Sustainable Girton News

We very much hope that everyone in Girton will have received their Sustainable Girton cotton bags by the time you read this article. Only half the bags arrived before the launch date and the remainder have been beset by numerous delays. We have just received them as I write, so if you still do not have your bag the fault is now probably ours: do let us know!

We have been delighted by the response of the Village to our campaign, and we have received many requests from elsewhere in Cambridgeshire (and outside!) by groups which would like to follow us. Meanwhile we are exploring the possibility of providing cornstarch bags for those products where a cotton bag may just not do. These can then be composted when you have finished with them. We would be very interested to know what you think our next step might be in avoiding unnecessary waste.

There have been a few small wrinkles we had not anticipated. Villagers putting out glass and metals in their green boxes not in plastic bags discovered that some of our refuse collectors had not been briefed: urgent talks are currently taking place but until those have ended we may need to ask people to bend their principles just a little; and we must apologise to anyone who has been inconvenienced. As to where you can get such bags, well I find that more than enough come through my letter-box each day wrapped round journals and magazines. And if absolutely necessary, the stores sell plastic rubbish bags which at least are not likely to end up blowing around the Recreation Ground -- or the Pacific Ocean.

Recap (Recycling in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough) who supported our Girton bags have another great offer for us. You can buy a compost bin for only £7 including delivery; but this offer will close at the end of March. You can buy on-line at www.recyclenow.com/compost or by old-fashioned post from WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme). We have a number of leaflets with information and an order-form (though there is a £1 surcharge for orders by post). Please contact Douglas de Lacey (565219) for one.

Would you take thirty pounds out of your account from a cash machine, and then throw ten straight into the rubbish-bin? No? Would you buy half-a-dozen eggs and three apples from the local store, and then when you came home throw an apple and two eggs straight into the rubbish-bin? This, effectively, is what we do as a nation: about one-third of all the food bought is thrown away. And that is not peelings and skins, it is good, edible food. Not only is this wasteful, but the food which you put into your black bin goes into landfill and when rotting down produces methane, a greenhouse gas much worse than carbon dioxide. So here are some tips for cutting down on your food waste, making big savings for the climate and your pocket.

• Don't buy more than you need. Pre-packs of fruit and vegetables are generally no cheaper than loose produce and with loose you can buy just what you want, and pick out the best too. You'll also avoid the pre-pack plastic bag.
• Try growing your own. Home-grown food, even on a modest scale, is easy and always fresher than bought. Try lettuce in a tub if you have no garden space; and of course pots of herb on the windowsill.
• Store foods wisely. You may be aware that bananas produce chemicals which cause other fruit to ripen more quickly, so it's a good idea to store them separately. All fruit and vegetables keep better in a fridge: just take out what you need for the day ahead. If you freeze fresh vegetables, do so in small units so you can thaw just what you need.
• Re-use left-overs. In the "good old days" Sunday's joint became Monday's mince and Tuesday's soup; with a fridge you can keep bits until you have the ingredients for a really nourishing soup which can then go into the freezer until needed.
• Fill your freezer. Every time you open the freezer door you will lose all the cold air which filled the spaces. When you have put in all the food you have, if it's not full add empty sealed containers to trap that cold air.
• When you have done all you can -- try not to put food waste in the black bin, but into the green one for compost. In our household we have a container in the freezer for food waste. Once a fortnight this gets emptied into newspaper for the green bin. Result: no smells, no mess and no methane! (Yes, composting does produce carbon dioxide but that is not so bad, and it also provides a useful product.)

As I write this it is 80 degrees (Fahrenheit; 27 in Centigrade) in the shade, with no breath of wind. Keeping cool is quite a problem. I notice that many of my neighbours have their windows wide open, which may seem sensible but in fact is counter-productive. So this month, in the hope that the warm weather will return before the end of summer, here are some cool tips.

• Open windows when the outside temperature is lower than that indoors. This will be in the evenings and (if you can do so safely) overnight. Cool air will enter the house and the temperature of the building will drop.
• As soon as the outside temperature rises above that indoors, shut all windows. Do this before you go to work if you are out all day. Draw curtains on south-facing windows. This prevents hot air entering the house and warming it up. Similarly, closing doors between the north and south of your house will ensure that north-facing rooms will stay as cool as possible.
• The exception to this is a glass conservatory, which is designed to trap heat. Here if you cannot cover the windows you need to open as many as possible to let the hot air out. Fitting blinds is a good way of keeping a conservatory cool in summer.
• Open fridges and freezers as little as possible. A fridge keeps its inside cool by pumping heat into the surrounding air: the more it has to work, the hotter the room will get. If your freezer is not very full, fill it with empty boxes, which will keep the cold air inside from escaping into the room when you open the door.
• Check your central heating/hot water timings. Many people will have switched off the heating phase, but may still be running hot water heating for much of the day. As you are likely to use less hot water, so you need to heat it less. If your hot water tank is well lagged you may only need a brief boost to provide all the hot water you need.

Last month I suggested a simple Energy Challenge: get as many miles per gallon from your car as you can. Here is the next idea for optimising your fuel consumption.

To measure consumption all you need to do is to fill your tank, and take a record of the milometer reading. From then on, record the quantity of fuel you buy and the milometer reading: it doesn't matter if you don't fill the tank completely as over a fairly short period the error produced by not filling to the brim will become negligible. We would be delighted to learn what economies you have achieved, and if you send us the readings, and the car you are driving, we'll publish the high-scorers (taking into account the manufacturer's expected figures) -- anonymously if you wish.

Only one suggestion this month, because it may be a little more difficult to understand. When driving through a town, you can often find yourself involved in a lot of stop-start motoring because of traffic lights and other problems. This can also be true even on a motorway, where you can get waves of traffic which go quite fast till they meet stopped traffic, then everyone starts up again and moves quite fast till the next wave. The result is that everyone is involved in frequent braking and acceleration; that is, frequent wastage of fuel. It is possible to even out these waves, with no loss of time but great saving of fuel, by trying to drive at a constant, slower, speed. You will probably be worried, to begin with, by the huge gap which opens up between yourself and the car in front; and no doubt occasionally someone will try to overtake you to fill it; but with a little practice you will find that just as you approach the stopped traffic it has started to move again and you can carry on at your steady, economical, speed.