When did you have the idea to set up your Vegan shoe shop?
I started Wills with a passion to provide animal and human friendly shoes with high-street styles and prices. My dream is to bridge the gap between everyday people and ethically produced vegan shoes.
Continue reading “Ethical Buisness: Ethical Life. Vol 6.”
It’s not that we are attention seekers… but we do love it when people talk about us! Here is a fab little article about us published recently by the Plastic Is Rubbish team Polythene Pam and Village Boy. They just LOVE our super-sustainable plastic free pet bowls from BecoThings… did you hear they are made from rice husks and bamboo? Now that’s the kind of gossip we like to see spreading! Take a read of what they said below:
It’s been an exciting few months of Joey and I – we have expended into wholesale and our web-shop is doing better than ever. Since we started two years ago all our orders have been sent in re-used packaging, we have been collecting boxes and packets from neighbours and friends, and it has worked very well. However, now we are sending out more orders than we can find boxes for – so we have had to buy our own boxes for the first time.
T
o celebrate Organic September, and our exciting new involvement with Yarrah Organic pet food, we are publishing a series of detailed blogs about the in’s-and-out’s of Organic food production. The blog series will follow closely the structure of Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 – the European Union regulations on organic food production. We aim to bring this rule-book to life, with examples, videos and ideas to show just how important the Organic Food revolution is – and to make you proud to be a part of it. This week, in part one, we will discuss the Objectives of Organic.
Joey and I are always looking for ways to be greener, but our pets can be really naughty when it comes to the environment. Sasha and Shep, the rescue dogs, were forever destroying their toys – to be fair to them, it’s not willful destruction… but the cats, well, ripping their little toy mice to bits is their absolute favorite thing! Before we set up Ethical Pets, we didn’t really know how to address these problems, we seemed to be endlessly throwing broken toys away and buying more, and the local pet shops sadly weren’t much help with our sustainability quest.
However, now we run Ethical Pets things are much simpler! In this article, we will take you on a whistle-stop tour of some of our recycled, up-cycled and recyclable pet favorites.
Toys
Pretty much all of the Ethical Pets toys are up-cycled, recycled or recyclable – and our pets just love them! The dogs, for example, love their super tough Zogoflex Toys, and we love them too, because we know that if they ever manage to wreck them, we can recycle it with ease (and get a free replacement!).
Also, the cats adore their little woolly mice, and we love them too, because they are up-cycled from reclaimed yarn (and with a charity donation to boot). Much greener than the average cat toy!
Bowls, litter trays and food scoops.
Even things as basic as pet bowls can be totally eco-friendly – when we needed to get some new ones (because our old ones were too small) we bought some of the Ethical Pets Beco-Bowls, which are made from waste rice husks and sustainably grown bamboo. Up-cycling waste plant-matter like rice husks means the bowl is not only green to start off with (because its not made of plastic) but it will biodegrade in the garden when it’s old and ganky. Perfect 🙂 BecoThings make cat bowls, small-to-large bowls and large slow feed bowls, litter trays and scoops and food scoops too. Each time one of our long-serving (but not very green) plastic items needs replacing, we replace it with a BecoThing!
Beds
Our personal favorite recycled product range are the lovely soft beds: made from 100% recycled plastic (used plastic bottles) these beds are super soft as well as super eco 🙂 There are beds just the right size for cats, rabbits and smaller dogs, right up to the large and squishy giant mattress. Also, our eco Vet Bed is great for the car or for older dogs who need something warm and accessible.
Packaging
There are other things to consider too, for example, pet product packaging. The products we sell all come from companies with an eco mindset, so packaging is usually minimal and eco-friendly. As for our own packaging, you can see a full summary here, however, in short, its mostly re-used and/or recycled cardboard with a little degradable plastic and a little bubble wrap. As eco as we can for now (and always getting better!)
Summary
All in all, there are lots of recycled, up-cycled and recyclable products for your pets. Job well done eh?!
