Recycling Week: Share your recycling, refurbishing & upcycling with giffgaff

kathleen414

Hiya
Hope everyone is keeping well and safe.

As we all know giffgaff are passionate about sustainability and are constantly trying to make our environment better through initiatives like promoting refurbished phones over new or supporting communities that contribute to sustainability.
Lots of our fab members are very supportive of giffgaffs mission and also practice positive, sustainable habits at home

So giffgaff would like to use this space for the members to get involved, by sharing
Our top tips and ideas on:
Recycling habits
Setting sustainable goals
Refurbishing and upcycling

Please share your tips & pictures here in this thread.
You can also email your videos of your refurbishing and upcycling experiments on social@giffgaff.com

How to shoot the video:
Shoot in selfie mode
Away from noise
With good light - Natural light preferred
Video should be not more than 1 minute long
giffgaff would love to feature some of the best tips and videos on our website and social channels so do let us know if you are happy with that.

Update: from giffgaff 🧡🤗🧡 whooo bonus 🧡

Members may become eligible for a payment of credit of [£5 for written tip and £10 for the video] (the “Reward”) by giffgaff if giffgaff decides to use your video on its website or in any other marketing materials.

Full information here

Our recycling hub link
https://www.giffgaff.com/hub/recycle-week/

frenchielove

kathleen414 what a great idea, I think we are all doing our bit now, like carrying our own bags so we don’t need to use plastic. Always wash and recycle all our cardboard, paper etc that the council collect.
I am happy to see some food suppliers are cutting down on packaging too.

muddycalhoun

kathleen414 This could be the kind of thread that has promise, I like it.
Very interested to see what comes up and where members go with it.

broganmaynolan

kathleen414 Even McDonalds has got rid of the plastic cup holders 😲 I’m so proud of everyone doing something to help 👍❤️

thunderdragon

kathleen414 With my anxiety and poor ability with videos I can’t do either, but there’s a three-stage tip I can offer for simplifying recycling in the home… ♻️ 🏠️ 👍️

Ensure everybody in the house knows what local kerbside recycling does and doesn’t accept in it’s collections. This varies between areas, but details and specifics are always available from your local council. 👍️
Set-up a multi-section bin in an easily accessible, high-traffic part of the house (The hallway or kitchen is best) and have each section clearly labelled with what should be put in it. Get everybody into the subconscious habit of separating and rinsing out (Where appropriate) different types of waste and depositing this in the appropriate bin as they’re disposing of it. ♻️
Keep separate bins aside for glass, batteries, compostables and electronic waste (WEEE) - The latter especially so if you have any Hackers or Makers in the house. If you have kerbside WEEE and/or compost schemes remember to leave out WEEE/batteries and compostables separately from other recyclables (Ask your council), and if not try to run accumulated WEEE down the tip every once in a while. 👍️

A caution over batteries: If you regularly handle/dispose of Li-Ion or Li-Po types, consider having a dedicated bin for these. The best would be a plastic inner bucket, placed in sand inside a larger fire-resistant bucket/container, and with extra sand on hand to throw over the batteries if any of them should go thermal. Remember to always insulate terminals with appropriate tape prior to disposal, and keep an eye on the bucket to make sure the contents remain stable and don’t short-out. 🔋 💥 👍️
+++ 🚄 ThunderDragon 🤘 +++

orangeman33

kathleen414 Bit late to the thread. What a great idea! I have always been passionate about recycling etc to help the environment.
One thing I do to help is buy drinks in glass bottles instead of plastic as it is better for the environment. I do hope that more glass bottles will be bought into supermarkets.

georgecooksey24

kathleen414 This is really great. giffgaff are doing their bit to protect the environment and lower their carbon footprint. We all have to come together to do the same. Please make sure you recycle items as much as you possibly can and try not to buy products that have non recycle/ un sustainable packaging

sthere

kathleen414

I have been trying to make an extra effort to recycle plastic. I have been trying to purchasing products with it less, but when I do buy some I am making sure it gets recycled.

Completely used to bringing in my own plastic bags now and i try to buy veg loose where possible.

mxrider66

kathleen414 well done to everyone here and keep up the good work 👍🏻

stephenpperry

kathleen414 we should do more than just recycle. I’d recommend reading the book “cradle to cradle” to everyone who’s interested in their carbon footprint and how they can reduce their impact on the planet.

willi12603

kathleen414 I recycle twice a week

kathleen414

frenchielove
Hiya yes I’m really trying to make a difference without to much effort.
I only use my Hessian bags and buy fruit and vegetables loose in the supermarket, it’s surprising how much cheaper they are bought loose .
I have a couple of net bags to put them in store.
All food waste goes in green bin.
But it’s not a lot , if I can I freeze tomatoes and use in stir fry.
If potato close to going off , I boil and mash and freeze .
You can freeze lots of food rather than bin it

suept

frenchielove We are lucky to be able to buy most of our supplies in a greengrocer, butcher, baker, etc with an occasional walk to Aldi at the other end of the village. We hardly did any big supermarket shops during lockdown and even some of those were really just because we wanted to give the car or campervan a run to keep the batteries charged and to move the tyres.

