Hadleigh Green Fair

Spent the day selling second hand books and new copies of Old Knobbley and  talking about Buckle's Wood. Lots of interest all round and Old Knobbley seemed to be quite famous!

A mammoth task.

The PTA and the recycling fundraising schemes have a huge target this year.
The children's toilets need refurbishing (Suffolk County Council has no money due to budget cuts) and extra resources are needed for the new curriculum.
So the target is a massive £12,000.
I was sorting out books to sell, I was trying to think of an appropriate slogan for our campaign.
Books for Bogs came to mind, but perhaps A Read for the Toilets would be more acceptable?

Still recycling

 

I apologise for the slight pause with blogging over the winter, partly due to sorting out the recycling accounts and then getting used to a new laptop when my very old computer died.

 

Our  recycling centre was opened 20 years ago!  The drawings above are from that time and are self portraits drawn by some of the children that I taught. My weekly assemblies were always about caring for our environment (in  its broadest sense, from waste to wonder) with the children went to secondary school  quite a few of them were eco-warriors  and still are, I hope!

We continue to collect paper, glass, textiles, drinks cartons, books and aluminium cans at our recycling centre in the fenced off area at the end of the school playground.

I  pick up toner and inkjet cartridges from local companies and Takeback Ltd  collects  from other local and national companies on our behalf.

Spectacles are given to Vision Aid Overseas, via our local optician and aluminium foil is collected   by members of the Sudbury Resource Centre.

Everyone can do their bit to help the environment and there's a wonderful new website hat can inspire you. Check it out 

 www.worldchanging.me

 

 

More on Bargain books!

Looking back over the year, I've spent a busy and fruitful time selling the best books that have been donated to our recycling centre.

Over 400 have been bought from the stall at my gate for 20p each, but more if the buyer thinks they are worth it.  There is a selection of over 300.on my Amazon.shop, all reasonably priced and in very good or better conditition.  I've also sent quite a few to Amazon to be  "traded-in".
This is one of the latest books to go on   Amazon. It's "as new" and the pocket that hold the CD is unopened.

This weekend I shall be working out the amount of money to give school!
Watch this space.

What to do with plastics

We can't recycle plastics, so what do you do with them? Most will go in your blue bin; some can be recycled at the Household Waste and Recycling Centre in Crockett Way, Hadleigh, straight across the Hadleigh by-pass, then turn left at the roundabout.

Here's a video that explains which plastics can be recycled.

Another new Textile Bank?

Well--the rag raiders have been again! This time they damaged our bank and no-one could open it. So  thanks to prompt action by Black Country Rags (BCR), we now have this FORT KNOX style container on site.
The police have reacted quickly and perhaps this might be the last time that I have to contact them.
If any rag raiders read this, they should know that we are hatching a cunning plan!

Recycling at its best!

Landfill Harmonic | Juliana Penaranda-Loftus & Alejandra Nash from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo.

Money, Money, Money

All aspects of our recycling fund raising schemes, continue to benefit  Elmsett School. Recently, we have decided to close the recycling account with the Ipswich Building Society and put all the money straight into the School fund.  This will enable the school  access recycling funds as and when they need the money.
We would like to thank Janice Dixon and the staff at Larking Gowen, for doing the recycling accounts, free of charge, for nearly 20 years.
I shall continue to organise the recycling centre.
The closing amount in the recycling fund was £8,656.95  and a cheque for this amount was handed over to the headmistress, Myra Shackleton last week.

It's arrived!

Our tamper-proof textile bank has been delivered by Black Country Rags, so unless the rag raiders attack it with precision metal cutting implements, our textile donations should be safe!
Also--I have the code and can check how much is in the bank. I wonder if other schools  do this? I know that another local small school rarely has much in their bank when BCR makes a collection. It's easy money for the rogue traders!!

Don't bin it, eat it!

My gran would have been astonished by the amount of perfectly good food that the average British family throws away these days (it amounts to 7.2 million tonnes of food and drink a year). Some of it's because shoppers don't make lists and buy too much, some is because consumers don't understand what is or isn't safe to eat, and some of it is because people don't know what to make with it. All of this food waste isn't just a waste of your housekeeping money; it costs a lot of money to dispose of it - £12bn a year - that we pay for through our council taxes.

In this video, two Birmingham chefs show what they can do with some vegetables that fussy shoppers would reject. For more ideas, go to the Love Food, Hate Waste website. If you want to be really thrifty, look for the battered-looking produce that's going cheap at the end of any market day, and buy yourself some bargains to make cheap and easy meals.

Old Knobbley, a tree with a mission.

 My daughter, has just published her first children's book about Old Knobbley, an 800 year old Oak tree,  which is still growing slowly, in a field on the outskirts of Mistley, Essex 

The book tells us about the important events in Old Knobbley's life and Morag has illustrated each stage with detailed, beautifull  drawings. At the end, children are encouraged to collect acorns and grow their own oak trees and help to create an Old Knobley Forest that will live for another 800 years.

So buy the book from Lulu.com and have a go!    Just search for Old Knobbley

                                                 

    

She is an ex-pupil of Elmsett and Hadleigh High School and has always been interested in the environment and knows that planting trees is one of the best ways to slow down the progress of climate change.

Company rescues Can Crushing efforts!

I bought this super, sturdy can crusher from Home Recycling about 8 years ago. Last weekend the black crushing mechanism  on the lid broke. Home Recycling came to the rescue and  the new part was attached  to a cleaned lid, ready for action! 
Our thanks to Chris Hasling and his team. This is a small, successful company, provides an excellent, friendly service. Great!