Joey and I are keen to start cycling, and we think this Project in Birmingham is really great! They have so much to offer so its well worth a look if you live locally (Anna’s Grandma lives in Erdington by the way, another reason we love this project so much). In putting together our cycle themed newsletter we have learned loads about how green cycling is, how useful bikes are and the cool stuff can be done with your bike when its old. All in all, we are pretty impressed with bikes! This is What Bike North Birmingham had to say:
NB: THIS PROJECT HAS NOW ENDED
Bike Everyone is part of the Bike North Birmingham project and we are making it easy for residents of Erdington and Sutton Coldfield Constituencies to get on their bikes! With cycle routes in and around the area and with more to come – our aim is to make cycling more accessible for the ‘may be’ cyclist’, whether it’s cycling to work, to the shops or purely for pleasure and fitness.
Bike North Birmingham was launched in April 2012 and in its first year up to December 2012, and despite the poor weather, we managed to attract over 350 adults and families on to our leisure rides. Over 112 adults took part in the Learn to Ride Programme over 100 bikes have been loaned out for up to 6 months giving people the opportunity to really think about buying a bike for good. The short term hire bikes have been loaned out over 250 times and many people have reported that thanks to the project their travel habits are changing and they feel they are becoming fitter as a result.
To help people discover the joys of cycling, we offer:
FREE bike hire:
For individuals, friends and families, borrow a bike for the day and get out and explore some of the parks and cycle routes in the North of Birmingham. Bikes are available from our two new cycling hubs at Erdington and Wyndley Leisure Centres.
FREE long term loan of bikes:
Need a bike to get to work or help cut the cost of getting around? Thinking about buying a bike but not sure? Borrow one of ours for a few months to help you decide!
FREE cycle training:
If you’ve never ridden a bike before or haven’t cycled for a while, or maybe you just need a confidence boost, book some sessions with us!
FREE Commuter training:
Do you want to be more confident on the road and perhaps cycle to and from work, we can help with 1 -1 training!
FREE Leisure Rides:
and other cycle activities
Fun group rides with qualified Ride Leaders for cyclists of
all abilities
FREE Cycle maintenance classes:
Learn some basic maintenance to keep your bike in a good condition
Some up and coming activities for you to join in with in the next couple of months are:
Easy Riders Cycling Group – a Wheelie Friendly way to cycle!
Weekly on Wednesdays at 10am
Normal Starting Point: Brookvale Park
Level: Gentle – Moderate
Cycling around and about from the tranquil Brookvale Park and other locations. Why not come along to enjoy a sociable and satisfying morning bike ride?
Health and Fitness Rides
Weekly on Thursdays at 10am
Starting Point: Brookvale Park
Level: Gentle – Leisurely
Do you want to Lose Weight? Stop Smoking? Get Fit? Cycling can help! So why not get on a bike and ride towards a healthier lifestyle? Feel great about yourself!
Aston Hall for Tea
Sunday 16th June 2013 at 11:30am – 1:30pm
Starting Point: Brookvale Park by the Sailing Club, B23 7SL
Level: Leisurely/ Moderate
Cycle back in time to 17th Century surroundings; feel refreshed from time in the tea rooms and a wander around the idyllic gardens and grounds. 10% discount in tea rooms!
Find The Fort by Bike
Starting Point: Erdington Leisure Centre [Pool], B24 9EJ
Fri 14th June at 12pm – 1pm and Sunday 7th July at 10am – 11am
Level: Leisurely/Moderate
Find out how quick and easy it is to get to The Fort Shopping Park from Erdington by bike!
Lots more rides on www.bikenorthbirmingham.org.uk (website has now changed hands) – don’t forget to book by calling us on 464 1020
FREE Basic Cycle Maintenance courses and workshops
Our five session courses will introduce you to basic cycle maintenance in a relaxed and supportive environment. You don’t need any experience, just the desire to get hands on and skilled up!
