UK - Furoshiki Present Wrapping

Furoshiki gift wrapping from RecycleNow on Vimeo

Furoshiki is a fun and creative style of gift wrapping using a large piece of cloth to create elegant looking presents. The good news is, when the present is unwrapped there’s nothing to be thrown away!

UK: Christmas is being reused

Millions of Britons are reversing the old adage “waste not, want not” this festive season. Unwanted gifts from Christmases past won’t be wasted – they will be reused as this year’s presents.

A new survey from CreditExpert, reveals that no less than 18 million adults say they are going to pass on items given to them last Christmas or birthday – or even earlier – to help make ends meet at a difficult time for personal finances.

Anything from DVDs and CDs to perfume, toiletries, board games and traditional socks and hankies will be forwarded to unsuspecting friends and relatives by 39% of the UK’s adults – up by 16% on last year’s figure.

The Welsh and the Northern Irish, at 48-46% of adults respectively, are leading the move to reuse presents but even in the South East – the least likely to give away what has already been given – a third are going to join in.

There is a strong gender divide when it comes to recycled presents, with 46% of women saying that they will rewrap gifts and pass them on, against 33% of men.

Reusing is being seen as a good option in bad financial times, with 45% admitting that they are concerned about how much extra Christmas will affect their finances. No less than 57% in Northern Ireland share this worry, with even 39%in the West Midlands – the least worried region – also expressing anxiety. Among age groups, young 18 to 24-year-olds are the most worried (55%) and empty nester 55 to 64-year-olds the least (30%).

Source: CreditExpert

Technorati Tags: Reuse waste minimisation waste prevention credit crunch

North London - Waste Prevention Weeks

The North London Waste Authority (NLWA) has taken part in the pilot edition of a Europe-wide campaign that aims to promote waste minimisation. Letsrecycle.com reports that the authority was the sole UK participant in the 'pilot edition' of the European Waste Reduction Week, which was held from November 20-30, and also involved councils from Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Italy and France.

Ruth Westcott from Waste Watch with resident Anna-Marie O'Donnell making a pledge as part of the NLWA's food waste minimisation initiative As part of the week, the NLWA ran a series of 'Love Food Hate Waste' roadshows across its seven member boroughs in an attempt to get local residents to sign up to pledge to reduce their food waste. The authority said that "hundreds" of residents took part in the pledge, while visitors to the roadshows were also offered advice on cutting food waste and given reusable bags.

The chair of the NLWA, councillor Clyde Loakes, said: "These roadshows were a brilliant way of giving residents the information they need to reduce the amount of food they throw away and we were delighted to see so many people taking pledges to reduce their food waste."

The authority has also revealed that an earlier waste minimisation initiative, 'Watch Your Waste Week', which was held between October 4 and 12, saw over 1,000 residents, schools and businesses reduce their waste by up to 50%. As part of its waste reduction efforts, the week also saw 1,908 people signing up to the mailing preference service and 6,806 more becoming members of online used item trading network Freecycle. PilotNorth London took part in the pilot of the European Waste Reduction Week as a member of the international Association for Cities and Regions for Recycling and Sustainable Waste Management (ACR+).

The body has nearly 100 members, including local authorities and umbrella organisations representing councils, and the week is part of the ACR+ 'European Campaign for Waste Reduction', which was launched last year with the aim of reducing municipal waste by 100 kilograms per person, per year. The initiative also mirrors the emphasis on waste minimisation and prevention within waste hierarchy which is part of the recently published revised EU Waste Framework Directive (see letsrecycle.com story). And, two of the three waste performance indicators that English councils can choose from reward success in waste reduction.

Technorati Tags: NLWA waste minimisation waste prevention North London Watch your waste week ACR+ Food Waste European Waste Reduction Week

Canada - Paper coffee cup ban

Toronto is considering measures to reduce the amount of packaging that winds up in landfills, including requiring cafés to provide a 20-cent discount for customers with refillable mugs, banning paper coffee cups with plastic lids by the end of next year, making stores give customers with reusable shopping bags a 10-cent rebate and barring the sale of bottled water on city property.

