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Old Posted: 07-06-2008 , 08:27 AM #1
ozieandros
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Leitrim
Posts: 104
Default Re-purposing plus Are you recycle mad?

I am! And as JT is really all about recycling ... Thought I would let you into a few secrets.

For a start compost bins can fit anywhere, don't need to be too big if you have a small garden either! And for the compost weary ... Don't worry if you don't get your green stuff (Grass/Nettles/Old plants etc) on par with your brown stuff (Paper/Cardboard etc). It will adjust itself soon enough. Don't think composting is only about a few items either. You can compost anything and everything, part from meat/fish! I compost left over coffee/Tea, egg shells (Crushed of course) and much more! OK wood will take a while longer but it works! Seen the cost of real good compost lately? It's really worth your while making your own. And while on this subject ... Just a wee tip extra. Compost once used only lives for 6 weeks as nutrients die but you can rejuvenate it with a dollop of farm yard manure!

Old rugs too stained to give away, applied on a bit of soil will actually work a treat? I had a bad patch in the garden (Leitrim soil is clay ARGH) So I dug a hole about 8 inches deep, popped a tatty old rug, covered with soil and know what? It worked! You want to see the trusses (Flowers) on my tomatoes! Thanks to an old battered rug that i would have felt way too ashamed to give away!

I have plastic bottles cut in half, filled with water for the birds. Just pierced two bits to tie a bit of string to attach them to trees, not on the outside but deep into foliage. Some birds are a bit shy! Some of my timid wild birds can drink any time and in privacy.

When cutting branches of a tree ... Get a mulcher! Mulch looks nice in a garden, helps preserve a little humidity when some plants could do with it! And when it comes to silly things like old kitchen gloves or whatever I fill them with plaster, leave it to dry and make the most bizarre things you could think of but it's a talking point with friends and family! Remember Thing? The Addams family pet? I got one in one of my planter made using an old garden glove (Pic). It had a hole hence good for the bin so I covered the hole with tape and voila!

I have become so recycle mad that my boyfriend sleeps with one eye open just i case I should find something of his to recycle while he sleeps LOL

JT is cool because it enables us all to share, what we have to give, what we need, knowing that this contributes to good recycling, better than take your dogs for a walk and find someone's unwanted fridge/Washing machine or other equipment dumped where it shouldn't be. I know it is strictly disallowed, sadly some people still do it.

Happy recycling everyone!
JT's right too! The more people know of the site the more stuff we can find/Pass on to someone else! I've printed posters and am posting them just about everywhere where someone will accept to pop one up for me LOL
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Old Posted: 07-06-2008 , 08:51 AM #2
durran
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Leixlip, Co. Kildare
Posts: 891
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i love your garden art
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Old Posted: 07-06-2008 , 09:06 AM #3
ozieandros
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Leitrim
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Default LOL thank you!

I'm studying organic horticulture and need to demonstrate that! I go by organic principles hence make my garden both a good place to work and relax, so it has to have flowers, little ornaments etc. You know! Being a student money's not all that great so i try to do things ro show I'm trying my best LOL

Can make you one if you wish (Thing) !!!
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Old Posted: 07-06-2008 , 03:31 PM #4
Chris P
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Hi ozieandros,

You certainly are setting a good example for all. Your composting tips (not to mention your glove sculptures) should inspire more people to live in a "greener" fashion. Also, thanks for helping to spread the word about JumbleTown. Much appreciated!

As I've mentioned on several other threads, JumbleTown was devised in 2003 but work commitments meant that it didn't go "live" till 2006. The impetus then was an OECD report which stated that Ireland produced more waste per capita than any other developed nation in the world, including the USA. In recent years, however, we are increasing our levels of recycling but the dearth of recycling infrastructure in Ireland means that “83% of the waste in Ireland collected for recycling or recovery is necessarily exported.” (Source: Dept of the Environment Press Release, 28/4/08.) . More importantly, Ireland's levels of life-cycling or re-use (which is what JumbleTown is really about) remain pitifully low. Although JumbleTown has almost 20,000 registered Members, many areas of the country are still under-represented, even if we take into account demographics and levels of urbanisation. The message is getting out there but more needs to be done.

The "Race Against Waste" motto is "Reduce, Re-use, Recycle" neatly sums up the green ranking of each of these activities. Recycling is important but the first two activities are obviously better. Last week, a press release from the Dept of the Environment showed that we are making good progress in the amount of waste electronic and electrical waste (WEEE) that we send for recycling instead of to landfill. It seems that 1.3 million large domestic appliances have been recycled since August 2005.

