Enviromentally Friendly?

[Sue Dyer]

Following discussions on washing and cleaning – does anyone aim to be environmentally friendly with their rental?

I work for a sustainable transport charity who are ultra enviro friendly. After being asked to create the office enviro friendly policy it certainly raised my awareness. I recycle wherever possible and try to encourage my guests to use the recycle facilities outside of the village shop (no separate bins at Berwick council yet). I try not to use the tumble drier if at all possible, get longlife lightbulbs, have a supply of carrier bags to resuse etc

It then comes down to cleaning products. At work we use Ecover products and recycled paper toilet rolls (!) the boss is happy to pay the extra for these but I’d find them a lot more expensive to use in bulk for the cottage. I’ve already stated in another post that in my opinion there is no substitute for bleach (domestos rules!) for cleaning toilets – according to environmentalist bleach = evil. I’m torn between enviro guilt, financial common sense and cleaner toilets.

Does anyone else consider these issues for their property? I’d welcome any views on efforts to save the planet.

p.s back to our old friend Ikea. There are currently no recycle facilities in the UK for batteries but Ikea accept them!

[John Borg]

We try to do our little bit too. I ask guests not to throw away their glass bottles so that every week or so we take them to the bring in site for recycling. I tell them about the compost bin in the garden and some of them actually do empty their peels and stuff, especially the ultra eco friendly Swiss!
I have noticed that many guests actually keep the plastic carrier bags and leave them with the glass bottles when they leave, so in a way, many take their habits with them on holiday and yes, we have actually picked up some good points regarding recycling & re-use from our guests!

[centime]

Soodyer: I did a post in another topic and included this web site http://www.essortment.com/in/Home.Cleaning/ have a look at the section at the bottom on House Cleaning Products. I have not gone through it all yet, but noticed that you could even make your own washing machine powder – pure soap variety – it was fascination. Here in Lisbon we have been designated a pilot parish for recycling and nearly on every other corner we have the huge bins to separate paper, plastic and glass plus a little special bin for batteries, a couple of weeks ago there was a TV government sponsored campaign about awareness of the danger of old batteries. Very surprised that the UK is not more up to speed with this issue. My husband and I only use organic, we have just come back from the Lisbon BioCoop Friday shopping expedition – they are all over France. I use Ecover products and use the whitening powder mixed up with a little water to deep clean my marble worktop and horrid things like the drain – it works well as my husband will not let me use bleach at all. I also found a non detergent washing machine by Daewoo that uses only ozone and oxygen – same principal as the Ecover powder - but don’t think they market yet in Europe – would love to have more details on this if anyone can tract it down. I also use a steam machine, cleaning walls, windows, floors inside of toilet bowls and sterilizing mattresses 4 times a year when we turn them; with this you don’t need bleach and it moves those difficult scuff marks from walls - you know the ones that suitcases leave!