Twitter

Food Waste

What Makes a Home a Green Home?

What Makes a Home a Green House?

One of the main  topics today is about being environmentally friendly. There are many ways to become environmentally friendly about the home including water preservation and energy reduction. This not only helps with a positive action by reducing your impact on the environment, but will also save you money!

Lets take a look at what makes a home environmentally friendly.

Reduced Energy Use

Energy comes in many forms such as electricity, natural gas, oil, etc. The creation or use of this energy results in greenhouse gas emissions that affect our planet in a negative way.

Methods of Reducing Energy Usage

Insulation,  One of the best things that you can do to make a green house is to ensure that the walls, windows, attic, and floors are all well insulated and draft free. The majority of the energy used in a home goes towards heating  the house. Good insulation will prevent the air temperature from escaping the home and save you money on your utilities.

Energy Star Appliances When one of your appliances has reached it’s end of life, or when you are  building a new home, consider installing an appliance that meets energy star requirements. This will ensure that it will use over 30 percent less electricity or fuel than a typical appliance of that type.

Other options include advanced mechanical Systems On demand tankless water heaters, geothermal HVAC equipment, and even solar power is a great way to reduce the amount of energy that is wasted to run the plumbing, heat and air, and electrical systems in the home. While they can have a higher upfront cost than a typical unit of its kind, tax incentives from the government can offset a good deal of the extra cost and allow you to make the money back within a few years time.

Reduced Water Use

Water is another essential resource that can be preserved in our day to day use around the house.

Low Flow Fixtures Many low flow shower heads and toilets developed a bad reputation in the past because they could not live up to their less efficient counterparts. Fortunately, todays better engineered models and aerators allow you to experience the luxury and ease of use that you prefer, while additionally using a significantly lower amount of water.

Efficient Clothes Washers Many of the newer front loading clothes washers use as little as half of the water of a typical top loading washer. For families who are constantly putting in a new load of dirty clothes, this can lead to a significant savings in cost and water usage over time.

Use Rain Water For Irrigation For those who want to really cut down on water usage, storage tanks that collect rain water during a storm for latter use to water the garden and lawn can save thousands of gallons over the span of a summer.

These are just a few of the many ideas out there that will help ensure that your home is green. Environmentally friendly decisions in the home can lead to wallet friendly results over time and allow for the satisfaction of knowing you are reducing your negative impact on the planet.

 

At Be Seen Go Green, we offer solutions for a variety of Environmental issues. Please click on the following link to contact us.

Contact Us

Share

Waste Management| Made simple

Mention waste management to most individuals and they either don't have a clue what you might be talking about, or they truly are not interested! It just sounds a load of rubbish, what do you care what other individuals do with stuff they don't want? Nonetheless, once you begin delving into what waste management is all about, then you realise there’s a entire cycle of events going on and it's quite an fascinating topic to discover about.

Waste management is basically how rubbish and trash is disposed of without causing any harm to others or the environment. You can find different aspects to waste management; these include monitoring, collection, transportation, processing, and disposal or recycling. When carried out properly, waste management is efficient and extremely environmentally friendly, and in today’s world is something each and every conscientious firm ought to take responsibility for.

You can find specialized environmental businesses that present advice and services for waste collection, not just for householders, but also for industries and businesses. They are experienced in all areas of waste management solutions and will remove all your waste efficiently and swiftly, transporting it to be disposed of inside the correct manner, or recycled.

Some of the waste services provided to industrial clients include waste collection, recycling and disposal, hazardous waste management, emergency response, laboratory services, asbestos removal and re-Insulation.

Within the very first instance the environment service is concerned with monitoring, this would be to identify the kind of waste produced and in what quantity; they can then evaluate the processes they have to put into place to reduce the quantity of waste produced. Records are kept to see if approaches put into place are working and, if not, methods might be changed and re-examined to make their implementation far more efficient.

Once the waste has been monitored and assessed it really is time for the collection method. Skip bins and containers need to be emptied just before they become too full and prevention of overspill or produce to rot is extremely crucial. Depending on the quantity of waste produced will dictate the size and number of containers needed, and how frequently collections is going to be required. You can find diverse containers for every kind of waste, some of these include drums for hazardous liquid waste, tanks for acid or caustic waste, collection bins for e-waste and bulk bins and skip bins for construction site waste.

