Everything you need to know about recycled wool

Wool is a natural fibre and textile made from the fleece of sheep. It’s used to manufacture a wide variety of products, from jumpers and socks to blankets, carpets and cushion covers.

While wool offers many benefits like softness, warmth, water repellence, and fire resistance (did you know that firefighter uniforms are made from 100% merino wool?), it doesn’t last forever.

Luckily, it is a fibre that takes very well to recycling.

Let’s take a closer look at wool recycling techniques, what the resulting material is made into, and your options for recycling your old woollen garments.

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How to reuse coffee grounds

Used coffee grounds are often seen as standard waste and are typically disposed of after they’ve been used to make coffee.

However, there are many ways to reuse coffee grounds. Knowing what you can do with your leftover coffee can free up space in landfills, benefiting the environment.

This blog post will explain what coffee grounds are, examine if you can reuse them to make more coffee, and outline various inventive ways to reuse them for other purposes.

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4 ways to defrost car windows in an eco-friendly way

As the season progresses and the temperature drops, you may start to find your car windows need a little attention before you head off to work in the morning.

In this blog post, we will delve into why one of the standard methods for defrosting a car window is terrible for the environment; offering some eco-friendlier alternatives for both the prevention of frost and defrosting once the ice has occurred.

Firstly though, let’s begin with the science.

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4 exciting upcycling ideas for kids

As parents, it’s crucial that we teach the concepts of reuse and recycling early on to our children, and what better way to do so than through fun kids’ craft ideas that reuse waste items?

In this blog post, we’ll explore four easy upcycling ideas for kids that they will love – from fairy houses to blossom-covered trees.

These upcycling ideas for children are perfect for a rainy day when you’re stuck indoors, need to keep the kids entertained, and want them to learn something.

Depending on your child’s age, you could boost the educational aspect of the projects by sitting with them and talking to them about the materials they are using — what their original purpose was, and why it’s important to consider every purchase carefully and reuse waste where we can.

Before we jump into the ideas, here’s a quick safety note. Please supervise your children at all times when crafting and help them, as required, when they are using scissors, glue, and other potentially dangerous items.

With that said, let’s get eco-crafting!

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How to report littering in Leeds & Yorkshire

It is estimated that 2 million pieces of litter are dropped daily across the UK; a shocking statistic when you consider the size of our island and the number of people who must be dropping that litter.

Litter is unsightly, but that isn’t the only issue; it is also terrible for the environment.

Being a crime, littering can be reported in the UK so, in this blog post, we will explore what litter is, what the fine is for dropping it, and how you can report incidents of littering in your local area.

Firstly, let’s begin with the basics.

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Reduce food waste in your restaurant or café in just 10 easy steps

WRAP estimated that the UK created around 9.5 million tonnes of food waste in 2018, with 70 per cent of that total intended to be consumed by humans. This total doesn’t include the waste redistributed as animal feed or via charity and commercial routes.

While the 2018 figure was down from 10 million tonnes in 2015, I think we can all agree that action urgently needs to be taken to dramatically reduce the volume of food waste being created in this country.

Hospitality and food service contribute 12 per cent of the country’s total food wastage, which costs the sector approximately £682 million annually.

This blog post will explore why food waste in restaurants and cafes needs to be reduced and how that can be achieved.

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5 ways to recycle your spectacles

It’s estimated that 75 per cent of the population requires vision correction, with around 64 per cent of people choosing to wear glasses to correct their vision and 11 per cent opting for contact lenses — either solely or alongside eyeglasses.

With so many of us wearing spectacles and having annual eye tests, glasses can, unfortunately, become ineffectual for the individual they were made for within just one year.

Often made from metal or plastic, glasses can’t just be thrown in your household recycling bin, so many people are left wondering, ‘where can I recycle spectacles?’

You’d be amazed at how many pairs of old prescription glasses are lurking at the back of drawers in houses across the country.

So, in this article, we’ll take a look at where to recycle spectacles — whether it is prescription or reading glasses you need to dispose of.

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A quick guide to the litter problem in Cleethorpes

Like most beach resorts across the UK, Cleethorpes is, unfortunately, no stranger to litter — especially on hot days when people head to the beach in their thousands.

It’s no wonder people flock to Cleethorpes beach when the sun makes an appearance, though — it’s beautiful and award-winning, with The Trainline naming it the second-best beach in the UK in 2021 — ahead of Blackpool, Filey and Skegness.

In this blog post, we’ll explore the litter problem in Cleethorpes and why solving it is so vital to the area.

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8 clever ways to reuse plastic bottles

Back in 2019, we shared five reuse ideas for single-use plastic bottles on the blog, and a lot of you found it helpful.

Today, we are back with eight more clever ways to reuse your plastic bottles.

The bottles used for bottled water and other drinks are sadly intended to be single-use, so avoiding them altogether would be the best move for the environment.

However, we know that, realistically, a plastic bottle may be the only way for you to purchase your favourite drink on the go.

In which case, why not reuse the bottle when it’s empty and clean — giving it another lease of life, rather than sending it straight for recycling?

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What is domestic waste?

Domestic waste is any waste that is produced in the home environment.

Local authorities’ waste teams regularly collect the bulk of this, and additional household waste can be collected via one-off waste collections or skip hire.

Larger or extra domestic waste can also be taken to a local recycling centre for disposal.

This blog post will explore what domestic waste consists of and what happens to it after being collected from the nation’s homes.

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