Many environmentally minded folks also crammed the room where the public works committee is considering the packaging-reduction strategy today, among them Grade 6 students from The York School who called for a ban on plastic bags.

A couple of media articles based on a new Toronto policy highlight the difficult arguments to be teased out in selecting materials.

The world's first major move against takeaway coffee cups - which are now a major part of Britain's catering business and roadside litter - has come from the city of Toronto. Failure to comply will mean a $100-$400 fine per cup for vendors. It has, however, caused a storm among environmentalists, who find it illogical.

For more read here

Above picture from www.mygreenstart.net

Technorati Tags: throwaway coffee cups waste minimisation waste prevention Toronto disposable cups

UK - Luxury items Tax them!

Throwaway razors and nappies should be taxed as luxuries, says Defra. Disposable razors and nappies could be taxed as luxury goods in order to cut the amount of waste going to landfill, a Government-funded report to ministers has suggested.

In the same way as taxes were applied to discourage the purchase of cigarettes and alcohol, they should apply to disposable goods that cannot be reused or recycled in order to prevent people from buying them as cheap and convenient alternatives to reusable items, the report said. Taxes would also encourage manufacturers to focus on the development of more durable products. If disposable razors were taxed at the same rate as cigarettes – about 80% of the price goes to the Treasury – a single Gillette Mach 3 would leap from £1 to £5.

The report, commissioned from Eunomia Research & Consulting by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), says: "Some products considered 'luxury', such as alcohol and tobacco, have heavy duties on them. If disposable products were categorised in a similar way, they could be subjected to similar duties." The report also advocates new taxes on household rubbish, claiming they could halve the amount of waste each person throws away from 363 Kg to 181 kg a year.

It also suggests imposing taxes on disposable items such as paper plates and nappies. Some three billion disposable nappies are thrown away every year in the UK, accounting for 4% of all household waste.

Matthew Sinclair, policy analyst for the TaxPayers' Alliance, told the Sunday Express: "Politicians must stop using environmental concerns as a smokescreen for raising taxes."
The TaxPayers' Alliance recently released a report claiming that families were paying an average of £783 a year in environmental taxes.

From The Independent

Technorati Tags: throwaway razors waste minimisation waste prevention diapers nappies luxury items

World- Half of food wasted - uneaten

Tremendous quantities of food are discarded in processing, transport, supermarkets and people's kitchens. This wasted food is also wasted water. In the US, for instance, as much as 30% of food, worth some USD 48.3 billion, is thrown away. That's like leaving the tap running and pouring 40 trillion litres of water into the garbage can - enough water to meet the household needs of 500 million people. Through international trade, savings in one country might benefit communities in other parts of the world.

More than enough food is produced to feed a healthy global population. Distribution and access to food is a problem - many are hungry, while at the same time many over-eat. The Report highlights an often overlooked problem: we are providing food to take care of not only our necessary consumption but also our wasteful habits.
"As much as half of the water used to grow food globally may be lost or wasted," says Dr. Charlotte de Fraiture, Researcher at IWMI. "Curbing these losses and improving water productivity provides win-win opportunities for farmers, business, ecosystems, and the global hungry. An effective water-saving strategy requires that minimising food wastage is firmly placed on the political agenda." Food production is constrained by the availability of water and land resources.

An estimated 1.2 billion people already live in areas where there is not enough water to meet demand. And with rising demand for water-intensive agricultural products, such as beef and bioenergy, pressure mounts. According to the Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture 2007, these trends will lead to crises in many places, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. "Unless we change our practices, water will be a key constraint to food production in the future," said Dr. Pasquale Steduto of FAO.

Technorati Tags: fodd waste waste minimisation waste prevention diapers water wastage

USA- Bagging the Bottles

In an innovative, viral campaign called “Message in a Bag,” non-profit Tappening is selling bags made from 100% recycled plastic to raise public awareness about the impact of drinking bottled water over tap. Tappening originally planned to ship 1,000,000 plastic bottles to the CEO of Coca Cola to send a powerful message, but they decided against this strategy for carbon-friendly reasons. According to Take Back the Tap, the American bottled water industry burns over 17 million barrels of oil each year. What’s more, over 80% of plastic bottles wind up in landfills.

