If it werent for you meddling kids Id have gotten away with it

Toasthenge on Beans

Now that Ive packed them off to school,  I have to confess that I can finally breathe a little easier when it comes to Zero Waste Week.

Of course (and for the first time without even a hint of sarcasm) I am already missing my little darlings.  Theyve been great company over the summer, but geesh do they sometimes give me trouble on the food waste front!

And most people with kids will know the battle.

Take the other day for instance, I thought I was onto a winner by serving up Toasthenge on Beans - my historically successful reversal of Beans on Toast, in which they are guaranteed to eat the crusts.  A throw-back to when the kids were little, its success has been proven time and time again and even at the ages of 9 and 11 its still an easy favourite and a guaranteed zero waste coup...

.... until...  the moment when I served up lunch on Tuesday and my 9yo announced that he wasnt actually hungry because hed only gone and helped himself to a chocolate spread sandwich just 30 minutes earlier.

I admire his self-sufficiency... but AARGH!

Id already had a full plate of beans with toast, his brother had his own Toasthenge and my husband turned his nose up saying... "well, you know its not my kind of thing!"

No way was he bending his baked bean phobia to become my Zero Waste hero.

So, I took a page out of my mothers book!

"If you dont have it now,  youll eat it at dinner," I grumbled, then remembered dinner would be a much more delicious home-made fish pie with vegetables, so my threats instantly felt like an own goal!

Trying to reduce food waste when youve got kids is a challenge, especially when they go through their fussy stages, and I remember from my own childhood how I hated breadcrusts and many of the vegetables that the adults liked.  Mealtimes used to sometimes feel like an endurance test, especially with my late mothers waste not want not mantra, which she regularly served up with a full plate of nosh that looked like it was meant for climbing not eating.  I could never complain that we werent well fed and am now very grateful for her dedication to home-cooking.

Maybe thats why I find myself more flexible these days.  I want my children to enjoy everything they eat and balance it to their own appetites too, trying to offer a healthy range of meals, which they can serve themselves and have seconds if they then wish.

But I also want them to be adventurous in their tastes and approach to food, and unless managed carefully this can easily become an enemy of zero waste ambitions, especially with a pre-teen who has his own thoughts about how adventurous he wants to be and sees fruit and vegetables as the adversary to his happy status-quo.

Now you can imagine my evil joy last Halloween when he saw me making pumpkin soup.  As he looked on with intrigue he immediately turned his nose up at it, saying he really didnt like the look of it.  However, several hours later, and without complaint, he lapped up a bowlful... which Id served up to him and his brother as a pasta sauce.

So, when it comes to encouraging kids to join you in your zero waste ambitions and maintain a healthy diet, there is some hope!  I cant claim to be an expert, more of an intrepid explorer, but if its of any help, heres whats worked for us.


1. Keep offering up those vegetables, but tell them to help themselves rather than filling their plate for them with something that they may not be likely to finish.  Whats left in the serving bowl can then be used as ingredients for other meals.

2. Soups are fab for hiding nutritious veg.  If they dont like soup, serve it as a pasta sauce or mix it up with rice.  Stir fries are good too, especially as they introduce exciting flavours.

3. Smoothies and milkshakes are a great alternative for picky fruit eaters.

4. And have you discovered Fruity Pasta?  Use up grapes, apples and even chopped up orange segments to add to pasta.  Grate over some cheddar cheese and youll have yourself an instant taste explosion that even adults will like.

5. Finally, be creative and follow in the footsteps of the marketeers, which can be particularly helpful for the younger ones.  Pirate Island - featuring mash, gravy and a variation of veg and diced meat - was always more appealing to our younger diners than the more unadventurous sounding  Sunday Roast.

We still get some plate waste but much less than I think we would if we didnt move with the ebb and flow of their changing appetites.  I also think its important for them to know why what they eat is so important.

While my husband reminds them about the importance of the five-a-day message,  I will occasionally throw in the economical and moral issue of food waste - not in a nagging parental ambush kind of way, but in a way that enables them to at least understand the wider context.

So, yes,  if it hadnt been for those meddling kids - or rather the one who helped himself to a sandwich - I wouldnt have had any food waste this week.  That Toasthenge would have been eaten, as planned and without grumble.

But thankfully stuff like that doesnt go to landfill.  Oh no! I made a sad attempt to rescue the cold beans when I returned from a late meeting that evening, but I couldnt bear the soggy cold toast, so Ive since fed that serving of Toasthenge to my wormery, along with a couple of slices of defrosted bread that suddenly developed a case of mouldy measles in yesterdays humid heat.

