St Bridget’s Church Eco-Congregation Green Sheet No. 26

An addition to Sue Harrison’s sales of ecological cleaning products:

Below is the write up from the company that sells ecoBalls, Sue Harrison and Dave Cashen have been using them for their household clothes washing duties so you can ask them how they fare. The information I've gleaned from Dave is that: a normal wash using Ecover washing powder costs around 43p, a wash using the ecoBalls costs around 3p, and if you are on a water meter, you will save even more money as you do not need to rinse the clothes. You can purchase ecoBalls off Sue for about £24.00 for a box of three, three refills and 1 stain remover, this will last you for 1000 washes. You will need to do smaller loads, but this is included in the calculations. The only downside that Dave has found is that our machine does not allow you to miss the rinse cycle so you have to be around to stop the machine manually if you want to do the saving water bit, and I'm not too happy that they're made in China.

ecoBALLS' wash system cares for your clothes, your washing machine and your environment. ecoBALLS' wash system stands for everything we believe in; it is natural, environmentally friendly, efficient and cost-effective, and delivers a clean, fresh, sensitive alternative to conventional washing powders that pollute our water supply, reduce the lifespan of our washing machine and break down the very clothing they're supposed to care for. Environmentally friendly ecoBALLS' wash system is a scientific breakthrough in cleaning technology. There are no harsh chemicals so less pollution. Rinse cycle can be shortened saving water and electricity. It will not fade bright colours or damage clothing fibres. Hypoallergenic so suitable for sensitive skins/eczema (including babies and children). ecoBALLS1 wash system softens clothes even in hard water. As your clothes will be softer no fabric conditioner is necessary. Also anti-bacterial and kills Escherichia Coli and Staphylococcus Aureus. Comes with a 30 day money back guarantee! Includes free refill pellets and a stain remover. Imagine not having the hassles and expense of carting bulky powders and liquids home from the supermarket ever again! Voted one of the Ten Best Green Household Products by The Independent January 2005

From Elizabeth Ashley: Polyprint Mailing Films takes environmental issues very seriously and actively promotes the recycling of all suitable polythene products. We are (as far as we know) the only polythene producer that accepts waste polythene for recycling from the general public in whatever quantity. We hope the frequently asked questions below will answer any queries you may have. However, if you do wish to contact us regarding any of the points below, we would be pleased to hear from you.

What sort of polythene do you accept? We recycle both printed and unprinted polythene wrappers and bags from whatever source, provided all paper labels, sellotape, sticky residue, food remnants and foreign objects have been removed.. The recycling codes that apply to our process are numbers 2 and 4. What can't you take.? Polythene marked as "degradable". Unfortunately, this material acts as a pollutant to the recycling process. If any of this material is known to be present in a batch destined for recycling (e.g. some supermarket carrier bags), then the whole batch will be rejected and sent to a landfill site. Our facilities purely cover the handling of polythene rather than cellophane, PVC, nylon, PET etc.

How do I tell the difference? Degradable polythene should be marked accordingly and other materials can normally be differentiated from polythene as they are usually glass clear in appearance and sound "crinkly" when touched. Polythene will also stretch fairly easily whereas the other products do not.

How do I package it? The best way to ensure that your package is delivered safely is to either use a box or pack the wrappers flat / rolled. It would be helpful if you could include your contact details and please clearly mark your package:

How do get it to you? Experience has shown that the best way of forwarding material to us is by 2nd class or parcel post, in which case, please ensure the correct postage is rate is used as the Post Office has advised us that they are removing several packages a day from our local delivery office and sending them to landfill due to insufficient postal rates.

What happens to the polythene?

It takes approximately 200,000 polythene mailing wrappers to make one tonne of recyclable waste, all of which have to be hand-sorted by our staff. After being recycled, the polythene can be used in various ways, often being turned into refuse bags, fertiliser sacks, chairs, benches, tables, pallets etc. Due to the low commercial value of waste polythene we do not make any money from this operation and are therefore unable to assist with carriage costs. We continue with the project as a service to the community and to help protect the environment.

For further information in our recycling service please email us at recycling@polyprint.co.uk.

If you have items to contribute to the green sheets please contact Sally on 0151 625 2659.

The items included in the green sheets are for your information only, but we hope that you find some of them useful.