ST.BRIDGET’S CHURCH
ECO-CONGREGATION GREEN SHEET
NO 9
ECOVER - To extend her current range, Sue now has some “delicate washing” liquid for woollens etc. and this is of course available as refills to keep the cost low for you.
AZROU
– This is a Christian based organisation helping children worldwide and is run
by volunteers. They have a wonderful shop at 50 Grange Road West Kirby where
you can purchase gifts to help fund their projects.
Projects
include;
Ellena’s School
– helping children in Tirana, Albania.
The Village of Hope Orphanage in Morocco.
Children with disabilities in Morocco.
Youth, kids & schools work in
Paskuqan, Albania.
Youth and kids projects across Wirral.
Donations
from businesses:
Does your work/business have
unwanted items hanging around that Azrou can use
to help the children above?
Please only offer good
quality, working items! They will sell them on EBay to raise funds.
Private
donations:
Unwanted small items (
collectables, watches, games, antiques, baby gear, musical instruments) can be
delivered Monday to Saturday 10am to 5pm to the shop.
Unwanted large items (
furniture, prams, tools, bikes, caravans, cars,) can be delivered Monday to
Friday 10am to 5pm to Falcongate House, Docks Link, Wallasey, Wirral CH44 3EQ,
or phone; 0151 625 0330
Please note they cannot
accept clothes (other than wedding dresses, fancy dress costumes or designer
clothes) or faulty/damaged goods or upholstery based furniture that DOES NOT
have a “flame retardant” label.
Bubble
wrap – If
you have bought or been sent any breakables wrapped in bubble wrap Azrou would
be pleased to take it and re-use it for packaging for their delicate items.
p.s.
After our recent note on avoiding using disposable razor blades, Martin
Harrison pointed out that I didn’t mention the best way to avoid having to
dispose of them; grow a beard!!!!
Thanks
to Sue Harrison for her contribution this week.
*MICROWAVES
When it comes to fast food, microwaves lead
the way in heating up, defrosting and cooking. The speed of cooking leads to a
range of possibly energy saving benefits over using traditional electric ovens.
A quick search for research online finds that microwaves can use anything from
50% to 90% less energy than conventional ovens.
However these statistics fail to take into
account a range of factors. Firstly, while
microwaves may be particularly energy efficient at heating up or cooking
small quantities of food, as the quantity and cooking time increases, the
difference in efficiency between a standard oven and a microwave oven
decreases.
Secondly,
these figures also ignore the manufacturing costs of the appliance and the
environmental burden of their disposal – microwaves often have a shorter life –
span than conventional cookers. Additionally, microwave meals can be energy
intensive products in terms of their food miles, the packaging used and the
food processing involved. It is far better to cook big batches of food, freeze
in small quantities, defrost naturally and then reheat with the microwave than
to use the microwave for defrosting or for cooking ready – meals for one.
Finally, the microwave clock and standby function also consume electricity, even
when the oven itself is not in use. It is much better to unplug your microwave
after using it.
The microwave was invented by a US defence
firm and a number of the manufacturers on the table below continue to have
links to the defence industry.
KEY
The
ethiscore is an ethical score out of 20 for a wide range of consumer products
and services. Roughly speaking: 15 – 20 is good; 10 to 14 is average; 5 to 9 is
poor; 0 to 4 is very poor. The score is a calculation based on a company’s
rating in each of Ethical Consumer’s 20 main ethical categories.
Russell
Hobbs 12.5 Daewood 8.5
Miele 12.5 Panasonic 8
Belling 11 LG 6.5
Goodmans 10.5 Samsung 6.5
Hinari 10.5 Neff 6
Bush 10.5 Bosch 6
Sharp
9 Siemens 6
Sanyo
9
*Information
courtesy of ethical
consumer which is available at the back of church and makes interesting
reading!
Sally Cashen
625 2659