And of course, that bread would have been used up for Beans on Toast, if Mr C had welcomed that for lunch.

So, I suppose I cant put all the blame on the kids.

And as for that bread, I should have just left it in the freezer just that little bit longer.

When it comes to our food waste tally, we are definitely all in it together.

____________________________

More information about Zero Waste Week 2013 can be found at www.zerowasteweek.co.uk.  Do sign up and make your pledge.  In return, youll get some great tips.

Read More..

Scrapping your car Ever thought about doing it for charity

 Tom Chance, founder of fundraising organisation Give A Car

Now dont fall off your chairs at hearing from me twice in one month will you!  Well it is March you know, almost springtime, which means Im coming out of my winter hibernation and getting out more.  I even ventured down to London AGAIN last week, to celebrate MyZeroWastes shortlisting in the PEA Awards, where they were just pipped to the post by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstalls Landshare campaign.  Great news and well-deserved for the Landshare team but MyZeroWaste was also a real winner in my eyes.


The following day, while I was still in the big smoke,  I also took the opportunity to find out more about an amazing but relatively new social enterprise that Id discovered only hours before Id left Suffolk.  Called Give A Car, it wont surprise me if they too make it on to the green carpet of some prestigious awards during the next twelve months.  Their concept is none other than genius!

Based in Putney, Give A Car was founded in January last year by graduate Tom Chance, with the aim of raising money for charity.  Since its inception, the fundraising organisation has processed approximately 3,000 cars nationwide, distributing a whopping £250,000 amongst 250 registered charities.

And the idea is simple.  When a driver needs to scrap their car, they simply contact Give A Car, who will arrange its collection at no cost to the owner.  The vehicle is assessed and is either resold at auction or sold for salvage.  Either way, 75% of the return to Give A Car is given to the charity of the donors choice . The remaining 25% is retained by the fundraising company to cover administration overheads.

And everyone benefits, especially charities who are always on the look out for new and inventive ways of raising much-needed funds.

So if you know a friend or relative whos about to send their old banger to a scrapyard, do tell them about Give A Car wont you.  You can find out more about how the organisation works at its website www.giveacar.co.uk or call them on 020 0011 1664 for more details.

Im rather getting used to my trips to London and tomorrow its the turn of the Ideal Home Show, where I guess Ill be one of the rare breeds of bloggers specifically going along to hunt out recycling bins.  If theres anything novel that jumps out at me, Ill be sure to report back.  Yes, I know, thatll be three posts in a month, so youd better watch out and Id better be careful or my laundry will soon be piling up!
___________________________________________________
 

Read More..

I found it! It only took two years but I found it!

Vegeta, that is. 

The seemingly elusive special ingredient that seems to be a staple in 90% of the recipes in the Bernstein recipe book.

I couldnt find it for the life of me over the past two years here in the National Capital Region.  Ive scoured every grocery store and specialty store trying to find the stuff.

Finally, whilst on my latest work travel jaunt to London, I found the creature.

As I picked up some staples for my hotel room, I found it tucked in the soup section.  Eureka!

I made my first vegetable soup with it from "the book" and it was good.  Of course, its a sodium salt lick, but Ive made a few of the soups in the book, and they are just too bland for words.  Stripping them recipe of Vegeta makes the Cheddar Cauliflower soup pretty gross.

Vegeta has saved the day - though will retain the water.

Ive used it in the big pot of homemade chicken soup though that Ive made for the family.  The kids are raving about the soup, so thats comforting.

Read More..

It was the Best of times it was the Worst of times

Heres the thing about me : I dont like to be wrong. I will fight and defend my position as long as I have argument to do so. However, if you show me the error of my ways, in a logical and grounded manner, after a fit of righteous indignation, I will generally concede the point. Yes, I was wrong. (you irritating buffoon) Except, of course, when it comes to my food.

I have been some version of vegetarian for over half of my life, and I am stuck in my ways. When I decided to go back to school just one year ago, I knew I wanted to work in healthcare. After much deliberation, I decided to pursue a career in dietetics. While I am still several years away from ever officially giving people advice on their food, people continue to ask me what I think anyway. And this is where my staunchly-held beliefs come in. I recommend what I know. Yet, I do not have the education to be making these recommendations to others.