Next inside the cycle is organizing the transportation of all waste goods collected.Specially created waste vehicles make scheduled collections and are responsible for safely transporting it to the landfill, or treatment site where it'll be treated and then processed for Recycling. Vehicles need to meet safety standards and be licensed for this purpose, as waste might be a health hazard and even dangerous if not handled correctly, drivers and personnel connected with the transportation are needed to have the essential training and experience to deal with any potential danger.

Once the waste has all been collected it needs to be processed. This involves separating the waste collected, treating and then packaging the raw materials and sending the parts that could be recycled to the different factories which are all part of the recycling procedure. Materials that can’t be recycled is going to be transported to a landfill, and liquid and hazardous wastes is going to be disposed of safely.

Improvements and new practices in waste management and environmental solutions are inside the news all of the time, thanks to analysis and development projects which are committed to discovering far more efficient and secure ways of disposing of waste. There are numerous issues which are recyclable now that just several years ago would have been thrown into a rising landfill, everyday items such as paper, glass, newspapers and plastic bags to printer cartridges, corks, mobile phones, even fluorescent lamps might be treated and re-used.

Society has experienced a huge learning curve inside the fact that if we don't take action now to make certain our waste is processed correctly; nature will gladly do it for us, and in ways which might be detrimental to our environment.

Share

Increased fine for Company Charged with breaching waste regulations

A FIRM who broke waste dumping laws had their fine increased more than 11 times to £90,000 recently.

The Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh upheld a challenge brought by the Crown over the level of the sentence imposed on Doonin Plant.

They were originally fined just £8000 for breaking environmental laws as they dumped waste at Bardykes bing between Blantyre and Cambuslang, Lanarkshire.

Lord Clarke said the conduct of the company had involved “a blatant and complacent disregard” of its responsibilities.

The judges said they were satisfied that the original fine was unduly lenient.

(source Daily Record)

Could this be just the start of increased fines for companies flouting the environmental regulations?

Share

New Plastic Recycling Discovery!

A new technique has been developed to recycle plastic which would normally end up in landfill.

At persent approximately 12% of plastic found in household plastic and packaging is currently processed.

Now, however, a process has been developbed by Warwick University which could mean 100% of this type is waste can be recycled.

Municipal plastic solid waste is often too time-consuming and labour intensive to separate and clean and ends up going straight to landfill rather than being recycled. 

Engineers at the University have invented a process that can cope with every piece of plastic waste and can even break some polymers, such as polystyrene, back down to its original monomers.

The researchers have devised a unit which uses pyrolysis (using heat in the absence of oxygen to decompose of materials) in a ‘fluidised bed’ reactor.

Tests have shown that the researchers have been able to literally shovel in to such a reactor a wide range of mixed plastics, which can then be reduced down to useful products. Many of these products can then be retrieved by simple distillation.

The products the Warwick team have been able to reclaim from the plastic mix include: wax that can be then used a lubricant; original monomers such as styrene that can be used to make new polystyrene; terephthalic acid which can be reused in PET plastic products, methylmetacrylate that can be used to make acrylic sheets, carbon which can be used as Carbon Black in paint pigments and tyres, and even the char left at the end of some of the reactions can be sold to use as activated carbon at a value of at least £400 a tonne.

This research could have a significant impact on the budgets of local authorities and produce considerable environmental benefits.

The lead researcher on the project, University of Warwick Engineering Professor Jan Baeyens, said:
“We envisage a typical large scale plant having an average capacity of 10,000 tonnes of plastic waste per year.

“In a year tankers would take away from each plant over £5 million worth of recycled chemicals and each plant would save £500,000 a year in land fill taxes alone.

“As the expected energy costs for each large plant would only be in the region of £50,000 a year the system will be commercially very attractive and give a rapid payback on capital and running costs.”

The work will be of great interest to local authorities and waste disposal companies who could use the technology to create large scale reactor units at municipal tips which would produce tanker loads of reusable material.

At Be Seen Go Green, we offer solutions for a variety of Environmental issues. Please click on the following link to contact us.

Contact Us

Share

5 Steps to Effective Waste Management

5 Steps to Effective Waste Management

What is effective waste management?

There is more to waste management than collecting rubbish and dumping it at landfill. Although this is a vital step in the process, there is a lot more to it!

