Waste Management

Going green is much easier than most people think plus is has enormous benefits for us personally as well as environmentally. Each one of us can make a difference this Christmas festive season if you commit to not contributing to un-earth-friendly acts such as excessive energy consumption and waste generation. According to the eco friendly experts Lynn Colwell and Corey Colwell-Lipson, co-authors of ‘Celebrate Green’, we all have a responsibility to go green which includes at holiday celebrations. You can even save time and money while contributing to saving mother earth.

The December holiday period sees a landfill increase of 25% more litter which furthers global warming through off-gassing. You can enjoy Christmas and holiday celebrations while being good to the planet with just a few changes. With the tips below you can start an earth-friendly Christmas that will reduce your carbon foot print, create minimum impact on the earth and the good news is that it is easy, affordable, fun and rewarding.

1. Buy local and buy fresh – you will contribute to reducing long transportation use of resources. Also jet-setting food and other goods create tons of carbon dioxide emissions that could be avoided by buying locally produced items.

2. Trim your food shopping. The amount of food waste at Christmas is excessive. Start by trimming 20% off your list. Your guests won’t notice 20% and you’ll be contributing to less wastage. Use a shopping list and do not impulse buy and commit that you will not purchase anything outside your list no matter how enticing it looks.

3. Say no to wrapping paper. Try wrapping gifts in other gifts or hiding gifts in a sock, a bag or pot for extra fun. Engage your creativity. Make a Santa bag for each child that is re-used each year. Cut up old clothes and use the material to wrap your gifts.

4. Go for quality not quantity. Purchase long lasting gifts rather than breakables and consider making your own gifts. You can save money, gifts will have more meaning and are more likely to be cherished. If you have to buy gifts buy those made locally and choose ones that will last like wooden gifts rather than the latest gadgets that will be obsolete tomorrow and end up in land fill.

5. Re-use the same Christmas decorations, tableware and games/activities each year. Children love predictability and you create traditions with greater meaning when using the same soon to be treasured items each year. Remember if you need to purchase new items ensure they are a good quality that can be re-used year after year.

6. Recycle – this helps divert unnecessary waste from landfill. Ensure you separate your rubbish for recycling. Don’t fall in to the ‘lazy’ or ‘I’m too busy’ trap at Christmas. Remember your choices make a difference.

7. Time your lighting. Get yourself a timer and set it to turn your Christmas lights off after a maximum of 5 hours each night. Leaving them on for hours on end is excessive and unnecessary. The best option for outdoors is to get solar powered Christmas lights which are now available in all sorts of shapes and colors.

Making your own gifts, buying locally, buying less, re-using what you already have are all great ways you can start contributing to a eco friendly Christmas that will help preserve resources and reduce waste. Plus adults will become good role models for the benefits of getting back to basics with moderation and thinking of and contributing to the greater good! Merry Christmas!

The author Bernadette Dimitrov (aka Mrs Claus) Christmas author, speaker & show host of ‘Conversations with Mrs Claus’ at http://www.TheFamilyYak.com invites you to her show with world-wide experts, coaches, best selling authors, celebrities, holiday experts, film makers, famous Santa Clauses and more plus prizes to be won! Also come visit http://www.HoHoHoChristmas.com and join her free weekly inspirational Christmas newsletter with great recipes, insights & gift ideas & receive inspirational free gifts and keep updated with the latest released inspirational uplifting podcasts for you to live a happier, joyous and more fulfilled life with guests sharing tips and tools and free give aways and special offers for you!

Tags: Friendly, Christmas, Green

Incinerator gets green lights – Oshawa Express

Dec 18th

View the original Burning Garbage article here

Burning garbage.

It’s a topic that has caused much debate among the residents of the region.

And while many were hopeful the project would get the stamp of disapproval, the Ministry of Environment (MOE) has given the proposed Energy-from-Waste (EFW) facility a green light.

The minister granted the project’s Environmental Assessment (EA) approval early in November but the decision was just announced late last week.

This means the project can move ahead, be built and operated, but the approval comes with strict conditions, the MOE says.

The facility must operate under stringent air emission requirements that are among the toughest in the world, its emissions will be monitored and reported and there will be daily inspections of the site. A public advisory committee must also be formed so that the community can continue to be involved in the project, the province says.

In addition, the Ontario government demands waste only be accepted if it can’t be recycled.

“Our priority is to ensure that public health and the environment are fully protected. That’s why we put tough conditions in place to protect air quality,” says John Wilkinson,
minister of the environment.

But Clarington Mayor-Elect Adrian Foster says the community is still not buying into the idea.

“The community is clearly not happy with the concept of an incinerator,” he says.

“I’m not surprised at all with the approval of the MOE. But I am very disappointed about the timing.”

Foster says with a new regional council set to start meetings Dec. 8; the issue deserves to be debated among the new council.

Regional Chair Roger Anderson was granted approval by outgoing councillors to sign off on the agreement with Covanta, the company slated to build the facility, should he choose to, Foster says.

“We’re in never-never land on that. It sure puts Roger Anderson in an awkward spot,” he adds.

If Chair Anderson signs the agreement with Covanta, and regional council decides to fight against the project, it could cost big dollars, Foster explains.

“The cost to the taxpayers could be significant,” he says, adding 13 newly elected councillors have made their stance in opposition of the EFW public.

Durham began seeking an effective way to handle residual waste back in 2004, which led to launching the Durham Residual Waste Disposal Study EA.

But in May 2005 Durham made the decision to form a partnership with the Municipality of York. The partnership would see York’s garbage burned in the Durham facility, which was ultimately proposed for Courtice. The consultant’s recommendation was a 12-hectare site located between Courtice Road and Osbourne Road.

York and Durham councils passed approval on the EA back in June 2009. It was late-July 2009 that the EA was submitted to the MOE.

“After carefully examining the options, consulting with the public and various experts, we determined an energy-from-waste (EFW) facility was the most reasonable method to deal with residual waste. With the approval of the EA, the province has recognized the need for this facility and that we are committed to the protection of human health and the environment. The EA acknowledges that our EFW is a viable option for the future of waste management in Ontario,” says Chair Anderson.

The facility will be capable of processing up to 140,000 tonnes of post-diversion residual waste—the waste that remains after composting and recycling.

It uses a thermal mass burn technology, which means Durham’s solid waste will be fed into a furnace where it is burned at very high temperatures.

The ash is then shipped to a landfill or reused in product manufacturing, the region says.

The EFW process also includes production of high-pressure steam, which is fed through a turbine generator to produce electricity and/or hot water energy that can be used for district heating in the future.

Operating at 140,000 tonnes a year, enough power would be generated to power 10,000 homes, while the district heating produced could heat the equivalent of 2,200 homes, the region explains.

Construction on the facility is “anticipated for 2011 with a target operation date of 2014,” the region says in a release.

“For too long, we have trucked our garbage hundreds of kilometres to someone else’s backyard. This is not a sustainable solution,” says Commissioner of Works Cliff Curtis. “This energy-from-waste facility will release less greenhouse gas over its lifetime than our current long-haul disposal practice. The MOE has imposed extremely strict limits on our air emissions, but we can achieve them. This demonstrates the EFW facility will operate in a safe and environmentally responsible manner.”

But residents in Courtice and Oshawa are not entirely convinced.

“There are three main concerns. One is lack of meaningful consultation…they (residents) are concerned about the health and environmental concerns…and lastly the business case is very scary,” adds Foster.

Tags: lights, Green, Express, incinerator, Oshawa

How to Green Up Your Lifestyle and Save Money

Dec 16th

Unless you live in a cave on a remote island, without any method of communicating with the outside world, you will know that global warming and resource depletion are environmental issues that are not about to go away.

The environment has steadily moved its way up everyone’s agenda as we are more conscious about recycling and the amount of energy and water we waste.

With so much information bombarding our senses on environmental issues, there’s no doubt about it, understanding how best to ‘green up’ our lifestyle can be difficult and confusing.

We can all learn a lesson from big business, which has realised that by applying some commonsense to how they operate, they can improve their image, satisfy the demands of increasingly ‘eco-aware’ shareholders, and meet the increasing ‘green’ demands of customers by making changes to many of the products we buy from them. However, the key factor with business is improving their ‘bottom-line’. If being greener cost them more, they would be highly unlikely to make changes.

