Christmas waste: So, it's all over for another year and the house is full of bundles of torn up wrapping paper, empty bottles and cans, a weeping Christmas tree and whatever else got thrown in the storage room until the last guest disappeared.
The key message from the Repak Green Christmas campaign is that much of the extra packaging generated over the festive period can be recycled. This year, there are 31 local authorities participating in the scheme, with more than 80 bring centres open. Separate your rubbish into dry paper and cardboard, glass, aluminium and plastic and head for your nearest "bring centre". Check the Repak website for location of "bring centres" (www.repak.ie). A number of parks and woods also accept Christmas trees for recycling. Check your local authority for details.
Air traffic control
The age of unrestricted increases in air traffic may be nearing its end. Last month, Margaret Beckett, the British Secretary of State for the Environment, hugely toned down ambitious plans for new runways in Heathrow airport, and completely rejected plans for up to four new airports in southern England. Instead, she gave the go-ahead for one new runway at Stanstead and another short one in Birmingham. In 2002, the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution found that emissions from aircraft were three times more damaging in warming the Earth than those from cars, homes and industry. Last month's White Paper to British MPs also proposed that air transport be included in a European system of "emissions trading". Watch this space.
Organic secrets
Keen to learn all about organic gardening but don't quite know how to go about it? The Organic Centre in Rossinver, Co Leitrim, has brought out a new month-by-month guide to organic gardening, and may be just the thing for you. With day-long courses one day each month from February until November, it's not too intensive and there's lots of time to put into practice what you've learned. Cost: 70 per day or €450 for full course. Other new courses include eco-landscaping, polytunnel growing, and beekeeping for improvers. For the full programme: www.theorganiccentre.ie. Tel: 071-9854338.
Youthful hedgerows
Conservation Volunteers Ireland (CVI) is running one-day courses in hedge-laying in Firhouse, Dublin, on January 17th and February 28th. A traditional countryside skill, hedge-laying is an environmentally friendly way to rejuvenate older hedgerows. Cost: €70 per day. There are also courses in drystone walling held at CVI's headquarters in Rathfarmham Castle grounds, Dublin, on February 7th and 8th. Cost 70. Tel: 01-4952878.
Green business
Corporate Social Responsibility in Action is the theme of a conference run by Green Standards, the British Corporate Environmental Trust in London on January 20th. Tel: 0044-117-9380567 for more details. See also www.greenstandards.co.uk.
