Lighting A BBQ Without Harmful Lighter Fluid

I received an email this week telling me that BBQs, or barbecues as I like to call them, are bad for the environment. Mainly due to the lighter fluid that’s used to accelerate and help the flame take.

Felipe Correa is the co-founder of One Light Charcoal and he came up with an idea to make a built-in chimmney in the charcoal bag so there would be no need for lighter fluid.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency in the US, charcoal lighter fluid is responsible for the release of some 14,500 tons of volatile organic compounds into the atmosphere in the country alone each year, so alternatives like this are a great idea. All you need to do is open the bag, use the long match provided and drop it into the chimney and then the bag burns from the inside out, allowing the charcoal to heat up before the bag itself burns off, leaving only hot coals.

A bag costs around US$3.50.

Can A Stainless Steel Soap Really Work?

Well that’s what I’ll be finding out soon – whether a small (5cm) stainless steel alloy disc can really be as effective as a soap.

The Ziloclass Smellkiller from Zilonka has been sent to me by Big Green Smile and I’m currently testing it ready for a review in the next couple of weeks. Will I be amazed or disappointed? Keep checking back to find out.

Ecover Promotions At Big Green Smile

I’m always looking for deals and there are hardly ever ones for environmentally friendly products, so when I spotted this at Big Green Smile I thought I’d share the good news.

BGS has a 3 for 2 deal on 5litre tubs of Ecover liquid here. It also includes Ecovers 10kg washing powder.

You may think they’re expensive normally for 5litres but they’re not at all – the fabric softener lasted me just over a year and is less than £12! Add that to a 3 for 2 deal, plus delivery of around £5 (or free for orders over £50), and it’s a great deal.

As an addition, Big Green Smile also has 10% off Ecover laundry tablets.

Enshrine Your Pet’s Ashes In A Recycled Glass Sculpture

It never ceases to amaze me the different environmentally friendly things that cross the Life Goggles desk and this is one of them – enshrining your pet’s remains in beautiful glass sculptures.

If you check out the Pet Cremains in Glass website you’ll certainly see they are beautiful – like the 12-inch Eternal Bloom Flower pictured. Not all of them are environmentally friendly however, you need to click on the link (here) to see them, and it would be nice for them to expand that. But it’s a good idea to have a art piece to remind you of your beloved pet and to put an eco-friendly slant on it is an added bonus.

Natural Beauty ‘Is Popular With Eco-Conscious Consumers’

Tanja from online eco-friendly shop Big Green Smile writes:

“Natural beauty products are becoming increasingly popular as more consumers are becoming concerned about their impact on the environment, it has been suggested.

“In an article for IslamOnline.net, cosmetic chemist Amanda Foxon-Hill said that 50 or 60 years ago, cosmetics companies relied on petroleum-based surfactants and mineral oil creams – a trend which consumers were happy to go along with.

“However, she argued that more recently, shoppers have begun to question the ingredients which make up the moisturisers and creams which they use on a regular basis.

“Nowadays, a number of people link oil-based products with the hydrocarbon industry – which she said in turn is connected to “pollution, environmental destruction and toxicity in relation to the chemical processes employed in refining the oil feedstock”.

“Elsewhere in the article, Ms Foxon-Hill pointed out that the cosmetics industry is currently divided over the definition of natural beauty products.

“This view is shared by Weleda’s export marketing manager Claudia Karle, who told the New Straits Times that the company has teamed up with a number of other brands to ensure strict standards are set over the contents of natural beauty goods.”

Are Consumers Ready For Natural Cleaning?

Ben from online eco-friendly shop Big Green Smile has written a post about about Ecover and natural cleaning:

“Natural cleaning products brand Ecover has backed up an assertion that more and more consumers have decided now is the time to give their cupboards an organic makeover.

“Associate editor of Natural Products Marketplace Alissa Marrapodi remarked that householders are now keener than ever to get rid of their chemical-based cleaning goods.

“Citing research from the US Poison Control Centres, she noted that cleaning products accounted for almost one-tenth of cases of exposure to toxic material, almost two-thirds of which involved children under the age of six.

“Consequently, she remarked that consumers are now ready to sacrifice their chemical goods for natural cleaning products.

“Assistant marketing manager at Ecover Kipling Wagner agreed, saying: “Demand is huge and growing daily. The key is to not saturate the market or consumers.”

“Ms Wagner’s comments come after Syida Lizta Amirul Ihsan, a correspondent at the New Straits Times, claimed that consumers could be confused at the number of different brands and methods of certification which exist in the natural cleaning products marketplace.”

Finding A Place For Lost Gloves

Walking around London and to work in the winter can mean rain and wind blowing straight into your face. Looking down at the pavement is often the best way to minimise the weather’s effects. And when you look down a lot, in winter at least, you’ll notice the odd single glove that’s fallen out of the pocket of it’s owner.

I say ‘odd’ I actually notice a lot and often thought of collecting them and putting them on a website to reunite them with their owners. Well environmental group Green Thing has gone one better and launched a website called Glove Love that pairs up single gloves and sells them.

What’s unusual is that it doesn’t try and match up the gloves by colour, but only by size so you’ll get a unique pair of gloves for only £5. It gets its gloves from museums, Transport For London and other place where people leave gloves. Green Thing is asking people to send in unpartnered gloves to keep its online store stocked and profits go to Green Thing Trust, which is a registered charity.

So it’s creative, fun and environmentally friendly. Forget buying gloves in the January sales, I reckon Glove Love is the best way to do it.

Spotted via: Springwise.

Next Page »