So, I managed to post my old iPod (it was a 2003 model) on Freecycle and it was taken by Sam, who is pretty sure he can fix it and is going to email me if he manages to do it. I have also contacted one of the PC recycling companies on the list, but have not heard back from them yet, so have still to complete the task of finding a new home for my broken G3 Powerbook. However, the net result is that I have safely disposed of about 20 batteries via the local council and am going to recycle 20 more at the recycling centre I found online. I have donated 8 printer cartridges to be reused and raise money for charity and a Nokia mobile phone for charity.

My thoughts on this process so far? I don’t see why ALL computer shops and electrical goods shops don’t offer recycling of PC’s and electrical goods as part of the whole WEEE initiative. It would make life so much easier for the poor beleagured consumer: and if I didn’t have access to the Internet, I wouldn’t have a clue where to take most of this stuff. My own council has very good electronic waste disposal/recycling facilities but it is only accessible at the dump/recycling centre; it would be so much easier to do doorstep collection of these things, say once or twice a year?

And why are there no financial incentives for recycling these items? I know from living in San Francisco, where they pay a few cents for glass bottles to be recycled, that people will spend hours combing the streets in order to recycle these bottles. If there was a way of rewarding recyclers, you can bet a lot less PC’s, TV’s and so on would find themselves dumped in the street or in landfill.

Buying batteries that aren’t rechargeable is clearly daft, and I’m going to stop, because it’s landing me with a waste problem. I haven’t tried to recycle them at the recycling ‘point’ – in Robert Dyas in Canary Wharf, apparently – yet and will report back when I do – does it work? Will they accept them?

And recycling print cartridges, either by refilling and reusing them, or just sending back your once-used ones, is a no-brainer and can be very useful for charities. I’m going to get a collection box to help raise funds for the toddlers group I run and suggest doing it at my sons’ school too. And I’m going to add a banner for recycling phones and print cartridges to Mimimyne to encourage other people to do it and donate to charity at the same time!

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We are very excited to announce our new range of funky, organic baby and kids clothes from Animal Tails. Animal Tails clothes are all certified organic and ethically produced. They use lovely, vivid colours (often hard to find in organic inks!) to tell a story about endangered species, their habitat and a little about them. You can be sure that your baby or child will be safe and snug in these beautiful organic romper suits and t shirts. Animal Tails also stock a range of organic, designer kids clothing which are coming to Mimimyne shortly!

Here are some questions about Animal Tails, and their answers!

Why are Animal Tails ethical?

At Animal Tails we value people, and their potential. Therefore the founding principle of Animal Tails was to trade ethically, to protect lives and improve livelihoods. We are so pleased that we are able to present to you a collection that we can say without doubt was produced ethically.

You may well say, surely all companies manufacture ethically? Well some do, but not nearly enough, and unethical trading is a particularly acute problem in the garment (clothing) sector.

What grieves us most is that it is usually the most vulnerable young girls and women who find themselves working excessive hours for wages they cannot even start to live on, but because there is no other work available, they must work in these terrible conditions or live in even more extreme poverty.

You may think this is a problem confined to the developing world, where it is less hidden, but the reality is that the problem of sweat shops is endemic across the world, and one of the greatest offenders is the garment industry.

All Animal Tails clothing is certified against the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS). GOTS has a robust tracking method through the supply chain to ensure that the International Labour Organisations minimum standards are met, and in most instances exceeded. The GOTs certification is currently the most robust available in ensuring that an entire organic textile supply chain meets an internationally accepted standard for workers.

GOTs certification standards are met by several international organic certification bodies, one of whom is the Soil Association in the UK. That is why our licence is from the Soil Association.

Why did you choose organic cotton and ink?

At Animal Tails we would not be valuing people properly if we did not care about the environment we all live in. It was therefore an obvious choice for us to use organic cotton.

In exploring the benefits of organic cotton we where staggered to learn of all the absolutely horrendous chemicals, a number of which are known carcinogens (cause cancer) that go on non-organic cotton.

We were even more shocked to learn that the production of non-organic cotton absorbs 25% of the worlds usage of pesticides and insecticides, for a crop that accounts for only 2.5% ( yes that is right, two point five percent … we had to read it several times too) of world crops! That is a lot of deadly chemicals to say the least…

With organic cotton you will encounter none of these nasties – all you have is beautiful, pure, wonderfully soft cotton – and the knowledge that no one was exposed to poisonous chemicals in their cotton field or during its production.

Why is Fair Trade important?

We are trading in a fair and open way at all levels. We have worked hard to make our supply chain as good as it can be. We pay a premium price for our organic cotton, and the Soil Association (GOTS) certification provides assurance for you that we are paying workers properly and that their rights are respected.

We are trading as we should from the field to you. That is why we say, have fun, enjoy wearing your beautiful organic, ethically manufactured, and fantastically designed Animal Tails T-shirt. It’s fair to people, animals and the environment.

A thing of beauty is a joy forever, its loveliness increases, it will never pass nothingness….” So goes the famous poem by John Keats. Yet the tragedy of our times is that there is an accelerating loss of many of our World’s most wonderful and beautiful species, through loss of their habitat from human activity and climate change.