For those of us that care about trying to ‘do our bit’ for the environment, but not necessarily classifying ourselves as ‘rainbow warriors’ or ‘tree huggers’, we face a dilemma. What can we do to make a difference, without going so far as building a composting toilet in our gardens?

There is nothing wrong about modeling our approach to being greener on how the big corporations are approaching the matter. Essentially the key way they are doing this is by cutting out waste to become more efficient.

Here are three top tips on how to green up your lifestyle and save money.

1: Reduce the Amount of Food You Throw-away

In the UK, 30% of all the food we buy is thrown away. The food waste will generally end up in landfill, where as it degrades turns into a greenhouse gas about 19 times more potent than the carbon dioxide everyone associates with global warming.

There are a number of reasons why we throw away so much of the food we buy. When food reaches ‘best before’ date, there is no need to consign it to the rubbish bin. Best before is a ‘quality’ cut off point set by the manufacturers. If the food has been stored properly it will still be edible some time after that date.

We often buy too much food at the supermarket, possibly due to those irresistible BOGOF offers (buy one get one free). Write a list and try sticking to it.

Most of us have our fridges set at the wrong temperature. For optimum performance they should be set between 3-5 degrees Celsius.

If you apply the ‘bottom-line’ rule, it is clear that if you throw-away 30% of the food you buy, you are wasting 30% of your money.

Do a quick calculation to see how much you are throwing away each year. If you spend £80 per week on food for you and your family then you’re wasting £1,248 per year of your hard-earned cash.

2: Improve the Energy Efficiency of Your Home

Energy efficiency in the home is all about reducing waste.

If your home is poorly insulated, e.g.: little or no loft insulation; has un-insulated cavity walls, or draughty doors and windows, then you are literally throwing your money away by helping to heat the outside of your house!.

Call your local Council and ask for energy efficiency for advice. If you can’t get assistance there, contact a registered and approved insulation company and ask for free survey of your property. There are usually grants available to assist off-setting the cost.

If you run your central heating with an old boiler, you will need to replace it at some point. When it finally expires, ensure that the replacement boiler is not ‘over-sized’ for you property, as this will cost you money in the long-run, as it will not be operating efficiently.

Make sure you have programmer and room thermostat fitted to control your boiler. Thermostatic radiators valve will also help save you money and help control the temperature in your home more effectively.

Take a look at the insulation on your hot water tank. If it is poorly insulated with ill-fitting jacket, have a replacement fitted.

Fit low energy lighting where possible. The quality, look and performance of low energy lighting is improving all the time. Fit low energy lighting to as many lighting points as possible, e.g. in the hall, bedrooms, bathrooms, outside, cloakrooms, landing.

You will be surprised how much money you can save by investing in making improvements to the energy efficiency of your home.

On a four bedroom detached house built in the early 1980′s with some loft insulation and the original boiler, you could save £400 per year on fuel bills by increasing the loft insulation, installing cavity wall insulation, fitting low energy lights and replacing the boiler with more efficient model.

3: Replace Your Gas Guzzler

With price of a barrel of oil spiraling upwards, there has never been a more important time for us to look at the fuel efficiency of the car we drive.

With petrol at over £6 per gallon you do not need to be Albert Einstein to work out that by looking to improve the fuel efficiency of the car we drive can save us some serious money.

If you drive a car that manages 35 miles to the gallon and you drive 10,000 miles per annum, then your fuel costs will be about £1,715 per year at current petrol prices.

When you replace your car and buy a model that achieves 45 miles to the gallon then you will save about £400 in a year.

There are lots more green measures you can take, each requiring a small change in your lifestyle and personal habits. How far you go is upto you, but by addressing these three issues first, you will make a difference to the environment and save money at the same time.

Bill Bailey is freelance writer on finance, cars, travel, computers and shopping. More of Bill’s articles offering red hot tips and advice can be found at [http://www.schnafflehound.com]

Tags: Money, Lifestyle, Green

From Cradle to Grave–Laboratory Waste Management [VHS]

Dec 13th

Muckraker reporter Corey Hazard is sure that he will find
examples of shoddy hazardous waste management practices in Elise
McMillan’s lab. But the only thing he uncovers is how scrupulously
Elise and her lab technicians observe hazardous waste management
regulations-and reduce disposal costs to boot!

Topics

What Federal Regulations Govern Handling and Disposal of Hazardous Chemical Waste.
The Rules for Satellite Accumulation of Hazardous Wastes.
How to Determine If a Waste is Hazardous.
Why It’s So Important to Maintain an Accurate Inventory of All Wastes Generated and to Label All Reaction Byproducts.
How to Minimize Hazardous Waste.
The Optimum Methods of Packaging Waste for Disposal.
How to Select a Waste Disposal Contractor.

Price: $280.00

Tags: waste, GraveLaboratory, Cradle, management

The Back of the Napkin (Expanded Edition): Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures

Dec 12th

The acclaimed bestseller about visual problem solving-now bigger and better

“There is no more powerful way to prove that we know something well than to draw a simple picture of it. And there is no more powerful way to see hidden solutions than to pick up a pen and draw out the pieces of our problem.”

So writes Dan Roam in The Back of the Napkin, the international bestseller that proves that a simple drawing on a humble napkin can be more powerful than the slickest PowerPoint presentation. Drawing on twenty years of experience and the latest discoveries in vision science, Roam teaches readers how to clarify any problem or sell any idea using a simple set of tools.

He reveals that everyone is born with a talent for visual thinking, even those who swear they can’t draw. And he shows how thinking with pictures can help you discover and develop new ideas, solve problems in unexpected ways, and dramatically improve your ability to share your insights.

Take Herb Kelleher and Rollin King, who figured out how to beat the traditional hub-and-spoke airlines with a bar napkin and a pen. Three dots to represent Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Three arrows to show direct flights. Problem solved, and the picture made it easy to sell Southwest Airlines to investors and customers.

Now with more color, bigger pictures, and additional content, this new edition does an even better job of helping you literally see the world in a new way. Join the teachers, project managers, doctors, engineers, assembly-line workers, pilots, football coaches, marine drill instructors, financial analysts, students, parents, and lawyers who have discovered the power of solving problems with pictures.

Price: $28.95

Tags: Expanded, Edition, Problems, Napkin, Ideas

Ever Wondered What Happens to Your Waste? The Shocking Truth About Landfills and Global Warming!

Dec 6th

The United Kingdom produces 434 million tons of waste each year. That will fill the Albert Hall each 2 hours.

Householders produce about 30,000,000 tonnes about annually. 73% of this waste goes to landfill, although ninety percent of it actually is recoverable and may be recycled, reused or composted. Landfill remains the principal way of handling most of the waste in the United Kingdom. Landfill tax was introduced in 1996 in an effort to cut the amount of waste going to landfill.

Landfill Gas ( Methane ) One tonne of waste tipped in a landfill produces between two hundred and four hundred cubic metres of landfill gas. Landfill sites released 32% of the UK’s methane emissions in 2009. Methane is about twenty-one times more strong than carbon-dioxide and permitting methane to flee into the atmosphere has heavy planetary warming consequences.

Landfill Leachate During landfill site operation, a liquid known as ‘Leachate ‘ is produced. This is a mix of organic degradation products, liquid waste and rain water. Leachate is intensely variable in composition dependent on the character of the waste in the landfill and the landfill design, but generally it has high organic carbon content, significant amounts of nitrogen and is mostly a little acidic.

Landfills are designed and operate to seal the waste as much as practicable from the encompassing environment. Central to this environmental protection is avoiding groundwater contamination.

Recycle

The more rubbish, waste and junk that gets recycled is the less that has to go to landfill. This in turn means less methane is released, causing less global warming, and less leachate seeping into the earth and damaging our already fragile eco system.

My name is Martin Harris. I am the founder of an eco friendly company called called Eco Rubbish Clearance – http://ecorubbishclearance.co.uk The company was started with an aim to providing a green alternative to conventional skip hire.

