to give is homemade. And there are lots of ways to go and recycle old things or create new things into gifts.

• Get an old/mismatched/lonely (and clean!) sock, cut off the top if it's an ankle sock because it's sort of the wrong shape, and then if you slip it over the bottom of a freezing cold glass of any beverage and hold it, it won't freeze your fingers!
• If your dad likes hot, spicy sauces, how about making him one? They have some recipes here like: passion fruit, jalapeno or roasted green chili pepper hot sauce. Or you could make him his favourite meal or dessert.
• Go to your nearest garden centre (my one is the Hulme Community Garden Centre, and I went there for the first time yesterday and it's lovely!) and buy an indoor/outdoor plant to decorate your home.
• Go on a walk in nature. I always love doing that and it's so relaxing (if you aren't too worried or stressed about getting lost or something🤪)

I know it might be a bit late for you to give these gifts because it's today, but you could come back to it next year or you could use them for birthdays! Thank you for reading this blog, I hope you and your dad are well!
Violet
         xxx

Bamboo Products! 🐼

I have two bamboo things for myself: a bamboo hairbrush and a bamboo toothbrush. Everyone in my house has a bamboo toothbrush and we've been using them for over a year now; to be honest, it's not different to a plastic toothbrush, so there's not many reasons not to buy them. They will obviously be more expensive than a plastic toothbrush but it's worth it. You can get these from places that are all eco friendly or even in just your normal shops.

Did you know that you can actually buy bamboo clothing? I did not know until today... Yeah, so you can get sustainable clothing and sports clothing from websites and yes, I have to say again, it is rather expensive.

From places like Eco Vibe you can get eco friendly self care things like: natural deodorants, reusable makeup remover pads, biodegradable floss, or household things like: sugarcane and bamboo kitchen/toilet roll, reusable coffee cups, bamboo cooking utensils and more.

The thing I have to say I am thinking, and you may be thinking the exact same thing, is: aren't we decreasing habitats and food if we cut down bamboo to make biodegradable, sustainable things? Well, maybe not. Because bamboo is actually the fastest growing plant on earth: growing to more than 3 feet in a day! This makes it super sustainable. Bamboo is also eco friendly because:

• Chemicals aren't provided when harvesting it, so it is natural and doesn't harm the environment.
• Bamboo is really strong and has a long lifespan, so it can be used time and time again without worry of it biodegrading.
• It typically takes 3 years for it to break down and when you think about it, that's quite a while.
• Almost every bit of the plant is used when it is harvested.
• Bamboo can replace most things made out of wood: paper, flooring, furniture etc.

Thank you so much for reading this blog, I hope you liked it and I hope you are well!

Violet

    xxx

Stop Fast Fashion! 👕

If you don't know what fast fashion is, it's when mainstream companies sell trendy clothing at a cheap price. And then, because the actual clothing is cheap and not made to last, you wear it once or twice and then throw it into landfill (for those people who don't give to charity shops). The fashion industry is a major part of the greenhouse gasses polluting the Earth. 53 million tonnes of fibres are used to make clothes and textiles and, to make matters worse, 75% of it is burned or sent to landfill, according to reports. Also, when you wash synthetic materials like polyester, you are, I'm afraid, contributing to plastic pollution: about 700,000 man-made fibres flow into the sea and are consumed by fish in a single wash.

This fact really surprised me: equivalent to more than 50 billion plastic bottles, clothes unleash around about half a million tonnes of plastic fibres into the ocean every year.

Cheaper clothes are often made abroad in factories that are unsafe and give their workers low wages. And in these factories, a lot of energy can be used to meet demands and shortcuts can be made which are bad for the environment.

What can you do to help?

• Instead of buying brand new clothes you can go to charity shops and re-use clothes that people have become bored of. You can also send your old clothes to charity shops for someone else.
•  If your clothes are ripped or something you could take the time to try to mend it by sewing, however I understand sewing can be hard for people.
• Don't buy cheap new clothes to go with the trends.  You could even do the #30wears campaign where you are encouraged to only buy something you know you'll where at least 30 times.

Thank you for reading this blog about fast fashion and clothes. I got all these facts from: Teen Breathe special, Earth-Saving Acts for Eco-Warriors. See you next week!

Violet

         xxx