Courses cover: Puncture repairs, replacing inner 
tubes, headsets, handlebars and stems, set up and adjustment of brakes and gears and how to index them too.
Tuesdays 7pm – 8.30pm
4th ,11th,18th,25th June, 2nd July at Kingsbury School and Sports College, B24 8RE
Wednesdays 7pm – 8.30pm
5th , 12th. 19th, 26thJune, 3rd July
Clifton Road Youth and Community Centre, B73 6EB
To book any of our activities call 0121 464 1020
Activities open to Leisure Card holders residing in Erdington and Sutton Coldfield Constituencies.
Continue reading “Bike North Birmingham and Bike Everyone – what they do.”
One of our favourite books, How Bad are Bananas? By Mike Berners-Lee, has some sensational cycling facts. This month, subscribers to our newsletter get the chance to win a copy! You need to sign up for your chance to enter. When you get your newsletter, there will be a question in it, simply reply with the answer, and winners will be picked out of the hat! 🙂 Good luck!
Eco Facts
Our favourite fact is that it would be greener to drive a hummer than to cycle after eating air freighted asparagus! Checkout our cool graph below comparing a few bike fuels (food) to some other forms of transport.
Cycling to work
Another interesting fact is that a congested commute in an average car comes in at 2200g CO2e per mile. This is much much worse than normal driving – almost as bad as your air freighted asparagus mile. So, the lesson is that cycling to work is a serious planet saver… so long as you don’t eat asparagus out of season for breakfast!
Food and Carbon Footprints
The carbon footprint of food is always interesting to us at Ethical Pets, with folk claiming we should eat our pets to save the planet, we think its important to show pets can be green too.
In the graph you can see that veg isn’t always greener, but that in general, meat is much more carbon heavy that veg. The same trend is clear in the rest of the book, for example, we learned that a 4 ounce steak makes more carbon than a 6.5 kg bag of carrots! Or, for the same carbon as a 2 kg leg of lamb, you could eat milky porridge every day for 4 whole months. Oats, wheat and even naughty old rice are much lower in carbon than any meat.
Pet Food: good and green!
We know that veggie pet food can be healthy, but apparently is very green too! So, if your dog or cat were going to cycle, a little Yarrah or Benevo would be the ideal fuel to choose!
We met Cranks Coffee Coop at the Northern Vegan Fair – and with just one sip of their delicious coffee, Anna was a fan for life! Coffee Cranks are a social enterprise and workers cooperative, selling ethically sourced tea, coffee and snacks from a hand made cargo bike.
“Cargo bike” sounds a little industrial, but actually, the bike is beautiful and curvy, with lots of varnished wood.
The Coffee Cranks idea is beautiful too: to use local cooperation and quality ethical produce to challenge corporatism, youth unemployment and the desire to “give up.”
But for all their brilliant ideas, there is a lot to do before they are a fully functioning coffee cart – first of all, crowd sourcing a start-up fund. They have already received just over 15% of their £7000 start-up goal, and no wonder, because people who become a patron get much more than a fuzzy feeling of good spirit… with cute cog-shaped biscuits, stylish tee-shirts, bags, jewelery and even free event catering up for grabs, this investment is a gift that gives back!
Coffee Cranks Crowdfunding Campaign from Coffee Cranks on Vimeo.
Checkout their website here.
Meet Claire. She’s a real force of nature and yes… we have found in her yet another Ethical Business Superstar! Claire’s thing is Bikes: she likes riding them, fixing them… she even Married a bicycle repair man! Oh, and the other thing she does with bikes is up-cycle them into gorgeous jewelery and accessories. Yes. She is very very cool! Read more about Claire in our interview with her below, and checkout her web-shop too!
Way back, where did all of this eco stuff this begin for you?