Recycling has never been so important. We need to cut back on landfill deposits and find new ways to reuse and recycle unwanted things. Visit our website to find out what the future of waste management looks like. http://ecorubbishclearance.co.uk From small acorns, mighty oaks grow…

Tags: Happens, Shocking, Truth, Global, waste

Cheaper alternative to incinerator called for – Kidderminster Shuttle

Dec 4th

8:39am Tuesday 23rd November 2010

AN action group in Hartlebury is calling for a cheaper alternative to a planned incinerator, after Worcestershire County Council revealed it must save up to £70 million by 2015.

Worcestershire Residents Against Incineration and Landfill (WAIL) was formed in opposition to plans to build a £120 million waste processing plant at Hartlebury Industrial Estate.

In response to the county council’s budget announcement earlier this month, WAIL chairman, Ray Kirby, said: “There are reported to be 750 job losses at the county and massive budget cuts but under the proposed public finance initiative the mortgage interest costs alone [relating to the waste plant project]could be estimated at £5 million per year, before repayment begins.”

He asked: “How many front line jobs and services to vulnerable people does that equate to?

“Is it wise to commit to a £120 million mortgage for 25 years at this uncertain and cash-constrained time?”

He said the county could save half the cost of the proposed incinerator – a saving of around £60 million – by opting for anaerobic digestion to divert biodegradable waste from landfill.

A county council spokesman said: “The county council carried out an options appraisal of all current comparable technologies during its recent review of the Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy.

“It concluded that over a 25-year period a single energy from waste facility is the best overall solution for dealing with residual waste in Worcestershire and Herefordshire.”

He added: “This appraisal is available at the website at worcestershire.gov.uk and ranks energy from waste as having a lower life cycle cost than other technologies.”

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Tags: alternative, incinerator, Cheaper, Shuttle, Kidderminster

City incinerator plans rejected – BBC News

Dec 2nd

17 November 2010 Last updated at 16:40 The incinerator would have been built near the centre of Perth Ministers have dismissed an appeal against the refusal of plans for an incinerator near the centre of Perth.

Artist's impression of waste incinerator

Grundon Waste Management had applied to build an incinerator with a 90,000 tonne capacity, but councillors rejected the bid last year.

Dismissing Grundon’s appeal, the Scottish Government Reporter said the proposed development would have an “over-dominant” impact on the area.

Grundon said it would evaluate the full report and review its options.

The £100m scheme had faced considerable opposition from local residents, who were concerned the incinerator would blight Perth for “decades to come”.

Councillors voted against the plans for an “energy from waste” plant at Shore Road in Perth in November 2009.

‘Clear mistake’

The plan was rejected on eight grounds, including objections to the size of the site and an 80m (262ft)-high chimney stack.

Following the Scottish government ruling, Jim Irons, depute chief executive of Perth and Kinross Council, said: “We were always confident of the outcome but are obviously happy that the reporter has now made the decision to dismiss the appeal.

“I would like to thank all our staff who have worked hard to provide justification for the council’s decision and members of the community who have also fought to resist this development.”

Mid-Scotland and Fife Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser said he welcomed the decision, saying the decision by the SNP-led council to issue planning permission in principle for the development had been a “clear mistake”.

He added: “I believe that special praise needs to go to Bridgend, Gannochy and Kinnoull Community Council, who worked tirelessly to highlight the flaws in the application and the damage that the incinerator would bring to Perth.

“It is due to the hard work and dedication of campaigners that we have finally received the good news of refusal for the incinerator.”

A spokeswoman for Grundon said the company was pleased that the reporter had found many positive points in the application.

“Taking all these matters into account, Grundon will now evaluate the full report in detail and review its options – which may include an assessment of alternative technologies and plant designs for use on the Shore Road site,” she said.

Tags: incinerator, plans, rejected

Halt incinerator and look at other options, says MP – Lynn News

Dec 1st

Published on Mon Nov 22 17:34:02 GMT 2010

GOVERNMENT minister and local MP Henry Bellingham is urging Norfolk County Council to suspend the proposed £150m-plus waste incinerator scheme at Lynn and to examine safer options.

In an exclusive interview with Lynn News senior writer Mike Last, the NW Norfolk MP called on the county council to hold public polls in Lynn and villages near the incinerator site at the Willows Business Park in South Lynn.

Only then, he said, would the authority get a real understanding of local public opinion about the proposal – and the majority view should hold sway.

Last week, the county council cabinet chose Anglo-US company Cory Wheelabrator as its preferred bidder for the “energy from waste” plant, which would be capable of treating 170,000 tonnes of black bin waste and a further 90,000 tonnes of commercial waste each year.

It means that proposals will now be drawn up and a planning application submitted for the new plant, which will also be able to produce energy for the National Grid and heating for nearby homes and factories.

But Mr Bellingham is concerned that a £20m compensation clause that the county council could face if its own planners fail to give the project the go-ahead, as revealed by the Lynn News, represents a “conflict of interest”.

He explained: “The scheme won’t be able to be looked at completely independently because there will be this question of £20m compensation influencing the planning committee.”

He said: “I have never known a project with more opposition to it – it’s absolutely massive – and it’s not based just around technology but the impact on health.

“Norfolk County Council cannot say categorically that this plant will not affect health.”

The authority was confidently stating that bigger particles emitted through the process would be filtered out. But it could not say that certain nano or micro particles escaping the filters would not damage health, and a lot of the concerns were focused on that aspect, he added.

Mr Bellingham said the county council had also not satisfied him that it was doing all it could to increase recycling rates significantly and examine other options for dealing with household and business waste.

He pointed out that Milan and other Italian cities had managed to boost their recycling rates from 20 per cent to about 80 per cent, through reducing packaging and greatly enhancing their recycling policies.

He feared Norfolk was factoring in a reduction in its effort to increase recycling from the current level of under 40 per cent by bringing in the incinerator.

But if it increased recycling to 80 per cent or more, and had anaerobic digestion facilities or mechanical biological treatment plants, like the one at Waterbeach recently featured in the Lynn News, an incinerator would not be needed, he said.

The MP said that in these tough economic times using £169m of Government grant, and a total cost of £500m to the taxpayer, over the 25-year life of the incinerator was “not a good use of public money”.

He pointed out: “The Government is looking very closely at all outstanding Private Finance Initiative credits and there must be a strong possibility of that PFI credit being cancelled because there is a continuing review by the Treasury and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.”

If NCC still wants the incinerator, it must consult with people in Lynn and nearby villages like West Winch, North Runcton, North and South Wootton and the Wiggenhalls, through holding ballots, with the Electoral Commission overseeing the process, he said.

“I hope the county council will commit to having local referenda – and if people don’t vote in favour of the incinerator they don’t have to have it,” he added.

Tags: other, options, incinerator

Shock twist in controversial Kings Lynn incinerator plan – Norfolk Eastern Daily Press

Nov 29th

The proposed incinerator site on the edge of King's Lynn

by DAVID BLACKMORE, senior reporter Tuesday, 23 November, 2010
15:00 PM

Controversial plans to build a waste incinerator on the edge of King’s Lynn could be halted because of an old land agreement, it emerged last night.

Land Registry documents unearthed by campaigners opposed to plans for an “energy from waste” plant reveal a covenant placed on the land by a previous owner prevents it being used for commercial production of electricity.

If the county council does not overturn the clause then its £169m project at the Saddlebow industrial estate could be thrown into jeopardy.

However last night the authority said it was just a “matter of negotiation” and was working hard to overturn the land agreement.

Anti-incinerator campaigner Mike Knights said the documents came to light after a fellow campaigner, a solicitor, researched the Land Registry.

He said: “It came as quite a shock to us when we found out about this covenant even though we had our suspicions something like this was in place.

“The county council has claimed that this is the best site in Norfolk for an incinerator and that it is the most sensible place for generating electricity.

“But if this covenant isn’t removed then one of their main justifications for its existence will be prohibited.

“For the council to reach this stage without having it removed is an act of incompetence if ever I saw one and a show stopper in my opinion.”

The King’s Lynn incinerator, if built, would be capable of treating 170,000 tonnes of black bin waste as well as a further 90,000 tonnes of commercial waste.

Mr Knights continued: “The council will really have a problem on its hands if the previous owner who put this covenant in place won’t budge.

“The council is committed to this site because all its other options have been burnt so the authority is really not in a strong position at the moment.

