The Green Familia » nigels eco store

Craft Kits for the Kids

erica — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 11:00:03 +0000

The Christmas holiday is looming and the weather can be grim at this time of year. It’s always worth having a stock of art activities to hand to take you through these dark days.

This Dinosaur Puppet Kit would be a fun thing to make. The kit contains everything you need to make up the puppet. Four colours of paint are provided so you can paint your dinosaur any way you like. All the cardboard used in this kit is made from recycled post consumer waste paper and cardboard. Obviously you can recycle it again once you’ve finished with it. There are a number of similar kits available so you can find one to suit your child’s interests. It’s priced at £12.

Older children might like to try their hand at sewing. I liked this Stitch-It Donkey Kit . It uses a funky vintage-style fabric and the donkey will hava a matching green mane and tail. The kit comes with everything you need, including the stuffing and a pair of scissors. It’s suitable for ages 8 and over and priced at £9.95.

In Hot Water

erica — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 16:00:24 +0000

A hot water bottle with a cover keeps you cosy and warm at night without a risk of burning. I’m a fan of this stylish Hand knitted Hottie from Swings and Other Pretty Things. The cover is hand knitted from undyed, unbleached wool and the bottle itself is recyclable. I love the chunky, rustic look and the smart grey colour. It’s priced at £39.

Another option is this Recycled Wool Hot Water Bottle Cover from Nigel’s Eco Store. This bottle is made by People Tree and is sure to help you stay warm and cosy. Made from a mixture of recycled yarns in Nepal by hand, so each hot water bottle cover is a one off piece. It comes in cream with a chunky cable knit pattern and is priced at £18.37.

Carol Atkinson Textiles have this charming Heart Motif Hot Water Bottle. The cover is knitted in chunky, reclaimed and recycled yarns with a cute appliqué heart motif. They come in a range of colours and you can specify the main colour (either plain or striped) and the heart colour that you want, so you can choose a hot water bottle cover that suits you. They’re priced at £25.

Draught Excluders – Keeping out the Cold

erica — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 11:00:17 +0000

The combination of having recently moved house to an older Edwardian property and the onset of chillier weather has made me want to wage war on draughts. There’s a range of products available from the effective to the decorative.

I love the look of these retro Snake Draught Excluders. They’re made from vintage fabric and are about 90cm long. Their buckwheat husk filling has been chosen as it’s heavier and more flexible, so creating a better seal between the door and the snake. You can choose from a range of fabric designs and they’re priced at £19.99.

A purely functional and cheaper option is the Insulating Door Draught Excluder. It slides onto the bottom of your door and moves with it, so you’ll not need to move it out of the way when you open the door. It’s suitable for both carpeted and smooth floor surfaces and comes in black or white. It’s priced at £7.99.

Another decorative option is the Red Spotty Dog Draught Excluder from New Internationalist. It’s a very cute spotty sausage dog design and he’s made in India to fair trade standards. He measures 80cm long and he’s stuffed with polyfibre, plastic and sand. He’s priced at a very reasonable £12.

Cutting Down on Packed Lunch Waste

erica — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 08:54:26 +0000

As you may know this year’s Zero Waste Week is concentrating on cutting waste away from home. I’ve been looking at ways I can do more to cut waste created by me and my family. Packed lunches seemed an obvious target. Both my son and my husband have a packed lunch to take to school or work on most weekdays. Sandwiches and often other food is wrapped in cling film to keep it separate from other food and in the case of sandwiches to hold them together. So I’ve decided to tackle the cling film waste pile by looking for innovative products to help.

Cling film is a particular environmental nasty. It’s difficult to recycle and doesn’t biodegrade easily. It seems there are 2 main ways to avoid cling film. One is to use something else in much the same way as you use cling film and the other is to use a lunch box with suitably sized compartments so it’s unnecessary. Today I’m going to look at substitutes for cling film which I think will be the way for us to go as it saves buying new lunchboxes.

Waxed Paper or Parchment Paper are 2 possible alternatives and they can both be composted after use. Obviously you can cut them to size and if you need to seal them, a clip or a small piece of sellotape should do the job. Aluminium foil could be used in a similar way too and that’s recyclable. You could reuse packaging from elsewhere e.g. supermarket vegetable bags, giving those bags a second use.

