Oliver Heath is the UK’s favourite celebrity interior decorator, I say he’s the favourite because he’s one of the few who really takes green issues seriously, so he’s my favourite anyway. Here’s his latest effort for the environment, in conjunction with Recycle now.

Here are some great recycled products that you could buy to close that recycling loop.

Kitchen & Home:

Recycled aluminium foil - save loads of energy by using recycled aluminium foil.

Recycled glass wine glasses - perfect for drinking organic and Fairtrade wines with a clear conscience. Good looking too!

The ultra-useful Cycloc bicycle storage solution - this little recycled plastic gizmo simply hangs your bicycle on the wall, freeing up floor space in your hall, or shed, or garage. Wherever.

Fashion:

Unisex recycled London Fire Brigade hose belt - you’ll have a belt that has saved lives.

Personal:

Recycline toothbrush - not as gross as it sounds. Not actually a recycled toothbrush, but rather a toothbrush made of environmentally sound materials, and easy to recycle.

Recycline Razor - an easy to recycle re-usable razor.

What’s that? It looks a bit like a dishwasher. But have a closer look and you’ll see it’s not a dishwasher. It’s the Sovereign “Green Machine”, more formally known as the EcoBin Waste Manager, and the latest must-have household gadget for those who are serious about waste reduction.

It’s an all-in-one, three-way waste management system that disposes of food waste and separately compacts cans and plastic bottles, effectively reducing the overall volume of household waste that has to be collected by the local council.

Here’s how it works:

The EcoBin system has three individual pull-out drawers – for food waste, cans and plastic bottles or yoghurt pots.

Food Waste:

Food waste is ground up and drops into a waste bin lined with a biodegradable bag that can hold up to 7 litres before it needs emptying. This much reduced waste, in its bag, can then be put into the compost bin or your normal waste bin. There is a built-in automatic sanitation system that cleans and flushes out the bin area into the waste outlet, preventing the build up of any deposits or odours.

Cans:

Aluminium cans from drinks and packing material from food items are crushed and compacted in a separate compartment, reducing their overall size so that 22 litres can be stored before the need to empty the container. The compacted waste can then be easily disposed of where local authorities provide special recycling bins or a separate collection service.

Plastic:

The third compartment of the EcoBin compacts containers such as plastic bottles and yoghurt pots. Up to 16 litres can be stored before the need to empty the container.

The 60-cm wide, stainless steel Sovereign EcoBin Waste Manager is available as a freestanding or built-in model with a drop-down door that reveals the three waste compartments. Old supermarket-type plastic carrier bags can be re-used to line the two bins that compact the cans and plastic bottles.

Guest post by Liza Hanks of Winchcombe Reclamation, specialists in promoting and facilitating the use of reclaimed building materials and working with all types of demolition and construction projects to divert materials from landfill.

Why use reclaimed building products? Lots of people can answer this very simply… because they have to, planning constraints, listed buildings and areas of outstanding natural beauty and conservation area all add up to a definitive legal requirement for many people to match any new building work to an existing one.

But this I feel misses the point, and here’s why.

1. Hold a handmade clay tile in one hand and a machine made one in the other. One hand is scratched by the precise rough edges and the other almost feels the warmth of the craftsman who held the tile 200 years ago as he pressed his thumb into a piece of clay on the back to form the nib. Preserving our building heritage and it component parts allows us to touch our social history and keep it alive. Many geographical areas will have their own particular methods of construction. For example in the Cotswolds where we have our honey on toast coloured stone. Its availability has sculpted the landscape, and its structural strengths and weaknesses defined its use. Experienced local builders will only pick up and hold a stone once before its position is decided, an experienced bricklayer trained in producing a similar end result, a sturdy wall, will fight to find the right place for the same stone. In reusing the material we are also reusing the skills and keeping them alive.

2. But its not just in old buildings where there is a need for reclaimed materials, we keep seeing examples of reclaimed materials being used in modern exciting buildings. Where these are used, the material, be it bricks, beams, floorboards or fireplaces really sing out. Their warmth, texture and familiarity adds depth and personality to a room. The very nature of reclaiming building materials is at it core, recycling, reducing the amount ending up in landfill.

3. Using reclaimed materials lowers a building’s carbon footprint. Traditional methods of construction used materials locally available. They would have been mainly hand produced using physical labour instead of mechanical energy sources. Reclaiming materials is a labour intensive process and chemicals are not readily used to clean or restore. New building materials are less likely to be produced in the west but are readily produced in developing countries by companies who may not enquire about working wages or conditions. They also need to be transported, which further increases their carbon footprint.