Effective Waste Management is a system : Monitoring, Collection, Transportation, Processing, Disposal / Recycle. Through these steps a company can effectively and responsibly manage waste output and their positive effect they have on the environment. Not to mention the potential to save/make money from waste sources.

Monitoring is identifying the waste management needs, identifying recycling opportunities and ways to minimize waste output, and reviewing how waste minimization is progressing. Through keeping records of the different waste streams, a customer can see the results of their efforts in becoming more environmentally friendly, and a more efficient business.

Collection involves the logistical organization to guarantee that bin containers will not overfill and waste sit time does not become too long. The correct bin container size and service frequency is a must to prevent overspill or excessive smell. The correct bins for different wastes must be available with sticker and bin colour identification. Locks, chains, lids and bars prevent public access and non-trained personnel putting rubbish in the incorrect bins.

Cooperation between the waste company and customer is vital. Bins must be accessible to the truck driver at the agreed times. Access to work premises outside work hours will cause an issue if unaddressed. Bin wheels can allow customers to move bins from convenient areas to serviceable locations.

Transportation is the organizing of waste transport vehicles with the authorization and ability to transport the specified wastes from a customer’s work residence to landfill or processing plant. A waste must be transported by the vehicle designed for it. For example, general waste requires a vehicle with thicker compacter walls, to that of a cardboard and paper waste transporting vehicle. Therefore, a customer may require a series of vehicles to meet their waste management needs.

Vehicles, drivers, and companies need licenses and approval to transport waste. EPA standards need to be upheld as well as General Public Safety. Safety standards are vital to the transportation of clinical and hazardous wastes. Drivers must undergo training for emergency circumstances that may arise.

Processing involves the separation of recyclables for treatment, and then after treatment are packaged as raw materials. These raw materials are sent to factories for production. Non-recyclable wastes by-pass this step and are delivered straight to landfill or processing plants. Liquid and hazardous wastes are delivered to treatment plants to become less hazardous to the public and environment.

Disposal / Recycling is the disposal of non recyclables into landfill. Landfill sites must be approved by legal authorities. Legal authorities guarantee that specific wastes are buried at the correct depth to avoid hazardous chemicals entering the soil, water tables, water systems, air, and pipe systems.

In this step the raw materials made from recyclables are produced and sold as products on the market. Companies can purchase such products to further sustain the environment and natural resources.

In conclusion, waste management is a science that addresses the logistics, environmental impact, social responsibility, and cost of an organization’s waste disposal. It is a detailed process that involves human resources, vehicles, government bodies, and natural resources.

Learn more about waste management by contacting Be Seen Go Green.

 
Share

WEEE Compliance, there is no option

The objective of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive  is to reduce the environmental impact of electronic waste. The WEEE directive protects landfills and regulates the disposal of end-of-life electrical or electronic equipment (EEE) also known as e-waste. The related RoHS Directive  strives to limit the use of six hazardous materials in the manufacture of electronic equipment.
The WEEE Directive provides a guide for the collection, treatment, recycling and recovery of waste electrical and electronic equipment. The “polluter pays” principle means collection and recovery is largely at the manufacturer’s expense. Specified products include such things as large and small household appliances, IT and telecommunications equipment, consumer equipment, IT and telecommunications equipment.
Reduction of hazardous material content in products at the manufacturing stage will reduce the content of such pollutants in electronic waste. This will enhance the economic feasibility of recycling. Hence RoHS compliance, which in any case is needed for doing business in the EU, is the first important element for any effective recycling. Increased efforts to design products that facilitate recycling of WEEE components and materials are extremely beneficial.
Recycling is one of several waste disposal options. Its effectiveness depends, to a large extent on the type of material to be recycled and the availability of appropriate technology. E-waste such as a computer can be discarded by the original users, but it may still be perfectly functional equipment. In this case material recovery and reuse is a better alternative than recycling. In fact the reuse of waste electrical and electronic equipment is the preferred economic option.
Recycling is technology and material specific. It is mandatory to collect electronic waste separately from municipal waste. While primary administrative responsibility lies with the state, manufacturers have an important role in educating customers on proper waste disposal. The WEEE directive mandates collection of electronic waste at the manufacturer’s cost. Manufacturers must not only ensure that convenient collection points are set up for consumers but must also make provisions for the transportation of the waste materials to the recycling plant.
The WEEE directive mandates that recycling sites should conform to certain minimum standards to prevent adverse environmental impact when treating waste EEE. In most cases, it will not be feasible for a single manufacturer to operate its own recycling center.
Throughout the WEEE recovery chain, producers are required to finance the cost of e-waste collection from consumers; transportation to the recycling center; treatment; recovery and disposal. Producers will generally need to collaborate with other manufacturers to collectively bear the cost for the recycling and waste disposal obligations.
The WEEE and the RoHS are here to stay and further strengthening of environmental regulations is inevitable. One such step is the impending Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH), regulations which beacme effective from June 1, 2007  within the European Union. The REACH regulation will control the use of a very wide range of chemicals and is not limited only to the electronics sector.