Then, it dawned on me, after one spirited debate about the merits of Paleo, that Im a hypocrite. Yes, I believe vegetarianism is better, and I have plenty of reasons for thinking so, but, and this is a big BUT, it is all I have ever experienced. So, one day, during a particularly long shower, I cooked up the idea of trying out some of the various diets out there, living by their tenants, following their, at times ridiculous, rules. It seemed like a good way to educate myself about what each of the diets entails, and the science behind them.

Initially, I planned on spending one week on each diet, pretty much to minimize the harm I was certain I would be inflicting upon my body. However, as one friend so astutely pointed out, then I would be missing all of the purported benefits of these plans.

The plan then began to form, three weeks on each diet, four diets, twelve weeks in total. A trial of the diets, so to speak. Pitting them against one another is the hallowed halls of my kitchen. Then, I thought, I should write about it, and here we are. This blog shall be my record of the highs, lows and in-betweens of my personal diet experiment.


* As a side note, I would like to point out that I am not testing these diets for their weight loss capabilities, as I am currently at a healthy weight. Rather, my aim is to study how I feel on the diet, on both a physical and emotional level.

Read More..

Why is it so hard to believe in yourself

I think the biggest problem for me in managing the transition from the Strict Diet to Maintenance is that I really fared well under the microscope of the trice-weekly monitoring at the clinic.

You cant cheat because they will catch you. The evidence is in the pee..!

Here, on the Maintenance, you are alone to your own devices and are not even required to come in if you "cant make it." You still have to keep your eating journal (which is mine 100% accurate - no!)

Id rather come in twice a week - Tuesdays AND Thursdays, just to know Im on track.

I feel like Im being fed to the food wolves, without having my clinic conscience there to guide me and steer me through my eating temptation and dilemmas.

To me this is the hardest test - can I make it on my own and guide my own eating behaviour?

Its taking some work, and I think with this first week under my belt (and some added guilt from the sugar rush and screaming halt on my ketosis burning) Ill have to get myself back on track.

If not, then I might just go back on the Strict Diet to reach my full 140 loss and then ease back into Maintenance. Otherwise, I just fear that I wont make it and will jeopardize what Ive achieved through stupid choices and mistakes.

Read More..

3 Week Diet Review – is it all BS

There are lots of rumors surrounding a digital product called “3 Week Diet” authored by Brian Flatt. In this post, you will get to know our positive and negative reviews about Brian 3 Week Diet system. We will also provide our final verdict, if the product is scam or legit.

For more information, visit here: www.brian3weekdiet.com/

What is 3 Week Diet?

The 3 Week Diet is an Ebook, which claim to help people shed weight within 3 weeks. According to Brian Flatt,  a person can lose 12 – 24 pounds of fat in 3 weeks after implementing instructions provided in the Ebook.

The product comes within a money back guarantee of 60 days. So, if any customer is not satisfied with the purchase, a refund can be claimed which is instantly credited back to the account. Let’s move on towards pros and cons  of 3 Week Diet.

Pros:

• The book is very detailed.
• It is not lengthy as you think and contains well-detailed sections that provided easy to follow instructions.
• It’s a pleasing experience to read the eBook and implement its guidelines.

Cons:

• We were not able to find much information about author of 3 Week Diet. Although, it is claimed that Brian Flatt is a top notch health and fitness expert, however still we were not able to verify the credentials and identity of the author. Despite of the well-detailed Ebook with clear and easy to follow instructions, people can consider it scam, if they are not able to find much detail about author of the eBook.
• There’s lots of marketing hype about 3 Week Diet system. There are fake reviews, which can eventually lead someone into buying something, which is not actually used by an actual user.

Final Verdict

We found many positive things in the eBook, which tend to outweigh the negative factors mentioned above. There are many people, who have shared positive reviews about the effectiveness of 3 Week Diet program to help achieve the desired results. The program itself is far better than typical Ebook available in the market. Our overall rating for the product is 3.9 out of 5.

More information about review here: https://www.rebelmouse.com/3weekdietreviews/

Read More..

I did it! Now maintaining it

Okay, so I reached 139 and decided rather than fork out another $150, Id go on my own.  Im maintaining 143 give or take, and I think thats where my body is most comfortable.  Once I get back into a regular eating routine again, I seem to stabilize there.

So, Im keeping up my 16 oz vegetable/amalgam routine, and watching the fats/carbs, and staying busy.  That makes a difference.

Plus, I told the Easter bunny to take a hike, so without any chocolate tempting my lips, Im doing alright.

I was in the gardens this past weekend too with the amazing spring weather, and did a lot of work.  Last summer I would have to take a break every 10 minutes due to lightheadedness when I would do physically demanding activities.  Now I have the energy (and some extra calories) to sustain a  full afternoon of outdoor work.