Another option is the Wrap-n-Mat. It’s fastened with Velcro and it’s an eco friendly, reusable alternative. As it’s machine washable, so you can use it again and again. When you unfold it, the cotton wrapper acts as a place mat. This is an attractive product with a choice of 4 colours and it’s priced at £4.99 each. I do have a few concerns about it though and I think I would experiment with 1 or 2 before buying more. We would need quite a few of these in our house, as my husband and son would probably use 3 or 4 in a day between them (1 each for sandwiches and another for something extra). Plus, we’d need extras to allow for washing, so it would be quite an investment.

Solar Security Lighting

erica — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 08:00:27 +0000

When I had a security light installed on my first house about 15 years ago, I don’t remember there being a huge amount of choice around the type of lights available and I can’t recall solar powered security lighting being an option. Things have moved on and now there are large numbers of solar powered lights available. Security lights seem ideal to run on solar power as they don’t need to be on for very long. It also makes them easy to install as they don’t need to be linked up to your mains electricity and they’ll save you money too.

This Solar Utility Light is very reasonably priced at £19.98. You can use it as either a security light or as a shed light. It will light for up to 16 hours when fully charged and stays lit for 25 seconds after motion is detected, so it won’t be on half the night if a fox passes by. As it’s intended for outside use, it’s fully weatherproof and doesn’t need an electrician to install.

It’s wise to leave a light on when you’re out in the evening or on holiday to deter burglars. One way to do this without using mains electricity is to use a Sun Jar. The Sun jar is a portable solar powered light. It looks like a storage jar, but it has a solar cell, batteries and LED light under its lid. During the day it stores energy and when it gets dark it automatically turns itself on and glows with the day’s sunshine. You could have a few dotted around the house and it could save you turning on a light if you just pop into a room to fetch something. They’re available in blue, orange and pink so you can go for a light effect too if you like. The price is £19.99.

Solar Garden Lighting

erica — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 08:00:34 +0000

Now that the evenings are getting a bit darker, you might be wanting a little more light to enjoy after dinner drink in the garden. There are a huge variety of solar powered lights available and there’s something to suit every garden style. If you’re having a evening barbeque, it’s lovely to have some additional lighting supplement the light from the barbie.

If you’re after something a little bit different, how about this Murano Garden Globe? The Murano solar powered, garden light globe blends modern technology with traditional hand blown glass. Each Terra solar glass globe has a ‘crazzed’ appearance and the entire globe changes colour from green to red to blue. It’s priced at £19.99 each. There are light blue and midnight blue versions available.

Get in the party feel with these Chinese Party Lanterns. They’re perfect for highlighting a pergola or similar feature in the garden and their lovely, bright colours add to the party atmosphere. They’re strung together so they’ll sway in the breeze. Each string has 2 of each of the following colours: green, yellow, blue, purple, red and white. They’ll work for about 8 hours on a full solar charge. Normally they’re priced at £17.99, but currently they’re available for £14.99.

For a fun option, I’d pick these solar powered Ladybird Lights. You can thread them through your borders to pick out your favourite plants when the light fades. They provide light for up to 8 hours and because the solar panel is separate they can be placed in a shady area of the garden, if you wish. They’re priced at £24.99.

Back to School Stationery

erica — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 07:53:41 +0000

Now it’s August, it’s time to start thinking about getting things together for the new school year. New stationery helps cheer up those who don’t want the holidays to end. How about some eco products this year?

I like this stapleless Eco Stapler. It can staple together up to 4 sheets at a time and you don’t need to buy staples. So you send less to landfill and you save yourself some money. It works by cutting out a tiny strip of paper and using it to thread the pages together. It costs £9.25 and comes in a choice of 4 colours.

Nigel’s Eco Store stock a Back to School Stationery Set with a range of products: 2 recycled ballpoint pens, 3 HB eco pencils, 10 FSC colouring pencils and a recycled tyre pencil case to store them all in. This little lot should cover off all the basics that they need and it’s priced at £10.20.

