Squaredy

There are a few - which one do you mean?

Mmmmm my baking skills are not at all bad, but maybe I will stick to my famous banana cake and chocolate pate. Plus my new 100% paper cups arrived today - here is a pic of my lovely hot chocolate ready for testing. One used cup is now in my compost. So far so good.

As has been said so often the species pales into insignificance compared to how dry the wood is. Give me dry willow rather than fresh felled ash. Yes even ash needs some drying.

I have been in contact with Rijo42 and it sounds good. They are not PLA lined and claim to be the only fully compostable cup in the UK, only launched a few weeks ago. I have ordered some and I will update how I get on. They said they are not on general sale yet, but I seem to have been able to place an order so we will see.

In the last few years I have read many hundreds of your posts Mr Eggs, and it is fair to say I have not always entirely agreed with all your views. But on this topic I think you are spot on. Apparently we live such busy lives we have no time for this that and the other, yet the average person in the UK watches nearly 4 hours a day. Many people have to have TV on all the time they are at home - in every room. I have no problem with a bit of relaxing TV but I think the amount we watch is unhealthy. In fact there is even evidence TV makes you fat! Apparently you use less calories when watching TV than when sleeping. And I agree with you, switch off the TV and people talk.

Now that is very interesting. I will report back here when I have investigated. If it is as good as it sounds I will also inform the RSPB!

I didn't get to Westonbirt on Thursday, although I went past I didn't have the time. I went to the Forestry Commission hardwood auction at Cirencester but had to race back afterwards. I will try and find out, but I suspect that like the RSPB it is PLA based vegware.

I also have reverted to leaf tea and tea pot, though I believe some tea bags are plastic free.

I see where you are coming from but I just cannot bring myself to keep buying plastic products where there is any sort of choice. Do you know that we are all breathing in plastic in our homes on a daily basis, and we have no real idea of the consequences? Last time I bought cups for the coffee machine I bought 1000 so it is not just the odd one or two. Are you breathing plastic air at home? Here’s how microplastics are polluting our lungs WWW.WEFORUM.ORG Many of the plastic particles found in our bodies come not from drinking bottled water or eating polluted fish – but from the air we breathe, especially indoors. Here’s what to do...

For the most part hopefully they will be binned when used, so you have a fair point, we could incinerate them and as they are plant based I guess this will be no more polluting than burning firewood. So yes this might be an option. In a wider context, I am not totally impressed with PLA products (or Vegware) as the compostible claim is rather misleading. But as long as the waste goes for incineration I guess it is OK. Ironically this may not help us to meet EU targets as it is not recycling, so I don't think it will be encouraged by councils.

Update: I have been in contact with the RSPB who claim on their website to have eliminated plastic cups from their Bempton Cliffs Reserve Cafe. The sad news is there seems to be nothing available at the moment, The RSPB use PLA lined paper cups at Bempton Cliffs and then send them for landfill and incineration. Yes that's right, they may as well have just stuck with plastic. It seems the RSPB are guilty of a bit of greenwashing there. So I hope Topchippyles' mate in Ebbw Vale can create a new product that solves this problem, as it seems it is still unresolved. In fact I would go as far as to say the PLA lined cups could be a backward step if they are advertised as compostable; people may throw them out of their car window thinking they will quickly rot, or put them in their own home composters. If I learn any more I will update this thread. Meanwhile at my work I think we will have to provide china cups and hope they are mainly returned!

Thanks for that Les I missed your post until just now. I will follow your link with great interest.

Well it may come to this but it is a coin operated machine which random customers help themselves to without me or my staff getting involved. Sometimes they get a coffee and then go for a walk in the forest. Also it is in an unheated building and cold china cools drinks quickly.

If you put them in with council recycling they will be removed and sent to landfill or incineration just like traditional paper cups.

I don’t know about where you live but in my area polystyrene cannot be recycled. I know areas which actually won’t recycle any plastic except bottles. Manchester and Pembrokeshire for example.

I will look into it. Not sure how, but then again I am heading that way tomorrow....maybe I will have to pop in and report back.

I would be interested to learn more, but I suspect the vegetable polymer is PLA which takes years to break down unless it has exactly the right conditions. Only when subjected to a highly specialised process and heated to 140 degrees centigrade will PLA biodegrade. So in reality they will all end up either incinerated or in landfill just like traditional paper/plastic cups.

It is also pretty good timber - totally under-rated. I admit it is usually knotty, but durability similar to UK grown Western Red Cedar.

Maybe a bit of pschychology. Price the Larch higher than the hardwood. And then when a customer asks for hardwood, pause and say something like, "OK if you can only afford the hardwood, I guess it is better than nothing."

I have a coffee machine at my site for use of visitors and customers. I used to buy paper cups for it, thinking they were environmentally friendly, but of course we now know they are nothing of the sort due to the plastic liner. For practical reasons it is not really feasible to provide china cups as this would get so messy. So are there any eco friendly disposable cups? I thought I had found some like this: Fiesta Green Compostable Hot Cups Single Wall 340ml / 12oz x 50 - ds059 - Buy Online at Nisbets WWW.NISBETS.CO.UK Fiesta Green Compostable Hot Cups Single Wall 340ml / 12oz x 50 (ds059) & more from our Fiesta Green range at Nisbets.co.uk. Next day delivery on thousands of catering... But it turns out that the plastic substitute (PLA) is only compostible in commercial composters. I need something we can compost here on site at ambient temperatures. Also if it is thrown out of a car window (I hope none of my customers would do that but you never know) it needs to naturally biodegrade within months not years. I have found nothing - anyone help?

The real solution is to get people buying softwood. Maybe we should stop using the terms hardwood and softwood with customers, because all they hear is good and bad. The point is the softwoods are so much easier (and therefore quicker and more economical) to dry. And some of the softwoods are easily as good as most hardwoods. Larch is fantastic. Dries really easily and burns long and hot. Not many hardwoods can match Larch overall. I have had some success selling Larch firewood it has to be said. I sometimes think we should say Larch is hard wood. That would not be a lie - Larch is a hard wood. It is just not a hardwood.

Chances are it is just fulfilling the existing commitments to tree planting already made. Not sure about the rest of the UK but last time I checked Wales was only meeting about 15% of it's own tree planting targets on public land. So if they maybe get a bit closer to the targets already in place, perhaps they will indeed hit the new figures!

Don’t forget dust extraction. A 5 hp extractor may be needed so factor this in also. A large thicknesser is hopeless without good extraction.

Jaguar Dashboards are indeed burr walnut and it is imported from California. Why we don't try growing Walnut as a crop in the UK I can't imagine, but some other countries certainly do.

Just make sure to charge extra for any damage caused by stones or nails etc. So if you hit no nails just charge him the hourly rate, but if you blunt three extra blades due to nails charge for sharpening or replacing those blades on top of the hourly rate. You don't need to charge him for the time it will waste as you are charging by the hour anyway. Also of course if you are travelling more than half an hour or so maybe charge for mileage. Most important thing is to make sure he understands all this up front!