“But this also means that it is not good news for taxpayers because it will be our money that might be needed to pay the previous owner to overturn this covenant.”

He added: “We are not sure who put this covenant in place but we think a power company may have been involved with the land at some point and didn’t want a competitor to get their hands on the land.”

Norfolk County Council has said it is aware of the covenant and that it is “not a show stopper” in its quest for an incinerator in West Norfolk.

A county council spokesman said: “With any land acquisition, there are always various issues that need to be overcome to make the site useable.

“As far as a covenant is concerned, while discussions in relation to all aspects of this contract are continuing we simply can’t comment on this particular aspect at the moment.

“But I would point out that land covenants are not only very common but they are also entirely negotiable.”

The spokesman did not reveal who the council is in discussions with regarding the covenant but hinted it could be the previous site owners.

He continued: “If built, this power and recycling centre at Saddlebow would save Norfolk residents about £8 million every year compared to using landfill to get rid of our rubbish.

“It would also help local businesses avoid the escalating cost of landfill. At times when public and private finances are under so much pressure this is a rare ray of sunshine.”

The county council has recently come under criticism after it emerged the authority could face a compensation bill of up to £20m if the planned waste incinerator does not go ahead.

A contract is likely to be signed early next year between the council and its preferred bidder, Cory Wheelabrator, for the controversial plant.

Norfolk is braced for snow showers this weekend

Arctic blasts are set to hit Norfolk this weekend, with snow predicted just as Norwich gets ready for the East Anglian football derby and the half marathon.

Tags: controversial, Norfolk, Daily, Kingaposs, twist

Compost Bins – Take Care When Handling Compost, Follow These Handy Compost Tips

Nov 28th

Many gardeners already know the value of the rich, dark, earthy material created by composting. It is one of the best mulches and richest fertilizers – and it’s cheap. In fact, you can make it for free.

It works by providing food for microorganisms and these microorganisms produce nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus naturally for the soil, improving soil fertility.

Apart from being good for the environment, composting is also economically sensible, helping to reduce the pressure on landfills which, once full, pose problems for local government. It is not easy finding new sites for landfills.

Did you know that almost half of the average rubbish bag can be composted and most is not?

Given our environmental pressures this does not make sense. Worse still, when it comes to landfills garden waste and kitchen scraps break down into methane, a potentially explosive greenhouse gas, and leachate which can pollute our water. This is why composting – and recycling in a garden compost bin – is such a good thing to do for our environment.

However, if you are handling compost, you need to take some basic health and safety precautions. Garden compost contains various living organisms. On rare occasions, these have been associated with illness and allergies in humans particularly people with compromised immune systems or respiratory illness. And because of this, it is important to always:

1. Wash your hands after handling compost. Compost contains bacteria and this can react with your skin.

2. Wear proper protective gloves at all times, and especially if your skin is broken or if the garden compost is hot).

3. Avoid working with compost in confined spaces.

4. Keep your compost moist to prevent spores and dust flying in your face. (And it helps keep the bacteria composting because bacteria stops when it gets too dry.)

5. Wear a face mask.

Alan Paterson is the Managing Director of Compost Oven Pty Ltd, Australia’s leading supplier of hot composting solutions. Do the right thing by the environment and talk to us about compost bins today.

Tags: Handy, These, Handling, Compost, Follow

Is Hiring a Skip Sustainable?

Nov 26th

Skip hire isn’t simply about consigning huge volumes of waste to landfill. Companies offering this service have certain responsibilities, not least that they should make every effort to properly dispose of all products. This means sorting general waste from recyclable materials and ensuring that it is all disposed of effectively; so is it sustainable?

The skip hire company will often have a special sorting site to remove any items that can be recycled. This means that things aren’t unnecessarily consigned to landfill, which does help the sustainability of skip hire hugely. In fact, in many instances, after sorting out all of the waste, you’ll often find that the majority is actually able to be recycled – this of course is far more environmentally friendly.

A skip is a great way of removing a huge volume of waste from a site without having to make numerous journeys to the local waste refuse centre. So if you’re doing a house clearance, a little bit of building work or any other task that is likely to create its fair share of debris, it’s the ideal way to get it removed without ferrying back and forth continuously.

Again, this adds to the sustainability of the entire process. Not only is it faster but you won’t be constantly driving between your site and the local dump – therefore lowering the emissions being generated during your work. This might only be a partial saving, but little factors like this do plenty to add to the sustainability of the process as a whole.

Convenience is obviously one of the major draws of skip hire. It is an affordable way of keeping a clear site and getting rid of all unneeded rubbish. Your only issue is ensuring that you have the necessary permits (if it is being left in a public location), arranging a drop-off time and making sure there’s space for it. Once it’s on site, you can get on with clearing away the rubbish and await collection.

Builders, tradesmen and home owners often call on the services of skip hire companies to deal with their waste management. It’s a logical step. You do have to be a little careful with what you throw away though. There are certain hazardous materials that many providers won’t accept; these include chemicals, solvents, tyres, paint, asbestos and batteries.

The reason why these materials and other appliances, such as monitors and freezers, aren’t accepted is purely down to the ease with which it can be dealt with. More often than not these will need to be properly separated and dealt with responsibly – this can take time and cost money. More often than not, the skip hire company will stipulate what you can’t throw away and if they do find these within the container they may refuse to collect or charge you extra for proper disposal.

So with all things considered, skip hire is an extremely sustainable way of dealing with your waste. It cuts down on pollution and unnecessary landfill tipping. Your rubbish can be properly sorted and dealt with in a way that is environmentally friendly and efficient.

Vincent Rogers is a freelance writer who writes for a number of UK businesses. For professional waste management services, plant hire and Skip For Hire UK services he recommends Nationwide Hire.

Tags: Hiring, Sustainable

Recycling at Work

Nov 25th

The workplace generates a lot of waste. No matter whether you work in an office, warehouse, factory or outside, waste is a natural by-product of nearly every occupation.

A lot of what we throw away when we are at work, however, can be recycled and it is increasingly important that we think abut the environment when we are at work – especially considering the amount of time many of us spend there.

One of the biggest wastages in the workplace is the amount of paper we get through. Even though everything is computerised these days, we still are using just as much – if not more – paper than ever.

And not enough of us are recycling it either and this is a terrible waste as paper is one of the easiest of our resources to recycle. Recycling bins and paper recycling bins should be in the corner of nearly every office. So much paper gets thrown away that if all workplaces ensured it went in the recycling bin it would make a huge difference in the waste that ends up on landfill sites – and the number of trees cut down.

But its no just paper that is a nuisance to the environment. Many workplaces have vending machines and while these are very convenient for a quick cuppa the polystyrene and plastic cups that are used mainly end up on landfills – where they can longer for decades.

These can be recycled and many vending machine manufacturers are using more eco friendlier materials to make the little cups from. Placing cup collectors near the vending machines and canteen to catch the empties will ensure that these extremely numerous cups end up recycled not in the rubbish bin.

Cans from vending machines, too, can be recycled; can collectors will ensure the empties get taken away for recycling.

There are other ways of being a little more eco friendly at work too, such as making use of email and electric means rather than the printer and making sure you don’t waste paper unnecessarily. The culmination of this, and all other recycling tips is that less rubbish gets chucked away in the skip or external bin.

Richard N Williams is interested in waste bins and rubbish removal. Please visit us website if you are interested in Recycling bins a or other rubbish bins.

Tags: recycling

Rubbish Removal in Sydney – How You Can Help

Nov 23rd

Rubbish removal in Sydney has changed significantly in the past few years.

Mainly because the laws around rubbish have also changed. We are in a more environmentally conscious world. Australia as a country is one of the leaders in working towards reducing carbon footprints and being environmentally respectful. And NSW and Sydney specifically are in alignment with that. I have been an independent Rubbish Removal contractor for over 20 years. So I have seen a lot of change over that time.

What I want to share with you in this article, are some key elements about ‘the back end’ – where your rubbish goes, how it is being treated. All in keeping with both removing waste and also disposing of it responsibly.

Waste Facilities Sydney

There are over 12 waste recycling, processing and disposing facilities serving Sydney and beyond. Each site has specific types of waste they will and will not receive.

