Author: Graham Matthews

Everything you need to know about fly-tipping

Fly-tipping is more than just a nuisance. For businesses, disposing of other people’s fly-tipped waste can be costly and inconvenient.

Illegally dumped waste dodges eco-friendly waste disposal rules such as recycling as much as possible, too, which is bad news for the environment — especially when the waste includes hazardous materials like hydraulic fluids and paint.

In this article, we’ll look in detail at the origins of this unwelcome practice, the impact on victims and the environment, and some of the solutions to reduce fly-tipping in the future.

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The ultimate guide to eco-friendly gift giving

Eco-friendly gifts are not just for Christmas. We give each other presents all year round for birthdays, anniversaries, Valentine’s Day, Easter, and many more celebrations.

By choosing sustainable gifts and eco-friendly wrapping paper, you can make sure the presents you give your friends and family don’t have an adverse impact on the environment.

Here’s our ultimate guide to the best eco-friendly gifts for different occasions throughout the year and how you can give them in a more environmentally friendly way.

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How to be a zero waste festival goer

As the UK continues to emerge from the most severe phase of COVID-19 restrictions cautiously, it looks like festivals are back on the menu, along with other crowded events like full-capacity sporting fixtures, cinema and theatre.

But with large crowds comes lots of litter. Waste is an unfortunate inevitability of all major events.

Festival waste management is a particular challenge as there are often relatively few places to dispose of litter while the event is going on.

For a truly sustainable festival, you want to leave no waste behind.

This article will look at ways to host and attend a zero-waste festival, including how organisers can cope with waste clearance and how individuals can reduce the amount of rubbish they generate.

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How to create a capsule wardrobe

Most of us are guilty of a wardrobe full of clothes we never wear — whether that’s because they’re no longer the right size, they’re out of fashion, or they were an impulse buy we’ve never worn.

This wardrobe-stuffing has been encouraged by fast fashion, which has enabled people to buy endless items of clothing without breaking the bank or giving each purchase much thought.

With so many clothes to choose from, many of us struggle to decide what to wear each day — and a surprising number of us end up reaching for the same pieces daily, to avoid the decision.

This situation could be avoided with the implementation of a capsule wardrobe.

With such busy lives and many of us wishing to move over to more sustainable ways of living, a capsule wardrobe could make life simpler and eco-friendlier for everyone.

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Why can’t all plastic be recycled?

Since 1988, it’s been easy to identify what type of plastic many products, packaging and containers are made from, thanks to the creation of the Resin Identification Code, or RIC.

This is the number enclosed within a triangle that appears on many plastic items as a guide to its recyclability – but although the symbol originally included the familiar ‘recycling symbol’ of three arrows arranged in a triangular shape, not all plastics marked in this way are actually recyclable.

More recently, it is common to see a solid triangle rather than the triangular ‘recycling’ arrows, in an attempt to reduce the risk of non-recyclable plastics being misinterpreted.

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