Tappening's blue reusable totes sell for $49.95, with 100% of proceeds going to “the fight against bottled water.” On each bag is inscribed: "Made with 100% post-consumer recycled materials: yesterday's discarded bottles and yogurt containers." So even if you don't wear your heart on your sleeve, you can still wear your politics on your shoulder!

From Ecofabulous

Technorati Tags: bottle water waste minimisation waste prevention diapers message in abag

UK - Real nappies in the news

Channel 5 news story on real nappies

The number of parents using re-usable nappies is on the rise as mums and dads are becoming more environmentally aware.

The number has risen by 6% in the last 5 years which means that more babies are now wear re-usable nappies than at any time since the 1970s.

The impact on landfill sites is cited as the single biggest problem with single-use throwaway nappies.

Each baby is estimated to go through 4,500 before being trusted to give his or her parents sufficient warning to get to a loo in time.

Each year close to three billion disposable nappies are thrown away, accounting for 670,000 to 750,000 tonnes of waste.

Disposable nappies make up about 4 % of household waste and they may take up to 500 years to degrade.

Technorati Tags: nappies waste minimisation waste prevention diapers real nappies channel 5 cotton nappies

UK- Death through garden composting

Gardeners should take extra care when handling old bags of compost after a man died from kidney failure after inhaling poisonous fungal spores, doctors have warned.

The Guardian reports that the 47-year-old welder from Buckinghamshire, who has not been named, died in intensive care a week after being engulfed by "clouds of dust" when he opened bags of rotting plant material that had been left to fester, in a case reported in the Lancet.

Doctors were baffled by his condition until his partner said he had fallen ill after working in the garden. Later tests revealed he had developed acute aspergillosis, a dangerous reaction to Aspergillus fumigatus spores. The fungus, which is commonly found growing on dead leaves, compost piles and decaying vegetation, may trigger a relatively harmless allergic reaction but can cause serious problems if too many spores get into the lungs.


David Waghorn, a doctor at Wycombe hospital in Buckinghamshire and a microbiologist, said the man had been unlucky: "He'd been opening bags of compost and mulch which had been left to rot. The fungus spores had grown in perfect conditions. He was extremely unlucky - there must have been a very large number of spores which he inhaled."

People with weak immune systems are particularly vulnerable. "What we don't know is how strong his defences were. He was a smoker and a welder by trade and his lungs may have been damaged. It's a very unusual thing to happen but if people are dealing with big bags of mulch, there is a potential danger," said Waghorn.

The man, who had previously been healthy, became ill 24 hours later, but was not admitted to hospital until a week later, when he complained of chest pains and breathing difficulties. Despite being given oxygen by medical staff, tests showed his tissue was starved of oxygen and that he was suffering from "overwhelming sepsis", a life-threatening condition caused by an overactive immune system. Symptoms include a fast heart rate, low blood pressure and kidney problems.

Doctors initially thought he had developed pneumonia from a bacterial infection but treatment with antibiotics was not successful. Once aspergillosis was confirmed, intravenous antifungal drugs were given by doctors, but the treatment came too late.

Waghorn said: "I don't know if he could have been saved had we known about the spores, but we could have given the antifungal drugs sooner."

The authors of the article said that while acute aspergillosis after contact with decayed plant matter is rare, it "may be considered a hazard for gardeners".

In April, a group of German scientists raised concerns about the dangers of airborne mould spores produced when organic waste decayed. The spores could lead to allergic reactions, asthma attacks and hayfever-like symptoms, they said.

Harald Morr, a leading pneumologist, said: "Even just opening the lid of a bin containing organic waste can cause mould spores to be stirred up which, if breathed in, can damage the lungs."

Householders who regularly handled organic waste were advised to wear face masks and to keep a distance when handling rotting material.


