Tomorrow, the 16^th December, features New Streets bi monthly farmers market which is open 9.30am until 10pm to anticipate the Christmas rush.

The market features various food produce including free range eggs, freshly baked breads and organic vegetables which will allow you to make a Christmas that your taste buds will remember.

If you are looking for last minute gift ideas whether it is aromatherapy oils for you auntie, gorgeous smelling soaps for your mother and traditional handmade jams for your Gran this farmers market is the place to look.

Moseley will be holding its monthly farmers market on the 19^th December. The award winning market will be found in the centre of Moseley in the Village Green and along Alcester Road and St Marys Row from 9am to 3pm.

The star attraction of this market is a delicious hot chocolate drink made with fair traded melted chocolate chips from the stall MoreCocoa.

The market sells the produce from local farms and other local food producers which create over 50 stalls each month, including bread, cakes, dairy products, fruit and vegetables, plants, meat and fish as well as preserves such as jam and marmalade.

Bearwood farmers market is also happening on Saturday, 19^th December, opposite the bus station in the high street from 9am to 4pm.

The scheme has been set up between electrical retailers allowing shoppers to recycle their old appliances when purchasing new ones. For example, mobile phone retailers may take your old phone back or they will provide you with a post bag to send the phone off to be reconditioned or recycled.

According to Valpak WEEE each and every year in the UK alone the general public dispose of all 1.2 million tonnes of electrical waste. This is the equivalent to:

• 150,000 double decker buses
• 164 Eiffel Towers
• 200,000 African Elephants
• 444,444 Range Rovers

Local Peacocks manger, Maxine McGinley believes, “It’s important to raise awareness about recycling electrical goods. Even though we are a clothing retailer, electrical goods recycling often get looked over therefore it’s important to promote it in every circumstance.”

Electronic waste is increasing three times faster than general waste which accounts for 4% of total waste.

Where waste electrical and electronic equipment is not recycled, this waste can have a negative impact on soil, air and water quality which in turn leads to environmental damage and impact negatively on human and animal health.

A spokesperson from the scheme states, “Recycling electrical equipment is extremely important. By setting up this scheme it allows buyers to buy a new piece of electrical equipment and know that it is either going to be sold or it will be disposed of correctly.” 

If you’re electrical retailer is not a part in the Retail “take-back” Scheme, log onto recycle now to find out where you’re local electronic recycling centre is.

This amounts to quarter of our personal mail that each household receives each year.

A spokesperson from Birmingham City Council’s waste and recycling department states that, “The amount of paper that is wasted as a result of junk mail is phenomenal. 9.35 million Trees are used to produce the UK’s junk mail supply. This is not acceptable.”

The main information services that are mainly responsible for the amount of junk mail include:

• Financial services
• Insurance
• Retail
• Banks
• Charities

These junk mail providers gather residents address from the UK edited electoral register. The access to this information is soon likely to become illegal after the Information Commissioner has deemed that the edited register is, “an unsatisfactory way for local authorities to treat personal information.”

The council’s spokesperson states that, “There is a combination of factors can contribute in the battle to decrease the amount of junk mail we receive and therefore help the environment.

Residents can exclude their name and address from the relevant mailing lists via the Mail Preference Service. If they continue to receive junk mail residents can sort it into the relevant recycling boxes ready for kerbside collection”.

Sarah Ball, 34, from Edgbaston believes, “That junk mail is nothing but a nuisance. If it is not going to stop being sent out by companies then they need to make sure than they start sending it out on recycled paper.”

For every tonne of paper used for recycling at least 30000 litres of water is saved, 3000-4000kwh electricity and 95% of air pollution that is made when making new paper rather than recycled.

Leanne Carter, a student at Birmingham University, believes that Birmingham can benefit with plastic bottle recycling bins next to the normal litter bins situated in the city centre.

Leanne states that, “almost every person that goes into Birmingham for the day shopping buys a bottle drink of some sort. This means thousands of plastic bottles get thrown away in the general rubbish bins. But if people had the opportunity to recycle their plastic bottles, by just recycling one plastic bottle it will save enough energy to power a low energy 11watt light bulb for over 32 hours”.