With these legislations it is important to adopt a proactive approach, ensuring compliance by producers, distributors and end users alike,  of the WEEE electronic recycling directive.

This will surely provide the producers and distributors with increased competitiveness, within a competitive market, differentiating themselves from those who continue to break the law.

At Be Seen Go Green, we offer solutions for a variety of Environmental issues. Please click on the following link to contact us.

Contact Us

 
Share

WEEE-waste Continues to Grow

Edinburgh WEEE-waste  Continues to Grow

Technology advances have proved to be beneficial for the entire planet but it has also given us a challenge in the form of weee-waste. With the increasing use of electronic devices and electrical equipment, the collection of weee-waste is also mounting.

 WEEE-waste or electronic waste is a term used for those electronic equipment that has reached its end of life in the hand of its current user. These devices when disassembled or destroyed are either taken for reuse or slated for hazardous disposal. Some of the electronic waste can be recycled, while those which cannot be reused is categorised as “waste”.

 E-Waste Market Size

 The global market of electronic waste is estimated to be £2 billion, and it is predicted to increase at average annual growth rate of 8.8%.

 Due to the rising demand of high value engineered plastics, the recycled plastics sector will register the maximum revenue growth. It will grow at 10.2%

The recycled metals market will continue to be dominated by the growth in metals mined from end of life electronic waste, growing at an of 8.1%.

Percentages are approximate.

Recycled glass is low valued hence the recycled glass market continues to be stagnant. 

 Reasons for Increasing WEEE-Waste

 Due to the increasing areas of information society and the dependency of businesses on computer and Internet, the weee-waste has been mounting. Wee e-waste is the fastest growing area of  the waste stream. WEEE-waste has been mounting rapidly with the rise of the information society. In developed countries, e-waste constitutes approx 2% of solid waste but it is expected to grow. The developing countries including, China will be the fastest growing segment of the weee-waste market. The electronic waste in developing countries has the potential to triple the amount of current rates of weee waste.

 The rising mount of electronic waste isn’t going to be cut any time soon without businesses and consumers facing up to their responsibilities.

Electronic equipment sales, along with that the rate of obsolescence of electronic equipment is increasing. The life-cycle of the electrical and electronic equipment are shortening. The life period of a television set is reduced to 10 years while that of a computer remains only 2-3 years. All the above mentioned facts are equally responsible for the rising e-waste. In spite of such horrendous situation manufacturers and governments have not kept pace with electronic waste policy and practice. Eventually a high percentage of electronics are ending up in the waste stream releasing harmful toxins into the environment.

At BE Seen Go Green, we offer solutions for a variety of Environmental issues. Please click on the following link to contact us.

Contact Us

Share

Packaging Waste

Moves to cut packaging waste received a boost as group of leading firms pledged to curb waste levels across their supply chain.  Environment minister Lord Henley called on more Big names to follow suit.

The government-backed Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) announced  that seven more firms have signed up to its Courtauld Commitment 2 scheme since it was launched in March, taking to 36 the total number of businesses to have agreed to meet voluntary  waste reduction targets under the initiative. (Scotland has compulsary targets)

New members include Marks & Spencer, Heineken UK, Burton Foods, and Dale Farm, the first Northern Irish firm to join the scheme.

Under the second round of the Courtauld Commitment scheme, firms signing up to the initiative pledge to reduce the carbon impact of grocery packaging by 10 per cent, cut household food and drink wastes by four per cent, and reduce supply chain product and packaging waste by five per cent by 2012.