Maybe my garden with be a little better maintained this year!

As an added bonus - and incentive to stay healthy - my hubby carved out an 8 x 10 patch in our side yard so we can plant a fresh vegetable garden.  Ive already mapped out the favourites, ordered the seeds, and even started a vermiculture kit to turn all my vegetable scraps (from my ritual Sunday six-8 oz veggie bag prep sessions) into worm food to sustain my garden.

Thats it - its a whole new lifestyle and chapter!  And it took a whole year (and ongoing mental reprogramming) to inculcate.

Heres to the Summer of 2010 - may it be slimming an rewarding for you too!

H.

Read More..

Shhhh you heard it here first

Well, bang goes my life as a random and loose cannon housewife in Suffolk.

I suppose it was a matter of time really.

Yes, I bring you the news that having wandered off the streets of London into yesterdays AGM for the Zero Waste Alliance UK, I found myself wandering back out again as a newly appointed member of the charitys board of directors.

Yes I know.  Im still in a position of shock too.  Theres one thing being random, but give the woman a strategy and goodness knows whatll happen.

However, Im proud to be joining a board that has such a strong pedigree in the zero waste sector, whose membership includes individuals for whom Ive had great respect and admiration since I first discovered their work and achievements several years ago.  My sincere thanks go to the members who invited me to join as well as to the rest of the board who supported the motion.

For those who arent aware of the Zero Waste Alliance UK (ZWAUK), the organisation is an educational charity that actively promotes innovative resource management to help UK industries, societies and governments achieve realistic objectives for zero waste.   Established in 2002, it has a history of successes as well as key challenges under its belt and it is really exciting to have the chance to contribute towards new opportunities for the alliance to make its mark in drastically reducing the UKs waste output and how residual resources are managed.

I will of course keep you up-to-date with the work of the alliance during the months that follow, but for the moment I am just coming to terms with how I can contain my levels of randomness in light of such new responsibilities.

How exciting is that!

I look forward to sharing further news with you soon.  However, in the meantime, for more information about the work of the charity, please visit www.zwallianceuk.org.

______________________________________________________________

Read More..

Paleo Its so easy a Caveman could do it!

The Original Paleolithic diet, was designed, as the name implies, to mimic the diets of our Paleolithic ancestors, who lived up until about 10,000 years ago, when modern agriculture began. It is based on the premise that, while our food technology has improved since the advent of agriculture, our bodies have been a little slow to catch up. We are better suited to the longstanding hunter-gatherer diet. The Paleolithic era lasted approximately 2.5 million years, it is theorized that during that time, hominids had sufficient time to adapt to the evolutionary pressures of the hunter-gatherer diet, and since then, weve had too little time to re-adapt to an agricultural diet.

Basically, you are physiologically designed to eat like a caveman or nomad, even if you no longer know it.

According to Dr. Cordains version of Paleo, there are six main premises to follow during the diet, all of which have roots in the ancient hunter-gatherer diet :

here is a link to the theory behind the rules

Unfortunately, these premises, while helpful, leave open a bit too much room for interpretation. Where does my favorite food in the world, coffee, stand in all of this? Is roasting considered processed? What about salt? Or honey? Different versions of Paleo cut these grey areas in different ways, and in the end, its really up to you. Unlike Atkins, there is not exhaustive list of what to eat and not to eat on Paleo, and no hard and fast rules concerning carbohydrates either. 

However, on her website ( here ) Dr. Cordain expounds a bit more on the rules of Paleo. As far as carbohydrates go, the theory is that you should obtain 35 - 45% of your daily caloric intake from carbohydrates, 20 - 35% from protein sources, and the remainder in mono and polyunsaturated fats. (Fats which are liquid at room temperature) For contrast, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, makers of the infamous MyPlate and Food Pyramid, generally recommend a 45-60% carbs, 15-30% protein breakdown.

The best way, in my opinion, to calculate the number of grams of carbohydrate you should be eating on Paleo is thus :

Begin with an estimate of the calories you consume in a day  [for me its about 1800-2200 Cal/day]

Then multiply by the percent of calories you should obtain from carbs [ lets start with 35%]

1800 Cal (0.35) = 630 Cal from carbs

Then using the generally accepted calories to grams exchange,* 4 Cals / 1 gram of carbohydrate, we find the number of grams of carbohydrates we should consume :

630 Cal  ( 1 gram / 4 Cal) = 157.5 grams

This means that if you consume about 1800 Calories in a day, 630 of them should come from carbohydrates, which means you should consume approximately 157.5 grams of carbohydrate in a day. (booyah algebra!) After three weeks on 45 grams or less a day, this seems like a lot to me, but in comparison to the average western diet, this is actually quite low. 

