Downsize your Christmas carbon footprint

Following on from my tips for eco Christmas decorations, here are a few more good pointers to keep your Christmas carbon footprint from making you a first rate eco-scrooge.

The Meal: Using durable and good quality serving ware instead of disposable stuff keeps your footprint and your spending low. Better still, buying recycled glass plates and glasses means that you are actually reusing resources rather than fuelling the need to process new ones. EcoCentric sell a beautiful range of recycled glass crockery which will make any Christmas table look elegant and stylish. If you can't afford to buy new crockery, then there are often interesting vintage finds at charity shops, or the option of renting it if you're catering for unusually large numbers. If you do want to buy disposable plates and cups, then paper as the best choice as it can be composted along with the rest of the Christmas food waste.

The Wrapping: rubbish mounts up extremely fast over the Christmas period, but there are lots of things we can do to minimise the cost to the environment. Gifts can be wrapped in recycled paper, old maps, comics, newspapers or any colourful paper. Choose gifts that don't need to be wrapped, or make the wrapping part of the gift - a vintage scarf or a snazzy tea towel for example. Gift tags can be made from last years Christmas cards artfully cut out and threaded through with a piece of ribbon. Importantly, make sure to recycle all possible packaging and wrapping. We've found that kids absolutely love the new Ovetto recycling bin - it's made from recycled plastic and has three handy compartments for three types of recycling. Recycling has never been so fun and stylish!

RE:fashion award winners announced at glitzy celeb filled occasion

Last night saw the ultimate event in ethical fashion with the RE:fashion awards held at Shoreditch town hall (just round the corner from our HQ, where Elton had his 60th) where all the hot ethical designers mixed with celebs such as Daisy Lowe, Pixie Geldof and Leah Wood.

Established designers Vivienne Westwood, Zandra Rhodes & Katharine Hamnett showed their support for the awards with their outfits, created exclusively for the event, being modelled on the RE:design catwalk.

RE: Fashion Designer of the Year was awarded to From Somewhere, (right) beating off fierce competition from Safia Minney of People Tree, and Oliver's favourites Junky Styling.

Izzy Lane, who rears her own sheep for her very British collections (shown below), walked away with New RE:Designer of the Year Award.

Other awards and winners included:
Fashion retailer Adili - RE: Retailer of the Year
Pioneering jewellery label Made - RE: Africa award
From Somewhere - RE:Use Award

It was the first event of its kind, though trends would suggest there will be more to come, following the Estethica area at London fashion week for the past 5 seasons which has been growing in size and quality every time.

For the full report check out glam Sarah from Greenmystyle who was right in there with the action.

Have a happy Halloween - eco style

Halloween can be great fun for kids and adults alike, but with all the sweets, costmumes, pumpkins and lights being used the environmental impact can soon add up. Luckily, there are a few things we can all do to make our Halloween celebrations a little better for the planet.

Reusing old costumes (for example by swapping them between friends and families) can be a great way to get something new for nothing. If old costumes aren't your thing, then costumes can easily be created by recycling any old rubbish found lying around the home - I think a newspaper monster could be a pretty scary costume!

Buying fairtrade sweets and chocolate, like the selection of Divine chocolate at Ecocentric, means that the producers are getting a fair deal - always good for your conscience. Organic pumkins are also a great way to cut down on your negative environmental imprint, and instead of throwing away the seeds, why not wash, then gently toast and salt them for a tasty snack?

Eco-friendly decorations for your Halloween party are also easy and fun to make. You can use of a whole range of used packaging, like washed crisp packets and chocolate wrappers, to make shiny bunting, and old tin cans with holes poked in them make nice little lanterns with a candle in them. For a safer version, Ecocentric's Candela lights give out a lovely warm glow, but are cool to the touch and rechargeable.

However you celebrate Halloween, I hope you have a ghoulish - and green - day!

Recycling is high design

Want a sneaky peak round Oliver's home?

In this video he made for Recycle Now Oliver shows how the glass and plastic that we faithfully put out for the council to take away each week becomes beautifully designed products that can be incorporated into the design of your home.

Oliver really believes in sustainable design and in this tour round his home he shows you exactly how he has practiced what he preaches - and gives some great advice along the way.

To pick up some great recycled home accessories and other recycled and eco gifts, check out ecocentric

Congratulations to the Peoples Award winners

Congratulations go to the Zon hearing aid who won the Peoples Choice Award from Cooper Hewitt Design Awards

It was a hot contest, in which our Ovetto recycled recycling bin held its own. It was great to see over one fifth of the nominees were green or sustainable designs, showing that this sector can compete against the big boys in the design world - a trend that I'm sure will only increase over the years.

Design classic up for an award

We are very excited that Ovetto, our recycled recycling bin, is one of this year's contendors in this year's Cooper Hewitt Design Awards.

The competition gives people the chance to vote for their favourite example of good design.

We think Ovetto is not only a good design product. It's green, recycled, educational fun and practical.

At the same height as a 4 year old, it is the ideal little friend for a child with colourful doors and slots that beg to be pushed, pulled and played with.

So if you think the Ovetto is the best thing since Eero Saarinen (think Tulip chair) or Verner Panton, then go ahead and vote

It'll be a tight contest - check out who Ovetto is up against!

We'll let you know what happens when the results come out next Friday...