Mrs Green’s six stories on Sunday

Filed in Blog by on October 25, 2009 3 Comments
FavoriteLoadingAdd article to favourites
10 reuses for old tennis balls

10 reuses for old tennis balls

It’s time for our weekly roundup of some of the green stories on the web.

Whether they help us reduce, reuse, recycle or compost, you can be sure they’ll all help us achieve a zero waste future.

How to reuse tennis balls

Yes, tennis balls! This one had me laughing, but some of the ideas are intriguing such as protecting  a padlock and getting rid of scuff marks on the floor.

Check out “10 uses: Tennis balls” for inspiration and let me know your favourite one!

10 uses for soap

While I was on the same site I found these 10 uses for soap.

I didn’t know you could use it to drive nails into wood more easily or use old soap to detect gas leaks!

See what else you can find out with “10 uses for soap

Energy from waste

The Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) claims that the UK has the potential to use around 100 million tonnes of waste each year (out of a total £335 million tonnes) to produce up to four per cent of its electricity, space and water heating requirements.

Although local facilities already exist, they tend to be very small-scale and the types of waste material they can convert to energy are limited.

It is this problem that the ETI’s project aims to address, taking the view that successful conversion of energy from waste that cannot be reused or recycled, has the opportunity to “redefine a worldwide problem into a global energy solution”.

Read more with “Consortium in search of better energy from waste technology“.

Reducing junk mail

I think we all get junk mail, no matter how many opt outs we sign there are always a few items that slip through the net.

Over on Stop Junk Mail this week, Robert shared a tiny tip that you might not be aware of.

It’s simple to do and will take all of one second. Read his “Don’t forget to tick the box” post.

Recycling your first aid kit

Here’s something I’d not thought of. Goo, over on Sustainable living project works with young people. One of the requirements is to have an up to date first aid kit.

This means sterile dressing often ‘expire’ before they have been used.

From role play to making champagne, you’ll find some inspiring ideas on Goo’s “Recycling your first aid kit

20 things you should recycle

We all know what we should do, but it’s great to be reminded of things you might be throwing away which could be recycled or the things which you are buying when there could be a zero waste alternative.

Check out Eco Salon’s “Top 20 things we throw away that we shouldn’t” for inspiration or to quickly check you’re doing them all!

About the Author ()

I am a long time supporter of the Green and Sustainable lifestyle. After being caught in the Boscastle floods in 2004, our family begun a journey to respect and promote the importance of Earth's fragile ecosystem, that focussed on reducing waste. Inspired by the beauty and resourcefulness of this wonderful planet, I have published numerous magazine articles on green issues and the author of four books.

Comments (3)

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

  1. Alea says:

    Thanks for sharing these links. Off to do some reading…

  2. Sarah says:

    I’ve seen tennis balls on tow hitches loads of times.

    You do have to be careful when using any detergent as an insecticide though because it’s indiscriminate and will kill any insect and also some plants are harmed by detergents too. Just to be aware of where and when to use detergents and what effect they can have is important.

  3. John Costigane says:

    Hi Mrs Green,

    It is good to see the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) looking into energy from waste options. There are several new systems which need proper research to speed up the process. AD has been mentioned for a good while yet there are precious few developments when this is an obvious answer to keeping food waste out of landfill/EfW Incineration.

Leave a Reply