Now you may be wondering how all of this translates into a very real, everyday kind of life. I began this morning on my first day of Paleo with a fruit smoothie made with coconut milk and strawberries, a hard boiled egg, and a cup of coffee. I feel a bit guilty about the coffee considering it toes the line in the grey area of Paleo, but I just love it too much to give it up completely. What I have promised myself is this, I will have only the one morning cup, and the rest of the day will consist of tea to get me through. Seems fair enough.

The other thing which was different this morning is that, for the first time, I am not alone in my crazy scheme. My mother has decided to join me on Paleo in the hopes of kickstarting her currently flagging weight loss. Unlike me, my mom is not pesce-octo-lavo-vegetarian, (means I eat fish, eggs and dairy) and will be able to better eat the full range of Paleolithic foods. Hopefully, Paleo can do for her what it purports, and it will be wonderful to have a compatriot in my diet experiment. Time to get down with our caveman roots!

* For the full range of exchanges, including fats, proteins and alcohol, see here

Read More..

Exercise do it in moderation

Image by MoToMo via Flickr

EXERCISE

Is discouraged on the diet.

Unless you fully disclose what you do on a daily basis, they can adjust for it.

The diet and calorie intake is based on folks with no exercise regime. I mean really. I wasnt running marathons prior to joining the diet, so why would I fool myself to think that I would become physically active while trying to diet. Its enough for me to just manage working an 8-hour day, manage a household (equitably with my husband of course!), support my kids activities, and try to squeeze in an hour of t.v. for rest and relaxation. Running? Cycling? The gym? Good luck... Thats the reason Im in the 65+lbs overweight situation Im in. Lack of "me" time.

If you are exercising, be sure to get your protein and potassium on time, and have some veggies/breads with you in case you feels your blood sugar is dropping.

I had it today where we had our office retreat. I forgot, in all the morning rush, to bring my lunch which I had in the fridge. I only had veggies/salad for lunch (they had burgers and sausages which I couldnt eat) then we played soccer for our team building. Of course I was burning up the field, making career limiting moves like taking the ball from my boss and body checking my teammates. Oops....! :-)

Nonetheless, I was getting very tired and weak because I didnt have my protein or lunch potassium fizzy drink, and no access to eggs or an alternative.

We are getting more active as a family. Of course its easier in the summer, than in our cold Canadian snow-laden winters to enjoy the outdoors. While we do enjoy skiing, it was difficult even trying to find the proper gear in size 18-20 that didnt make you look and feel like the Abominable Snowman, and could maneouver on the slopes. In the summer, were biking as a family, and with our pool, Im doing some good laps and 20-minute treading water routines to move the skin and body. The doctors gave swimming the two thumbs up as acceptable and recommended exercise for those on the diet.

Ive also bought some easy 5 lb weights to work on my biceps, triceps and shoulders. I dont want the turkey fat arms, so Im slowly toning and building the muscles while Im on the diet, so strengthen slowly what has been laying in wait all these years. Im already seeing a difference. Look out Michelle Obama - Im coming up behind you to rival your toned arms! :-)

Related articles by Zemanta

• Does Seeing Someone Exercising Make You Want To? (fitsugar.com)
• 2009 Report Card on Physical Activity in Kids (drsharma.ca)
• How to Reduce Your Risk of Diabetes (dietriffic.com)
• Is Stress Holding You Back? Find out now. (dailymuscle.com)

Read More..

Where will it end up Tracking my mobile with O2 Recycle

Look! Thats my scared face, which says, "I dont really want to let go of this phone, but now Im here and I promised Id do it, I suppose Im going to have to let you take it."

Have you ever recycled a mobile phone? 

I hadnt until today, despite having owned six of the things ever since I got my very first phone in 1998.  Look, it was such a momentous occasion back then, we even captured it on camera!  It was so big, I almost needed two hands to hold it up my ear!

Christmas morning, 1998. Id never wear that dressing gown with FaceTime!

Its sad to think that phone is still packed away somewhere in my loft.  When recovered, it will be like an historic artefact from the days when phones were phones, not the mini computer devices that they are now.  Even though I have no use for it, it will probably be very hard to give up.  You see, I really do get attached to my phones for all sorts of odd reasons, whether they remind me of a time when I had a cool job, or contained the recording of my toddler telling me he loved me, or even symbolise the day I jumped into a swimming pool to rescue my drowning four-year old, with my phone in my back pocket.

