We would dearly love more people to heed the environmental message and through a mixture of altruism and education, recycle their waste but we reluctantly accept that there are many people who simply aren’t interested. For example, our own neighbourhood consists of households who recycle nearly everything, bottles, paper, plastic, compost, etc.. in different bins and others who selfishly just cram all their waste together with no concern for the impact of their actions.

Frustrating and annoying as it is, we have learnt that when it comes it the environment you can’t use self-reference criteria. In other words, not everyone thinks and acts like us!

People who don’t currently recycle are not likely to be swayed by environmental arguments. If these people pay exactly the same as their neighbours regardless of whether or not they recycle then they simply won’t bother. No amount of education or persuasion will work. Period.

That’s why we were pleased to hear that people who recycle household waste could get up to £130 a year in shopping vouchers under plans outlined by the shadow chancellor. The Conservatives have been piloting the American-style scheme in Berkshire and say they would help roll it out to councils across Britain. In a speech George Osborne said the Tories would pay people to recycle, not “punish them” with “bin taxes”.

Whilst this may be no more than a political gimmick, these murmurings are a step in the right direction because they signal a greater willingness to tackle the appalling lack of recycling in the UK.

The focus of previous attempts to encourage people to recycle have typically revolved around punitive methods, such as the threat of fines and even putting spy cameras inside bins. These approaches can lead to resentment and claims of Big Brother snooping, prompting calls for a different approach based on reward not punishment.

Differential pricing on Council Tax bills is one possible solution. In the same way a household qualifies for a discount for a single person, a discount could be applied to households who recycle waste in different bins. This could be funded by proportionately increasing the Council Tax bills of those who choose not to recycle. It’s also fairer because it recognises each household’s impact on the environment, the amount of waste they send to landfill sites and the cost to the local authority. Those who choose not to recycle are not forced to do so through punitive measures, but instead pay more in recognition of the extra cost to the local authority of processing their waste.

Yes, this would add some complexity to billing but it would lead to a more equitable charging system which more closely aligned financial contribution with environmental impact.

Clearly, differential pricing on Council Tax bills is just one possible solution amongst many different incentives that could be considered but the general principle remains the same. That is, those who recycle must be given a financial benefit over their non-recycling neighbours if we are to have a credible and workable system of recycling in the UK.

When it comes to being green recycling is always a top priority. So when it comes to shopping for clothing, baby items, and other necessary (and some not so necessary) household items you must figure out ways to shop while maintaining your green status.

So today we are having a face-off between Freecycle.org against garagesalestracker.com.

In the right hand corner standing 6’2 with a reach of 50 states plus the UK we have Freecycle.org is a nonprofit organization that organizes a worldwide network of “gifting” groups, aiming to divert reusable goods from landfills. It provides a worldwide online registry, and coordinates the creation of local groups and forums for individuals and non-profits to offer and receive free items for reuse or recycling, promoting gift economics as a motivating cultural outlook. With the tagline “Changing the world one gift at a time”.

In the left hand corner standing 6’0 with a reach of 50 states and a stretch into Canada Garage Sales Tracker is a website and upcoming iPhone application where the visitors can find and list their garage sales, consignment/re-sale shops, and flea markets. Whose motto is “Find, Post, Sell”

Pre round commentary- Advantage Freecycle.org due to hopping over the pond but with some might flea markets and garage sales are big in Australia so Garage Sales may not be lagging that far behind.

Round 1- Ease of Use

With the Freecycle network set-up with Yahoo! Mailing lists and having to wait to be accepted before you can start bartering and making deals for swapping items can be rather frustrating, while Garage Sales Tracker lets you dig right in on local sales and if you want to post your own item all you have to do is sign up without a delay or confirmation email.

Advantage – Garage Sales

Round 2 – Green Factor

Garage Sales are a great way to sell your unused items instead of throwing them out having them go to the landfill only to be saved by a Freecycler. On the other hand you can walk out your door on any given weekend and go to any local yard sale without having to drive and burn fossil fuels, whereas Freecyclers may have to drive their Hybrid to swap.

Advantage – Freecycle.org. Since Freecyclers are probably driving fuel efficient cars and after a garage sale it is likely to drive to goodwill or the Salvation Army they will ultimately pollute more.

Round 3 – Participants

As of July 2008, Freecylce.org membership stands at 5,531,000 across 4,556 communities. All of them volunteers. Garage sales however are a $3 billion dollar a year industry and over 155,000 sales were listed online in July 2008 in well over 4,556 communities.

Advantage – Garage Sale Tracker

Round 4 – Deals

While you can always buy items for pennies on the dollar at a garage sale and purchase items cheap enough where it would be possible to re-sell for a profit on eBay or craigslist there is nothing like a donation to those who need it more than you do.

