Ring in the cash with your old phone

If you've got a drawer full of unused mobile phones hanging about your house, then you'll love this website, which allows you to instantly compare the resale value of your old technology from up to 29 mobile recycling companies.At RecycleMobilePhones.co.uk you simply search for the make and model of your old gadgetry and within seconds you can see which companies provide the highest price even if the phone is broken.  Useful eh, especially at this time of year, when you could be in line for an upgrade this Christmas. You just follow the instructions and send off your phone and you'll soon...

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Let's not waste this Christmas: Adopt Baglady for 2011

Would you like to live more sustainability but need a helping hand from an experienced old drama queen? Maybe you're an eco-minded blogger who wants a great excuse to offer even more inspiration to your readers in 2011.If this sounds like you and you fancy making your mark on creating a more sustainable society, please consider giving bonkers old Baglady a place in your home for 2011. To put it frankly, she's been hanging around here for much of 2010 and it's about time I moved her on. She won't take up much of your time I promise and in good olde Irish tradition, you can kick her out and...

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TEDxGreatPacificGarbagePatch streams live this Saturday

This Saturday 6 November you have the opportunity to take part in an amazing worldwide live screening of the TEDxGreatPacificGarbagePatch conference, which has been organised by the Plastic Pollution Coalition.The theme is the Global Plastic Pollution Crisis and will be a forum where issue experts, youth leaders, visual and performing artists, actors, musicians, politicians and many others will share observations on how plastic pollution affects ocean/environmental health and public health; explore solutions for reducing our plastic footprint, and begin to develop ideas about eliminating plastic...

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Baglady's ASAP pledge programme

It's amazing what kids can achieve when given the right resources and inspiration.  Last week, I wrote about an amazing lady who is trying to change the lives of children and their families on a dumpsite in South Africa.  This week, it's the turn of another fabulous woman, from just over the water in Northern Ireland, who's working with schools and politicians to help create a sustainable future for all.The lady I'm talking about is none other than Baglady, aka broadcaster Shirley Lewis, whose action-provoking ASAP pledge programme not only inspires kids to adopt sustainable choices...

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Can you help Blue Crane Recycling help people in need?

One of the children who Blue Crane Recycling are trying to helpHave you ever had an email from someone overseas asking for help?  Like me, you've probably had many, marked them as spam and deleted them from your mailbox for good. But one message stood out earlier this year.  It was from a lady called Megan Cockroft, who is fighting to set up a recycling initiative to help some of South Africa's poor and this is what she said."I know I am taking a chance here but I was wondering if you perhaps know of a recycling organisation in your country that might be interested in sponsoring such...

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Friday Fishcakes

On Day 5 of National Zero Waste Week, today's pot-luck lunch at Saints was a fabulous example of why I really should sort out my relationship with the fish that's lurking in my freezer at home.Don't get me wrong, I actually like fish, but my imagination only goes as far as making fish pie, baking cod steaks or getting a battered fish from the chip shop.  It's the kind of thing that I cook at home because I feel I should, but never get excited about otherwise.Hence, I really do have around a dozen pieces of tuna and cod that have been left in a frozen state, waiting for their release date...

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Sardine Surprise

It's Day 4 of my National Zero Waste Week visit to foodie heaven Saints Cafe, and today's "pot luck" lunch revealed another great use for ciabatta, this time served with sardine fillets, which were broken up and combined with a zingy tomato and pepper salsa.So again, I can confirm that this was totally delicious and is indeed a fabulous way of serving sardines, a fish that so rarely gets on my menu at home that I can count the number of times I've cooked it on one finger!And what you see to the right is a strawberry and melon lassi, made from the over-ripe fruit that I mentioned yesterday and...

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Feel Good Chicken Soup at Saints Cafe

For anyone who's looking for refreshing ways to use up any excess chicken from their Sunday Roast, here's some more inspiration from Saints Cafe on Day 3 of National Zero Waste Week.Today's lunch was Feel Good Chicken Soup, which regularly features on the Specials menu, using whichever vegetables are available on the day. The contents may change each time but the flavour is consistent thanks to the delicious home-made stock.  This lunchtime, the ingredients included courgettes with onions as well as some leeks.  I've had this soup before and remember there being chunks of potatoes and...

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The one that doesn't yet have a name

  Take some toasted ciabatta and add a delicious topping of grated parmesan, some over-ripened Suffolk tomatoes, Essex onions, red pesto and local organic free-range chicken and you've got a mouth-watering lunch made especially for me. Yes, it's Day 2 of my mission to pick up some inspiration from Saints Cafe for National Zero Waste Week and I have to say, I could get used to having my own personal chef.Engin would have normally used these ingredients to create a fabulous house stew, but this Zero Waste Week is giving Saints a great excuse to test out some new ideas...and this dish is so...

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Roasted tomato soup madam? Oh yes please.

Bernadette, one of the owners of Saints Cafe, where they always provide a friendly welcome.     As well as its great food, the one thing I especially love about Saints is the fabulous atmosphere and very warm welcome. It's the kind of place where the owners and staff let you get on with your business in a non-intrusive manner, but if you're the type to seek out some friendly chat and humorous banter, there's plenty on offer, to make this one of the most engaging eateries in town.  So, can you imagine how delighted I am to have a valid excuse to dine out at Saints...

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Guess who'll be hanging out with Saints for National Zero Waste Week?

I've taken my husband there, my children, my mother and most of my friends in Bury and friends who visit from further afield, not to mention an eco-friendly fireman and an incognito waste campaigner.  So I thought it's about time I introduced you to my favourite café to hit Bury St Edmunds too, where I hope you will join me next week to help celebrate an exciting week that's about to hit the blogosphere.Yes, Monday sees the start of National Zero Waste Week, an annual social media campaign that promotes ideas for waste reduction. Developed and managed by the grassroots website www.MyZeroWaste.com,...