There is one phone that Ive not particularly been attached to though and thats my Nokia N97.  It might have been great at getting me onto Twitter and Facebook and juggling my multi-media usage, but I havent half given it a good battering these last few years. Its time was definitely up twelve months ago, not least because the back-end would fall off at impromptu moments, Its also developed several other features that are noteworthy of its early demise, including the semi-detatchment of its silver fascia as a result of recent contact with the floor.  Then theres the way it would suddenly reboot while I was surfing the mobile net.

However, if it hadnt been for a discussion with some friendly folk from O2, this phone would be sitting in the drawer thats now dedicated to out-of-date gadgets and electronic leads, while I enjoy my more up-to-date technology.

Id explained to O2 that given my bizarre attachment to old devices, I would only ever recycle one of my phones if I could be convinced that it was worthwhile.  After all, Id much rather keep it in a drawer than go to the trouble of stripping off the data, just for it to be taken apart.

They then reassured me that just because my phone looked like it was due for the scrapyard, that wasnt necessarily the case and that it would most likely be refurbished and sold on as a reconditioned device, probably in an overseas market.

Suddenly I was interested in finding out more.

I wanted to know exactly where my phone would end up.

And I wanted to know the story of who would be using it.

I asked O2 whether we could do that, and after some phone calls around head office and to their recycling company Redeem, they said yes.  We could certainly track my old Nokia to its end market and depending on the privacy wishes and language capabilities of the new owner, it may be possible to discover the other information too.

And that got me very excited.

So, with all my photos copied, contacts deleted and messages stripped, I skipped off to our local O2 store this morning to do the deed.  Well, I say I skipped.  Actually, for some reason, I was very nervous.  I wanted reassurance that no sensitive data, or remote access to my emails or online accounts could be retrieved from my old phone, once I handed it over. 

Glendon, the Store Leader, reassured me.  In fact, one of the first steps was to restore the phone to its factory settings and ensure that everything had been deleted off.

The rest of the process was very straight forward, confirming that I should hopefully get around £32 for my old phone, which will soon be credited to my bank account, without me having to lift a finger.

It was really that simple, Im now wondering what the fuss was about!  Look, Im now looking much happier about letting go of that dodgy old phone and setting it free for refurbishment and onto pastures new.

By tomorrow, the phone will be somewhere in Scotland, being refurbished by O2s recycling partner Redeem, and once its passed quality control, it will be despatched onto its journey, where it will be tracked all the way.

Apparently it should only take two weeks until it reaches its end destination.  Hopefully then it will quickly find its way to its new owner and I then hope they will get in touch.  Its risky I know, but Ive sent them a message with my email and phone number.

Oh gawd, I could be opening up a whole new can of worms, but it would be exciting to find out with whom it ends up and to discover what really happens when a phone gets recycled.

_________________________________________________________

If youre interested in recycling your old phone for cash, there are many ways in which you can do it, but it you wish to use O2s service, you can recycle by post and fill your details online, or pop into a store near you.  You dont even need to be a customer.  More information is available at www.o2recycle.co.uk.  O2 dont make any profit from this service.  All proceeds from their sales go to their charity Think Big, which supports community projects that help young people.   Other gadgets such as iPods, cameras and even routers can also be recycled, although these are not processed on a cash-back basis.

Read More..

My fantasy landfill bin please vote for it!

Im afraid I could resist no longer.  Having admired the very pretty and funky designs that have been entered into Brabantias Design your Bin competition, I finally succumbed to submitting my own entry.

My urge to tell it like it is in the world of  pedal bin design led to a momentary lapse of what the hell today and with a few flicks of the mousepad, my entry Off to Landfill was live and kicking on the competition website, featuring a photo taken at Suffolks Foxhall landfill site back in 2008.

I admit its not the prettiest of designs.  Its probably the most rubbish design youd ever find on a bin, but then, literally thats the point.  Cheeky I know, but it does tell the story of where rubbish ends up.
 
So, to all my waste-busting pals out there, if youve got a few minutes, Id very much appreciate your vote.  Just click here to go straight to my bin.

Although a panel of design judges get to pick the winner, the bin with the most votes gets the prize for the most popular design.  So if that ever happens to this bin, I will be chuffed to bits.

Voting is open until 10 June 2012.  Hopefully, you may even be inspired to enter your own waste-busting design.

Read More..