The group held its inaugural meeting yesterday to identify the measures and best practices that will be required to try and meet the new targets.

The Courtauld Commitment was set up under the previous government, but has already secured the backing of the coalition with recently appointed environment minister Lord Henley telling the meeting that he wanted to see more retailers join the scheme.

“This government is right behind you – the Prime Minister has pledged this will be the greenest government ever, and waste is one of the biggest environmental challenges facing this country,” he said. “We must all work together, exploring ideas, sharing innovations and successes.”

At Go Green, we offer solutions for a to help you achieve these reduction targets. Please click on the following link to contact us.

Contact Us

Share

Ignorance is NO Excuse!

The amount of times I hear business owners say ” I didn’t know we needed to be” or ” I thought it only applied to large companies” is unbelievable.  There really is no excuse for not knowing about what environmental legislation affects their business. The buck stops with them! 

A recent case concerning Anderton Concrete Products Ltd highlights this ignorance, the following is directly from the EA:

Concrete company fails to comply with packaging regulations

Leicestershire concrete manufacturer ordered to pay over £50,000 fines and costs for failing to register and recycle packaging waste.

Anderton Concrete Products Ltd, pleaded guilty today (28 Jan 2011) at Coalville Magistrates’ Court to 18 offences under the Packaging Regulations, and asked for a further 12 to be taken into account.

The company was fined £36,000, ordered to pay £5,712.55 in costs, £8,408 in compensation, and a £15 victim surcharge.

The company, of Leicester Road, Ibstock, Leicestershire, should have been registered with the Environment Agency or a compliance scheme since the year 2000 and was obliged to recover and recycle packaging waste, as well as filing a certificate at the end of each year to confirm it had met these obligations. 

However, the company did not register with a compliance scheme until 2010.

The court heard a routine check by the Environment Agency in January 2010 established that the company should have been registered in previous years.

The company’s explanation for failing to comply with the packaging waste regulations was that it was unaware that it was an obligated company under the regulations.

By failing to register, the company had avoided fees and other costs of £23,615.

Speaking after the case an Environment Officer said: “The packaging regulations are designed to reduce the amount of packaging used by businesses and increase the amount of packaging waste recycled. This case highlights the need for businesses to make sure they understand their responsibility.”

In mitigation, the court heard that the company had entered an early guilty plea, had cooperated fully with the investigation and were not aware that the company were obligated under the regulations.  It was an oversight not a deliberate intention to evade the regulations. In addition, the company is now fully compliant.

The charges were brought by the Environment Agency under the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997, 2005 and 2007 (as amended).

As you can see, not knowing really is a costly business.

At Be seen Go Green, we offer solutions for a variety of Environmental issues. Please click on the following link to contact us.

Contact Us

Share

WEEE: The Business Users Responsibility

WEEE such as redundant Telephone systemswill often have an asset value and therefore there

are a number of o recyclers that may be willing to collect the waste from a business.

If It is usually very good quality and can be reused. However there are other items of

WEEE that are not so valuable and therefore may be more difficult to arrange a collection

for, for example fluorescent tubes. It is important to ensure that the organisation

collecting the WEEE can legitimately transport, handle and treat the different

types of WEEE they have been given.

firms themselves are responsible for and need to be aware of the options available

to them to ensure that the commercial / non household WEEE is managed appropriately

by suitably qualified and registered companies to ensure that it does not end up

in the hands of illegal operators.

End users should be aware that some WEEE disposal may be free if:

it was sold to the company after 13 August 2005; the company is replacing it with new

equivalent electrical & electronic equipment; or you rent or lease electrical & Electronic Equipment.

In all circumstances any company considering purchasing or leasing EEE

should speak to their supplier before they purchase or lease. However, if the supplier

does offer an option for free recycling the company should obtain and keep the

“producer registration number” which should be on the sales contract for the new item.

This will enable the business to contact the producer’s compliance scheme when the

product needs to be recycled. There should be a producer compliance scheme that can

be called upon to collect and treat the WEEE unless the producer has made alternative

arrangements with the business through the sales contract.

Businesses need to ensure the recycling or reuse route they choose can eradicate the data.

A waste disposal contractor disposing of WEEE that may contain information covered

by the Data Protection Act must hold a relevant certificate in information security

management or equivalent.

Share