• There are 43 households on Eigg.
• 37 households were on the island during the survey week
• 26 of those 37 households took part in survey week (70% participation) and collected 12.15kg of plastic.
• 21% (2.55kg)of plastic collected is currently recyclable by Highland Council.  (PET & HDPE)

Eigg Households per year

Eigg’s 43 households would generate 20.094 kg x 52 weeks = 1045 kg of plastic waste / year

Adding 25% for visitors = 1306 kg of plastic waste / year

Of which 21% is recyclable or 274 kg / year

Scottish households per year

Scottish household plastic waste is 100kg per year, of which 30kg is recyclable.  Source.

Eigg households, plus visitors, produce 30.34kg per year, 70% less than Scottish average.

Most of what we found was rope, twine, broken fishing boxes or crates and nets from fishing boats.  Next most popular was engine oil canisters, milk & other bottle tops, food/sweet wrapping and plastic bottles.

From Laig, Cowrie Shell & Kildonan beaches, we collected enough rubbish to fill a skip.

Singing Sands beach is still to be done (at 24th March 2012).  Because of its position, it gathers a lot of waste washed in by storms and the tide.  Singing Sands will be cleared later this spring/summer.  All volunteers welcome!

Bob Wallace and Norah Barnes are very excited to be offering their first residential experiences this summer, 2012.

Come and learn  new eco-skills and meet like minded people, while exploring the beautiful Isle of Eigg!

Brief summary below, but go to the Earth Connection Sustainability Centre website for full details,

Intro to Sustainability
Weekend introductory course to help you understand what sustainability is all about and give you easy, practical steps you can take to start a greener lifestyle.

Practical Sustainable Living
Exciting week long new low-energy living course to help people take practical steps to live more lightly on the planet.  We will explore different themes such as energy, transport, food and focus on practical ways of transforming your life to a low energy lifestyle.

Eco-renovation in Action
During this 5 day course, you will find out how the Earth Connections Centre has been renovated, using environmentally friendly and low cost methods. Through a mixture of theory and practical sessions, we will look at various issues such as heating and energy efficiency in older buildings, insulation, natural materials, and small scale renewable energy systems.

Re-connecting with Nature
This unique 2 week course will give visitors an in-depth experience of living more sustainably and in tune with the natural world. Through workshops and guided outdoor activities we will explore our relationship with nature and learn how to use our natural resources more wisely.
Activities will include gardening, cycling, Iyengar yoga, nature watching, and an amazing 2 night wilderness camping trip. For water lovers there will be a chance to try snorkelling and a sailing trip!

D.I.Y Renewable Energy
If you are thinking about installing renewable energy in your home, this  info packed weekend is for you.  Find out about solar thermal (hot water), solar PV, wind power, micro hydro, and wood fuel heating.

Cowrie Shell Beach @ 11am

Followed by refreshments Galmisdale Bay Cafe (thanks Stuart)

&

Kildonan Beach @ 2pm

Followed by refreshments at Kildonan (thanks Marie)

 Sunday 18^th March

Laig Beach @ 2pm

Followed by refreshments at Lageorna (thanks Sue)

The Beach Clean is part of Eigg’s Zero Waste Zone project!  Thanks for your support.

(Singing Sands are to be done later in this Spring, thanks to a group of visiting volunteers)

