h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It would still be better if these companies weren't creating so much plastic garbage in the first place. Reusable glassware was so much better.

I have traveled in Eastern Europe where re-cyclables have sometimes deposits. If the deposits aren't big enough they still get thrown away in the street. However they are then collected by homeless / poor who cash in on them in large numbers.

PP.

As Sho says, nobody in Germany is bothered about having to take back their bottles. The procedure is very simple and on the supermarket car parks you see people with huge bin bags full of plastic bottles for returning.

Council rules on what can be put in each bin are a bit confusing. In our area, we can't put black plastic food containers in the recycling bin. Any other colour is fine, just not black.

We can no longer recyle food waste. I can understand why I can't throw chicken bones in with my garden refuse - that one always confused me when we COULD do it. But really, what's the difference between a broccoli stem and a plant stem? Or between grass clippings and sprout trimmings?

It all seems a bit arbitrary and also seems to vary from region to region.

Deb

I often wonder what happens to it all - it must be scrutinised somewhere to sort & check for non recyclable items. I'm sure we must put the odd rogue item in.

We used to have a green box & sorted cans/platic bottles/paper into different bags. Seemed much cleaner & more easy to recycle than the throw it all in together bin.

I've wondered for years why something as eminently recyclable as old light bulbs are not routinely recycled.

The old light bulbs with the filament in are now extinct here. At least, they're supposed to be.

I throw away an old light bulb every couple of months, but use maybe 30 glass food & drink bottles and jars each week. It simply may not be economic to recycle them yet. Maybe one day it will be.

I believe that energy saving bulbs can be recycled. I think there's a section of the recycling box at my local supermarket for them. They also take printer ink cartridges, batteries and water filter cartridges.

The compact fluorescent bulbs have to be disposed of as hazardous waste. There's a small amount of mercury in the bulb.

At our local tip there is a special section for them. I often wondered what it was that needed disposing of separately.

Why mercury?

Sodium vapor works just as well and is a commonplace in flourescent lamps and minute traces of sodium rapidly oxidize when exposed to the open environment and is not a toxic hazard like mercury is even in minute traces.

Color balance. Sodium vapor makes a very orange light. Mercury vapor is bluer.

My pet hate is when I make a hot drink in winter which is invariably in two to three minutes it becomes cold.

I remembered another one today. Shopping for clothes online - websites are getting better at providing details, but still not enough. 'Knee-length' depends on your height & leg length. 'Model is 170 high & wears a size 10' doesn't tell you a lot. Please give precise garment sizing!

On hot drinks in cold weather, a pinch of corn starch will make it hold its heat longer.

Today's PH: Catching up on a lack of sleep.

I've been running on pretty much a lucky 6 hours a night for a while now, and the last couple of weeks I managed to get around 7, with a few 12 hour kips. Which of course now means I feel more tired than I was before!

I haven't had a full nights sleep in ages now, as with this growth in my bladder, I've had to go for a pee every two hours during the night!

Which has made my life miserable, as I'm tired all the time, between that and my nightmares, I'm not a very happy bunny

Smudger.

That takes me bad to when I was on a cocktail of tablets including steroids. For the duration of the course of tablets I got two hours sleep per night. That was it. It wasn't two hours, then struggle back to sleep. It was two hours and then I was wide awake. I'd try to catch up on some sleep during the day, but it was never enough. When I came off the tablets I was like a zombie.

Bladders, eh - darned nuisance!
I'd love a full night' sleep, but I chose reconstruction when I had my bladder removed. Which means I have to get up every night - I've had to learn new signals. Often I wake up too soon ( or too late... ). Sometimes I can't get back to sleep.
My iPod comes in handy to stop me tossing & turning.