Rechargeable batteries

Many portable electrical items come with their own in-built rechargeable batteries, for example, mobile phones, electric razors and laptops. Others require you to supply your own batteries. These include remote control hand sets, cameras and digital radios.

Normal, use-once batteries are expensive and bad for the environment as they contribute to landfill and once there, dangerous chemicals and heavy metals could leach out into the environment. The BBMA tends to refute this, but in 2000, general use batteries created 19000 tonnes of waste. They are also a waste of natural resources.



Rechargeable batteries are available that can be used in exactly the same way as use-once batteries. Once spent, the batteries can be recharged in a recharger that is attached to the mains electricity supply. Most batteries can be recharged upwards of a thousand times. Lots of different companies supply rechargeable batteries such as Energizer and Duracell.

You can also go one better and recharge your batteries using solar power. For example there is the Soldius 1 mobile phone charger, or the lovely looking Solio iPod and phone recharger.

Eventually, all batteries come to the end of their life, but they can still be recycled. For more information, see this fact sheet from Waste Online.


caldini

No Waste Like Home

At last, going green gets its own slot on television. Penney Poyzer - an eco-expert - uncovers wastefulness in the home and gives viewers the "know-how" to change to a greener lifestyle in a new series airing on BBC2. No Waste Like Home, a Celador production starts on Thursday 18th August. There's eight programmmes in the series, so don't miss it. We'll see what the series has to offer and report back later!

For more information about products featured in the show, visit the BBC minisite for the series.

caldini

Dog poo

Just lately there has been a huge drive to make sure that dog owners clean up their dog's mess by collecting the poo in a plastic bag. This is especially important as the roundworm Toxocara canis can be passed to humans causing symptoms such as blindness and problems with the gut. The eggs of Toxocara are extremely resistant to adverse environmental conditions, and, once an area is contaminated with Toxocara eggs (such as a playground, park, or your garden), its very difficult to sanitise the area.

You can be fined large amounts for not clearing up dog waste. However, I have noticed that many dog owners are collecting their dog's waste in a plastic bag but they are also discarding it in a bush or behind some feature in their park. This is bad for many reasons:

• The plastic bag takes years to fully degrade
• The plastic bag acts as a greenhouse, keeping the dog poo warm and moist - suitable conditions for Toxocara and many other harmful bugs
• Toxocara is very resilient, so has the ability to infect children in a park months after the faeces were first discarded
• Stacks of dog poo in plastic bags are an eyesore

So if you're a dog owner, please don't discard plastic bags full off dog poo around our parks and countryside.

caldini

Update: If you're offended by this unsightly practice, write a letter to your local newspaper. Let's try and make this as unsociable as possible!

aNSwer Online

If you're Irish, you may want to visit aNSwer Online, the online register of environmental research being undertaken in the island of Ireland. Indeed the site is worth a visit even if you're not from the emerald isle.

As well as providing search facilities for environment-themed projects and resources, there's also a list of useful links.

Also available is an shared register of Environmental Data Sources. If you're an under-grad or post-grad (or you know someone who is) studying Environmental Sciences you could get a lot of useful information from these sites.

caldini