In the run up to Zero Waste Week (22nd November), PECT staff are bringing and sharing, both their lunch and their rubbish!
After sharing a home made package free lunch, we'll get educated on how to reduce waste in the workplace and at home. I know, I know, we're an environment charity, we should know all of this! But it is difficult to keep on top of what can and can't be recycled, and why. There are also local restrictions that can be hard to keep up with, alternatives for those items that can't be recycled in Peterborough, and heck, we all like a bring and share followed by a bit of education.
If you're a business that is taking part in Zero Waste Week, you're invited to join us for the education bit.
When: Thursday 18th November (get prepared for ZWW)
Time: 1.45 - 2.30
Where: Here at the PECT office - The Green House, 4-6 Cowgate
15 minutes
Andrew Goode from Donarbon Waste contractors will be covering:
Targets for recycling and waste
Relevant legislation and how it effects us?
How waste and recycling systems work
What CAN and CANNOT be recycled and WHY?
15 minutes
Stuart Foster from ReCOUP plastics will be covering:
How ReCOUP work
The recycling of useful plastics and systems
What CAN and CANNOT be recycled and WHY?
15 minutes
Bring with you any samples of waste/packaging that you have questions or queries on as we will be having a 15 minute discussion at the end.
Please RSVP by email confirming your attendance ASAP to
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.
PECT staff again participated in the Travelchoice Walk to Work Week competition, cruising a total of 150.7 miles for the week long event from 26th - 30th April.
The event encourages employees to walk more as part of their commute and working day, and helps workplaces encourage and promote walking amongst their workforce. It's an excellent way to add some exercise into your day and does wonders for your physical and mental well-being.
Hugh, Rachel and Dave Smith from Scott Wilson motivated the team by walking in from Stamford for the second year in a row. Nyree walked in from Werrington and Karen walked in from Eye. Even our staff that work out of Peterborough and commute in walked to and from train stations, in Patrick's case over 3 miles each way. Even I managed to walk to work, allergy to all things exercise and effort aside.
For our efforts, PECT won two of the competitions categories, Top Coordinator (that's me!) and Best Small Business. Congrats to PECT staff for their effort and as always their enthusiasm in taking part.
All I can say is...WHAT? Well, I suppose I can say more...
I watched part of (football argument and I lost) Crop to Shop - Jimmy's Supermarket Secrets on BBC1 earlier in the week and I'm still stunned. The programme had Jimmy Doherty exploring the global logistic of "fresh" food from around the world to a shop near YOU.
Potatoes, I like a bit of mash, not so keen on the baked, but hey, potatoes are good food. But, did you know that potatoes are grown in Egypt and shipped to the UK. The logistics are incredible. Egyptian farmers buy seed potatoes from Scotland. The grow the potatoes in sand, which has no nutrients. They therefore need to water and fertilise the seed potatoes. Water + desert = huh? Well, there is a finite water source deep deep deep under the desert. They have tapped that for watering the potatoes and fertilising at the same time. Cool, the potatoes grown where none have grown before...Then the potatoes are harvested and packed in peat moss. Peat Moss + desert = huh? Ah, so, they import Peat Moss from Ireland, known for great Peat Moss... Then they ship the lovely winter pots to the UK.
So, although our British potatoes can be stored for months, supermarkets are importing winter potatoes from Egypt. A round trip of over 11,500 miles.
Egypt + potatoes = WHAT?!
Buy + Eat + Grow + Local British Potatoes = Common Sense
I love windup because it doesn't take anything from the environment to turn on and I can count on the item working with a little wrist action.
There is a plethora of products available that use windup energy. Everything from toys to flashlights and radios. The main alternatives are resource high electricity and portable batteries. But, if you're turned on by batteries, there are new measures to help make it easier to dispose of them.
Effective 1st February 2010 regulations covering collecting, recycling and reprocessing portable batteries came into force. Which means, in battery terms, any member of the public can return waste batteries to any shop that sells in excess of 32kg of batteries per year.
If you are a business that uses portable batteries, your supplier will operate a take back scheme.
The disposal of waste industrial batteries and automobile batteries in landfill and by incineration is banned. The battery producer or automotive garage will take back used batteries when you buy a new one and will dispose of them accordingly.
For more information on how to dispose of batteries, contact your local council.
