News

Green Build shaping up for this weekend

Cornwall’s first sustainable construction event, where Clear About Carbon will run several seminars, is shaping up nicely, with several new exhibitors confirmed.

• Visitors will be able to step inside and take a look around the beautiful Studio Ark (right), a compact eco building made of timber made by local company Pioneer Environmental Buldings.
• RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) will be offering free Ask an Architect sessions on their stand, where members of the public can ask about reconfiguring their home to maximise space, add value or introduce energy- and money-saving measures. Homeowners are encouraged to bring along any drawings they have.
• There’ll also be a fully charged electric car onsite.

Visitors can also find out about green building options, renewable energy and careers in Cornwall during the two days, through:

• The Renewable Energy Street: Information on solar hot water, solar electricity, biomass boilers, wind power systems and heat pump options – plus material on the Feed in Tariff and the Renewable Heat Incentive.
• An exhibition of local construction suppliers that have adapted their operations to meet the growing green building market. Information on training and career development opportunities in the renewable sector throughout the country.
• Free seminars exploring issues such as low-impact building and recycled building materials, living roofs, waste minimisation and retrofitting. These are aimed at construction industry delegates on the Friday, while Saturday’s seminars will be of interest to the general public.

Find out more about the event programme on the Cornwall Sustainable Building Trust website, where you should also register to get free entry to Green Build, to take part in Friday’s seminars for the construction industry, or to book an Ask an Architect session.

Cornish dairy trials UK’s first paper milk bottle

Staff at Eden were treated to a novel sight as they made tea in the staff room last month – an unusual looking milk bottle made half of paper and half of plastic.

It was all part of some special user testing by Trewithen Dairy, one of the firms Clear About Carbon is working with. Eden staff were willing guinea pigs for the company’s new GreenBottle, the UK’s first ever paper milk bottle.

Created by British inventor, Martin Myerscough, the bottle has two parts, a sturdy paper shell and a small inner plastic lining to keep the milk fresh. Once the milk is finished you can rip open the bottle, remove the film and recycle or compost the paper.

Trewithen says its GreenBottle, available in four Asda stores in Cornwall, contains just 30% of the plastic used to make a standard plastic milk bottle and has 50% lower carbon footprint.

Visit the Trewithen Dairy website to find out more.