]]> http://islandsgoinggreen.org/2012/03/12/beach-clean-up-weekend/feed/ 0 isleofeigg Laig beach marine waste http://islandsgoinggreen.org/2012/01/12/wishing-you-all/ http://islandsgoinggreen.org/2012/01/12/wishing-you-all/#comments Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:25:35 +0000 isleofeigg http://islandsgoinggreen.org/2012/01/12/wishing-you-all/ ]]> A happy and prosperous 2012 from the wee isle!! Not sure where to start in bringing you up to speed with the antics of the island…. We have been battered like many other places by some severe weather since before Christmas causing severe devastation to our woods mainly. Thankfully we had no casualties throughout the frightful storms and minimal damage to homes, unfortunately the same can’t be said for our woods. The Lodge gardens sustained an enormous amount of trees down and the Manse woods has been closed to the public due to the danger of hanging and absolute chaos of trees lying everywhere. A survey has been attempted to investigate the damage with a count of at least 400 trees down just in the Manse woods. I tried to take pictures to go along with this post but it is impossible to show fully the calamitous scale of damage to our much loved woodland. The other peace of bad news is the Chilean flame tree was unfortunately hit in the big storm before Christmas. Apparently it was the oldest one standing in Britain and measured the tallest at 90feet. Cuttings have been taken by the gardener with fingers crossed of germination and hopes of cutting it back and staking it upright as the roots are still intact but in the meantime we can only hope that it will give us the flaming red flowers once again that we look forward to in the spring. The next step is under way for our woods as a team are meeting to discuss how the damage should be taken care of and an overall woodland plan needs to be assessed for the clearing, replanting and funding such a huge process. Once the winds finally calmed, the atmosphere and general cheer seemed to return and with the boats finally sailing as normal visitors and family were able to visit and turkeys were all delivered for Christmas! We had a small spell of a little snow before Christmas but none over the festive period, just typical after getting the sledges well in advance this year! New Year was celebrated with more friends and family arriving along with an exceptional 6 piece line up of musicians to dance the bells in with style! Now with the festive period enjoyed and only memories of relaxation, scrumptious food and indulgence in a small bit if liquor are in the past as our minds turn to the new year ahead and focus on our goals of the months ahead. The first and foremost is to organise a plan to clear up the storm damage. Plans are also afoot in looking at An Laimhrig, the pier centre which houses the shop, tearoom and craft shop to possibly upgrade the building to allow a better layout and storage space for the businesses also the wider area around the building is being looked at. This falls into the Zero Waste Zone initiative that we are adopting this year and further recycling and waste issues are being addressed although the pier area is an area that is hard to get the balance right as it is a working environment meaning that all fuels, farming apparatus, animal feed, animal areas for transportation of animals arrival and departures along with the storage deliveries to the businesses so it has to be thought out carefully to be effective to deal with all its demand but without forgetting it is the first impression to visitors on arrival. That being a quick mention of a few larger projects on the go and as always there is many other smaller projects ticking along like a first for this year being a Craft and fresh produce fairs in the community hall. We had a trial one early in December which went very well and showed an amazing array of arts, crafts and baking so visitors will be in for a treat or two this year. We plan to have the next fair on Easter weekend and then every Monday from June onwards throughout the summer season so watch this space and we will wow you with our talents! All the best for the new year.

Hosted by UK BIG Lottery Fund Chairman, Peter Ainsworth, the Awards named Windelectric’s Peter Edwards and Godfrey Bevan, one of the founders of the Renewable Energy Association  (REA), as joint Champions for their outstanding lifetime contribution to renewable energy. John Baldwin was also commended for his dedication and ongoing commitment to AD and biomethane.

The REA’s Chief Executive, Gaynor Hartnell said, “These awards recognise outstanding achievement in the British renewable energy sector. They are a tribute to innovation and excellence. The exceptional quality of all the shortlisted entries serves to demonstrate the exacting standards, talent and originality within this industry.”

The REA received a record amount of over two hundred nominations for this year’s Awards. Award winners and runners up included:

Pioneer Award

Runners up: Sainsbury’s and Mellington Cow Power

Winner: Beech Properties

Community Award

Runner up: Udny Community Wind Turbine

Winner: Isle of Eigg

Region Award

Runner up: Cornwall Council

Winner: The Welsh Assembly Government

Installer Award

Winner: EvoEnergy

Innovator Award

Runners up: Enecsys and Vykson

Winner: Didcot Biomethane Project Team

Project Developer Award

Runner up: Clearfleau

Winner: Ecotricity / Fen Farm Solar Park

Company Award

Runner up: Forest Fuels

Winner: Solarsense

Champion Award

Winners: Peter Edwards – Wind Electric Godfrey Bevan

The Children from both sides learnt a lot from each other but the funniest little story of cultural differences when they were discussing food was Pigs in blankets. The children in Carteret took a moment to digest the information and with much hilarity realised that our kids were still talking about food and it isn’t that cold here that we have to keep our pigs in blankets!!Click on the link below to view the shrt film.

TransAtlantic Connections

You will need:

Rhubarb (you can add any other fruit that takes your fancy!)

Sugar to taste or half the weight of fruit

Crumble

4oz Flour

2oz Porridge oats

Pinch of salt

4oz Butter/marge

4oz Demerara sugar

Firstly remove skin from the rhubarb (optional) and place in a bowl with the sugar. Add a tablespoon of water and soak for as long as you have, overnight is ideal. This extracts the juices from the rhubarb and produces a tastier fruit sauce. Once soaked cook your fruit gently in a pan until the fruit has softened and place it in your oven dish. *Note; If, you have soaked the fruit overnight the liquid will have at least doubled and you do not need to add further water. If you didn’t soak the fruit for long enough add a few more tablespoons of water before gently cooking in a pan.

For the crumble put the flour, oats, salt and butter into a bowl and work together with your hands until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the Demerara sugar and sprinkle your mixture over the fruit.

Bake for 15mins at 375⁰F/gas mark 5 and then reduce temperature to 350⁰F/gas mark 4 and bake for a further 35/40mins or until the top is lightly browned.

Serve with cream or custard and enjoy!!