If it’s a ruler that you need, how about these Recycled Wedge Rulers made from recycled materials? These 30cm rulers are perfect for school and are made from recycled polystyrene packaging. They come in grey, red or blue and are priced at only 89 pence.

Eco Beach Essentials for Adults

erica — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 08:00:20 +0000

This week, I’ve been looking for environmentally friendly ways of getting your beach essentials ready for your hols.

I can almost feel the softness of these lovely towels from the picture alone. They’re a made to the heavy weight of 650gsm from organic cotton. Plus, they’re super soft, as well as highly absorbent. The bath sheet size would be perfect to the beach and it’s priced at £13.95. There’s a choice of 8 colours to pick from too.

These eco friendly flip flops from Nigel’s Eco Store are the essential beach footwear this summer. They tick all the boxes: fairtrade, biodegradable and comfortable. Made from latex rubber, these flip flops have a strong sole and are 100% FSC-certified. They also contain no animal glues, PVC or EVA. They’re simple good looks make them a great unisex choice. They’re priced at £14.99.

A beach bag is the perfect accessory for the beach and it’s practical too. This Sarah Smith Scooby Bag is made from fairtrade cotton and is big enough to carry all your essentials with you. It’s fun, summery print hits the perfect note for your holiday. There are a couple of designs available and they’re priced at a very reasonable £8.

Eco Beach Essentials for Children

erica — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 11:00:51 +0000

You just can’t write about beach essentials for children without including the classic bucket and spade combination. This gorgeous set from Holtz Toys comprises a red metal bucket with a wooden handle plus three digging tools made of wood and metal. They come in their own attractive canvas bag and are priced at £16.60. This is a fun set that definately will get used year after year. Holtz Toys also offer a 6 piece wooden sandcastle kit which is a great way of adding a touch of grandeur and scale to your beach creations. The sandcastle kit is available for £15.75.

Family games on the beach are key childhood memories for me. This brightly coloured, fairtrade beach volleyball will help keep you fit and also provide lots of family fun. The natural latex used to make the bladders in these balls is sourced from sustainably and responsibly managed plantations in South India and Sri Lanka. It’s available from Nigel’s Eco Store for £13.99.

Beachcombing and rock pooling are traditional beach pastimes and your children can enjoy themselves, whilst learning about the world around them. This landing net is essential rock pooling equipment. You can also use in the garden pond at home or go pond dipping in the countryside. It’s priced at £14.90.

Eco Storage Ideas

erica — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 08:00:17 +0000

I regularly get teased about my love of boxes by my hubby, but I’m unrepentant and still love to pack stuff away in a variety of boxes, chests and cupboards. This week I’ve been looking at eco storage ideas for the home and have come up with a few real winners.

I love the clean lines of this toy box – the shape is contemporary, but it would be at home in almost any style of house. Better still there is plenty of choice with 6 colours and 3 different sizes to choose from. They are made from Finnish plywood from reponsibly managed forests and they are coloured with child friendly paint. Prices start at £129.95 and you can choose to have them personalised too for an extra charge.

Bikes are awkward, bulky things to store, but the Cycloc Bicycle Storage Rack could be the answer. They’re designed and made in Britain from 100% recycled plastic. The Cycloc Rack screws to a wall, and your bike crossbar clicks securely into place so freeing up valuable floor space and using wall space that would otherwise be wasted. Your bike’s frame is protected by soft rubber pads and you can store bike accessories inside. If you want additional security, you can pass a chain lock through. It’s priced at £59.99.

These solid teak laundry boxes are made in India using exclusively 100% reclaimed and recycled teak wood. This wood is recovered from derelict buildings and then carefully cleaned up and reworked. They’re very practical – I have a couple at home. You can use them as a laundry box or for a range of other uses – I use mine for storing spare bedding and towels. They are priced at £149.

These recycled tyre boxes are really for those with a very modern interior design. Handcrafted from tyre tread, this is an environmentally friendly, but practical storage solution. The tyre tread material is very durable and would be great for storing things in the garage or the shed too. Available from Eco-Designer for £85.