Advantage – Freecyclers

Final Bout Decision – Split, because it ultimately depends on your taste and style, whether you like to donate, swap items, or bargain for a great deal, the important thing is that you are practicing being green and saving the environment because it takes more than one person to make a difference and we can all do our part one day at a time.

Article by Richart Ruddie

If I am distracted from the environment I stop caring. I have recently moved into a new flat, a stressful enough task, especially when you are moving in with your girlfriend for the first time. Biodiversity loss, ice caps melting, or encroaching desertification seem like nothing compared to who waters the flaccid basil plants or understanding how to work the new sulphur-washing machine. During this time of transition my recycling was non existent and I cared for nothing outside of our small studio. But now the storm has blown itself out, we’ve unpacked, the basils dead, the dusts settled and I can once again see what I’ve been ignoring, my self interest readjusted back to normal and I am again concerned about the environment.

What I’m really concerned about is that recession society will mirror my psyche during the flat move. I ignored the outside world, long term and sometimes slightly abstract goals like council tax during my house move, what happens if society forgets environmental ethics and edges away from things like green consumerism.

It is a well known pattern that a recession is bad for green consumerism. What I mean by green consumerism is the everyday products which are promoted for their green credentials, fair trade tea, locally sourced wine, and seaweed fishcakes from a sustainable fish farm in Bognor, whatever. This stuff is more expensive than its competitors; the way it makes profit is not via traditional competitive advantage but through a moral and ethical advantage. As people get poorer, suddenly ‘no union tea’ seems more appealing and the 35p extra you pay for a fair-trade logo seems extravagant. We find it easier to avoid these small ethical choices in the same way I found it easier to stop recycling. But the problem with the cheap alternative is that they often have a larger environmental impact. They are sold so cheap because of inhumane wages, sidestepping regulations and exploiting land. In addition to this there is a lack of transparency when looking into their sources and production lines, this in turn strengthens the selective memory of a cash strapped recession consumer.

Article by Alex Scrase

Every year more than 450 million square feet of toxic, non-biodegradable billboard vinyl is tossed into landfills.  For the past four years Eco-LogicalART, a small non-profit based in Los Angeles, has been salvaging vinyl, stretching it and offering the canvases to artists for free in exchange for exposure on the exterior of the gallery.  This quirky “drive-by” exhibit is not only a greener approach to art, but has also become a way to inspire and create hope within the community through public art.

Going full circle we now create original art on 14 x 48 foot billboards that then gets displayed back on billboards. Since 2007, we’ve staged billboard art shows in LA (twice) and San Francisco. So far, the art has been seen over 40 million times – pretty amazing.

Eco-LA gallery is now about to launch a monthly exhibit of art on the billboard directly over the gallery. The “Second Saturday at Eco-LA” events will feature a dramatic curtain drop reveal, live painting of billboards, eco vendors, green workshops, and more.

Visit the www.eco-la.org website to find out more.

Has your kettle run out of steam? Got any old electricals lying around at home? From laptops to cameras, from battery-operated toys to toasters, from power drills to mobile phones, you can recycle the lot.

Recycle Now has launched a new campaign ‘Don’t bin it bring it‘ designed to highlight the need and facilities for recycling waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).

The campaign is being supported by a minute-long animation, ‘Printer Vs Bin’, recreating a Tarantino style duel between an obsolete printer and a wheelie bin. The aim of the film is to remind people not just to throw their electricals away.

Printer Vs Bin from RecycleNow on Vimeo.

According to research conducted recently, 30 per cent of UK residents have never recycled an electric or electronic device. Recycle Now believes that this is due to a lack of information and has unleashed an interactive Regeneration Game, in which users put in their postcode to find out details about their nearest recycling facilities.

At first glance, the above choice seems pretty straight forward. A new hybrid, like the Toyota Prius, gets much better mileage, so how can it not be the greener choice? A recent article on Cut Your Carbon Footprint says that in many cases buying a used car is actually better for the environment.

How is this so? What your everyday mileage numbers don’t take into account is the amount of energy used up in actually building your car. If you buy a new hybrid, you drive it off the lot with a carbon footprint equivalent of burning 1000 gallons of gas. With a ten year old Tercel, for example, you don’t have to add that to your carbon footprint, giving you an instant advantage. It could take you years and thousands of miles to overcome that initial handicap before your ‘Eco-Friendly’ car is actually the better choice for the environment.

Certainly, this is simplifying the argument. There is something to be said for buying a hybrid car where the money you spend supports further products and investment in fuel efficient cars. As bad as most car manufacturers are for the environment, the truth is that if they didn’t make any money then we would be even further from having the more efficient and electric cars that are so badly needed to stop global warming.

Ultimately, the decision has to come down to the individual and there is no ‘right answer’ for everyone. But don’t get trapped by looking only at the mileage of a car when there are in fact so many other aspects of the car that contribute to your carbon footprint.

