The recycling industry has not been immune to the effects of the global turmoil that has been ever-present over the past year. In fact, although recyclables have continued to provide a supply, demand from countries such as China have decreased meaning that prices for recyclable materials have decreased thanks to the lower demand for such products.

In fact the situation got so bad that boats filled with recyclable goods were said to be stuck in Chinese harbours unable to offload their goods because there were no buyers for the goods. Recycling warehouses have said their stores are filling up fast and some have been unable to accept any more recyclables because they don’t have any place to sell them.  Read more... (262 words, estimated 1:03 mins reading time)

Department store Debenhams has designed the ultimate eco-chic suit – a trouser suit made from recycled plastic bottles.

The plastic bottle are first cleaned and their labels removed. Once this process is complete, they are ground down into small chips before being melted. This mixture is then refined and woven into a sort yet hard-wearing form of polyester. It takes around 50 recycled bottles to make a single trouser suit.

Retailing at around £55, this eco-chic suit won’t break the bank however because the suit is made from a form of polyester, it won’t appeal to everyone.  Read more... (156 words, estimated 37 secs reading time)

Some of Florida’s beaches suffer from massive erosion. Broward County Officials think they have discovered a scheme using recycled glass which can help preserve the beaches. They believe that using small grains of recycled glass mixed in with the regular sand, it will help fill in the gaps and reduce erosion. Glass’s main ingredient is sand, therefore it’s a fairly natural solution to the situation.

If the scheme gets approval, the county will be the first in America to use recycled glass in this way. In an area where sand is a valuable commodity – and one which is getting harder and harder to come by – recycling a product which may otherwise may go landfill and saving money in the process cannot be a bad thing.  Read more... (671 words, estimated 2:41 mins reading time)

New laws have been proposed which would see Londoners’ have to pay 10p for every plastic bag that they use. The charge has been proposed to try and reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill sites and, if accepted, is expected to pave the way for a total ban on carrier bags in the near future.

The proposed bill will go in front of MPs in November and will cover 33 of London’s boroughs. If the number of plastic bags were reduced by a quarter, it would eliminate over 58,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year – that’s the squivalent of taking 18,000 cars off the road and shows how a simple change may have immense effects.  Read more... (347 words, estimated 1:23 mins reading time)

Recycling is a simple, easy idea, at least in theory. But sometimes things fall into the ‘grey’ area where you aren’t too sure if they are recyclable or not. So, here at GreenUpAndGo, we have put together the top 10 most commonly asked questions, along with their answers.

1. How do I know which plastics can be recycled?
Actually, this is a tough one. The three little arrows in a circle which often feature in plastic containers are actually not a guide to recyclability – they actually indicate the amount of plastic resin in the plastic. It is best to check with your recycling facility which numbers it accepts for recycling.  Read more... (669 words, estimated 2:41 mins reading time)

Asad are the first UK supermarket to stock ‘Green CDs’. These environmentally friendly CDs give customers the chance to purchase their favourite artists’ music in fully compostable packaging. ASDA have chosen to go for a more eco-friendly product after research indicated that up to 25% of all plastic music covers get thrown away within 12 months of purchase.

The range, named ‘Ecopac’, is manufactured by Universal Music and is made from 100% recycled and recyclable paper-foam. Asda’s parent company Wal-Mart have already had sold more than 2 million CDs using the Ecopac material since it’s debut in their stores 6 months ago.  Read more... (163 words, estimated 39 secs reading time)

Have you ever wanted to build a compost heap but aren’t sure how to go about it? Or have you tried a compost heap in the past but not ending up with the top quality compost you expected? Then read on and we’ll answer your frequently asked questions about compost!

Should I use a container?  Read more... (777 words, 1 image, estimated 3:06 mins reading time)

Flamboyant TV personality and interior designer Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen has come up with a novel way to encourage recycling – by using his old drinks cans to build a unique chair. Llewelyn-Bowen was commission by Can Couture to make his chair and all cans used were ones used by his family.

“I really enjoy working with new material,” Llewelyn-Bowen explained. “So the idea of using recycled drinks cans to produce an elegant yet flamboyant chair was a huge challenge for me. Recycling is hugely importnat in this day and age and drinks cans are one of the most environmentally friendly tyres of packaging as each one is 100% recyclable.  Read more... (192 words, 1 image, estimated 46 secs reading time)

Want to be green but when you tried a compost heap only you gave up because of the smell it gives off? Fed up of having animals going through your rubbish to find the food scraps in there? The organic waste system is an easy, effective way of recycling food waste so your rubbish no longer gets raided, and no smell linger around either your rubbish bin or your waste system. You can put one together in a couple of hours, so it is a quick and easy way to kick-start your recycling habit.  Read more... (492 words, estimated 1:58 mins reading time)