Lucy Ravenhall – Page 19 – The Waste Management & Recycling Blog

8 surprising uses for fruit and vegetable peelings

Stop! Don’t throw those precious fruit and vegetable peelings in the bin. There’s always a further use for something, as you’ll see in our list of suggestions below. Let’s cut our food waste whilst enjoying new uses for our kitchen scraps. Peelings often contain more nutrients than the part we eat, so why not harness that goodness – whether that be on our skin, our hair, or elsewhere? And using the whole fruit or vegetable is much more environmentally friendly than binning it. Give these ideas a go:

1. Get rid of ants with cucumber peel

Ants don’t like cucumber peel, and will avoid it at all costs, so if you have an ant problem in your house, place generous strips of cucumber peel along their entry point. No toxic and expensive chemicals needed! The more bitter the cucumber, the better the result.

2. Clean your shower doors with lemon pulp

Photo: Photography Firm — Photo copyright: Photography Firm

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How to set up a Community Fridge

Food waste is a huge problem in the UK. We throw away around 7 million tonnes of food and drink from our homes every single year, and over half of that could have been consumed – if not by ourselves, then by someone else. Not only is this extremely wasteful, it is costing the average family with kids around £60 per month, and if you’re throwing your food waste in your general waste bin, it’ll be heading straight to landfill. Food waste is terrible for the environment and our pockets.

So, how do we tackle this food waste culture? In April this year, the first community fridge was set up in the UK – in Frome, Somerset. After just three months, over 1000 food items had been shared through the use of the fridge, and therefore saved from the bin and landfill. Local restaurants and cafes have been using it too. Whilst food banks handle non-perishables, a fridge means fresh goods are able to be shared also, which covers a much broader selection of consumables, and deals with items that can’t be donated anywhere else. And unlike food banks, the contents of the fridge are accessible to anyone and everyone.

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Why and how to ditch Cling Film

Cling film – or plastic wrap, as it is known elsewhere in the world – is a thin plastic film which clings to itself or other smooth surfaces, meaning it can handily cover food without the need for any extra devices or fasteners. Cling film can be made from a variety of plastics, however the original and most popular material is polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Not only is there talk of this plastic being harmful to human health, it is also a single-use product, meaning it is ending up in landfill and in our oceans where it is causing harm to the environment and nature.

What is the threat to human health?

Plastic is made up of chemicals, and there has long been concern surrounding the leaching of these chemicals into the natural environment, and transference of them into our food and drink. This worry has led to the recent popularity of ‘BPA-free’ plastics for food and drink storage. However, the main problem with cling film occurs when it is heated up:

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Biodegradable Plastic is just as bad for the Environment

As time goes on, there is increasing chatter about, and hope placed upon, biodegradable plastics. In theory, they sound like a good idea on comparison to ‘regular’ plastics; a strong material which is used for its purpose, and then naturally breaks down over time, leaving no trace – or so we assume. These newer plastics aren’t quite the angelic material they claim to be though, as you’ll discover in this article.

What are Biodegradable Plastics?

Biodegradable plastics are the supposedly more eco-friendly versions of regular plastics, which are celebrated for the speed in which they are able to biodegrade. However, depending on what they are made from, these plastics require specific environmental factors to trigger the degradation process – for example: a heat of 50C, plenty of oxygen, or exposure to water.

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Beat Food Waste with your Freezer!

It is a common misbelief that home freezers are in our kitchens only to store ready meals, oven chips, ice creams and ice cubes. In fact, if you check inside the majority of British freezers, I imagine that list won’t be far wrong. However, what most people don’t realise is that the majority of foods can be frozen. Not only is this convenient, time-saving and money-saving for us, but it also means we can freeze foods before they go off, therefore dramatically cutting our chances of producing food waste.

Armed with the information below, you can now happily save money by purchasing food whilst it’s on offer (hello, buy one get five free offers!), safe in the knowledge that you’re getting a great offer, and you won’t be wasting a scrap of it.