Technorati Tags: compost waste prevention compost+death garden waste Aspergillus fumigatus spores Aspergillus fumigatus

Argentina - Zero Waste In Buenos Aires

BioCycle (May 2008) reports that in late 2005, the City Council in Buenos Aires, Argentina unanimously passed a law, “Integral Management Of Solid Urban Waste, ” a Zero Waste law. The law sets goals and milestones to reduce the volume of municipal solid waste going to landfill disposal. “The first milestone is 30% reduction of waste to landfill by 2010, ” says Cecilia Allen of Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives' (GAIA) Latin America office in Buenos Aires. “That is followed by a 50% reduction by 2012, and a 75% reduction by 2017.

The law bans landfilling of recyclable and compostable waste by 2020. ” The baseline used in the law is the tons of solid waste disposed in 2004 (1.5 million metric tons). Impending closure of two of the three landfills servicing the city and surrounding region helped build political support for the Zero Waste law. CEAMSE (Coordinación Ecológica Area Metropolitana Sociedad del Estado), a joint venture of the government of the Province of Buenos Aires and the government of the City of Buenos Aires, has been managing urban waste in the Greater Buenos Aires region for almost 30 years. It owns the landfills, which receive up to 5,000 metric tons/day of municipal solid waste from the city alone. Garbage collection in Buenos Aires is mostly privatized, with five of the six districts serviced by contractors to the city. Buenos Aires city government services the sixth.

Technorati Tags: Argentina waste prevention zero waste reducing rubbish compost Buenos Aires

USA- Climate report advocates zero waste concept

Stop Trashing the Climate - published by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives and Eco-Cycleprovides - claims that preventing waste and expanding reuse, recycling, and composting programs - that is, aiming for zero waste - is one of the fastest, cheapest, and most effective strategies available for combating climate change. This report offers a roadmap for how to significantly reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions within a short period.

Significantly decreasing waste disposed in landfills and incinerators will reduce greenhouse gas emissions the equivalent to closing 21% of U. S. coal-fired power plants. This is comparable to leading climate protection proposals such as improving national vehicle fuel efficiency. Indeed, preventing waste and expanding reuse, recycling, and composting are essential to put us on the path to climate stability.


The report advocates 12 measures:

1. Establish and implement national, statewide, and municipal zero waste targets and plans
2. Retire existing incinerators and halt construction of new incinerators and landfills
3. Levy a per-ton surcharge on landfilled and incinerated materials
4. Stop organic materials from being sent to landfills and incinerators
5. End state and federal "renewable energy" subsidies to landfills and incinerators
6. Provide policy incentives that create and sustain locally-based reuse, recycling, and composting jobs
7. Expand adoption of per-volume or per-weight fees for the collection of trash
8. Make manufacturers and brand owners responsible for the products and packaging they produce
9. Regulate single-use plastic products and packaging that have low or nonexistent recycling levels
10. Regulate paper packaging and junk mail and pass policies to significantly increase paper recycling
11. Decision-makers and environmental leaders should reject climate protection agreements and strategies that embrace landfill and incinerator disposal
12. Better assess the true climate implications of the wasting sector

http://www.stoptrashingtheclimate.org/

Technorati Tags: zero waste waste prevention Stop Trashing the Climate composting climate change recycling incinerator

USA- Heinz Looks to Reuse Potato Peels

PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- The H.J. Heinz Company has declared plans to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2015, and has identified a number of areas in its operations to improve to meet that goal.

Along with reducing energy consumption by 20 percent through efficiencies, Heinz plans to have 15 percent of its energy come from renewable sources.

The company aims to reduce transportation by 10 percent through improving distribution patterns, using fuller truckloads, more direct routes and sending shipments by rail.

Heinz also aims to reduce packaging by 15%, water use by 20% and solid waste by 20 percent. In its agricultural operations, it plans a 15% reduction in carbon emissions, 15 percent reduction in water and five percent improvement in yields by using hybrid tomato seeds that require less water, fertilizers and pesticides.

Various facilities are developing or have such sustainability programs in place. Heinz's Ontario, Ore., facility is working on a program to turn potato peels into biofuels as well as treat and reuse 90% of the water for potato production.