There is also a Native seedling nursery at Lucas Heights where they grow native plants to rehabilitate closed landfills.

There are four landfill sites across Sydney currently open that are designed in such a way as too minimize the amount of space used, yet maximize the amount of time the landfill will remain open for operation.

There are waste receivals areas at the sites that are designed to reduce the amount of vehicle movement and providing waste streaming services.

WSN pioneered the Green Energy generation from waste in NSW in 1994, this process is spread across the sites, and generates energy to power up to 30,000 homes!

How Good Are Australians At Recycling?

In NSW, households are recycling up to 46% of their waste. Australians are the best newspaper recyclists in the world – recycling 74% of their newspapers in 2005.

In 2005 Australians also recycled 2.3 billion aluminum cans, which is 600 million more than 10 years ago!

Australians are the highest producers of waste, per person, in the world. Unfortunately it is estimated that over 7 billion cigarette butts end up in Australian waterways, streets and park lands each year. 80 Million plastic bags also end up as litter – which threatens marine life.

Recycling one tonne of plastic will save enough energy to run a refrigerator for a month! Recyclable material makes up almost 80% of total household waste.

Rubbish Removal Sydney – What You Can Do To Help

Above, I was sharing some facts and figures that are related more to household rubbish. Someone like myself are generally called to clear bigger items of rubbish. Such things are household furniture or appliances you no longer want. Some other waste types are:

- Rubbish from a renovation.

- Rubbish from a demolition.

- Rubbish from Commercial Premises – such as old files, computers, office equipment.

Some of the important things for you the client to know, is to clearly detail to someone like myself :

- what the rubbish removed is.

- how much of it there is.

- and what the access to your property or office is like.

Now these are not difficult details to supply. What supplying such details will do, will be that it will enable me as a waste management contractor to work out how best to approach your job, and also what tip I will need to visit to dispose of the rubbish.

These are all things that factor in your quote for the job. I think you will find with both someone like myself, or any of my colleagues – and I do belong myself to a group of independent contractors – as honestly (we’re biased) we believe we do a better job, as we are more customer focused, than the bigger Sydney rubbish removal organizations. And I certainly maintain that no job is too hard – that it is always about a solution. And getting the job done quickly, expertly and leaving you with a clean space where there was once rubbish.

So providing a great waste disposal service is both about quality service and attractive pricing – which as an independent I have the flexibility to do.

So Rubbish Removal Sydney need not be a “rubbish task” – instead it is one that I definitely look forward to assisting customers with.

Mark Wilkins
Rubbish Removal
Rubbish Removal Sydney

Tags: rubbish, Removal, Sydney

Using the 3 R’s to Help the Environment

Oct 23rd

Because of global warming, pollution, diminishing forests, and a limited supply of natural resources, people are becoming more aware of the importance of protecting the environment. Waste in the environment affects the air, water, land, animals, plants, and humans. When we use the environment as a waste dump, we take away land from wildlife, pollute the environment, and deplete natural resources. One way people are doing their part to protect the environment is adopting the Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle Waste Program. The 3R program reduces the amount of garbage going into landfills thereby protecting and conserving our environment.

Reduce: People reduce by purchasing items that are durable and last a long time. By purchasing long lasting products with very little packaging, you will decrease the amount of waste entering a landfill. Other ways of reducing waste include:

- Buy products that do not require a lot of energy and resources to manufacture. Look for products that contain environmentally friendly packaging.
- Reduce car use by riding your bicycle, carpooling with friends, walking, or taking the bus.
- Composting is a great way to dispose of kitchen waste. It is healthy for the soil and less waste will go into the landfill
- Turn off lights that you are not using and use energy efficient light bulbs.
- Turn off the taps when brushing your teeth.

Reducing will help with conservation efforts and decrease landfill waste and energy use. Reducing results in less pollution and a cleaner environment. It also helps conserve natural resources.

Reuse: You can reduce waste by reusing products. Reusing methods include repairing damaged items, donating items to a worthy cause, or finding another way to use them. Some reusing tips include:

- Use cloth grocery bags instead of plastic bags. They can be used repeatedly.
- Use reusable lunch bags.
- Metal cans and plastic containers can be used for storing items.
- Donate old clothes, furniture, and toys to a charity.
- Use silverware and dishes instead of plastic utensils and plates.
- Store food in reusable plastic containers.

Another way to reuse is to hire a junk removal service. Except for hazardous materials, junk removal companies will come and remove just about any type of waste. This includes furniture, appliances, electronics, and construction refuse. Many junk removal businesses donate items to charities, repair items, and recycle.

Recycling: This process involves making new products out of old products. This means potential landfill waste becomes a new product. You can protect the environment by buying products that contain recycled materials. Many of the things we use every day are recycled. Recycled products include: paper towels, toilet paper, paper bags, beverage bottles and cans, milk cartons, and much more. Most products have the recycle label on the package.

rcycling on a cart

Many towns and cities have recycling programs. Some places even have mandatory recycling programs. Junk removal companies are actively involved in reusing and recycling. These companies are very aware of the public’s concern for the environment so they make reusing and recycling a big part of their business. Make sure you ask a junk removing company how much they recycle. You will feel good knowing that not all of the junk you are getting rid of will end up in a land fill.

Reducing, reusing, and recycling helps lessen our impact on the environment and benefits the community. With the help of environmentally conscious companies such as junk removal companies, we are decreasing the amount of waste going into landfills. By participating in the 3R program, you will feel good knowing that you are doing your part to leave a healthier planet for your children.

It is important for individuals to be mindful of what is in the trash. That way, the environment can be better protected. If you are looking for a junk removal and rubbish company located in the GTA please visit us at: Garbage Removal Toronto.

Tags: Using, environment

Tips to Get More Life From Cartridges and Printers

Oct 22nd

Whenever anyone is running a busy office, one of the most frustrating things to happen is that a machine runs out of printing fluid just at the wrong time. The sealed units used to be discarded when they dried up and new ones would have to be bought. But these days, printer ink refill needs have become available online or local business supply stores which makes life a little easier for all concerned. Toner cartridges too are able to be filled by office workers themselves and this can save quite substantial amounts of money.

Why it has taken so long for these handy packs to come onto the market is questionable. However, this has long been the preserve of technicians and their ilk and used to make them a good income. Nowadays though, the filler packs come with a small tool to make a hole in the sealed container and this is where the fluid is put in. Although it may take more than one kind of fluid to make the whole thing work, this is not rocket science and most people can manage this.

Some of these containers also have built in obsolescence and this was done so that the companies producing them would always have work coming in. However, in this world of recycling and cutting down on waste materials, the companies who produce these containers have to realize that they must go with public demand and not simply on profit levels.

There are two different kinds of fluid available: black for the normal kind of printing, and kits with four colors to cover the colored printing. Although it may not sound relevant, the black cannot be put where the color containers should go and this may indeed damage the machine. This then should be taken into account since it is better to buy a new container than repair a costly machine.

Of course, one of the main reasons to use these containers more than once is purely environmental. Since it takes upwards of three liters of oil and four liters of petroleum to make a container, the effect on the resources of the world are very obvious. Because of this, CO2 emissions are saved and there will certainly be less junk dumped in landfill sites throughout the country. When one considers how many of these containers are consumed in just one year, and in one country, the benefits of reusing them becomes very apparent.

Since many companies in the world today think that they can just keep pushing out this kind of plastic rubbish, there is bound to be a backlash and that time is now. Ecologically speaking, people not only want to save money, they also want to save the world too. By just using these containers more than one or twice, they really are making a difference to the kind of product that the world is now demanding. Companies will surely have to listen to what the public wants and produce only those things that will sell, this is as good a place to start as any.

Connor R. Sullivan recently started getting his printer ink refill needs met online because of the convenience. He also orders his toner cartridges online because it is more cost effective.

Tags: Cartridges, Printers

Ways to Recycle and Reuse Your Rubbish

Oct 20th

The average American produces 4.5 pounds of trash each day, per person, according to the U.S. EPA. Consumers spend an average of $1 per every $11 spent on product packaging, and approximately 60% of that waste ends up in landfills. Recycling helps, but a better solution is to reduce the amount of waste that is thrown away or recycled by reusing and reducing waste.

