Published 13 Mar 2024

It’s national compost week!

Last week I popped round to my mum’s (Jane, whose garden we feature in the Jane’s garden album on Facebook), to talk about compost.

Food waste going into compost

As a family we have always composted. I remember as a child, visiting my granny and seeing the compost bins in various levels of maturity in her garden. One that was actively having household and garden waste added to it, one that was full and left to do its composting thing, and one that had formed lovely crumbly humus to be used around the garden.

For us as a family, having a compost bin under the sink was just a standard part of disposing of waste. Chatting to colleagues about compost, I realise that this is not standard practice for a lot of people. If the council doesn’t provide a food waste collection service, then the vegetable peelings and food waste and everything go in the general waste, where it generates methane, a greenhouse gas 25 time more powerful than carbon dioxide. Compost can be a complicated process and when it goes wrong it can be quite unpleasantly stinky. You really don’t need to be a gardener or a compost professional to compost your food waste.

Green Johanna Composter
The Green Joanna, for example, is a brilliantly easy way of composting all organic waste from the household, including meat and dairy produce. You can even put our compostable nappy pads in it. A lot of councils give these composters away for free, or at a subsidised rate. If you stand it somewhere on soil, worms just find their way in and get it sorted for you. You don’t need to turn it or bother with much at all. You hardly ever need to empty it, as the worms tend to busy about in the soil and take a lot of the vegetable matter with them. They don’t actually consume the waste. Bacteria does that. Then the worms eat the bacteria. It’s all fascinating if you want to investigate more!

 

Recycled Plastic Compost Caddy

We’ve started selling 23 litre compost caddies that hold a decent quantity of kitchen waste before you have to take it out to the garden compost bin. They have a neat lockable lid and even better: they are made of recycled household plastic. We like to close the loop wherever we can.

 

 

Sally Phillips

Inventor of Chimney Sheep

compost
composting
eco-living
gardening
gardening tips
grow your own
organic garden
peat
peat free
sustainability
PlanetCare Microfibre Filter Starter Kit

PlanetCare Microfibre Filter Starter Kit

44.00 GBP

How does it work?

This ingenious washing machine microfibre filter kit uses cartridges to physically catch and retain the fibres that come loose when you wash your laundry. Each cartridge will last around 15-20 loads of laundry and is easily replaceable in just a couple of minutes.

Fibre retention is based solely on physical retention with the help of clever patent-pending technology.

You can also send the used cartridges back to us and we'll forward them on to PlanetCare. They will ensure that they are reused or recycled.  This ‘closed loop’ system ensures that there is minimum wastage throughout the whole process.

Something to think about:

Doing the laundry can have a huge environmental impact, whether that be using tonnes of energy running the washing machine and tumble drier - or the pollutants that are released from the products you use. Using a microfiber filter is just one way of reducing that impact. Why not make a few more changes - we've tonnes of handy tips in our blog.

 

What's in the box?

You'll get everything you need to fit your PlanetCare washing machine filter with these handy starter kits, meaning you can get it in place and start catching microfibers straight away.

The Mini Starter Kit includes:

  • 1 housing top with a cup, 1 holder, 4 screws, 1 tube (1.5m), 1 silicone lubricant, 1 counter, and 3 filter replacement cartridges.
  •  3 cartridges. These can last up to 60 washes.

The XL Starter Kit includes:

  • 1 housing top with a cup, 1 holder, 4 screws, 1 tube (1.5m), 1 silicone lubricant, 1 counter, and 3 filter replacement cartridges.
  • 13 cartridges. These can last up to 260 washes.

    Note: All the filter cartridges are 100% recycled and refurbished for use again and again via a closed-loop service.

       

      Is it easy to install?

      The microfiber filter is very easy to install. In fact, for most washing machines this process takes less than 10 minutes. The filters are compatible with all types of washing machines.

      There's actually a handy how-to video and a useful installation guide  you can take a peek at if you need a little bit more guidance.

      It’s a good idea to position it high enough above the floor/surface so the cover can be removed to change the filter and position the device so that it is easy to screw the cover back after each filter change.

      Please note: you will need 13 cm on the side of the washing machine and approx. 60 cm in height clearance so that you will be able to easily unscrew the housing and change the filter comfortably.

      The filter must be placed outside the washing machine on the drain hose. It should not be raised above the height of the drain hose exiting the washing machine. The hose length should be held to a minimum. Raising the filter and a long drain hose will both reduce the efficiency of pumping and filtering and should be avoided.

       

      What are the dimensions of the filter housing?

      The filter housing alone, without any attachments, measures the following:

      • height 325 mm, width (hose attachment direction) 122 mm, and depth 130 mm.

       

      Is the microfiber filter easy to use?

      For the first load, just make sure the filter cover is replaced correctly and screwed tight before using the washing machine. Try a short wash and make sure all connections and covers are fixed and watertight.

      It’s also a good idea to hold the top of the device when replacing the filter cover to avoid putting pressure on the bracket fixings when unscrewing the cover.

      After that, you do not need to do anything until the cartridge is full.

      >Easy!

       

      How does the closed-loop system work?

      When your cartridge is full you can send it back to us directly, simply go onto the delivery website Parcel2Go and produce a label to send the cartridges to us, don't forget to include your order details as we'll refund you the postage cost. We then send these off to PlanetCare who disassemble the cartridge and remove the fibres and filtering medium.  This is done in a controlled environment, ensuring that caught fibres do not pollute water or the environment.

       

      What does Planetcare do with the fibres?

      >At the moment PlanetCare is safely storing the used filtered materials. Once they have sufficient quantity, they will reuse/recycle it all. At the moment they are planning to reuse the materials by converting them into insulation mats. But, they're always on the lookout for viable solutions and will choose the best available option to reuse/ recycle the fibres.

      The waste will never be burned or sent to a landfill!

      The remainder of the cartridge is cleaned, and fitted with a new filtering medium ready to be used again.

      Read More