24th February 2022
Safe guarding scarce resources.
Helium is a naturally occurring gas. It is very light and once released it quickly escapes to the edges of the earth’s atmosphere. Where helium has become trapped in rock strata it can be Helium extracted for commercial use. It cannot be chemically manufactured and is therefore a limited finite resource. Helium is is a key component in the operating of MRI scanners.
It is surely irresponsible to use it to fill party balloons?
Fancy a Refill?
Buying milk in glass bottles that are returned empty and refilled has a long
tradition in the UK. The glass bottles can be used 50 or more times although the average reuse may be closer to 20. The system is facilitated by the door to door delivery of milk and simultaneous collection of the empties, which are then returned to the dairy where they will be cleaned and refilled.
This refill system avoids the production of waste or hard to recycle materials. It is more efficient than putting milk into plastic containers which are, once empty, collected by a waste collection service, sent to various recycling facilities before being remade – ideally – into a new plastic milk carton. Currently plastic milk cartons are made of 40% recycled plastic and 60% virgin plastic.
In the past beer and fizzy drinks were sold in bottles with a deposit that was repaid when the bottle was returned. These bottles were returned to the manufacturer and refilled. This practice continues today in countries such as Germany. (Having bought a bottle of beer on a German train, I then found in the corridor a specially designed cupboard into which the empties slotted for their safe return). Whilst we are still waiting for this approach to be reintroduced in Britain, there is a growing number of local outlets where you can refill your bottles with beers, wine and milk etc.
Milk delivery services are branching out and supplying not just dairy milk in refillable bottles but also plant based milks, and fruit juices. Milk and More has partnered with ‘Fill’ to supply refillable bottles of cleaning products: empty bottles are simply returned for reuse along with ones empty milk bottles. Here in Sheen the Micro Beer shop has a changing selection of beers on tap each week – buy one of their beer bottles or take your own sealable 1 litre bottle. Apple and Bees offers red and white refills from Borough Wines. The Source Bulk store in Richmond has oat milk on tap and Gilcombe Farm brings a churn of its raw milk to the Barnes Farmers’ Market – again buy one of their bottles or bring your own.
Can other food stuffs be sold in reusable containers? Yes.
Tesco has teamed up with Loop. In selected stores customers can buy a range of products sold in reusable containers, paying a deposit which is refunded when the empty container is returned for reuse. The Loop range includes items such as peanut butter and jam, pasta and rice, porridge oats and muesli, tea bags and dishwasher tablets, ketchup and face cream. Abel and Cole offer a similar scheme for their customers, supplying lentils, pasta, rice, oats, dates, quinoa, raisins and chocolate buttons, in returnable reusable containers.
There are a growing net of refill/ bulk stores which stock terms in bulk allowing customers to decant and buy as much as they want. Typically the store either provides paper bags for the produce or invites consumers to bring their own bags or containers. The latter provides the more desirable zero waste outcome. Various supermarkets (Aldi, Asda, The Central England Cooperative, M&S, Morrisons and Waitrose) are also experimenting with the refill concept – either along the lines of bulk stores with items dispensed into paper bags etc, or wit products sold in returnable containers.
Local for East Sheen, Culver and Nelson has a refill section for various dry goods. The Source Bulk store in Richmond sells both dry goods, liquid commodities such as oil, vinegar, maple syrup, and tamari sauce, as well honey and nut butters etc dispensed into reusable jars. Both The Source and Apple and Bees sell liquid cleaning products – washing up liquid, laundry detergent, hair shampoo, liquid soap, toilet cleaner – as refills.
Beyond food there are other items that can be bought as refills such as ink for fountain pens and ink for printers (eg Epson).
14th February 2022
Remembering who and what we love is important, as is making sure we spend time with those we love. Getting about and about in nature is always easier when the sun is shining! Getting out and about regularly helps us see all the changes caused by the seasons as well as the weather.
The other day I noticed a tree full of glowing catkins.
13th February 2022
To “Show the Love” two hearts that were made yesterday are being dispatched, one to our local MP and one to our Local Councillor. The hearts are a reminder to those who make them and those who receive them of the importance of caring for creation and of what we loose if we do not.
Follow this link to take part https://www.theclimatecoalition.org/show-the-love
13th February 2022
Jeremiah 17:5-10
Thus says the Lord:
Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals
and make mere flesh their strength,
whose hearts turn away from the Lord.
