Blog – Page 12 – Waste Management & The Environment

Contents of entire house dumped in Birmingham car park

18th July 2016 by Skip Hire

Following on from our recent story about a woman who was prosecuted for fly tipping in her own back garden in London, a story has surfaced in the papers today of what appeared to be the entire contents of a house fly tipped in a public car park in Boulton Road, Handsworth, Birmingham yesterday afternoon.

Aside from a mountain of black bin liners, the terrible mess also included a bed (complete with mattress, blankets and pillows), a huge assortment of clothes and shoes and bits of old furniture.

Lightbulb Moment

8th July 2016 by Skip Hire

How one man’s simple innovation for recycling plastic bottles helped some of the world’s poorest communities.

In 2002 a Brazilian mechanic came up with a ridiculously simple way of reusing plastic bottles to help some of the world’s poorest people light their homes.

In the city of Uberaba in the south of Brazil, Alfredo Moser had his “Light-bulb” moment during one of his country’s many power cuts.

Edible plastic beer can ring holders

23rd June 2016 by Skip Hire

Most people will have seen images of wildlife caught up in our discarded trash before. Sea-turtles, fish, sea-gulls and other wildlife caught up in plastic and other human-made rubbish that finds its way into our oceans.

Once entangled in plastic refuse, animals are unable to free themselves causing much unnecessary suffering and even restricting the animal’s natural growth.

A well-publicised culprit is plastic beer holders. With millions produced every year, they are among the most abundant examples of plastic pollution and it’s damaging effects on our sea-life.

Londoner prosecuted for fly tipping in her own garden

17th June 2016 by Skip Hire

If you’re thinking of renovating your house and are tempted to dump all the waste material in your garden, it may surprise you to know that you could potentially be prosecuted for fly-tipping; even on your own property.

A recent story has surfaced in the news about a Londoner who was ordered to pay more than £1,100 after refusing to clear up her own garden of an assortment of materials including old furniture, rubble, mattresses, wheelbarrows and even a gas boiler.

How To Vote With Your Butt

14th June 2016 by Skip Hire

Since there’s a lot of buzz around the subject of voting at the moment, we thought we’d put a playful spin on how the idea of voting has found its way into the waste management and recycling world with the shamelessly headline grabbing title “how to vote with your butt”!

As you can see from this picture, a new innovative scheme that’s being trialled in London is aiming to clean up the streets of cigarette ends by turning the disposal of them into a bit of fun for smokers.

PAYT – Pay As You Throw – Scheme to reduce landfill waste

10th June 2016 by Skip Hire

A new acronym, PAYT has found its way into the world of waste management.

“Pay As You Throw” gives you an idea about what this new proposed incentive is about. In short, the aim of the new scheme is to entice us all to reduce the amount of waste we throw in our bins, and increase the amount of rubbish we recycle by paying us for it.

A report published on the Association of Cities and Regions for Recycling and Sustainable Resource Management (ACR+) website details how a number of areas in the European Union were used as case studies to gather data about this interesting subject.

Recycling – How to cut a glass jar with just oil, water and a blade

6th June 2016 by Skip Hire

Here’s an interesting experiment you can try at home. The video at the end of this post shows you how to cut a glass jar with just water, oil and a blade.

If you’ve got kids, then this may be a fun one to try with them – It’s a great way to make science a bit more interesting, whilst creating something that that they go on to use afterwards as well.

It will also teach them about the benefits of recycling old things that are going to be thrown away, into new things that they can use.

How to clear up after an energy saving light bulb breakage

2nd June 2016 by Skip Hire

Most people don’t realise the real hazard of breaking a modern day light bulb. The bulb you see in this picture is called a CFL (compact fluorescent lamp) and is often referred to as an energy saving light bulb; they are now extremely common in most households today.

If you hire one of our skips, one of things we don’t allow you to put in it is any kind of light bulb. Aside from the dangers of the very thin glass used to make them, fluorescent bulbs also contain mercury, which is potentially dangerous if inhaled.

Green Fatigue – Has the UK had enough of recycling?

27th May 2016 by Skip Hire

According to some recent research done by the BBC, the amount of waste produced by the average household has risen by around 60% in council areas across the UK, with 8 councils reporting an increase of 100KG per household over the last 3 years.

There is speculation that the UK’s enthusiasm for recycling may be on the downturn with some believing that there is little overall long term benefit for the environment. It’s been suggested that there is a growing apathy towards the whole idea coupled with a lack of routine and bad habits when it comes to recycling.

Turn your denim jeans into a plant pot or hanging basket

26th May 2016 by Skip Hire

jeans plant pot We always love a good idea when it comes to recycling, and this one caught my eye today. Whilst this isn’t the best quality picture, it certainly brought a smile to my face.

I can’t say that I’ve ever considered using a discarded pair of denim jeans as a plant pot but whoever lives in this apartment obviously did.

I think it’s safe to say that this will definitely catch the eye of passers by, and is a sure fire way to compete with any floral display your neighbours may have on show – certainly when it come to originality….