www.everythingsgonegreen.co.uk

We purchased our first box of ecoballs the other day and have been accumulating various loads of laundry to test.

Firstly I did a random “typical bloke” laundry wash to include an assortment of odds-and-ends that no discerning domestic deity would dream of.

• Bath towel (well used)
• Assorted t-shirts (including a red one for good measure and one that was deliberately “sweated-in”)
• Pair of denim jeans
• Socks (lots of)

Now, because the ecoballs are each about the size of a tennis ball (we used two) there needs to be a slightly less packed washing drum so they can make their way amongst the clothes. We only use Ecover laundry liquid and Ecover fabric conditioner normally so there was no powdery residue or unnatural fragrances to purge from our machine.

Laundry in. Ecoballs in. Set to 40°C. Start.

Being in “typical bloke” mode meant that the setting wasn’t checked for the rinse cycle (which is not needed with Ecoballs) so this was a “normal” wash sans environmentally-friendly liquids. The only difference to the wash cycle from outside was the sound of the ecoballs bumping the drum & glass.

Unload. Smell test. The ecoballs themselves do have an aroma a slightly acrid nose to them but certainly not unpleasant. Our bathroom tiles are natural stone and it’s similar; imagine standing under a waterfall and the olfactory senses you get from the cascade of water over rock – that’s it.

The socks smelt clean but had this slight “rocky/earthy” aroma, but everything else – the t-shirts, towel and jeans all smelled clean, as if they’d been rinsed in water and that’s it.

Everything is now on the washing line, getting an airing, so we expect our newly ecoball laundered clothes to have that genuine “fresh air” smell that so many perfume & chemical companies just can’t seem to get right…

UPDATE: All dry and clean – these ecoballs are great, everything is clean & fresh and there was even a second load including a pair of jeans with bike chain oil on them. Whilst there is still some bike oil on the leg of the jeans (I did use the “quick wash” setting for speed & economy) just by themselves the ecoballs did well.

How did the ecoballs work in comparison with regular laundry cleaners? I’ve not used the major brands in years. Why not? They are too “chemically” and once you’ve stopped using them you realise how utterly artificial they smell – in fact the brands actually smell really peculiar once you’ve purged your olfactory sense of their man-made stink. Ecoball washed laundry smells like its been cleansed in a fresh water stream. In cleaning power the ecoballs work absolutely fine, I have no complaints whatsoever. They lift dirt and eradicate nasty niffs (in the armpits of sports shirts for instance) just as well as mainstream methods.

VERDICT: Buy ecoballs, they really are good and that’s the last £5.33 I’ll be spending for a year or two. Seriously!

The first time I saw the Eden Project was probably in or just after the first year after it opened, 2001. Once a quarry, or more accurately, a china clay pit, this big hole in the ground has been radically transformed into the incredible place that is the Eden Project with its trademark biodomes.

Back then it was just being populated; the domes were there with their own environments but the “pit” was a sparsely-planted. Now it has grown to maturity and what a splendid place the Eden Project is.

Apart from the biodomes there’s a couple of new features. There wasn’t a bridge there last time, nor the ice-skating rink (although the building might have been there) and then there’s The Core, a really interesting building, looking like the shell of a horse chestnut and housing some great interactive features for the kids & the adults too.

Then there’s WEEE man. Made out of all manner of rubbish, WEEE man is a giant sculpture comprising everything from washing machine drums to computer mice, a microwave oven, an old Flymo mower… WEEE man was built to promote understanding of the European Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive.

So what do we now do with waste electrical/electronic equipment? We reduce, reuse, recycle and make great big towering scultptures out of it.

The biodomes (or biomes) are as I remember them. I visited the warm temperate dome first and explored olive groves, cork trees & vineyards of the Mediterranean, South African finebos and California. This is a fun biome, full of plants & sculptures, and a few British birds flitting around.

My favourite though I saved ’til last. I took off my gore-tex alpine jacket, fleece & merino fleece (yes, it was a cold day in southwest England) and strolled into the tropical biome. Wow. It was hot & humid and totally awesome. It really was like being in another world in there and I stayed in this particular biome for a good couple of hours.

The tropical biome is by far the biggest dome and houses a rainforest. It’s hot in there and damp, there are banana plants, spices, palms, sugar cane, rice, rubber, bamboo… you name it, this is an incredible space. When it’s quiet and the kids behave it’s really idyllic in there.

But most of all the Eden Project is totally educational. It gives you an insight into faraway places, the plants, the lives of the people and their livelihoods. I’m inspired to go see a real rainforest now.

If you pay for your day ticket and sign up for “gift aid” (giving away the tax to the charity, the Eden Project is a charity BTW) then they will give you a year’s entry for free. The snowdrops are out and the daffodils are starting to spring forth, so I might try and pop back when spring is in full flow and then again in the summertime.

If you haven’t been, go see the Eden Project, it’s highly recommended for the kids and for the grown-ups

Pardon?

I said Ecoballs^™.

We first heard the term from our friends Howies a few years back. Of their organic cotton jeans they always say

ecoball^™ washed for softness

So when @dombat said on Twitter the other day;

Ecoballs £5.35 in Aldi currently http://tinyurl.com/djl4ro

I jumped on my bike and pedalled through the woods to our nearest Aldi, just a couple of miles away (and nearly got squashed by a dangerous driver in the process!) and picked up a box of ecoballs^™ for the special offer price of £5.35

Of course I wasn’t the only one buying eco-friendly washing products and you could see the cashier’s face as another box of ecoballs^™ came through the till.

