It’s all very well going green but what happens to all the left over bits of car when you’ve decided that the gridlock isn’t worth it and opted for Shanks’s Pony? One idea is to make them into clocks. Made from reclaimed car parts, these clocks come
in two sizes, 10cm and 12cm. A bike parts clock is also available; both are individually handmade using high quality quartz movements. Car parts clock £29.95, bike parts clock £32.95,
www.cat.org.uk Make your own Black Gold Of course everyone should be composting their household waste. Thirty per cent of the contents of your average landfill could be put to better use in the garden but compost heaps can be ugly and smelly. There’s no need to hide away an attractive timber compost bin, however - it looks so good you can give it pride of place in the border or vegetable patch. Designed to look like a traditional beehive, it has a hinged top and a removable bottom panel for easy access. Size: 97x66x62cm. Beehive Composter, £149.99,
www.crocus.co.uk Drink straight from the bottle You can allay the guilt over how much wine you consume by always recycling the bottles - and why not make sure when you are knocking it back that you are doing so from recycled glass? Frosted tumblers made from re-used wine bottles. £19.95 for a set of six, Natural Collection, 0870 331 3333
Read and recycle If you want to be a really environmentally aware, you need to find alternative uses for all your rubbish, not just the odd bottle and can. This book describes money-saving ways to re-use common products - many of which you would never have thought possible. How to utilise everything from rusty razors to polystyrene packing pellets. Beyond Recycling: a Re-users’s Guide: 336 Practical Tips: Save Money and Protect the Environment by Kathy Stein. Available through
amazon.co.uk Wear a plastic Mac Remember the princess in the Rumplestiltskin story who could spin straw into gold? Some bright spark has come up with a method of recycling old plastic bottles, not into Thunderbirds models for five-year-olds, but clothing. Now when people tell you that your jacket is rubbish, you can attest that this is, indeed, the case. Patagonia Fleece, made from recycled plastic bottles, £55, Foothills, 01274 589692