So, let’s get started on cutting food waste. What can be frozen?

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10 Zero Waste garden tips

When thinking about a Zero Waste lifestyle, we often consider what we do inside our homes but we should also consider our outdoor space, and what we can do in our garden to reduce or eliminate waste too. Below we have compiled a list of tips for cultivating a Zero Waste green space you and your family can enjoy for a lifetime.

Make compost

Save money, reduce packaging waste, eliminate your food waste at home, and know exactly what you’re putting on your garden and into the environment by making your own compost. Don’t know where to start? Our handy Guide to Composting will explain all. Continue reading 10 Zero Waste garden tips

Paper: how to reuse it

With so much talk of the negative impacts of plastic on the environment these days, it’s easy to forget about paper; another product the world produces and wastes far too much of. Of course, paper is readily and easily recycled in the UK these days, but recycling should be the last option in every household, as it uses energy which otherwise wouldn’t be required. In this article I hope to inspire you with ideas for paper reuse, and get you to think about every piece of paper or card that enters your house. If you’d like some ideas for reducing your paper waste, so you have less to reuse, this article should help.

So, how can I reuse paper or card?

There are so many options available to you before you fling your paper straight in to your recycling bin. Give one a go today!

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Win a Zero Waste lunch kit with Forge Recycling

This competition is now closed. The winner was Julie Parkinson of West Yorkshire. Thank you to all who entered.

Lunch can be a tough thing to turn ‘zero waste’ – especially if you work – as it often means grabbing something quick from a local shop, which will inevitably involve a mass of ‘single-use’ plastic packaging, which is destined for the bin.

A great solution to this problem is to pack your own lunch at home, however even that can end up producing a lot of waste – think sandwich bags, napkins, foil, and cling film. What you really need is a set of reusable lunch storage items, which you can then use over and over again, safe in the knowledge that you are being eco-friendly, as well as saving yourself money.

Win a Zero Waste lunch kit!

Here at Forge Recycling we have a fantastic lunch kit to give away, which will not only help you achieve a zero waste lunch, but is also made from non-plastic materials, so there will be no toxins leeching into your food or drink either! This brilliant kit consists of a stainless steel two-tier lunchbox, which contains a small extra container, a glass water bottle, and a bamboo spork. This fabulous prize is worth £50.

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7 Zero Waste gift ideas for Father’s Day

Father’s Day – just like Christmas, Birthdays, and many other annual celebrations – can be an occasion of excesses, where the issue of waste easily gets forgotten by most. But this need not be the case. This year, why not treat your Dad whilst also treating the environment, by not creating any waste? It’s a lot easier than you’d think. Take a look at our seven ideas below for inspiration. What would your Dad like most on Father’s Day? The chance to spend some quality time with his child or children is probably high on the list.

Take Dad to a festival

As Father’s Day falls in June, there will no doubt be a selection of summer festivals on in your local area. Festivals are increasingly popular, and now, aside from the classic music festival, there are festivals for food, beer, cider, wine, gin, specialist diets, film, board games, sports, and much more. There’s bound to be one your Dad would love.

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Bradford: Healing wounds with recycled eggshells

Researchers based at Bradford Royal Infirmary are currently developing a wound dressing which utilises the thin, fibrous membrane found inside hen’s eggshells.

The researchers are from NIHR WoundTec HTC at the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), and are working in unison with a Norwegian company, Biovotecat, at the BRI site.

What are the benefits?

This groundbreaking research could be set to save the NHS millions of pounds, as wound management currently costs the NHS an eye-watering £5 billion per year. With 2.2 million wounds to tend per year, it is clear to see that the current cost of wound management is high. So, the eggshells cost less to buy than traditional wound dressings, but also the healing and anti-inflammatory properties of the eggshell membranes mean that wounds will heal faster and so treatment time will be significantly shorter too.

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