Garden waste: prepping the garden for autumn

The autumn months have an undeniable effect on our gardens – not all trees lose their leaves of course, but those that do end the summer season in a blaze of glory before covering the grass with a crispy or mulchy mass that needs quick attention to avoid it getting trodden into the lawn.

Dead growth from the summer bedding plants and some larger shrubs need attention too, and even a small garden can quickly produce more rubbish than a garden waste wheelie bin can handle, making a garden skip a worthy seasonal investment to get the job done while the last of the fair weather holds.

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How to find and give to your local food bank

There’s no better time to give to your local food bank than in the run-up to Christmas and the winter months, when a fresh, hot meal can make even more difference to families on low or no incomes.

Having food inside you on a cold day provides natural warmth, so it’s not just about feeding people; it also helps keep their heating bills down and gives them the strength to combat seasonal colds and flu.

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How to make money from recycling

We all know recycling is good for the environment – at least compared with sending household waste to the landfill site – but some people take it a step beyond altruism and recycle as a way of making money too.

There’s nothing wrong with recycling for profit, as you still achieve all the same benefits for the environment, and might even be able to do more to keep your neighbourhood clean when there’s some money in it for you.

Here are five of the main types of recyclable waste that can be turned into a profit – or at least, into money that you would not have if you simply threw them away.

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The ins and outs of glass recycling

Glass recycling has been one of the most familiar forms of recycling for decades, and many of us cannot remember a time when there weren’t green, brown and white bottle banks in supermarket car parks and other public places.

But the problem has always been getting to those public bottle banks when you have large amounts of glass to recycle, not to mention when you have anything other than a green, brown or clear bottle to recycle.

Here are our five top tips for recycling glass at home, which can help you improve your commitment to the environment with some simple everyday lifestyle changes.

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