Collecting rainwater is an excellent way to reduce your daily water consumption. Here are just a few ways in which you can reduce the amount of tap water you use with captured rainwater.

Recycle your old mobile phones. It's a great way to make some extra cash, it helps the environment as your mobile will be restored and then sent on to be reused through different charities. In Spain www.zonzoo.es is a great mobile recycling company who works with over 40 charities to recycle and reuse your unwanted mobile phones.

Surfing the web recently we  found this original and simple home remedy against mosquitoes, that appears to originate from Taiwan.

Very simply it's a mixture of water with sugar and yeast, which issues CO2, the substance that attracts these tiny and  annoying bugs. However, it's completely harmless to human beings and pets.

The waste-free school lunch box

The children are back to school and you are wondering what to put in the lunch or snack box each day. All those easy ‘snack’ bars and drinks are all very well and convenient, but the packaging not only creates millions of tons of rubbish, it also means that we are cutting down trees and creating more ‘stuff’ to make them.

Here are five simple ways to pack a Waste-Free-Lunch:

1.    Don’t pack items in plastic or paper bags; use a lunchbox or a reusable cloth bag. You can find the fab ‘Boc’n roll sandwich carrier on http://soy-eco.com/en/
2.    Don’t pack sandwiches and fruit in plastic or foil; use reusable containers such as a small Tupperware box. Also ask your children to store their apple cores so you can use them as compost in the garden. Only 25% of all landfill food debris decomposes in the first 15 years
3.    Use a thermos or reusable drink bottle. Don’t buy those single-use cartons or cans. In the time it takes you to read this 50,000 aluminium cans have been made.
4.    Please don’t give your children a paper napkin; it is estimated that 17 trees are cut down for every ton of non-recycled paper. Cloth napkins are perfect and can be washed and re-used time and again.
5.    Don’t give them throwaway plastic forks and spoons. Ikea and other stores have some great children’s cutlery that can be used at home or in the lunch-box.

Image credit: wendy copley @FlickR

Stick with what you've got: Is it always necessary to buy the latest gadget or fashion? It’s true that peer pressure & aggressive marketing can make you feel like you can’t go without. But you can & must: excess consumption means excess production, which creates more CO2. So sticking with what you’ve got is much better for the environment. Or buy second hand or vintage, you'll be far more fashionable than your peers.