Wanting to make your computer faster without buying a new computer? Well there are several things you can do.

The first thing and best thing is to upgrade your memory. Before buying new memory check what kind of memory is in your computer/laptop so you don’t buy the wrong memory and also check your computers manual to see what the maximum size of memory your computer can handle. If you are unsure what memory you need try asking a someone that knows about computers or try a local computer shop. There are many places you can buy memory from places like local dealers to hundreds of online places like tigerdirect and newegg or E-bay.

Next you should get the latest patches, drivers, security updates from Microsoft or if you own a mac make sure that you run software update. Also make sure that you download other drivers that were not downloaded by Microsoft or Macintosh that you may need which can be downloaded directly from the manufactures web page. Next you should remove programs that you rarely use or never use by accessing add/remove programs by going to Start>Control Panel>Add or Remove Programs and also you should remove any unwanted files that are taking up unnecessary space. Next thing after downloading updates and removing unwanted items is to defrag your computer. If you have never defraged your computer in a long time it could take a few hours depending on your system and hard drive size. To accessing Defrag click Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Disk Defragmenter and choose the drive you want to defrag.

Next monitor should have the brightness on your monitor turned down all the way or down enough so you can still read what is on your monitor. If you are still using a CRT monitor you should go out and buy a Energy Star flat panel monitor and properly dispose of your CRT monitor at a nearby recycling program that takes CRT monitors (some places will take your CRT monitor for a small fee).

Also make sure that your computer is plugged into a outlet strip and make sure that you turn off the switch when not using the computer and turn it on when you do use your computer (Your computer still uses power when not turned on). Lastly if you use window 2000, XP or Vista your computer should be able to use hibernation. Hibernation makes your start up time drop dramatically and extends the hard drive life span. For more information on how to configure this XP users, Win 2000 users. For windows vista it should be already enabled by default (I’m unsure about hibernation in vista since I have never used vista).

I run an online eco retail shop and am committed to helping the earth in whatever way I can. I firmly believe that we as individuals can all make a difference by making greener and more ethical choices. For me, saving energy is a priority because this will not only save money, but it will also help preserve our planet. It means a change of attitude and giving up old habits, but ultimately it’s something we’re all capable of doing. Here are my top energy saving tips:

Don’t use stand by
Gadgets left on stand by are responsible for producing 4 million tonnes of excess carbon dioxide (CO2) each year. An average family can save 150kg of CO2 a year just by turning off appliances. Appliances in standby mode account for around 10% of UK household energy use. If we switch off or unplug devices when not in use, or invest in a standby saver, you’ll save around £40 per year.

Use energy efficient lighting
In most homes, lighting accounts for 10 to 15% of the electricity bill. If we use a smart meter to compare the power consumption of normal light bulbs with that of low energy and energy saving light bulbs, we save about 80% of the energy of normal bulbs. It’s simple – use energy saving light bulbs!

Recharge those batteries
We throw away over 650m batteries every year in the UK, polluting the soil and clogging up landfill sites. Rechargeable batteries save energy, and the slightly higher cost is recovered in the first five charges. Recharging costs are also minimal.

Watch your washing
I try not to wash my clothes on a setting above 40C. A wash at 60C uses 30% more energy, as 90% of the energy used by a washing machine is used to heat the water. I also use Eco Balls or a natural laundry soap called Soapods to minimise the effect of harmful chemicals being released into the environment.

Defrost your freezer
It’s a messy job, but I try to defrost my fridge and freezer on a regular basis to maintain efficiency. I acquired a saving device developed in conjunction with the Department of Energy that helps me save up to 20% of my fridge’s energy by better regulating its power use. When fitted, it helps my fridge or freezer run more economically by adjusting the electricity supply according to the motor’s needs.

Lower the thermostat
I like woolly jumpers – wearing one means I can turn down the heating. Lowering the thermostat by just 1.5C can save up to 10% on heating bills and reduce the greenhouse gases households produce by up to a tonne.

Go to my website for more eco-friendly ideas and to see the full range of products available.

By Nigel Berman – Founder of www.nigelsecostore.com

GreenGirlsGlobal have written about the free 100 Ways to Save The Planet eBook which was written by Adam over at our usual website. As not everyone likes to read we’ve turned it into a video. It’s (hopefully) a reasonably short, nice, relaxing watch and another way to get the message out there. Please feel free to send it to anyone and everyone. The link is: http://www.revver.com/watch/501547/.

Not everyone will agree with the points made and some of them are vague and loose as we couldn’t fit more text on there (and have the ebook anyway), so it would be great to hear your comments and any feedback that you have.

Due to feedback we already have from the eBook, we’re now working on the next generation of the 100 Ways which will be followed up by a new, improved version of the eBook in the months to come – there’s no end to the ways you can go green!