It would seem if we don’t do something quickly many beautiful things will pass into nothingness. Ours and future generations will be poorer for the loss of so much of the beauty and diversity the animal kingdom offers us.

Buying a beautiful Animal Tails T-shirt means you’re directly helping to preserve these things of beauty, as we are giving 1% of our net profits to the AfriCat Foundation which seeks to preserve some of Southern Africa’s most endangered animals; so making Keats words come true, ‘it will never pass into nothingness…’

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I did an interview recently with BTTradespace TV about being a mumpreneur and how using BTTradespace has helped my business grow. It was great to get another chance to meet the team who’ve been fantastically helpful so far!

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Life has rather taken over at this point, as I had to take my youngest child out on a school trip all of Tuesday and take him to a hospital appointment today! However, I did have time to put an old iPod (2003 model) on Freecycle. As the iPod is broken, I can’t sell or donate it, but Freecyclers are an enthusiastic community who are often able to mend and make use of older electronical items. I’ve also posted my ancient Nokia to Recycle4charity. Tomorrow, I’m going to try and donate an old PowerBook to a charity that recycles or mends old computers.

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This week I am recycling electrical waste. As I have masses to do, and am planning a simultaneous clear out of the kitchen, I’ve called in a pro to help me today – Birgit Medele of Clear of Clutter has helped me out before when I was drowning in a sea of junk/files/toys, and has a brilliant way of systematically sorting through things.

I thoroughly recommend getting a Universal battery tester – mine cost £3 on Amazon and has worked a treat. So far we have cleared three cupboards, filled one box with donations (mostly kitchenware – I had two potato mashers and four corkscrews!) for the charity shop, filled one box with recycled paper/glass/aluminium and sorted out one box of live batteries (about 20) and one box of about 15 to be safely disposed of, using my fabulous new gadget. It’s very satisfying not having batteries sitting around which may or may not work. I am going to switch to using rechargeable batteries when possible, buy a charger and keep trying to buy non-battery gadgets but I’ll use these up first!

We also have sorted out 8 used print cartridges and one very ancient Nokia mobile phone which are going to go into charity freepost bags (order them for free from Recycle4Charity and donate to the charity of your choice). Each cartridge will raise £1 and the phone can raise up to £30! I am going to sell any other phones I find on Ebay if possible as well but plan to donate 10% to charity for each sale – easily done using Ebay’s “sell for charity” option. People forget that a lot of the junk sitting around in their houses can be donated to charity or sold and turned into cash for yourself or for others. Mobile phones in particular are highly toxic to the environment and should never be thrown away in household waste: always donate to charity, recycle or sell it on.

Here’s a link that was sent to me recently which might be of interest to companies working out how to dispose of waste:
Waste disposal

Waste Collection is an online retailer providing waste management products and services to companies.

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It’s Recycle Week from June 22nd until June 28th this year in the UK, and Recycle Now are inviting us all to make a pledge to recycle more, or in a different way from before. I already do home composting in the garden and recycle food waste and paper, aluminium, cardboard and plastic, thanks to the excellent recycling service offered by Tower Hamlets Council. I try and donate other stuff to charity, put it on craigslist and (occasionally) sell on Ebay. However, I’ve decided to try and tackle one of the most pressing clutter problems in my household, which is electrical equipment, unwanted gadgets and (aagh) cables and batteries. Batteries sit around waiting to go to recycling, and rejoin new batteries in a jumbled pile. So I am going to sort out the unused gadgets, old computers, cables and batteries. My first step has been to buy a battery tester, a mere £3 from Amazon. I’ll blog later in the week about how I’ve disposed of other things! And if I don’t carry out my pledge, I give up Facebook and Twitter for a whole week: which is a terrifying prospect…

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I was thrilled (as was Sally Walton of Carry-a-bag, the designer of these gorgeous bags and lots of other beautiful, hand-made bags and other eco friendly gift and homeware items) to find the Mum’s Bag and My Bag she designed featuring as No 1 ethical tote bags for yummy mummies on the excellent www.greenmystyle.com! This is what they say:

“Carrying around your baby’s nappies, dummies and rattles need not be an unglamorous affair. Here we take our pick of the top 10 tote bags that are guaranteed to spark off a yummy mummy war.

Mums Bag Vintage Fabric Shopping Bag

Mimi Myne has taken an innovative approach to the tote bag by creating one for kids. The two bags are made from vintage cotton, are fully reversible and retail at £25 and £15.”

Read the whole article Top 10 Ethical Tote Bags on greenmystyle.com

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Mimimyne will be sharing a stand with Paintbox (the Stepney-based community playgroup for under 5′s) on Saturday 13th June from 12 noon till 5pm in Shandy Park, Stepney as part of the Deal With It Day 2009 (download PDF flyer here). This drugs awareness day and community event will feature a tea dance for older residents, a bouncy castle, mendhi, a graffiti project and a football tournament. Paintbox will have a ‘fish for a duck’ event with prizes for every child and Mimimyne will be selling organic clothes and toys for children.

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