The British Retail Consortium (BRC) is calling for a scrappage scheme to be introduced similar to the current cash for old cars scheme.

The BRC said that by introducing the new scheme a message would be sent out to households that by switching to low emission generating products, fuel bills could be cut. As with the current car scrappage scheme consumers would receive a discount on a new appliance that is much more energy efficient by trading in their old appliances.

A modern fridge uses just half the energy of an older model from the 1990’s, over its entire lifetime it would easily pay for itself in saved fuel bills. Consumers are put off upgrading to a newer model because of the up front costs, a fridge scrappage scheme would help solve this problem.

The BRC also asked for VAT to be removed from energy efficient appliances, this would cost the government just under £510 Million in lost VAT receipts but would lead to CO2 emissions being cut by a massive 1.3 million tonnes every year.

The car scrappage scheme which gives car buyers a £2000 discount on a new model has proved extremely successful with orders hitting just under 155,000 since it was introduced.

A Recycling body has recently revealed that Ireland has reached its EU recycling target 3 years ahead of target. Ireland has recycled enough waste last year to take just under 175,000 cars off the road, according to Repak.

The recycling body revealed that 713,000 tonnes of waste were recycled by Irish homes and business, a 9.5% increase on last year. They also found that 2/3rds of Irish households were now recycling their waste in their green bins.

Help the environment and recycle your old mobiles today.

A pair of designers from Vancouver, Canada are recycling old cassette tapes and turning them into handmade iPod Nano cases.

The new design called the 45nano looks like a normal cassette tape on one side but on the other side is an area big enough to fit the iPod Nano inside. They also put some foam and a plastic side in this area to protect the iPod and making it easy to use.

The new cases can be purchased for $42 from Contexture Design. There are many different designs to choose from.

Recycle your old iPod for cash today

There are many environmentally friendly things that we all can do in our own homes to make it a greener place to live.

If you are a home owner you can do much more than people who are renting, as people that own their own homes have the power to make structural changes to make the home more energy efficient.

Even if you don’t own your own home there are still a few basic tips that we all can do including:

• Changing the light bulbs – Energy saving light bulbs last much longer than standard light bulbs plus they use less energy so will decrease your electricity bills.
• Switch off electrical items and lights when they are not in use.
• Conserve Water – Switch off the tap when not needed and only run the dishwasher with a full load.
• Plant trees around the house – Planting trees will help the environment as they absorb the carbon dioxide and give off oxygen.
• Reuse packaging that goods come in, including plastic bags.
• Recycle old mobile phones, iPods, CDs and other unwanted items for cash.

Making your house a greener place to live can be very easy with a few little changes. Not only can you make or save some money along the way but you will also be making our world a better place to live.

Recycle mobile phones for cash.

Recycle CDs, DVDs or games for cash.

Recycle iPods for cash payments.

According to figures published on August 6th 2009 by Defra, England recorded a 36.9% household recycling rate for the quarter ending on December 2008.

In comparison for figures published for the year before the household recycling and composting rate is up 3.9%. The best performing areas for this period were the East Midlands with 44.4% and Eastern England on 43.6%. In the same year the amount of household waste being sent to landfill decreased from 15.5 million tonnes to 14.2 million tonnes.

The figures also show that water usage has also decreased from 328kg per head from April 2007 up to March 2008 to the lower amount of 306kg per head between January and December 2008.

These figures are certainly encouraging as it shows that a little less waste is ending up on landfill sites. It also shows that the English public are committed to recycling.

According to the Trades Union Congress (TUC) over 1 million skilled jobs could be created if green technologies are embraced in the UK.

Recent research has found that the UK is still lagging behind other European countries like Germany and Spain in terms of solar and wind power production. In the UK there are definitely the resources available for us to thrive in these areas.

The UK already has a great selection of top class green manufacturing companies. If heavy investment in the future is put into green technology then the UK could easily become a world leader.

Current employers also need to start considering the benefits of adopting green initiatives such as electrical or mobile recycling.