Today is Thanksgiving in America. Why should I care...well, I'm American, and proud of it. Although Thanksgiving's origins are questionable, it is a time of family, friends, and giving thanks (not to mention the food, beer and American Football).
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. There isn't any need for presents or posturing. It is what is.
For the second year running, the PECT gang have humored me and celebrated Thanksgiving in the form an office bring and share lunch. Although we were missing Mark and his famous home made Yorkshire puddings, everyone came, shared and gave thanks. Helen, our weekly yoga instructor, and Jenna, Charlotte and Alice from PCC also graced our table. The food was amazing. Roast chicken (thanks Chris!!!!!), gravy, stuffing, veggie stuffing, cheesy swede mash, roast potatoes, green beans, carrots, and dessert, Jill's mouth watering Pumpkin Cheesecake!
Thanks went around the table, from the simple pleasures, "I'm thankful for sunshine", "I'm thankful for the food!", we had thanks for a brother who will be going to Afghanistan, from a sister "thankful that she has him now and that he comes home safe".
Being thankful isn't difficult. Look at the sunshine, look at your friends, look at your son or daughter. Feel the love and give thanks.
Thank you PECT for supporting our diverse ideas, supporting the work/family ratio, encouraging ideas and appreciating our enthusiasm. Thanks Hugh for going along (most of the time) with our crazy ideas and my poor tea making abilities. Thank you PECT staff for encouraging my bad jokes and pranks that forever go wrong. Thank you to my family and friends, especially the ones in America that I miss every day. Thank you to the people that serve in the military world wide and put their lives on the line for what they believe. And lastly, thank you Kim, for your childlike enthusiasm for everything, including your curiosity on what left on the table would taste the weirdest together, and then giving it a go. Here's to cranberry sauce, fruit salad with yogurt and gravy..yes, gravy.
Am I the only one that feels the pain of inanimate objects? Wait, don't answer that right away...
When I was little, I loved the book "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein. In brief, it's a tale about a young boy and a tree. The tree provides the boy with what he wants. He loves the boy very much and provides him with anything he asks for, until the tree is just a stump that as the boy grows old, he can sit on. And the tree is happy.
The selfless giving of the tree to the boy he loves, to the point there is nothing left but a stump, shows love but also the selfishness of the boy. I read this story to my son, and it is now one of his favorites.
When I was little and my cuddly toys needed to be boxed or given away, I cried. I felt that they would be lonely, feel abandoned. My son is the same. When I explain that other children are less fortunate, and with his birthday just past and Christmas around the corner, we should donate some of his unused toys and cuddly things to charity, he can't bare it. "But they'll miss me mommy, they'll be sad and afraid without me to take care of them".
And so, the same goes for trees. I really hate buying a Christmas tree every year. I hate the waste of it, the poor tree thrown out after the New Year. I even feel badly for the trees in the shop that are lopsided or drooping, thinking they've grown their whole life with the hope of being chosen as a family Christmas Tree, only to have that life wasted because they aren't perfect.
Nyree sent me this link. A little something to make me feel better about the waste and consumership of Christmas and the holiday season. Save a tree. Love a tree. Go on, I know I'm not the only one.
Surfing FaceBook (Oi, for work people, we need a speaker for our AGM next year) I came across Leonardo DiCaprio's page. I think most people know that Leo (I can call him that, we're mates...) is heavily involved in environmental issues, as well as human condition issues. I didn't realise however that he had a website that provides valuable resources for educating ourselves on these issues in a clear and thought provoking way.
PECT led the way in Peterborough by organising viewings of The Age of Stupid and The End of the Line (if you haven't seen the films, do!). Leo's site has suggested reading and watching material along the same lines. I thought I'd share the love.
15:25:37
For the second year running, the PECT gang have humored me and celebrated Thanksgiving in the form an office bring and share lunch. Although we were missing Mark and his famous home made Yorkshire puddings, everyone came, shared and gave thanks. Helen, our weekly yoga instructor, and Jenna, Charlotte and Alice from PCC also graced our table. The food was amazing. Roast chicken (thanks Chris!!!!!), gravy, stuffing, veggie stuffing, cheesy swede mash, roast potatoes, green beans, carrots, and dessert, Jill's mouth watering Pumpkin Cheesecake!
