While Adrian was away (Belgium this time, on some beer judging panel) it
seemed like the doorbell was ringing every two minutes (okay, slight
exaggeration but still) and there would be some poor delivery guy standing in
the pouring rain with yet another box. Beer, beer, beer and more beer. Yes, Adrian gets sent a lot of beer. An awful lot of beer. Along with the odd jar of pickled onions.
So he had this great opening ceremony when he got back last night and all of a sudden
the one small bin bag that I’d used all week was suddenly full to bulging with packaging. And it bugged me. Cos, see, I don’t hold with all this
packaging stuff. It’s…wasteful. The other day I watched this item on the news about a local
beauty spot by the coast which was vomiting old landfill. The stuff had been down there twenty years or
so and hadn’t disintegrated one teeny tiny bit.
It’s why I’m into recycling in a big way. I simply don’t believe in
throwing stuff away – everything here gets reused or revamped or recycled or resold. In fact, I just
can’t get my head round people who don’t do this – who chuck everything out
into the rubbish – I even have friends who fling out perfectly decent clothes
and books that way. I mean… WTF?
Yes, it takes a bit more effect but hey… There is very little food waste in this
house (we don’t overbuy and the dogs eat most scraps) but what is left over is
either composted in the garden or goes out for recycling. Paper, cardboard, bottles,
plastic containers, batteries and so forth all get recycled and I try not to
buy stuff that’s been overly packaged.
Wherever possible, I buy recycled stuff too – loo roll, kitchen
towels, bin bags and so on. Why? Cos they’re just as good, not any more
expensive and, well, every little helps right?
So that was why I was interested when I got an email from a really nice PR for EcoForce. They make a range of household
products from recycled materials – not yer average loo roll but sponges,
scourers, cloths and dusters; recycled pegs (see below - cute huh?), pegbaskets and a recycled washing line. Plus nifty food bag grips. Neat, really neat. Yes, I’m getting excited
over pegs. It has come to this. I know.
Don’t say anything. Please. Just don't.
 |
| Cute pegs, huh? |
They asked if I’d like to try them out and I agreed with alacrity. Well,
hey, I did like the sound of them but I also wanted to show Dulverton that it
isn’t just beer that gets delivered to this house. So they arrived and we tested them out pretty
thoroughly and, yup, they did the business.
Really well. Well, just as well
as the ‘virgin’ variety and you get the added bonus of feeling like you’re
doing your bit somehow. In a small
way. Okay, so I already have a rotary washing
line, so couldn’t test out the washing rope but then I figured there are
other uses for washing line. So I unwrapped it and yes, it makes a darn good
skipping rope. J
They also sent me three Dishmatics to try. Now, stay with me cos this is a seriously
neat idea. It looks like a standard
scourer or washing up brush but the handle is hollow and you simply fill it up
with washing up liquid and, lo and behold, it dispenses it as you wash up. Seriously, brilliant little thing. I love it, as far as one can love a washing
up brush. Do I not have enough love in my life?? Don't answer that. Anyhow, it costs £1.33 (RRP but I've seen them online for under a quid) and, when the head wears
out, you simply replace that bit. Genius.
You’re shaking your heads, aren’t you?
But, honest injun, I love this stuff!
So much that I’m gonna share it with you. You can try out everything I did for free (see the pic below) – yes, you can experience my life. How wondrous is that? Just leave a comment reassuring me I’m not a complete saddo and I’ll pluck one
of you out the hat and you can skip and scrub too. J
I'll close the competition in a week, okay?
In case you don’t win, EcoForce and Dishmatic are widely available in
most supermarkets as well as from Oxfam, Homebase, B&Q and on line.
You can also find them on Facebook:
Here's the EcoForce page:
and here's Dishmatic
