Animated film about Ewaste

                             A great little,  animated  film about the effects of the over production of electronic gadgets and the consequence on the poorer countrys who end up dealing with our ewaste                                                                      

   If you want to see more of their films, go to their website The story of stuff over 12 million people have already watched the 20 minute long film called "the story of stuff " which was only released on the internet in December 2010                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Yiuco the upcycle hype

Yiuco is a new Greek based online market place for handmade products made from upcycled, recycled or reused materials. The word Yiuco in Greek means piled up clothes. It was launched at the beginning of the year and with all the competition on the web from market places selling handmade goods it might have some trouble getting noticed. Although it does have a niche market and as far as i am aware it is the only on line market place the is solely committed to selling  upcycled, recycled and reused handmade goods.

Recycled jewellery by Coca Cola

In 2010 the French Coca Cola company in association with Gontie Paris  started marketing recycled glass jewellery made from coca cola bottles. It seems that if a large multi national company are choosing to branch out to into such a creative venture, then the significance of the trashion movement is not just a flash in the pan. Unfortunately for the moment it's only available to French customers, but for those interested you can browse through the catalogue here and there is a brief explanation ( only in French for the moment) of the techniques used to make the jewellery.

Eco friendly and cheap tarnish remover

 


Silver will always tarnish, it's a  chemical reaction between the metal, oxygen and sulphur dioxide, sounds scientific but it just the surrendering air and if the air is heavily polluted then the tarnish effect will happen quicker.
There are commercial tarnish removers that claim to restore the silver to it's original state and they probably do, but there are concerns about the toxicity of these products. There are simple, cheap solutions using readily available household products and that are highly efficient. There are variations that I have seen on the web for this recipe and they all apparently work, but the method that i use is the following.
2 tablespoons of baking powder
1 tablespoon of salt
Some aluminium Foil and for good measure I add a some extra pieces of scrap aluminium
2 cups boiling water

If very heavily tarnished then make the solution stronger ( there is no danger for the silver)

Place the aluminium foil in the bottom of a glass bowel or jam jar, put  the silver object on the foil ( it is very important that the silver is in contact with the aluminium) mix the ingredients in a separate bowel and then cover the silver object with this mixture and leave for 10 to 15 minutes ( there will be a smell of bad eggs this means it is working as the sulphur is released back into the air) After soaking,  remove and lightly scrub the object with a soft  toothbrush and rinse.


                                                               A after and before photo