Arrgh greenhouse

hedgewizard · Wed Mar 15, 2006 11:05 pm

That's the sort of foraging I like best, after mushrooming! Last time I was there I got a massive hamper, the sort that used to be used by British Rail for mail cars. It was missing the top but is brilliant for keeping kindling in the woodshed. Come to think of it I must start collecting tyres for my worm bin. Who knows, perhaps someone will be throwing out a load of wine bottles with the wine still in?

Goodlife1970 · Thu Mar 16, 2006 4:17 pm

Id settle for empty wine bottles at the moment,got so much ready to bottle Im hanging around the bottle bank and harassing people to give me their empties instead of throwing them in! A few people have asked if theres a deposit on them. (no shortage of tyres here,the local garage will kindly deliver as many as you need!)

hedgewizard · Thu Mar 16, 2006 11:09 pm

I live in a neighbourhood full of yuppies so there's NEVER any shortage of wine bottles. In fact I might use them as path edging, buried neck down. Where did I see that now, oh yeah... aranya. Lovely chap.

Actually it doesn't look as nice as I remembered it... and it's only just been done in that piccie because the slugs haven't eaten the labels yet![/img]

Shirley · Post: # 14488Post **Shirley** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 11:34 am

oh but the satisfaction of keeping all that glass from landfill (even though it is buried it is serving a purpose) and saving so much energy that would have been used in recycling the glass....

I like it, and I bet it looks better in real life, particularly in the sunlight.

It's another item on my list of ideas for my garden - cheers Hedgewizard.

Goodlife1970 · Fri Mar 17, 2006 12:45 pm

Have you seen those houses in Mexico that are built from bottles? Same kind of idea the bottles are laid end outwards,but I think theyre stuck together with cement! The path thing wouldnt be any good for me,Id be forever stealing them to use! Like the idea though,wonder if it would work with plastic bottles?

Wombat · Post: # 14549Post **Wombat** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 9:00 pm

Shirlz2005 wrote:oh but the satisfaction of keeping all that glass from landfill (even though it is buried it is serving a purpose) and saving so much energy that would have been used in recycling the glass....

Gotta take issue with that one, because the recycled glass takes less energy to melt than to make new glass, so assuming there is a need for the new bottles, recycling the glass is the way to go!

Nev

Shirley · Post: # 14554Post **Shirley** » Fri Mar 17, 2006 9:45 pm

ok ok you are right Nev... actually I hadn't realised just how much LESS energy it took to recycle it. Although, the market for green glass isn't very strong here in the UK - we import lots of green glass wine bottles but don't make many green bottles (according to http://www.recycle-more.co.uk/nav/page638.aspx)

"As the UK consumes high levels of imported wine bottles made of green glass, yet has a relatively small domestic production level for green glass there will, when we reach higher recycling rates, be more recycled green glass than the container industry alone can use.

This has been a limiting factor on the recycling rate for glass in the UK in the past. Once the container industry has used around 350,000 tonnes each year other alternative markets are available, such as:

water filtration
fluxing agents in bricks and clay pipes
shot blasting
aggregates

While these uses are much more beneficial than landfill they are less environmentally beneficial than close loop recycling into containers, for example even after all the transport has been taken into account, use in closed loop container making is 50 times more beneficial to the environment than use in aggregates.

However, without alternative markets such as aggregates the extra green glass that is collected will undermine the value of all glass collection. Overall we need all markets to grow. "

So... I'll keep some green glass wine bottles to make a border along some of my path after all

hedgewizard · Fri Mar 17, 2006 10:43 pm

I think I'm going to make a small section of this somewhere in the garden and see how well it performs - weathering in and staying regular after rain. Like I said, the one on Aranya's website looks bran new.

Muddypause · Sat Mar 18, 2006 1:19 pm

You know, I think this recycling glass business may be more political than it first appears. AIUI, the silica that is used to make glass is all from abroad (relative to the UK). It is extracted, cleaned, and processed into glass abroad. All the energy costs, and thus carbon emissions, are born abroad.

So, importing virgin glass will add less to the UK's carbon emissions; recycling will add more.

In global terms, it is better to recycle; in terms of the UK's commitment to the Kyoto protocol, it's better to import it.

hedgewizard · Sat Mar 18, 2006 4:48 pm

Wow. That's depressing.

Wombat · Post: # 14638Post **Wombat** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 10:53 pm

If we were talking about risk, this would be called risk transference - I've never been all that rapt in the idea of "let some other poor bugger have the problem". Half our problems (no make that 75%) are caused by this sort of short term focus. We all need to be looking at the bigger picture I think and perhaps do what is best overall, that what is best for us locally!

Nev