Environmental – Page 8 – The Waste Management & Recycling Blog

Are You Ready for National Zero Waste Week 2015?

What is National Zero Waste Week 2015?

Zero Waste Week is a week in September which focuses on protecting the environment through sending no waste to landfill. The 2015 theme is ‘reuse’, which is great as it will help people realise that by reusing items, we are benefiting the environment and our purse/wallet.

This video explains National Zero Waste Week really well:

Ideas for your Zero Waste Week pledge

What will you pledge to do for NZWW 2015 – at home, or at work with your colleagues?

If you’re an individual, you could try:

Preparing all your lunches at home for the week (not buying packaged lunches)
Commiting to using only reusable carrier bags – no plastic bags
Repurposing all glass items you use in that week
Repurposing all tin cans you use in that week
Using a refillable cup for coffee shop drinks
Using a washable alternative to facial wipes or cotton wool for make-up removal, such as a flannel or reusable eco cotton pads
Using reusable and washable cloths for cleaning rather than paper towels or other ‘disposables’

Image of a disposable coffee cup and macaroon box — Image credit: Pixabay

At work, you could try:

Preparing your lunches at home
Using a refillable cup each for coffee shop drinks
Reusing any paper that is printed out: utilise both sides instead of just one
After shredding confidential documents, reuse the shredded paper – it can be used for packing items up, or as cat litter or animal bedding
Reuse all jiffy bags and boxes you receive deliveries in
Setting up a compost bin for fruit peel, coffee grounds, tea bags, etc., which staff members can then take home for their garden
Switching to a fabric hand towel instead of paper towels

Image of shredded paper — Image credit: Pixabay

What do Forge Waste & Recycling already do to reduce waste to landfill?

We are committed to helping the environment, and as a company who collect around 200 tonnes of waste per week, we don’t send any to landfill. Anything that can be recycled, is, and any leftover waste is turned into Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF), which is then used to create electricity.

Even our plastic waste collection bins are recycled; when they are no longer fit for use, we remove the wheels and the plastic is shredded and granulated to produce other high quality items.

Of course, in an ideal world there would be nothing to recycle, but in 2015 there is still a lot of work to be done on this issue. This dedicated week is a great help though, so why not get involved?

What will Forge Waste & Recycling be pledging for Zero Waste Week 2015?

When we gave this some thought, we realised everyone in our office has been drinking bottled water to keep hydrated in the hot weather. Whilst we, of course, recycle these bottles, we know we need to eliminate them completely. So we pledge to reuse all of the plastic bottles we currently have for as long as possible, and not buy any more – ever!

plastic-water-bottles — Image credit: Pixabay

Where can I find out more?

If you’d like to know more about Zero Waste Week, the official website is here. The couple who run it have their own brilliant website too, which can be found here – take a look for year-round hints and tips on living waste free. Small changes can make a big difference if we all work together. Let’s be Zero heroes! What will you pledge this September?

Featured image credit: Pixabay

How Green Are Our Summer Music Festivals?

Summer is here in the UK, and for some of us this means only one thing: festival season is upon us. Music festivals (and others) grow in popularity year on year, and new additions to the circuit get added frequently. We can’t seem to get enough of live music in fields!

Glastonbury Festival started out in 1970 as a festival created under the ethos of hippie counterculture – peace, love and green living. However, is Glastonbury environmentally friendly now? Are any mainstream festivals actually ‘green’? Also, how are festivals going about tackling their litter and environmental problems?

Environmental Problems

overflowing-bins-glasto — Overflowing Glastonbury Festival bins. Image credit: Paul Holloway on Wikimedia Commons

The main challenges festivals face when it comes to keeping it green are:

Litter (including abandoned tents)
Transport
Water
Toilets
Energy
Wildlife

Essentially, festival-goers are living in a temporary town/city for a weekend, and so with that comes all the environmental problems a real town would face when overcrowded; lots of litter, danger to wildlife, and high carbon emissions. Plus others, including people toileting where they shouldn’t. Glastonbury in the 1990s became a hazard to fish in the nearby river due to urine-induced high ammonia levels (due to people peeing on the ground). The organisers have, of course, since added many, many more toilets, including lots of compost loos.

The Glastonbury 2015 Clean-Up

Glastonbury 2015 involved a clean-up operation requiring 800 voluntary litter-pickers to collect and sort 1650 tonnes of waste. The entire clean-up cost around £780,000. This waste included 5000 abandoned tents, 9 tonnes of glass, 54 tonnes of plastic bottles & cans, and 41 tonnes of cardboard.

135,000 people on one farm results in quite a lot of waste, and way too much litter! Glastonbury does, however, skip a year every 5 years, to give the natural environment time to recover and replenish from the crowds and their effects.

Dealing With The Problem

Each large festival seems to have their own approach to dealing with green issues, and all appear to be trying – albeit, some a lot more than others.

Energy Supplies

Most festivals now seem to be aware of their overall carbon footprint and how that is impacted upon by the thousands of people travelling to and from their site. In fact, 68% of the total emissions caused by the average festival come from this travel. To combat this, festivals now promote car-sharing schemes, and the use of public transport. Also, bicycles are suggested, although I imagine that’s not as handy for carrying your tent etc.!

Glastonbury, for one, rewards those revellers who use public transport.

Litter and Water

Leeds and Reading Festival run schemes which encourage people to collect litter or at least bin their own; there’s a 10p cup and water bottle deposit, and collecting a bag full of cans equals 1 free beer at the recycling exchange.

Festivals such as Beat-Herder and Blissfields take a £5 refundable litter bond from attendees, who are expected to collect 1 full bag of rubbish during their stay.

Many festivals have cut down on the use of plastics and some, such as Shambala, have done away with plastic bottles completely – encouraging people to re-use one they bring with them instead.

T In The Park organisers – frustrated at the litter problem, and in particular the abandoned tent issue – launched a huge campaign and asked fashion designer, Iona Crawford, to make a dress from discarded festival tents. This highlighted the problem of discarded tents, and promoted alternative uses for damaged tents if people took them home.

Inherently Green Festivals

Of course, Green Gathering is, as the name suggests, a sustainable festival which is powered entirely by renewable energy; the stages are solar, and wind power is also used. They even run workshops on how to create renewable energy at home, and have speakers from the environmental movement too.

If Green Gathering can manage it, surely the others can follow suit in time? If some go back to their roots, they may rediscover their environmentally friendly ethos and potential solutions.

Resources:

Featured image credit: Pixabay

How Sky Lantern & Balloon Litter Can Kill

Many think of litter as unsightly and, at worst, a nuisance or perhaps a bit unhygienic. However, certain types of litter can actually be very dangerous, and can kill. Here we take a look at both sky lanterns and helium balloons and how they impact upon the environment when they fall back to Earth as litter.

Chinese/Sky Lanterns

Sky lanterns are still a relatively new item for celebrations in the UK, and are commonly released on New Year eve, and for weddings, birthdays, memorials and other similar occasions. Due to the novelty factor, the cheap availability, and simply the beautiful appearance of the lanterns in the night sky, these items are very popular. They can be written on with pen directly or sometimes sentimental notes are attached, depending on the occasion. Continue reading How Sky Lantern & Balloon Litter Can Kill