Not long ago I visited my friend who had recently purchased an apartment. She was setting up a box garden on her patio when I arrived. She invited me to sit outside while she finished up. While chatting with her, I couldn’t help but notice the pile of orange peels, banana peels, apple cores, and other assorted items in a bin located towards the back corner of the patio. It turned out this was her attempt at a compost pile. She explained that she was looking for some creative ways to recycle some of her used food items. I was impressed! But that wasn’t all…

My friend actually had planted a variety of plants in what appeared to be reused plastic milk jugs. She even had planted a small flower in what appeared to be an old sneaker! It was charming, albeit a bit eccentric. After speaking to her at length about this, I realized that she was really doing her best to recycle and reuse things that otherwise would have been thrown in the garbage. Naturally there’s a limit to what a person can do, but collectively, if we all did a little bit more of this we could really help improve the environment we all share.

Here are some quick tips if you’re interested in recycling and reusing various items that you’d otherwise throw out:

1) Start by making sure you’re recycling everything that is required to be recycled by your community. This will typically include newspaper, cardboard, and many different types of cans and glass bottles.

2) When you’re done cooking a meal, see if there are leftover scraps that would be suitable for a compost pile. You can then use the compost to help nourish your garden.

3) Instead of automatically discarding household appliances to make room for newer models, consider donating your old appliances to a worthy charity. Many of these appliances will then be given to those in need.

recycling waste

To the extent you follow through and make an effort to recycle the things that need to be recycled and allow others to reuse your unwanted good, you will not only be helping the environment but also helping those who are in need. It’s the ultimate win-win situation!

Suzanne Bucciarelli is the owner of Green Living Ezine and writes articles and tips on how to save money and go green at the same time. Read Over 125 Ways to Go Green and Save Money at Green Living Ezine.

Tags: Reuse, Recycle, rubbish

The 5 Golden Rules by Which You Should Judge Your Local Waste Facilities

Oct 18th

Golden rules are quite special rules that one should always keep in mind and not forget. They’re really important and useful guideposts to help you keep focussed and going in the right direction.

Find your Golden Rule, follow its star-like unwavering truth and become guided by it. Whatever your main goal or task, there will be a Golden Rule that applies that will assist you in keeping yourself on track.

Here are 5 of the best Golden Rules that connect with the issue of ratepayer value from their local authority waste facilities.

Golden Rule # 1, is that the waste facility whether it be a Household Waste Recycling Facility (HWRC), a Landfill accepting Household Waste, or other public waste facility such as a Bottle (Bring) Bank (for Bottle Recycling), or a Green or Garden Waste Composting facility open to the public to accept suitable waste, or any other waste facility accepting waste/providing a service to the public, is long opening hours.

The key reason why long opening hours are needed, is that people quite often cannot dispose of their waste during normal office hours. Remember, there are people who need little excuse to fly tip their rubbish in quiet spots all over our towns and countryside. Let’s not give them any excuse to do that..

Golden Rule # 2, The should be ample opportunity for the public to recycle their waste at all waste reception sites. You should be aware that the public are being encouraged to recycle more of their rubbish, all around the world. And you’ll want to take into account that your local authority should be encouraging recycling and they should provide good facilities to help the local people achieve recycling.

Golden Rule # 3, There should be no direct charge to the private users of waste facilities. Businesses, however, are differently treated and should be charged the true cost of disposing of the waste they deposit. This is in our view a good idea because municipal waste sites are funded by the local ratepayers for the health of the community. Waste left dumped and uncollected is as big a health hazard, as say, polluted water – for the general community. The way to prevent that is to allow free use to individuals when disposing waste to municipal waste facilities.

Golden Rule # 4, The managers of all waste-facilities should be given targets for minimizing the quantity of waste they send to landfill. To make this happen some might suggest linking their bonus pay to the waste diversion rate (by recycling), that they achieve, against a set target

Golden Rule # 5, Whatever else happens at any waste facility, the paramount concern must be that it is done safely. These can be dangerous places, and with big wheeled-plant moving around there is potential for people to become crushed, or fall into skips etc. This could be important to you personally as a user of your local waste facility.

Golden Rule # 6, You can accomplish this by very careful design of each waste reception location, coupled with clear training given to the site operatives and suitable supervision, plus close control of the public while they are using the facility.

It can be very important since it would be wrong for anyone to be injured while recycling their waste in a waste facility. We all bear a responsibility to look after others. This may entail you helping the waste management facility staff when they seek to give you instructions to control you, as a member of the public, while they are using the facility.

This could be really critical because as we already said, but will repeat again to make this point clear, for anyone to be injured while recycling their waste in a suitable facility, and especially anyone reading this, would be very unfortunate.

If citizens follow these golden rules to recognize ratepayer value from their local authority waste sites, you’ll find life easier for the community, your town’s or cities progress toward high recycling rates more rapidly and your communities successes more pronounced and frequent.

Uncover ways to understand more fully the service provided at Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs), or other public waste facility such as a Bottle Bank (for Bottle Recycling), or a Green or Garden Waste Composting facility, by visiting this waste facilities web site.

If you are considering improving your surveillance system you will find our security checklist of interest. This will help you make your next security investment decision. Continue to Home NJ Security Systems and make use of our checklist.

Tags: Facilities, Judge, Should, waste, Local

The 7 Secrets to Successful Skip Hire

Oct 17th

Our research suggests that there are over 17 million skips hired in the UK every year for domestic use alone! That’s a lot of skips and if you’ve ever looked in Yellow Pages you’ll see that there are a lot of skip companies out there to choose from with no real way of knowing what kind of service you’re going to get before it turns up!

If, like us, you’ve ever hired a skip, chances are you will have had a good experience with a professional, licensed waste collector with no hassles or grief.

Unfortunately, this is not always the case. If you called more than one company before you actually hired a skip you may have found that some of them:

- won’t quote prices over the phone

- won’t tell you what time it will be dropped off, or picked up

- will only accept cash payments to the driver

You might have even had a bad experience where the driver has refused to take away your skip without throwing some of the rubbish back in your garden, demanded more money before taking it away, damaged your property by bad handling of their wagon and the skip…

This guide is for you: It answers all the most common questions associated with skip hire so that you know exactly what you’re getting into when you hire a skip and understand the whys and wherefores involved in skip hire so you never have a bad experience…EVER!

1. How can I tell which skip companies in the Yellow Pages are the good ones?

Unless you personally know the company, you can’t. Any fool with a wagon and a skip can get an advert designed and printed to entice you to call them, but mainly it’s a lottery not just in terms of prices and service, but also in terms of what actually happens to your waste – something that depressingly few of us actually think, or even care about.

Skip companies are not actually regulated at the time of writing. The good ones operate their own licensed waste transfer stations (regulated by the Environment Agency) and are members of the Institute of Wastes Management (a professional body that promotes education and raising standards in waste management).

The bad ones are just cowboys that often fly-tip your waste and therefore add to your council tax bill – cos the council are the ones who have to clean it up! (Flytipping is now costing local councils over £2.5 million a year! That’s our tax money!)
Did you know? “Every 35 seconds, somebody, somewhere is fly-tipping in the UK”

2. Why do skips cost so much money?

No-one is pretending skip hire is cheap, but think about the overheads involved:

Skip Wagon £35,000+

Skips £500/each for standard builderskip

Vehicle Insurance £2000/year per vehicle

Public Liability £1250/year per vehicle

Employer’s Liability £1250/year per vehicle

Skip Wagon driver £25,000/year

Fuel £20,000/year

Office staff £18,000/year per member of staff

Landfill taxes £18/ton increasing by £3 every year until 2010 where it will stand at £35/ton

Recycling costs Cost of buying shredders, trommels, weighbridges, picking stations etc – £millions

Soon adds up doesn’t it? Getting rid of waste is not a cheap business, but it has to go somewhere!

3. Why isn’t my skip dropped off and picked up when I ask for it?

This isn’t always the skip company’s fault – too many people don’t understand that hiring a skip is not like calling a taxi. Just think about what goes into the average skip lorry driver’s day – it’s heavy haulage we’re talking about here, and lots of things can go wrong on a pick-up or drop off that will slow down the whole day’s schedule, such as a customer putting toxic waste in a skip, overfilling it, or the driver being given incorrect drop off details by a customer.