So how do they work then?

…she said to the woman next in the queue. That was close – if she’d asked me I wouldn’t have had a clue!

So what’s in the box? Well, you get 2x ecoballs^™, 2x extra bags of washing pellets, a tube of eco-friendly stain remover (let’s hope it works on the bike chain grease on my jeans) and a set of instructions including an Ecoballs^™ FAQ.

So. How do they work? You pop an ecoball^™ or two into your wash load and wash as normal at 30-60°C. You can skip the rinse cycle apparently. The cleaning pellets inside the ecoballs^™ raise the level of alkaline in the water and there are a few other processes that take place which loosen the dirt from the fibres, plus clever things about activated water molecules. Unfortunately our resident biochemist isn’t around at the moment to explain, so hopefully when Dr. B is back, we can get a decent explanation of what saponification is.

I haven’t has the chance to use the ecoballs^™ yet but will be doing a washload this weekend and report back. with the box boasting up to 150 washes at around 6p per wash (or less than 3.5p with the Aldi special price) it looks like we won’t be using our ecover for a while. It’ll be interesting to see how our clothes turn out in terms of cleanliness and freshness.

Ecoballs^™ are a registered trademark of Ecozone (UK) Ltd.

Well it’s certainly been a week for DIY retailer B&Q. On Friday 13th February they will be selling a million loft insulation rolls at £1 apiece (whilst socks last) and on Wednesday they opened their greenest ever store at New Malden in Surrey.

The new £9 million southwest London store, B&Q’s greenest store ever, is part of their commitment to be a zero carbon emission company by 2012 and boasts a 20Kw wind turbine, FSC timber throughout the build, natural heating, solar panels, rainwater collection and a green roof. Wow! That’s a lot!

Now the building industry has often been branded as one of the least environmentally friendly but B&Q are making a huge commitment to changing that and their range of eco brands and materials is expanding, giving people greater access to greener materials with which to build & renovate their homes. Their “One Planet” range now covers 2000 eco items.

B&Q is just one of 12 companies across the UK to achieve the Carbon Trust Standard which

certifies that an organisation has genuinely reduced its carbon footprint and is committed to making further reductions year on year

And you can see the level of commitment in the long list of improvements to their 50% greener store, and I quote;

• a 20KW wind turbine situated on a 35m tower on the top of the store will help generate energy for the store – it’s the largest integrated turbine yet installed on a building in the UK
• FSC certified timber has been used throughout
• Ground source heat pumps heat and cool the store with geothermal energy which takes energy from the earth using 108 bore holes at 100 metres deep
• Rainwater harvesting – rainwater is collected from the store’s roof and used to water plants in the roof top garden centre and for flushing the toilets
• A photovoltaic system; which converts light into electricity will provide shade for the coffee shop and convert solar radiation into electricity to run appliances and lighting
• Solar thermal water heating panels will generate hot water for the WCs and the coffee shop
• Insulated to the highest levels reducing loss of heat and CO2 through walls and roof
• A green roof planted with sedum; an herbaceous plant, will absorb CO2 and provide added value to biodiversity as well as reducing rainwater run-off
• North-light roof provides higher natural lighting levels and reduces reliance on artificial lighting.  All lighting throughout the store will use energy efficient light bulbs
• Automatic lighting dimming control system will reduce energy consumption
• Natural ventilation from the roof vents help to make the store more comfortable in summer

That’s pretty impressive.

If you want to beat the credit crunch and insulate your home for less then you might like to know that DIY giant B&Q is selling a million rolls of loft insulation for just £1 a roll. The offer, available from Friday 13th February at B&Q stores throughout the country, means that with the average loft requiring 22 rolls of loft insulation to be fully insulated, it is estimated that those who take up the offer could reduce their heating bills by as much as £205 a year.

Euan Sutherland, the CEO of B&Q and Kingfisher UK Division, said of the offer:

“We’ve just experienced the worst cold snap for many years and with money tight people are looking for ways to keep warm and save money. As far as I’m aware this is the first time ever a roll of loft insulation has been sold for £1. If you want one though, you’ll have to be quick because there’s only a million rolls available at this price and once they’re gone they’re gone.”

Phil Bentley, Managing Director of British Gas added:

“We are very proud to support B&Q’s cheapest ever offer making loft insulation more affordable and helping householders make big savings on their energy bills. With £1 in every £4 spent on heating an un-insulated home being wasted, this is a great opportunity to save money and help reduce your impact on the environment.”

The £1 roll forms part of a three-roll triple pack “DIY loft insulation” and is a fraction of the usual retail cost thanks to British Gas and the CERT funding scheme. CERT funding means this offer is only available to retail customers. It is not available to trade customers, professional installers or for those involved in the construction of new builds.

The offer is the latest measure from B&Q designed to help people live a more sustainable life and is part of the retailer’s ongoing commitment to the Together Campaign. Last year the home improvement retailer launched a “One Planet Home” range, specifically designed to help people reduce the environmental impact of their home and help them save money. To further help homeowners to lay insulation, B&Q has also produced a How To Insulate your home DVD (£1.98) – a visual step-by-step guide to help the successful completion of the project.

Together Campaign Director David Hall concludes:

“With this groundbreaking offer there’s never been a better time to lag your loft and start saving money. Thanks to B&Q and British Gas over 45,000 homes across the UK could feel the warmth and financial benefit from this offer on top of reducing their carbon footprint. At Together we estimate this promotion will save 12,000 tonnes of C02 saved every year- the equivalent of taking 4,800 cars off the road.”