And while a Fremont, Ohio, facility is working on reducing solid waste by 10 %, the company's Dundalk, Ireland, facility recycles 95% of its plastic and 99% of its cardboard, wood and steel.

Technorati Tags: food waste waste prevention Heinz reuse peels climate change reduce packaging

UK - BBC programme about 'Food Waste'

We are a nation that's being force-fed a diet of healthy food messages, but it turns out we have a guilty secret.

Huge amounts of uneaten food are going straight into the household bin. And an awful lot of that is the fruit and veg we're all supposed to be eating more of.

New figures from the government waste agency WRAP lay it bare for the first time.

Householders chuck out 6.7m tonnes of unwanted food every year at a cost to us of £8bn. That's the equivalent of chucking out one bag of food for every three that we buy.

Around 40% of that is fresh fruit and veg - nearly 4.5m apples, and more than 5m potatoes and 1.5m bananas

Go to newsnight Food Waste cip

Technorati Tags: food waste waste prevention food prevention compost newsnight

Europe should stabilise waste production by 2012

Waste production should be stabilized by 2012, said the Environment Committee in a second reading report, adopted on April 8, on a proposal to revise the EU framework directive on waste. The committee voted to reinstate most of Parliament's first reading amendments that were not taken up by the Council, and reiterated Parliament's call for re-use and recycling targets.

Over 1.8 billion tonnes of waste are generated each year in Europe. This amount is growing faster than GDP and less than a third of it is recycled. Some Member States landfill 90% of their municipal waste, others only 10%. In September 2005, the European Commission proposed an overhaul of the 1975 directive, largely to lay down rules on recycling and to require Member States to draw up binding national programmes for cutting waste production.

Binding targets for waste stabilisation, re-use and recycling

In the second reading report by Caroline Jackson, MEPs call for total waste production to be stabilized by 2012, compared to the 2009 position. Member States are asked to establish waste prevention programmes not later than five years after the revised directive's entry into force and to determine appropriate specific targets to achieve the 2012 target and further significant reductions in waste generation by 2020. MEPs also call for targets for reuse and recycling.

By 2020, re-use and recycling rates should be increased to a minimum of 50% by weight for household waste and a minimum of 70% by weight for construction and demolition waste and manufacturing and industrial waste. Member States with less than 5% recycling in either category or no official figures would be given an additional 5 years to reach the targets.

Technorati Tags: Europe waste prevention reuse targets waste production stabilize+waste

USA - Reusable Envelopes approved by USPS

Reusing envelopes is almost impossible when they come stamped, marked, sealed and addressed. But this week, ecoenvelopes received the first ever approval from the USPS for their gainful little invention - an envelope that's engineered to be sent two times as opposed to once (not the most original of ideas, think Netflix, but we won't knock an eco-wise, effective product when we see one). Eliminating the need for reply envelopes is an eco feat all of its own, but these bearers of news are also constructed from post consumer waste material and paper from sustainably managed forests. We're still biding our time for the perpetually reusuable envelope to be developed, but in the meantime, let's send the right message in an ecoenvelope.

From http://ecofabulous.blogs.com/

Technorati Tags: reusable envelopes waste prevention USPS reuse

UK - London launches plastic bag free day for Londoners

The Mayor of London has called on Londoners to reuse their plastic bags and say 'no' to accepting new plastic bags. On average, Londoners use over 37 million new plastic bags each week - a weekly habit that adds to an annual total of 2.2 billion new plastic bags in the capital. To help Londoners on their way Recycle for London and thelondonpaper were handing out 10,000 free reusable cotton bags on Oxford and Regent Street, London's main shopping locations.At the campaign launch in Oxford Circus this morning the Deputy Mayor of London, Nicky Gavron, was joined by media partner thelondonpaper to encourage Londoners to use a reusable bag as well as reusing the plastic bags that they already have, instead of putting them in the bin where they will end up on landfill sites - this is a real waste of resources, causes harmful pollution and contributes to climate change. The Recycle for London campaign encourages Londoners to reduce, reuse and recycle their rubbish.