Green congratulations

Well done everyone at Elmsett School.They have worked really hard on developing their school allotment in an eco-friendly way and have recently been awarded their fourth Green Flag in the Eco-Schools program.  Mrs Shackleton  talked about the school's involvement with the Eco schools scheme during  the final assembly last term and mentioned that the first flag was awarded for setting up and developing the recycling centre

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend, so I was surprised and delighted when my daughter delivered this lovely bouquet and thank you cards from all the pupils.

Doggy bags when you're eating out?

If you've paid for it, why waste it? I often ask for a doggy bag. The more we do it, the less we waste and the more it becomes normal.

Plastic never goes away

Recycling is good, but some materials are best avoided in the first place, especially plastic. As Beth Terry says in her book, 'Plastic Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too',

The only plastic that actually gets recycled is that which of Recycling plastics reclaimers are willing to buy. Recycling is a business, and if there is no market for a material, it will end up in the landfill or incinerator. ...Another reason is the cost of processing. While it’s possible to incorporate recycled PET back into new bottles, cleaning the material to the standards necessary for food contact is much more resource intensive and expensive than simply using virgin resin, so much of it gets downcycled into secondary products like carpet or polar fleece. And the way recycling centers combine mixed plastics into bales impacts the quality of the material available for sale.

We'd be kidding ourselves if we imagined that by recycling most of our household waste, we're doing our bit for the environment. We are doing a bit, but is it enough? Being aware of the amount of packaging that we accept with our shopping is one way that we can start to cut down on plastics, which may be recycled (some of them, anyway), but will still end up in landfill or even the sea eventually because they take many years to break down, however many times they're recycled.

Take plastic milk containers. Many people buy milk from the supermarket or local store in plastic containers. They're convenient and cheap, though milk producers will say that the milk they contain isn't expensive enough (and they'd be right). But what happens to the containers? Only 35% of them are recycled, and those that are consume a lot of energy. This could be avoided if more people used the doorstep delivery service for milk in glass bottles, which are returned for re-use or recycling.

More and more people are using "bags for life" at the supermarket, but most of them are made from plastic, even if it is a stronger version. What about the quality hessian bags we sell here in Elmsett, promoting our community woodland? Too many people are still buying bottled water, when what comes out of the tap is just as good and a lot cheaper. If you need water on the go, re-use a plastic bottle or buy a metal one from any good camping store. There are so many ways that we can avoid plastic - it isn't that difficult.

Does any of this matter? It does if you genuinely care about the environment, the world our children will inherit, and the health of our seas and the creatures that live in them. Try to avoid plastic, and if you can't, dispose of it responsibly.



Click here to learn more about the global plastic catastrophe.

Promoting recycling

Lady Charity Blue-Binitall will be representing our school's recycling centre at Buckle's Wood on Tuesday, when a disease resistant elm tree will be planted to commemorate the Queen's Jubilee.

Sadly Lady Blue -binitall has fallen upon hard times and has asked if  I  would rummage through the textile bank to find something suitably elegant for her to wear. I'm sure Black Country Rags will not object, as she has promised to return them after the event,

Meanwhile, in order to promote her attendanceat the celebration, she has kindly allowed me to photograph her in her best hat.

A good read

We started collecting unwanted books a couple of years ago and I've been amazed at the quantity and quality of books that have been left at the recycling centre; too many to sell locally and at the gate!
So I've set up a store on Amazon for the best "as new" books and other, older and antique and interesting paper and hardbacks. All at avery reasonable prices!
www.amazon.co.uk/shops/ecomaid

Have a look. Would Mysteries of the Dead Sea Scrolls by Harvey Minkoff be of interest?
It doesn't appear to have been read!

Textiles

Removing the textiles from the clothing bank and taking them to a safe place was a good idea. So far this year, we have helped Malcolm, the driver from BCR,  load 870kg  of clothes, shoes, curtains,sheets and blankets into his lorry.
Our local police are keeping an eye out for white vans, since one was stopped in one of the local villages  and found to be full of textiles! The van was was caught by CCTV cameras, heading towards and away from Ipswich. So good news all round!

THE BIG GAP

There are no sinister reasons for the lack of postings since September. I've just been busy doing other things, as well as recycling!
However, there has been a lot of extra activity at the recycling centre to insure that all the textiles that are left there, are not stolen by the rogue traders, a nationwide problem it would seem.

TEXTILE BANK AND ROGUE TRADERS

I have a key to our textile bank and keep a check on the amount left there, so I know when items disappear. Then, the police and Black Country Rags are informed, but these thieves seem to be able to carry our their dastardly trade unhindered! I suspect that most textile banks are not monitored, so that most schools and charities who recycle textiles for fundraising purposes, have no idea that these people are taking money from their good cause.

UPDATE

Following this, the police stopped two male occupants in a white transit van, which was full of textiles. more textile banks have been raided in Stowmarket and I'm pleased to report that our local council is taking this very seriously.

They have sent a letter to all organisations that have recycling facilities, warning them about rogue traders and asking everyone to be vigilant and report any suspicious incidents involving

people in unmarked vans trying to gain access to clothing banks.

They are also liaisoning with BCR Global Textiles, who in turn are going to replace our bank witha new, NO ACCESS to anyone who doesn't know the code

B R I L L I A N T

Money Matters

RECYCLING
to help the environment,
as well as raising funds

At about this time every year I send the records for the recycling fund to the accountants Larking Gowen to be checked. Next term, I shall give a copy of their report to the Governors.
The income for this year is quite pleasing, bearing in mind that a lot of textiles were taken from our textile bank at the end of last year.
Most of the money raised derives from the cartridges that are donated from local and national companies and the weight credits from the paper, glass and textile banks (just over £3800.00).
We raised an extra £200.00 plus from aluminium cans, CDs and book sales.
Not bad for a small village school, with less than 100 pupils.