I know we all like nice-looking things and fancy designer products, but we’re such a productive lot that we’ve come up with a ton of solutions to meet our image needs and help us save the planet. Take the fancy wesco kitchen bins, for example, perfect for recycling and effortlessly stylish. It’s not difficult to take these things into consideration. The only thing we need is awareness and the beauty of modern day communications technology means that anyone, including you, can help increase this awareness about our planet, our society and our children simply by copying and pasting this small rant into your own websites – or get your friends to do it for you if you don’t know how. Help the planet out. Support home recycling.

Whilst many of the ideas presented would no doubt change the world (who could argue with flying cars and teleporter shoes?) it was the simple idea put forward by 9 year old Lee Josephs that won his teacher’s vote.

Lee’s entry, ‘Recycling Dots’, is a simple idea that could save councils up to £120,000 in waste disposal fees each year. If the idea was transferred nationally, it could save millions.

Lee’s idea originated at home, where his mother is sometimes puzzled by which bin she should put certain items in and when asked about how he came up with the idea, he says he thought of it “because my mam sometimes puts things in the wrong recycling bin and I have to help her.”

To solve the problem, Lee thinks that every label on every product should have a coloured, round dot in the corner that is the same colour as the recycling bin it needs to go in. This, he says, will mean his mother won’t ever get confused again.

The timing of the competition couldn’t have been any better either because, just a few days ago, Enfield Council in London announced that entire truckloads of rubbish from Ponders End had to be incinerated due to contamination. In a recent statement, Enfield Council said that up to 25 per cent of the contents of recycling bins meant for cardboard, paper, tin and plastic had been “contaminated”.

Unfortunately, once waste gets to this level of contamination, according to Enfield Council at least, sorting the rubbish becomes too expensive and anti-energy-efficient because contaminated recycling waste costs the council approximately £120,000 in high landfill taxes and waste disposal costs.

Whilst the idea is perhaps ignorant of some of the factors that would influence whether or not the ‘Recycling Dots’ were possible, it’s a shocking observation from a child that asks the question of us all; if a half-term classroom competition could generate simple, effective ideas like this, imagine what we adults could do if we simply put our minds to it.

As the storm clouds kept recycling their bitter, icy shards of rain onto the Northumberland coastline, a thick mist formed just beyond the hull of the MYSTERY. Howling winds and freezing temperatures kept the MYSTERY away from prying eyes that night. Only a few men who dared to leave the inns to head for their homes were able to share the story of the sounds they heard that night out on the dock. Their stories were so frightful that it’s taken almost a century of tales and investigation to uncover the truth behind the MYSTERY of Bedlington Port.

Unbeknown to many at the time of MYSTERY’s docking, William Kitchen, a bins man from Bedlington town had gone missing earlier that day. His wife Gwilla was said to have been tearful with fear when he didn’t come home that evening. Her grandson told the story of how she ran from house to house, knocking on doors, shrieking for help but in the howling winds and lashing rains, her cries only fell on cold, empty stone. This, so the story goes, began the black night of murder in the misty merchant port of Bedlington, on the eve of 25th October, 1881.

It was only when a dockhand turned up for work the following morning that the true extent of the savage night became apparent. Strewn accross the dock, by the gangplank of the MYSTERY was a clotted red stain, faintly visible beneath a venear of thin frost. It snaked up the gangplank onto the deck of the MYSTERY, whose bows were eerily creaking in the gentle lapping of the waves.

Rubbish and bins, seemingly hurriedly cast aside, bobbed in the sea around the anchor chain as the dockhand tentatively made his way up the gang. A cold sweat prickled the back of his neck as he reached the ship and peaked over the railing. When he saw them, an uncontrollable gasp escaped his mouth and his body involuntarily wretched at the stench and site before him. Strewn across the deck like unwanted meat cast-offs were the remains of a person, in small, bloody, icy blocks. The dockhand vomited and ran from the plan, screaming for help.

It was only when inspectors became involved that more details were uncovered about the body parts. They were reported to have been ripped (not cut or chopped, but ripped) from their sockets and thrown about the deck of the MYSTERY like bits of useless rag.

No one ever saw William Kitchen again and Charles Transom died less than week later of apparently natural causes. William Trint, the MYSTERY’s first mate set sail on the next available ship and was never seen again.

Every October, at the site where the MYSTERY docked, it’s said that on the eve of the closest Saturday to the 25th, a thick mist settles on the dock and the ghost of 3 men and a faceless beast can be seen in its shadows.

It is believed that at least one of the ghosts is William Kitchen, the bins man of Bedlington. As for the beast, no one knows.

Do you have any further information on the events that took place on 25th October in the Port of Bedlington or about any of the men in the story? If so, get in touch!

Wesco is the shortened, modern name of Westermann & Co., a small family run business founded in 1867 in Germany and based in the Sauerland. Nowadays, the brand Wesco is more commonly known for it’s strict standards in quality excellence and unique eye for stylish design.

140 Years of Hard Work and Experience

Wesco’s brand values encompass traditional metal manufacturing methods with modern technology, in a truly classical manner – a combination of excellent German quality, innovative and exclusive designs and a high tech functionality. With manufaturing history and experience going way back over 140 years the company’s excellence in all it manufactures is evident in many of today’s unique Wesco products, especially their range of Wesco Kitchen Bins.

Where Did Wesco Come From and Where Are They Going?

Soon after its establishment in 1867, the company specialised in the processing of metal plates for household goods and since then, has never stopped innovating or designing new products and has continuously extended its range of products to encompass, recycling bins, waste bins, wall clocks, kitchen accessories, baking trays and other household kitchen goods.