The campaign aims to remind Londoners that creating less rubbish must also be a long-term aim. The majority of the 2.2 billion new plastic bags received by Londoners each year end up in landfill and it is estimated that each bag can take up to 400 years to breakdown. If every Londoner cut out just one in every five of the new plastic bags they receive it would save almost 11,000 tonnes of carbon emissions - the equivalent of taking over 3,375 cars off the road for a year.

Mayor of London Ken Livingstone said: "I am giving my full support to this Recycle for London and thelondonpaper campaign, which will give away 10,000 free reusable cotton bags. Londoners don't have to reduce their quality of life to tackle climate change, but we do need to change our wasteful habits. Using fewer plastic bags and remembering to carry a reusable bag is a great way to brush-up your green credentials."

It is a shocking fact that Londoners use 2.2 billion plastic bags per year and of these only only one in 200 bags are being recycled. This is a real waste of resources and the needless use of so many plastic bags causes harmful pollution and contributes to climate change.

From LONDON
Technorati Tags: Recycle for London waste prevention plastic bags Ken Livingstone plastic bag free day London

USA, NY - Paperless houses VS Energy eating monster

The New York Times reports that families are going paperless far faster than businesses; they have to pay the price of ink jet cartridges. “Paper is no longer the master copy; the digital version is,” says Brewster Kahle, the founder and director of the Internet Archive, a nonprofit digital library. “Paper has been dealt a complete deathblow. When was the last time you saw a telephone book?”

However while paper consumption is dropping, it is not necessarily a boon for the environment; "While these digital toys reduce dependence on one resource, they increase it on another: energy. Some devices are always plugged in, eating electricity even when not in use, and gobbling huge amounts of power when they are. Others, like digital cameras and laptop computers, use electricity while they are recharging."

From Treehugger

Technorati Tags: paperless waste prevention paper consumption The New York Times reduce paper paperless offices

UK - Milk bag uses 75% less plastic than bottles

Today's Evening Standard reports that the notion has spread to the UK, where supermarket Waitrose will expand sales Calon Wen's organic milk in Eco Paks (they started a trial last summer) that reduce packaging by 75% . Lloyd noted that his milk bags aren't recyclable -- the high-density polyethylene jugs they replace are -- and it is unclear if the Eco Paks will go to the recycler or the landfill.

For those who think milk in bags would be tough to handle, read The Steps to the Usage of the Milk Bag for tips on getting the milk from the bag to your glass or bowl of cereal; hit the jump for a useful video from our pals at Hippyshopper on the same subject. Seems that the bag of milk is gaining popularity; what are your experiences (if any) with the milk bag? ::Calon Wen Eco Pak via ::Evening Standard

From Treehugger

Technorati Tags: milk bags waste prevention Calon+Wen milk bottles less+packaging

UK - M&S and Oxfam Clothes Exchange

Donate an item of M&S-labelled clothing to Oxfam, and get £5 off your next M&S purchase of £35 or more*. Give your clothes a second life and help end poverty with Oxfam.

How it works?
When you bring a bag of donated clothes containing at least one item of M&S clothing to any of Oxfam’s 750 high street shops in the UK and 40 shops in Ireland, you’ll get a voucher for £5 (or €7 in Ireland) off your next purchase of £35 (or €50) or more of clothing, homeware or beauty products in M&S. Vouchers are valid during the calendar month in which they are received.

What's in it for you?
Well, the £5 voucher will do for starters. But this offer is about more than money.

Get a great feeling from recycling clothes you no longer need to raise funds to help people living in poverty. Reduce waste. 1 million tonnes of clothing is discarded every year in the UK alone, a lot of which is of good enough quality to be re-sold or recycled.
Rest assured that we extract the maximum value possible from every single piece of donated clothing.

Oxfam is the only major charity with its own textile sorting facility. So even if we can’t resell your item in the shop you donate it to, the chances are we can reuse it in another way to raise cash.

The M&S and Oxfam Clothes Exchange explained.