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Clutter be gone! I now need a blimmin' rest.

Well that'll teach me to be more careful with my money and all the stuff that comes into our home from impulse buys and random gifts.My arms feel like they're ready to drop off.  My feet detached themselves hours ago and my back is distinctively telling me that it is still there.  And it is never pleasant when one's back muscles begin to heckle!Today was the day that the big event finally arrived.  The Big Huge Summer Declutter organised by BBC Radio Suffolk and EACH's Treehouse Appeal to raise money for a new children's hospice.  My goal was to turn up alongside 600 other...

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Getting ready for the Big Summer Declutter!

At last - permission to get rid of old toysI've just spent the last three hours immersed in a job that I've been avoiding for months, the task of decluttering Little T's bedroom.   Oh the joys of negotiating with a 6 year old over which toys can be extracted from the floor and offered to a new home, let alone tidying away lots of annoying little bits and pieces that have become separated from each other over the years that have gone by.But at last we've got a box full of kids' stuff to sell at the Radio Suffolk's Big Summer Declutter car boot sale that's taking place on Sunday for EACH's...

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New bags and new blogs!

Showing off my new bag with eco-designer Kresse at the Bury St Edmunds Eco FairIf someone offered to sell me a piece of old fire-hose, I'd probably turn them down in an instant, but a gorgeous bag made from condemned fire-hose that would otherwise be buried in landfill, then that's a different story indeed.And that's how this story begins, with me becoming a proud owner of a stylish bag made from rubber hose that was once used to put out fires across the UK.The designs are the hot property of Elvis & Kresse (Eako), a very progressive eco business that turns industrial waste into luxury sought...

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Cool Eco Fair at Hot Venue

If you want to find a cool place to hang out in Bury St Edmunds today, then drop into the Eco Fair that is being hosted by the Fire Station, thanks to Fire Fighter Paul Turner who has worked so hard to organise the event.Yes you heard it right and apologies to friends on Facebook for having to listen to me mention it yet again, but this it the place to be to find about all things eco today.  I first wrote about it some months ago, in this blogpost here and a lot has happened since then, with a whole load of groups and people signed up to attend today, including the www.welovelocalfood.co.uk...

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Love your Electricals and set them free for Recycle Week

So if your old man has reached the heights of being follicly challenged and doesn't know what to do with his redundant hair clippers or you're fed up of tripping over the broken strimmer in the shed, this is the week to go forth and show them the door for good.Not "him indoors" of course, but his truckload of useless stuff!Yes, it's Recycle Week 2010, which runs until 27th June, and this year's theme is Love your Electricals, encouraging us to finally part with our useless gadgets. That's anything with a battery or plug and could include broken toasters and kettles, old mobile phones or disused...

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Time for an ASAP pledge

Yesterday I received a call from Baglady.  Not just any old baglady but Shirley Lewis, the fabulous campaigner from Northern Ireland who's encouraging folk everywhere to live ASAP - As Sustainably As Possible.  And what better time to get involved as Baglady has just launched ASAP Pledge Fortnight.The highlight of the awareness campaign is ASAP Pledge Week, which starts on Monday 14th June and leads up to ASAP Pledge Day when, on June 21st, children from Northern Ireland will take their pledges to the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont to ask politicians to join in and support living...

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The most rubbish hotel in Rome

So who wants to stay in a hotel like this?   Well, supermodel and eco warrior Helena Christensen for one!Commissioned by Corona's Save the Beach campaign for World Environment Day, this pop-up rubbish hotel in Rome was created by German artist HA Schult to highlight the importance of preserving Europe's beaches. And it's built almost entirely from rubbish collected from the sands of our wonderful continent.Although this two storey construction, which surprisingly can sleep up to 10 people, will only be in open until Monday 7 June, its message will last for longer.  The Save the...

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Four pounds, really? Well that's music to my ears.

"I really want a guitar", said the little man, a few months ago, in amongst his list of other things that a five year old really, really wants."Yes, yes" I said, adding it to my own mental list known as 'yeah, yeah, that's nice...mention it five more times in the next six months and I'll know that you really really - yes really really - want it'.Now guitars don't come cheap and even second hand ones on eBay can be a small fortune if they are just left to gather dust when a child's keen interest amounts to nothing more than a flavour of the month idea.  So even though a guitar has been mooted...

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Look who's decluttering for EACH's Treehouse appeal!

I hope BBC Radio Suffolk's James Hazell isn't planning to sell off his producer Sally Burch at the massive car boot sale they've organised  [So James, you'd better ask Sal to get off that table pretty sharpish, before someone snaps her up!]Regular listeners will already know that BBC Radio Suffolk is supporting the East Anglian Children's Hospice Treehouse Appeal, to help raise £3 million for a much needed new hospice to be built in Ipswich. Presenters have been getting up to allsorts including dragonboat racing, cycling challenges and getting into training to climb Mount Kilmanjaro. ...

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Swapping rubbish for compost with Dev and Dave

As Compost Awareness Week comes to an end, I thought I'd take the opportunity to partake in a spot of awareness-raising of my own ....and well...show you some of my compost.And here's a closer look....starting with the new bed I planted up this afternoon with some fantastic soil improver, courtesy of three chickens who love to poop and a compost bin called Plastic Dev that can take it!   After a year of breaking down, it's lost all its fragrance and simply looks like good quality compost, which I mixed with earth from the garden and spread onto the bed, ready to transplant some day-lilies...

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