We publish a national trade magazine for the industry called “The Skip” (www.theskip.net) and through this we are pushing for more skip companies to incorporate new technology like Vehicle Tracking to improve delivery schedules and take-up of this kind of improvement is increasing all the time.

In the meantime, you should be patient waiting for your skip because it’s rarely a case of deliberately bad customer service.

skip hire

4. Why won’t they take the skip away if the rubbish is just over the fill line?

It’s not the skip driver being unreasonable – it’s the law! They are legally bound to not carry unsafe loads and unfortunately many people order smaller skips than they need in order to save a few quid. Our advice – order a larger skip than you think you need because you will always fill it – just don’t go over the line!

5. What actually happens to my rubbish when they take it away?

If you’re not asking this question, you should be. Landfill space in the UK is running out fast. It is estimated that by 2010 there will be virtually no landfill space left in Britain and the government is increasing the landfill taxes that waste management companies have to pay every year. The best skip companies are investing heavily into new plant and technology to the point that many of them are recycling over 90%! Using these companies will eventually reduce prices and massively increase recycling rates – something we should all be interested in.

The bottom line is – the cheaper the skip, the less likely it is that the waste is being responsibly managed.

6. Why won’t my local skip company take a credit card or even tell me prices over the phone?

This is mainly a historical thing. Most skip hire companies have evolved over the past 25 years from construction and demolition companies, and the traditional way they do business is either by issuing invoices or cash-in-hand! Also, a lot of companies still charge for waste disposal by the tonne and won’t always quote an exact price because they don’t know exactly how much it’s going to cost them to get rid of until it comes in.

7. Why do I get quoted so many different prices for the same service from different companies?

The answer’s in the question – you don’t get the same service from different companies! You get different levels of service from different companies. Most of the time, you get what you pay for. After you’ve had a bad experience, you’ll wonder whether it really was worth saving £20 by going with the cheapest you could find.

Plus there are other factors such as skip permit prices. All skip companies are supposed to tell you that you need a permit if the skip is to be on a public highway. These permits are provided by the local council – sometimes the company by law has to sort it out for you, sometimes you’ll have to go direct to the council yourself.

The variances in skip permit price across the UK are staggering – some council’s charge nothing and issue them the same day, some charge £70 and make you wait weeks before issuing.

In the end…

It’s up to you. You now know pretty much everything necessary to make an informed choice about which skip hire company to use.

If you want all the guesswork taken out of the job and a guarantee of:

- excellent customer service levels
- fully online secure payment system
- a free-phone number so it won?t cost you to enquire about anything
- responsible waste management and a commitment to recycle at least 70% of waste collected
- fixed, published prices
- full UK-wide service

Then you could always use http://www.topskips.com. We have over 400 agents throughout the UK that go the extra mile to please our customers because, most of the time, WE are their biggest customer!

Happy skipping!

Mark Attwood http://www.topskips.com

Tags: Successful, Secrets

Your Carbon Footprint – What Colour Is Yours?

Oct 16th

If one person can change things to reduce their Carbon Footprint and make a positive difference on the environment, imagine the difference a whole office can make.

The things we do in our everyday lives have a huge impact on our environment. Whether we realise it not, everyday, we are adding to the problem of global warming.

The idea of this article is to offer some tips which can help you reduce your office carbon footprint and help the environment by not adding to the global warming issue.

Did you really need to print that?

So, you’re sitting at your desk and receive an email, you decide you want a copy of the email, so you print it off. Was that really necessary?

Statistics show that we use over 11 million sheets of paper a year. That’s a lot of paper!

By reducing the amount of paper you use for printing, you are not only saving money, but you are having a positive effect on the environment, because the less paper we use, the less trees need to be cut down and the more oxygen we have.

Whose turn is it to water the plant?

Talking about trees and oxygen, by having a plant or two in your office, you are infact helping your office environment.

Imagine all those systems running in your office; computer, fax, printers, photocopiers and scanners, all these things make the air too dry, so by having plants in your office, you are infact increasing the humidity in the air.

Printer cartridge has run out again

So what do you do when the printer is ready for a refill? Infact, the question should be, what do you do with the empty cartridge?

In the last 10 years, 250 million print cartridges have ended up in either landfill sites or have been incinerated. It would take 1000 years for one cartridge to biodegrade.

printer cartridge savings

With the amount of cartridges thrown away, if laid out, they would stretch across the radius of the moon!

There is now no excuse for anyone to throw an empty cartridge in the bin. More often than not, when you open the box of a new cartridge, there is a bag supplied for you to recycle the old one. All you need to do is put the empty cartridge in the bag and post it off for recycling.

Did you turn off your computer before you left?

Leaving your computer switched on, leaving the lights on, leaving the windows open and leaving office equipment on standby all burn up unnecessary energy.

All computers come with a power saving device, so there is no excuse to leave your computer on standby when you leave work for the day.

By changing your office equipment to power down systems, you are making massive savings to the energy we waste everyday.

You can also change your light bulbs to energy saving light bulbs. Compact fluorescent light bulbs will greatly help you reduce the amount of energy you use in your office on a daily basis.

Did you know that by leaving a window open overnight; you are wasting enough energy to drive a small car for 35 miles?

It isn’t necessary to leave windows open or lights on in an office overnight, or over a weekend for that matter. So makes sure the lights are off, the equipment is off and no windows are left open when you leave your office.

Whose turn is it to do the stationary order?

Did you know, in the UK we throw out enough rubbish every 2 hours to fill up the Albert Hall?

There is now a wide range of products that we can buy that come from recycling, so it isn’t always necessary to buy brand new products that have not been recycled.

Next time you are flicking through the stationary catalogue, watch out for products that you can buy that have been recycled. Buying recycled office stationary and equipment helps reduce the amount of rubbish we need to throw away, which means less rubbish ends up in landfills.

So there you have it. A few tips to help you help your environment which gives you an environmentally friendly office.

Nicky Bullimore is in Search Engine Marketing and has been writing articles on various topics for a number of years. For more information about how you can make a positive difference on your office environment, read the Environmentally Friendly Office website.

Tags: carbon, Yours, Colour, footprint

Your Guide to House Clearance

Oct 14th

With the worst of the recent recession now seemingly over, property sales, lettings and renovations are likely to start rising again over the next couple of years. With this in mind, many people are going to want to get rid of unwanted household items, remove rubbish from their properties and have general clear outs from the homes they are wanting to sell or rent out. The best way of doing this is by hiring a reputable house clearance company and we will highlight the main reasons for this below.

If the process is not carried out correctly then you may find that removing your unwanted items or clearing rubbish can turn out to be a nerve wracking experience. A lot of cases are going to involve moving large, awkward items such as old couches or beds. You have to think of the safety element involved in moving these. Why risk injuring yourself or damaging other items by trying to do it yourself when you could get a professional clearance company to do the job for you? As long as you select a well established and efficient company you are safe in the knowledge that the people doing the job are experienced and fully trained to deal with all your needs.

You also need to consider things from an insurance perspective. If you choose to do the job yourself or decide to bring in an unlicenced firm then you are paving the way for potential disaster in the event of an accident. Any worthwhile company will be fully insured and licenced to remove and deal with your waste. This means that any damage that is accidentally done will be covered and you will not be left to foot the bill.

house clearance skip

Another reason to bring in the professionals is in regards to what is done with your waste and unwanted items once it is removed. When carrying out the work yourself your main thoughts will be to simply get the job done. This will likely mean a trip to the local tip to dump your rubbish. The problem with this is that the majority of stuff taken to the tip will not be recycled or salvaged. It is instead taken to landfill sites and buried, out of sight out of mind comes into thought. If you choose to hire a professional company, any decent firm will be looking to recycle as much as they possibly can. Whether they do this themselves by re-using items and dismantling them for parts or by making sure items are taken to the correct recycling sites, bringing in a respected company means that you are helping the environment by maximising your recycled waste.

To summarise, making the choice to hire a house clearance company has a wide range of benefits. Sure it may cost more than doing it yourself but it will be money well spent due to the fact that you will know that the job will be carried out quickly, efficiently and effectively by an insured team. You will also find that most companies will make sure they clear up everything once the job is done to leave the place looking its best and will provide you with no obligation quotes before carrying out any work.