Technorati Tags: clothes waste prevention clothes reuse reuse M&S OXFAM

Britain - Clothes swap till you drop!

A perfect storm (as George Clooney fans will remember) is a situation where, by the confluence of specific factors, what might have been a minor issue ends up being magnified out of all proportion. Fashion forecasters are predicting that just such a phenomenon is about to hit consumer Britain. It brings together ethical shopping with bargain hunting, and fast fashion with vintage clothing, with a dash of MySpace-generation online networking added to whip up the waves a little more.

Fashion forecasters are predicting that just such a phenomenon is about to hit consumer Britain. It brings together ethical shopping with bargain hunting, and fast fashion with vintage clothing, with a dash of MySpace-generation online networking added to whip up the waves a little more.

Welcome to 2007's hottest fashion trend: swapping instead of shopping. Clothes swapping parties, which have been bubbling under for several years, are set to leap on to the radar with next month's launch of the first large-scale, user-friendly swapshop, Visa Swap. The credit card company Visa and TRAID (Textile Recycling for Aid and International Development) have honed the woolly notion of swapping clothes with friends into a high-fashion swapping event. The idea works like this: from May 31, swappers will be able to drop off clothes at a central-London location, where they will be assessed for value and the swapper given points on a "credit card" in return. Two weeks later, the doors to the swapshop will open, and swappers can return to spend their points on each other's clothes.

"There is a real feelgood factor to swapping" says Poppy Clark, 27, a fashion student and swap devotee, who has been holding swaps with her friends and sisters for five years. "When you're a poor student and you go shopping, even in Primark, there's always the guilt that you shouldn't be spending on clothes you don't really need and which won't last. Not to mention thinking about the conditions the clothes were made in. With swapping, you're free from all of that."


"Swishing" - the more aspirational name given to swap parties organised by Futerra. Futerra, says Shea, is full of women in their 20s and 30s who "are passionately committed to saving the planet, but don't want to do it in bad clothes".

The swapping craze has been gathering momentum in America for some time. Swapping is also burgeoning online. Fashion stylist Judy Berger founded the clothes swap and re-sale website WhatsMineIsYours.com in 2004; within three weeks it had 2,000 members.

Visa Swap aims to overturn the image of swapping as one step up from jumble sales. Celebrities such as Mischa Barton, Naomi Campbell, Peaches Geldof, Sadie Frost, Lily Cole and Kelly Osborne are donating clothes; style advisors will be on hand to help with alterations and customisation.

From Friday May 18, 2007, The Guardian

Technorati Tags: swishing waste prevention clothes swap reuse TRAID

USA - Tap water instead of plastic water

Traditionally, up to 25,000 plastic water bottles are given out during Olympus Fashion Week at Bryant Park. But this year, in an effort to "green" the show, participants will be given reusable liter-sized non-toxic aluminum water bottles which have been specially prepared backstage and hold nothing but the finest NYC tap water.

Let's just hope they use a filter on the tap (although it was not mentioned in the press release). Otherwise we may never know if the grimaces on the audiences faces are due to the garments on the runway or the

From Treehugger

Technorati Tags: Olympus Fashion Week waste prevention NYC bottled water tap water

Wales - Rocket composter for university waste

A new composting machine is turning students' leftovers at Aberystwyth University into food for plants.

BBC Online reports that the Rocket composter can cope with 1.2 tonnes (1,750 litres) per week and takes just 14 days to convert waste from cafes into garden food.

Leftovers from kitchens at the students' union and the nearby arts centre are being combined with waste wood to form the compost. The university said the food would normally have been sent to landfill.

The new machine was bought with a £25,000 grant from the Welsh Assembly Government, and the compost it is producing is being used to nourish plants and shrubs at the university.

Pro vice-chancellor John Harries said: "This is the latest in a series of developments that emphasise the university's commitment to enhancing its environmental performance." This is just one of a number of recycling projects the university is involved in.

For more about the rocket go to: http://www.quickcompost.co.uk/

Technorati Tags: London waste prevention Aberystwyth compost the+rocket