They shall be like a shrub in the desert,
and shall not see when relief comes.
They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness,
in an uninhabited salt land.
Blessed are those who trust in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
They shall be like a tree planted by water,
sending out its roots by the stream.
It shall not fear when heat comes,
and its leaves shall stay green;
in the year of drought it is not anxious,
and it does not cease to bear fruit.
The heart is devious above all else;
it is perverse–
who can understand it?
I the Lord test the mind
and search the heart,
to give to all according to their ways,
according to the fruit of their doings.
Psalm 1
1 Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked, *
nor lingered in the way of sinners,
nor sat in the seats of the scornful!
2 Their delight is in the law of the Lord, *
and they meditate on God’s law day and night.
3 They are like trees planted by streams of water,
bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither; *
everything they do shall prosper.
4 It is not so with the wicked; *
they are like chaff which the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked shall not stand upright when judgment comes, *
nor the sinner in the council of the righteous.
6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, *
but the way of the wicked is doomed.
1 Corinthians 15:12-20
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ–whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.
Luke 6:17-26
Jesus came down with the twelve apostles and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.
Then he looked up at his disciples and said:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
“Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.
“Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
“Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Humanity. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.”
“But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.
“Woe to you who are full now,
for you will be hungry.
“Woe to you who are laughing now,
for you will mourn and weep.
“Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.”
Reflection
Considering the news we hear and read and see each day, who would place much trust in mere mortals?
We seem, on the one hand, to be good at destroying the good things around us, and, on the either hand, to be completely oblivious to this. The net result being that we continue to destroy the world. We have the misplaced belief that we mortals are doing the right thing!
Jeremiah’s description is that we are like a shrub in a desert – one that can’t recognise relief when it comes. We are facing a climate crisis, an energy crisis and a poverty crisis. We could find relief by switching from fossil fuels to renewables; by shifting our investments, taxes, and subsidies from the ones that are causing the problem to the other. We could insulate people’s homes, instal solar panels on their roofs and supply the cheaper green energy to make life easier for the poor. BUT we don’t! Instead we struggle trying to be a healthy in a place where there is no water and where the soil has been contaminated with salt.
We pay people less than they need to survive so that companies can sell their goods more cheaply and rake in the profits. We expect cheap food, and let supermarkets harass farmers to short change the soil and exploit their livestock. and then resent them being given subsistence benefits. We want things to be cheaper, happily ignoring the exploitation of workers. We avoid taxing the rich less they take their money elsewhere, yet complain when there aren’t enough nurses and teachers. We resent paying more for things that last, instead allowing the world to be a dumping ground for plastics, and electronic waste, uneaten food and hardly worn clothes.
Jeremiah is right: those who rely in mere mortals are cursed. We fail to realise that if it were not for our misplaced trust, we could be like trees growing by streams, like shrubs in a well water land, where the leaves would be green, providing shade from the heat.
We could be living in a world where the poor are blessed; Where the hungry are fed; Where the distraught are consoled. We could be living in a world where resources are shared and the future protected, where health and opportunity are givens, a world of joy and contentment. A world where the word of God is followed and the Son is esteemed.
Our challenge is to believe that with God, all this is possible. To believe is to act in accordance with that belief. If we believe that paying people a pittance is wrong, we should say so. If we believe people should be paid more, we must be willing to pay more. If we believe that God’s world is for everyone, we should share resources equally and willing taking less if we find we have been consuming too much.
“Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.”
12th February 2022
An end to fracking in the UK! The Guardian reports that “Cuadrilla will permanently plug and abandon its two shale wells in Lancashire, drawing a line on Britain’s failed fracking industry.” https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/10/fracking-firm-cuadrilla-to-permanently-abandon-controversial-uk-sites
Protests and sound arguments again help protect the environment.
11th February 2022
Designated Boots stores have recycling points where you can deposit hard-to-recycle items such as mascara sticks, make-up palettes, compacts, lipsticks, toothpaste tubes, and lotion pumps. (Boots do ask that you don’t use these recycling bins for items that can be recycled via your kerbside recycling service). You do not need to be a Boots customer, but if you are you can earn reward points with your recycling.
10th February 2022
What happens to the plastic in our recycling bin?
Each week, here in the Borough of Richmond, our black recycling boxes with their mix of metal glass, metal and plastics are collected and taken away. What happens next?