Although it helped that I still had a lot of staples from my pre-December Brexit stockpile (all things we will use and all monitored for use by dates)

chand311

frenchielove & @kathleen414 we started using own cloth bags for grocery and other shopping since 5p charge was started. Save environment save your money as well!

waqar10408

frenchielove I agree

muddycalhoun

kathleen414 tomato freezing tip, not a quick thing like the blanche and freeze method but for tomato sauces and soups much better.
Half your tomatoes on a baking dish season very lightly with a grind it two of sea salt and a little good olive oil or rapeseed oil (personal preferences, especially because of the high quality rapeseed oil produced here in the UK) then bring oven upto a high heat say from cold to 220-240,°C for only ten minutes to get the process going. Then very slowly on a low temperature roast the tomatoes for between 45 minutes to an hour or so. For use as sauce or in soup stirring occasionally until they have broken down into a “pasata looking” consistency. Otherwise you can leave them in their halves but the roasting process does break them down, the trade off is worth it for the intensity of flavour that comes from the slow roasting. (Sort of a northern climes sun dried tomato I suppose)
I hope that helps you and anyone else who has a glut of home grown tomatoes or anyone who has got a job lot at a good reduction.

suept

kathleen414
Like you I waste very little food. Most things can be frozen or cooked into a meal to be frozen. Soups are always good for using up vegetables

kath72

I think this pandemic has taken our focus off the environment

having said that so many things like recycling and reusing bags etc have become second nature

but then there’s all these disposable (with plastic) masks and plastic gloves getting used 🙁

bluemoonbaz

kath72 but then there’s all these disposable (with plastic) masks and plastic gloves getting used 🙁

Yes its a shame that all the single use masks are being used .
I bought a couple of washable ones and its much more cost effective and saves all those single ones being discarded

frenchielove

kath72 I counted four masks thrown away on my walk this morning, why would anyone do that?

jasminyates

kath72 the masks are a big problem, they’re everywhere, I see them just left on the side of the street hanging on bushes blowing everywhere. People are so inconsiderate I don’t understand why they can’t take them home and bin them, it’s sad to see what’s being done to our beautiful planet 🌍☹️

kath72

bluemoonbaz I bought a couple of washable ones and its much more cost effective and saves all those single ones being discarded

I have quite a collection of reusable ones i made myself … one for every mood which takes me 😂
i e run out of old T-shirt’s for making them now though (T-shirt fabric is the most comfy to layer next to your skin I’ve found)

suept

bluemoonbaz Agreed, the reusable masks are more comfortable as well

misskatie2

bluemoonbaz And wouldn’t it be nice if those disposable masks were actually disposed of? I live about ¾ of a mile from town, so I always walk everywhere. Everytime I do, I pass at least 4 of those blue disposable masks just lying on the pavement. When I get to town there are even more, but there are litter bins everywhere, so there shouldn’t be any excuses!!

123kingarthur

frenchielove these people have no respect for others

sypamele

frenchielove
It’s terrible what if the masks that have been discarded carry the CO-VID VIRUS ….. some people are totally oblivious to their careless and dangerous actions .

bluemoonbaz

kath72
Even better Kath, is hard to make them ?

kathleen414

kath72
Wow that’s fantastic Kath ❤️, that’s what we need people to do .
I will have a look and see if I can find hand sewing version

kath72

bluemoonbaz
fairly straightforward if you’ve got a sewing machine … loads of different patterns available online
ive been using up fabric leftovers, a worn out sheet and old T-shirt’s (good upcycling eh!) … tried tied ones With ribbon but they slip too much so bought some elastic

frenchielove

kathleen414 did you see the lady making them from socks?

kathleen414

frenchielove no I didn’t ☹️that sounds like my kinda of sewing

frenchielove

kathleen414 no sewing

kathleen414

Hiya everyone
Some fab news from @shaina_k
giffgaff have given the members sharing an incentive

Full information here

kathleen414

frenchielove that’s the one for me 🤗
Going to have a try 😉 thank you for finding it and adding for us

kath72

kathleen414 frenchielove
think my concern with the sock ones is it’s only 1 layer of fabric and socks are usually ‘breathable’

this is my ‘latest’ design, less fiddly than the ones I’ve made previously

24cm square of fabric, same of a piece of cotton sheet (using the edges rather than the worn out middle) and same of T-shirt fabric. Fold over the top and bottom edges and hem adding a folded piece of T-shirt on one side to put the nose wire in (I bought a roll of 5mm flat wire)
fold the mask like they do the disposable ones and sew extra fabric at each end for the elastic to go through (I cut with pinking scissors to save gemming it)

basically some cutting and 4 seams to sew… I ironed each fold before seeing just to make it easier

anyway that’s using up old T-shirt’s, sheets and left over fabric and saving the use of disposable masks.

my husband has some for school with maths symbols on 😂

melanie336

frenchielove brilliant idea

frenchielove

kath72 these look amazing but I have no sewing machine 🤗

bluemoonbaz

kath72 they look brilliant Kath 👏

muddycalhoun

kath72 Here is a face mask tip, don’t know if you have already heard it or if I have missed it earlier in this thread.
Vacuum cleaner bags (no not used ones) make a very effective single layer that excludes any virons unlike most other fabrics that require multiple layers to achieve imperfect protection.
Not being the most accomplished seamster I would guess that a section stitched in the middle of a mask would all that would be required. I hope it is something that might be useful to anyone making masks at home.

kath72

frenchielove
those seams could be done by hand … back stitch would do it … obviously take longer but doable