Details here:
http://www.environ.ie/en/Environment...y,17498,en.htm

Of course, not all of this material exported from Ireland (and indeed other countries) to be recycled ends up being recycled properly. (It's JumbleTown's view that most of these items are prematurely recycled in the first place. But recycling makes money and is big business whereas life-cycling doesn't and isn't!) Please see this thread:
http://www.jumbletown.ie/forums/showthread.php?t=4528

The Dept of the Environment's recent press release also stated that greater levels of re-use/life-cycling need to be attained. Apparently the WEEE Ireland group and ERP (European Recycling Platform) are going to provide €3 million to the Local Authorities for re-use activities. "This capital investment will be used to provide weather cover infrastructure at local authority civic amenity facilities, which will ensure that deposited WEEE at these facilities is protected from the elements. This...will facilitate greater reuse of old appliances."

Thanks for starting this thread, ozieandros, and keep up the good work.

Regards
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Old Posted: 08-06-2008 , 04:48 PM #5
erica
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Roscommon
Posts: 362
Default Green Schools

Last week my children arrived home from school with a bag from Greenschools.ie Basically, they collect clothes/phones/ink cartridges for recycling and the school gets a donation for every bag/phone/cartridge collected.

The following is from their website:


"What we want

Mobile Phones
We collect all your unwanted old mobile phones. Bags 4 school will ensure these items are recycled in an eco-friendly way. We will donate €2.50 for every mobile phone collected.

Clothing
We will collect your unwanted clean ladies, gents, children's clothing, shoes, handbags, and household linen such as blankets and duvet covers. Fill as many bags as you wish and return to your school collection point. €2.00 will be donated to your school, or a charity of the school's choice, for each bag filled.

Ink Cartridges
We also collect all makes of printer cartridges. Bags 4 school will ensure these items are recycled in an eco-friendly way. We will donate €0.25 for every printer cartridge.

How much do we pay?
We pay the best market price and fix this each term.
The current price is:
€2.00 per bag
€2.50 for every phone and
25 cents for every Cartridge.

Contact us NOW"

Some interesting facts from the Greenschools.ie website about recycling:


"The average mobile phone user will replace their handset once every 18 months. It is estimated that less than 20% of all unused mobile phones in Ireland are currently recycled.

The cadmium in the battery from a single old phone could seriously contaminate 600,000 litres of water, enough to fill a third of an Olympic sized swimming pool.

Lead - which effects the immune, endocrine and central nervous systems, and cause serious damage to children's brains - is used to solder components to the printed wiring boards.

Brominated flame retardants, used in wiring boards and plastic cases, have been associated with cancer, liver damage and problems with the neurological, immune and endocrine systems.

Beryllium, which can cause serious lung damage, is used in contacts and springs and highly toxic dioxins can be emitted if the phones are incinerated in waste plants."


It's scary stuff and really would encourage recycling. It's so easy to bin stuff without a second thought but really, it doesn't take much effort to recycle.I think it is a fantastic way of recycling and helping our local school in the process.

I also think that Jumbletown could be promoted through schools, i.e. a leaflet to each household, so that items could be exchanged within one's own area rather than givers/receivers having to drive long journeys for items.
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Old Posted: 08-06-2008 , 05:07 PM #6
Chris P
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Quote:
Originally Posted by erica
...I also think that Jumbletown could be promoted through schools, i.e. a leaflet to each household, so that items could be exchanged within one's own area rather than givers/receivers having to drive long journeys for items.
Hi erica,

The "Green Schools" campaign is obviously very important as it teaches the Green Message to the very young. There is no doubt that the next generation will be Greener than we are but what kind of environment will they inherit? -- that's the real issue.

As for spreading the JumbleTown message in schools, well, we currently don't have the resources for this ourselves so we'll have to continue relying on teachers, and mums and dads who use the site to tell the school-children to tell their parents.

As you quite rightly say, a leaflet to each household would ensure that the Giving and Taking process is more localised. Whilst we're glad that items are passed on (even if a person has to collect 20 miles away), from an environmental and community perspective it is clearly better if it happens at a local level. Helping people to pass on an item to a person down the street, in the neighbouring estate, or on the opposite side of the mountain is the ultimate goal of JumbleTown. This is beginning to happen because more and more people are using the service, and whereas a year ago, they may have passed on an item to a person in a different county, now they find there's someone much closer by. This means that a car journey may not be necessary, and if it is necessary, then it is much shorter than before.

Thanks for the info on the Greenschools campaign, erica

Regards
Chris P
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Old Posted: 10-06-2009 , 10:10 PM #7
jenniferalan
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Galway
Posts: 1,166
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Just thought I'd bump this, thread has lots of valuable info and the above JTers garden art is cool!
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