On average the UK produces 3 million tonnes of plastic waste each year. Approximately 85% of that plastic goes into a landfill, 8% of it is incinerated and only 7% of plastic is recycled.

In general it is apparent that local authorities have been quick to jump on the recycling bandwagon with 92% of all UK local authorities now offer collection facilities for plastic bottles either from the kerbside collection scheme or at local recycling centres.

This is apparent in Birmingham with kerbside collection schemes and 5 recycling centres run by the council, by adding these extra plastic bottle recycling bins will improve things further.

Leanne says, “By adding these bins it will be a huge help in conserving the environment. We as a nation use about 20 times more plastic than we did 50 years ago!”

“If we reduced the amount of plastic bottles that we throw in to the general waste bins, we can recycle old plastic bottles into new ones, reducing the need to make new plastic bottles. Therefore we will be conserving non-renewable fossil fuels, reduce the amount of energy used, reduce the amount of solid waste going into landfills and reduces the emission of CO2 into the atmosphere”.

For more information on where you’re nearest recycling centre by visiting the Birmingham’s City Council website.

The scheme which was launched in November through Community Computers, based in Shard End, has proven to be a success, allowing residents receiving benefits to buy recycled computers for as little as £40.

The main objective that the Community MAR scheme is to increase the number of low-cost computers available to eligible residents.

Every year millions of fully-functioned computers are thrown away throughout the world. This scheme benefits the environment by helping to prevent the premature disposal of computers than can be reused.

The shop is supported through a joint partnership between Service Birmingham and IT Disposal Ltd. Between the two companies they organise the recycling of the computers, wiping of the data and the general running of the store.

The scheme also welcomes unwanted computers and accessories from the general public. Owners can take their unwanted items into the store and come away assured that there data will be destroyed and they will be disposed of in an environmentally friendly way.

At the stores opening Chris Leggett, Service Birmingham’s Corporate Development Director said, “We look forward to many residents who perhaps wouldn’t otherwise be able to buy a PC or laptop, realising the benefits of having a computer”.

A range of payment schemes have been introduced to make it feasible for everyone on benefits to be able to afford a computer. One example is a saving club that allows residents who can only afford a lower spec computer at the time of purchase, to upgrade to a higher spec computer after the time of purchase.

To prove eligibility to participate in this scheme, residents must take proof of their name, address and what benefits they are receiving to the store.

Community Computers opening hours are between 9.30am and 5pm Monday to Fridays and 10am and 2.30pm on Saturdays.

For more information call 0121 748 1500 or visit the shop at:

111-113

Shard End Crescent, Shard End.

B34 7AG

This push for more education comes as the government wants to implement more litter fines including fining children as young as 10, £40 if caught littering. Waste Watch believes that education is the best deterrent and will teach children the importance of managing waste efficiently and the importance of recycling.

The charity has reached over two million children throughout the UK through their fun, hands on, quality learning experiences by engaging the children during their visits, as a result increasing the amount of households that recycle by 26%.

Waste watch believes that “By changing the world around us, we can all make a big difference”.  

The charity creates programmes to meet the educational needs of the students and ensure the waste reduction message goes home with pupils. For example each classroom activity is accompanied with a take home booklet which has all the key messages, facts and tips and a simple task for parent and child to complete as homework.

A local mother of three says, “That by involving children in a process such as recycling, it helps them understand the reasoning behind it and encourages them to do it on their own as well.”

On average a family of four throws away about two sacks of rubbish a week, most of which could be recycled, 18% is paper and cardboard, 7% glass and 7% plastic all of which can be recycled.

For more information see www.wastewatch.org.uk

Love Food Hate Waste has revealed that due to poor portion control and buying a lot of fresh food that goes off before we have the chance to use it, means we throw away nearly a third of all food we buy.