Written by E-Commerce Manager of Wastemasters, Chris Roche. For more information on house clearance, office clearance or any other waste disposal services take a look at our site for all of your house clearance Manchester needs.

Tags: House, Clearance, Guide

Things We Can Do to Help the Environment and Save Money

Oct 12th

Wasteful ways

The UK has a colossal national wastage but as Recycle Now – the organisation that encourages us to think before we bin – is keen to stress, this could easily be reduced: ‘Whether it’s vegetable peelings, coffee jars, shampoo bottles or food waste, there are lots of items we can recycle.’ In fact nearly two-thirds of all household rubbish can be recycled which would save energy and raw materials and avoid waste going to landfill.

Most councils run kerbside collections for paper, glass, plastics and cardboard. Civic amenity sites (your local tip) can also accept many other materials for recycling. ‘If you’re not sure what your council offers, go to their website and tap in your postcode to see what, when and where you can recycle in your area,’ says Recycle Now.

Of course while recycling can help save materials and energy, cutting down on waste in the first place is even better. That’s why the big supermarkets are working with the government and manufacturers to strip away the layers of unnecessary packaging. They’re doing an aisle-by-aisle, product-by-product review of their ranges. And it’s working. In 2008, one supermarket in particular cut own-label food packaging by 25 per cent, removing 47,000 tonnes of excess packaging. ‘In 2009, they’ve committed to reduce this by a further five per cent’. Good news for the environment and our purses – this mega retailer is reinvesting the ?10 million saved on packaging into lowering prices.

‘Recycling is a success story,’ stresses Recycle Now. ‘In the UK, recycling rates are increasing and it’s making a real difference, so let’s keep a good thing going.’

It’s easy being green

Put a bin in your bathroom to collect (rinsed-out) shower gel and shampoo bottles as well as cardboard tubes from inside the loo rolls. If you’ve got a garden, get a compost bin! Teabags, eggshells, vegetable peelings and shredded paper can all go in with your grass cuttings. About one third of the food we buy gets thrown away and most of this could have been eaten. For tips on storage and tasty, money-saving recipes for leftovers, visit the Love Food Hate Waste website. Choose reusable shopping bags and keep them by the front door so you remember to take them to the shops. By keeping a cotton bag folded up in your handbag or coat pocket, you’ll always have a bag when you need one. Could you refill rather than replace? Laundry detergents, coffee and hand wash are all available as refills, which cuts back on packaging and saves you money. Editing your wardrobe? More than half of the clothing that’s thrown away could be recycled. Charity-shop the good stuff and put the rest in a textile recycling bank – log on to the Recycle Now website to find your nearest one.

Raj has been writing articles online now for quite a while. He writes about many subjects and you can check out his latest websites on the Shark Cordless Sweeper and the Rinnai Tankless Water Heater

Tags: Money, environment, Things

Waste Management – Prevention, Recycling, Conservation (Managing Our Waste)

Oct 11th

What kind of waste is created from natural disasters, oil spills, agriculture and mining? Form Hurricane Katrina and the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, to the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and even space junk, humans are managing all types of waste across the globe. Empower your students with important information about agricultural pesticides, radioactive waste from nuclear power plants, waste management success stories, and much more. Written to grade and using simplified language and vocabulary, social studies concepts are presented in a way that makes them more accessible to students and easier to understand. Comprised of reading passages, student activities for before and after reading, crossword, word search, final quiz, answer key and overhead transparencies.

Price: $14.95

Tags: Managing, management, waste, Conservation, Prevention

Waste Management – The Global View (Managing Our Waste)

Oct 10th

Waste Management - The Global View (Managing Our Waste) Empower your students with success stories about waste management from across the globe. Learn what we are doing right when we see how other countries and communities manage the waste from natural disasters like hurricanes and tsunamis. Using ready-to-use information and activities for remedial students we have also outlined what initiatives countries are taking to handle waste from mining, oil and solid waste in oceans, air pollutants and smog in cities, even how we deal with space junk. Written to grade and using simplified language and vocabulary, social studies concepts are presented in a way that makes them more accessible to students and easier to understand. Comprised of reading passages, student activities and overhead transparencies.

Price: $14.95

Tags: management, Managing, waste, Global

Dirty Jobs Season 2 – Episode 25: Garbage Pit Technician

Oct 8th

DIRTY JOBS is an unflinching look at the unsung American Worker, and the unusual but vital vocations that must be done. There is much to be learned from watching DIRTY WORK as each week host Mike Rowe introduces the viewer to an elite assortment of men and women who make their living doing the most unthinkable jobs. LITHO PRESS Mike Rowe rolls up his sleeves and gets dirty operating an antique printing press that makes fine art lithographs. Mike inks up the rollers and gets the giant gears turning in an attempt to make a limited edition Dirty Jobs poster. After a full days work, Mike has a new appreciation for the men and women who get dirty in the printing business. TERRACOTTA Mike Rowe joins forces with the largest terracotta manufacturer in the United States and he learns quickly that turning red clay into architectural ornaments is a very dirty job. Mike finds himself up to his elbows in plaster as he makes molds that will later be filled with red clay to make highly decorative building facades. Decorative terracotta tiles have adorned many of America’s architectural masterpieces since the late 1800′s. GARBAGE PIT TECHNICIAN Mike Rowe teams up with a group of garbage collectors that are converting trash into electricity. It’s a smelly proposition that has Mike up to his knees in other people’s garbage but in the end he learns that some dirty jobs are helping to preserve the environment.

This product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com’s standard return policy will apply.

Price: $19.95

Tags: Episode, Season, Dirty, Garbage, Technician

Matchbox Trash Truck

Oct 6th

From the Manufacturer
The MATCHBOX garbage truck. These exciting vehicles bring city adventures to life! Choose from a variety of city vehicles that really work, from trash trucks, to construction, bulldozers and more! Colors and decorations may vary. Each sold separately, subject to availability.
Product Description
The Matchbox Real Action Garbage Truck has a rugged look and is tough! With rolling wheels and durable parts, it is ready to go outdoors and get the job done. The garbage truck features a cool fork lift that dumps its load into the compactor when you work the lever.

Price: $11.99

Tags: Trash, Matchbox, Truck

Mattel Matchbox 2009 Autocar ACX Garbage Truck Real Working Rig 1:64 Diecast Green WM Waste Management

Oct 5th

Unload the two included bins using the hinged carrier plate, then transport the trash into the storage section of the body by manually spinning the screw extruders. The cab tilts forward to view the detailed engine, plus the lift gate opens and the body inclines to dump the contents.

Price:

Tags: Matchbox, Autocar, Green, Truck, management

MAN Garbage Truck rear loading orange

Oct 4th

Price: $55.99

Tags: Truck, loading, Garbage, orange

Mountaintop Mining and Forest Conservation in West Virginia – Before the Mountain Was Moved (1969)

Oct 2nd

The citizens of Raleigh County, West Virginia watch as strip mining destroys the forest they’ve always called home. It is a land dominated by heritage, history and a simple way of living that has not seen much change in the past century. The people who live around the mining activities are not eager to see their homes, their way of living, their heritage, disappear through greed and questionable mining processes. “Before the Mountain Was Moved,” explores the mining industry and the local’s attempts to pass state legislation to conserve the environment. Blue grass and true southern charm make you root for the legislation to pass and see the forest remain whole.

Price: $19.99

Tags: Virginia, Conservation, Mining, Mountaintop, Before

Waste Management – At the Source (Managing Our Waste)

Sep 30th

What is waste and where does it all come from? Learn about pre-consumer waste in raw materials and natural resources, post-consumer waste including: consumable products vs. durable goods, along with exploring the impact of product packaging. Understand about our Landfills and how we deal with solid and toxic waste. Take your students from the background and causes of how waste becomes pollution and how it impacts on people, wildlife and the ecosystem on our lands and in our oceans. Our ready-to-use resource is written using simplified language and vocabulary, social study concepts are presented in a way is easier for students to understand. Comprised of reading passages, student activities, color overhead transparencies, Crossword, Word Search and Comprehension Quiz.

Price: $14.95