The collected waste is transported to a materials recovery facility in Mansfield where iron and aluminium, glass and different plastics are extracted via various mechanisms including magnetic drums, weight and size sifting, infra red detection and hand sorting. Once sorted the recyclable plastic is compacted into bales and dispatched on the next stage of its recycling journey.
At the recycling facility in Leeds, the plastic waste is sorted according to the type of plastic – HDPE (high density polypropylene, PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) – and according to the form of the plastic – bottles or tubs, semi rigid or film. From here the sorted plastic goes to reprocessing plants either in the UK or elsewhere in Europe. The waste plastic is turned into either flakes or pellets which can then be used to make new plastic items, either totally or partially replacing virgin plastic.
From Richmond’s waste, PET bottles are recycled in the UK where they are reprocessed as new PET bottles. HDPE plastic (such as milk cartons) are sent to plants either in the UK or in Belgium where they are reprocessed into moulded items such as containers, pipes or packaging. The semi rigid pots, tubs and trays made of polypropylene (PP) are recycled either in the UK or elsewhere in Europe. The recycling process includes thoroughly cleaning the plastic to remove any contamination (you should still clean your plastic before putting it in the recycling bin). The recycled plastic are pelleted into a form that can be used to make imitation wooden items such as garden furniture. However new plants are being built which can produce food-grade recycled polypropylene (rPP).
“Packaging producer Berry is building a new polypropylene (PP) recycling facility in Leamington, United Kingdom, that will produce food-grade materials with a target purity standard of 99.9 percent..Packaging produced from this rPP material will result in 35 percent less CO2 emissions, [&] require 50 percent less water consumption” https://www.recyclingtoday.com/article/berry-uk-polypropylene-recycling-plant/
Soft plastics such as crisp packets, biscuit wrappers, breakfast cereal bags, frozen vegetables bags etc are not – at present -collected by local authorities. Most supermarkets will collect plastic carrier bags for recycling and an increasing number are now also making provision to collect and recycle all soft plastic packaging. These items are made from LDPE (low density poly ethylene). Being lightweight and flimsy they need different recycling equipment from that used for the denser more rigid HDPE. To recycle LDPE new recycling plants are being built.
“Yes Recycling is currently constructing a new facility in Glenrothes, to specialise in dealing with hard-to-recycle soft plastics – including cellophane, bread wrappers and film lids – which would previously have been added to landfill, burned or exported for processing… Financed in part with a loan from Triodos Bank, the new plant will be capable of processing 15,000 tonnes of soft plastic each year, giving the waste a new life by turning it into plastic flakes and pellets for manufacture, as well as a pioneering alternative to plywood, developed over the past 12 years, that can be used in construction.” https://www.triodos.co.uk/articles/2022/saying-yes-to-recycling—how-a-pioneering-new-facility-is-tackling-plastic-waste The recycling plant is co-owned by the Morrisons supermarket chain.
To close the loop, we should expect to be able to buy products in bottles and containers made of recycled plastic. As of September 2021 all plastic bottles of 500ml or less for Coca-Cola will be made of 100% recycled plastic and will continue to be fully recyclable.
Hellman’s squeezable mayonnaise bottles are also made of 100% recycled plastic whilst Persia laundry liquid bottles are made of 70% recycled plastic. Both brands are owned by Unilever.
As consumers we can ask producers to both supply products in recyclable packaging and ask that such packaging itself be made from recycled material. Equally we can seek out products that do not require additional packaging or that can be dispensed into refillable containers. This avoids the need to collect and recycle the packaging which – as can be seen above -can involved shipping waste over long distances and through various stages of processing.
10th February 2022
Putting plastic in the recycling bin is only part of the story. What happens to it next? Greenpeace has reported finding plastic sent from the UK to Turkey for recycling simply discarded in open dumps by roads and rivers.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57139474
In response Greenpeace has set up a petition asking the Government to fix the problems of the UK’s use and reuse of plastic.
9th February 2022
Just as paper handkerchiefs and kitchen towels cannot be recycled, so too is the same for paper napkins/ serviettes. Cafés routinely add a paper serviette to every order. Rather than throwing them straight away, you can use them as a base for growing mustard and cress before finally adding them to your compost heap.
Replace paper serviettes with washable, reusable cotton ones.
The Green Tau 