In the 1920s, Wesco manufactured the first of its iconic products and introduced the “ash can” into its product range. The second iconic product emerged after the war when it launched its first “pedal bin”.

Ever since then and right up to today, the range of household goods has grown to include more than 50 waste bins in various styles. Many of these products are modelled on the historic precursors which have proved popular throughout the years with their inspired classic design elements.

When it comes down to a nutchell, Wesco design is characterised by the company’s long-standing experience, a keen eye for exciting, colourful designs and a flair for turning our distant past into very popular modern stataments.

Wesco Bins

• Wesco Push Two Recycling Bin (Almond)

Brabantia design kitchen appliances (including recycling bins) that are built around the core concept of solid. Brabantia pride themselves on quality workmanship, innovation and good solid processes. Their slogan is that they ‘design products for the present, with an eye to the future…’

Brabantia History

On their website, they proudly explain their history, about how they began in 1919 with 15 people in a small Dutch factory. From the very start, the company was family owned and all family memebers were highly skilled craftsmen and engineers. Even back then, the driving force behind the company’s success was its focus on excellent workmanship and quality.

Solid Present

The skills and expertise that helped build the company all those years ago are still present today and you can almost smell the quality in their current range of recycling bins and kitchen appliances. In addition to the finely skilled engineers and developers within the company, skilled specialists are also present; from product designers to marketeers to computer consultants. All of these skills within the company and a continuous effort to keep it that way contribute to Brabantia’s secure position as one of Europe’s leading suppliers of innovative household products.

Solid Future

As for the future, well, who knows? Brabantia, however, are confident that the domestic items of tomorrow are being developed today. They even believe that all of their household items are good for at least 20 years. That, it’s fair to say, is yet to be seen but one thing is for sure and that is that Brabantia are determined to make recycling bins for a long time to come and they even back their claims up with a strong product guarantee.

Brabantia Recycling Bins

• Brabantia Touch Bin (Colour: Almond)
• Brabantia Twin Recycling Bin

There are some excellent, stylish bins in all shapes and sizes suitable for this task and here’s a few you might want to take a closer look at.

Double Home Recycling Bins

• Simplehuman Rectangular Double Recycling Bin
• Simplehuman Flip Lid Double Recycling Bin
• Ovetto Dual Compartment Double Recycling Bin
• Brabantia Twin Double Recycling Bin

Maidstone Borough Council have released very interesting stats showing that up to 40 per cent of households’ waste in bins is food. The new food recycling service aims to increase the borough’s recycling rate from 30% to almost 50% by composting the food. Have a look into home composters if you want to do this yourself.

Cabinet environment chief, Ben Sherreard, said: “We know that many waste bins are only half full every week and it doesn’t make sense collecting half empty bins but we also know that residents want a weekly collection of food waste.

“So this is the best of both worlds. By collecting recycling one week and waste the next, along with food waste every week, we can increase recycling rates and become more efficient. And residents won’t have to worry about storing rotting food waste.”

Home owners will be given a new ‘kitchen caddy’ recycling bin to collect their food waste in. This will help seperate the food from regular waste. They will also be given a new 23litre external caddy with locking lid to store the food waste for collection every week.

It’s not all about recycling waste though, there’s financial gain to be had too. Cllr Sherreard added: “That will put the council in an excellent position to save money when it goes out to tender for the next recycling and waste collection contract.”

By introducing this method into the waste collection cycle, the council estimates that the more than £100,000 a year can be saved. A welcome step in light of widespread cutbacks.

The council anticipates the introduction of the new measures to be ‘cost neutral’ thanks to grants of £500,000 from the Waste & Resources Action Programme as well as the Kent Waste Partnership.

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Credits go to the original news source.

Julian Kirby, one of FoE’s leading waste campaigners, claimed an increase in recycling targets would show the government is serious about creating green jobs.

She said: “The Government must be ambitious in setting recycling rates – better product design, as well as action to stop supermarkets and producers selling products that can’t be recycled, means that we could easily achieve upwards of 75 per cent recycling rates by 2025.”

The FoE’s study, entitled More Jobs, Less Waste, alluded to research which shows that the recycling industry provides ten times more jobs per tonne of waste processed compared to the landfill and incineration sectors.

You Can Do Your Bit

Start recycling better at home. See our wide range of recycling bins to find something suitable for your own recycling needs.

CEO Jonathan Straight said that while the second half of 2010 should see an improvement in profits, the main acceleration will be from 2011 when two recent buyouts of other companies in the sector get fully integrated and economies of scale become more apparent.

Turnover for the period was £13.2m, down from £17.2m in the first half of 2009. CEO attributed the fall in revenue to a reduction in plastic wheeled bins sales and rising pressure for lower margins as a result of changes to the group’s UK distribution agreement with Helesi.

CEO Straight said that this reduction is now being rectified as a result of the group’s acquisition of the UK manufacturing assets of Helesi on 31 March 2010. He reports that “excellent progress is being made towards recovering the group’s former 10-15% UK market share in these products, but at higher margins,” the company said.

Gross margins increased to 24.2% from 17.5% the year before as a result of the reduction in factored plastic wheeled bin sales.

When asked about impending public sector spending cuts the company said it would continue to reduce its reliance on the UK municipal sector with profits from commercial recycling containers and products sold to home customers improving.

Read a summary over at Sharecast

This is a pack of 2 replacement carbon filters that can easily be cut down to fit other compost pails too. The pack includes one round and one square carbon compost pail filter which should be used together to ensure all odours are absorbed effectively. Using both filters will keep your pail and kitchen odour free.

Key Features:

• 2 x Carbon filters
• Can be cut to fit most compost pails
• 17cm x 3.5cm x 26.5cm