The organisation has produced a top ten list to help reduce the amount of waste produced so we protect the environment but also save us the consumers’ money. Sarah Beeny from the organisation states “It’s awful how much food we waste. With a couple of key ingredients and a little imagination, you can turn almost any leftovers into a tasty dish.”

The top ten list reads as follows (Taken from www.lovefoodhatewaste.com)

1. Write a List.
   Menu plan your meals for the week. Check your fridge and cupboards for existing ingredients and then write the shopping list for the extras you need.
2. Stick to the list.
   Take your list with you when you go shopping and stick to it! Do not be tempted by any in store offers that you do not need.
3. Keep a healthy fridge
   Check that the seals on your fridge are good and also check the fridge temperature. Food needs to be stored between 1 and 5 degrees Celsius for maximum freshness and longevity.
4. Don’t throw it away
   Fruit that is going soft can be made into smoothies or fruit pies. Vegetables that are starting to wilt can be made into soup.
5. Use up your leftovers
   Instead of scraping leftovers into the bin, why not use them for tomorrow’s ingredients? A bit of tuna could be added to pasta and made into a pasta bake or a tablespoon of cooked vegetables can be used as the basis for a hot pot meal.
6. Rotate
   When you buy food from the store, bring the older items from the back to the front and place the new at the back therefore reducing the risk of food going out of date or turning mouldy.
7. Serve small amounts
   Serve small amounts of food with the understanding that everyone can come back for more once they have cleared their plate. Unused food can be cooled and used another day.
8. Buy what you need
   Buy loose fruits and vegetables instead of pre-packed, and then you are able to buy the exact amount you need. This can also apply to foods that you buy at a Deli counter such as meats and cheeses.
9. Freeze
   If you only eat a small amount of bread, then freeze it when you get home and take out a few slices a couple of hours before you need them. The same applies to meals, why not make a bigger batch and then freeze the excess and use as ready meals when you are to tired to cook.
10. Turn it into garden food.
    Some food waste is unavoidable, so why not set up a compost bin for fruit and vegetable peelings? In a few months you will end up with compost for your plants.

For more information and tips on how to reduce food waste see www.lovefoodhatewaste.com

The study, concluded by WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme), has announced that we throw away one third of food we buy each year, roughly £420-£610 dependant on the household.

The study highlighted that over half the food thrown out, worth £6 billion, was still edible and was left unused or untouched. For example each day, 1.3 million unopened yoghurt pots, 5,500 whole chickens and 44,000 ready meals are thrown away in the UK.

One of the reasons behind the readiness to throw unused food away is due to the lack of knowledge on the subject, as most people believe that food waste is a benign substance and that it just rots away in the landfill.

In actual fact for food to compost properly it needs light and air and by being in the landfill it will have neither. Therefore it creates methane gas which contributes to Global Warming.

WRAP calculated that stopping the waste of good food could avoid 18 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents from being emitted each year. This is the same as taking 1 in 5 cars off UK roads.

Click here for more information on how to reduce food waste.

Currently glass, cans and plastic bottles travel 154 miles to a processing plant in Essex whereas paper and card goes to the Tamworth branch of Smurfit Kappa and is made into cardboard boxes.

The council wish to replicate the ties with the cardboard and paper recycling plant Smurfit Kappa by opening a new plant for glass, cans and plastic bottles and therefore decrease Birmingham’s carbon footprint as well as creating local employment opportunities.

The motivation behind this new proposal is that there are few recycling facilities that sort mixed materials and the Essex plant is the most efficient and accessible.

Birmingham City council says that “sorting materials at the kerbside is costly and time consuming”.

They also stated that by having a plant closer to Birmingham they will be supporting The European Commission’s Covenant of Mayors on CO2 Emissions and Sustainable Energy. Deputy leader of Birmingham City Council Paul Tilsley said: “we take the issue of climate change very seriously, so much so that we already have an ambitious target to cut the city’s CO2 emissions by 60 per cent by 2026.”

Currently residents of Birmingham produce 550,000 tons of domestic rubbish per year. This means that every 60 minutes enough rubbish is produced to fill a swimming pool.