From an early age, I always had a pencil in my hand. Apart from when I was running around or swinging off something. I started a fine art degree which seemed the natural thing to do, but found it wasn’t what I expected. I moved away from art and design for a few years and spent my time in community work with children and young people, which I love. But my creative streak and love of design always stayed with me. Since I was a child I was very aware of our impact on the world. I spent time raising money for environmental charities like GreenPeace. I was horrified that we were responsible for a hole in the ozone layer, or chopping down rainforests.
Buying a mountain bike in my late 20’s changed my life. It led me to my local bike shop, where I was to meet mechanic Rob (now the shop owner – and my husband!) Spending years riding together developed my love of all things ‘bicycle’.
So, when did you start Bits of Bike, why and how did it go?
I don’t like waste. I do like the unusual. Surrounded by junk at the bike shop, I felt inspired to recycle the scrap into something unique. My first endeavor was making coat hooks out of some old racing bike handle bars. The result was a striking, distinctive and functional object, saved from the junk heap! I began to get compliments on my designs. Then came the jewelery, and other ideas began to flow. From this, ’Bits of Bike’ began to evolve.
What kit did you need to begin with?
I started with nothing but a collection of waste bicycle items. I needed to buy some basic workshop tools and ‘jewelery findings’ (clasps, necklace end caps etc). At present, I make all the packaging myself from recycled card, and mountain bike magazines.
How did you start selling things?
At first I thought I would venture out to local craft fairs. Sales wise, this was hit and miss, but I got positive feedback. I decided to develop my website. I used the open-source web design tool, ‘Wordpress’. It really suited my needs, and I am grateful of such an amazing, free resource. I barely advertised and it was a couple of months before I got my first on-line sale. I bounced around the house for about half an hour. I still get butterflies every time I make an online sale!!
So far, it has been hard to juggle a full time job with developing Bits of Bike on the side. On the other hand, I have had the financial stability to develop the initial stages of Bits of Bike. However, I was recently redundant from the public sector and so I am giving BitsofBike a go full time. I am expecting to need to have another income too at some point. It is exciting and scary. But it feels so good to be in control and doing something positive and productive.
Where do you think Bits of Bike is going?
My goal is to develop an ethical urban cycle clothing and accessories company. At this early stage, whatever I make mostly goes straight back into growing BitsofBike. In five years, I would like to make my company and my life carbon neutral. But for now, I am just aiming towards making enough to paying my bills!
Describe an average day in the life of you.
My workshop is at the bottom of my garden. I am up and at it by 8:30am after an essential cup of tea. I prefer to have the doors wide open to listen to the birds which makes me happy and keeps me motivated. I will spend a lot of my day making things for orders that have come in, or to add to my website. An integral trip to the post office to send out any orders takes place mid afternoon. Variety is the spice of life, so there is always time fo
r experimentation and design. Music and dancing keeps the spirit up (and the toes warm mid winter). I don’t stop work till my head is whizzing and my stomach rumbles around 7pm.
What else do you do?
I committed to volunteering for Sustrans sustainable transport, and Breeze Cycle Network, to encourage more women to get out on their bikes.
Do you have any pets?
We have a rescue boa constrictor. She has a large enclosure in our bedroom. Mum wont come to stay because of her.
Do you 
have a conventional or unusual life style
I see myself as pretty conventional. I try to be conscious of my impact on the world. This influences my lifestyle. I love growing my own food on our allotment. There is nothing better that making a meal that I have nurtured myself from seed. My clothes all come from charity shops! A product of our throw-away society is that I get to have nice but cheap clothes, and support charities. I need time for myself playing out in the woods with my husband on my mountain bike. I like to feel close to nature. I like to be outside. Whatever the weather. Also, everyday I ride my bike. To commute or to have fun. I rarely drive.
What are your ethical principles and how do they guide and motivate you?
There are so many causes that inspire me. In general, personal and social responsibility is really important to me. It’s human nature to want to advance and move forward. But having the world and each other at the core of what we do is key. There are so many sustainable resources around us. Its just doesn’t make sense to me to do it any other way.
Any words of wisdom?
It may be cheesy, but I fell in love with ‘Desiderata’ as a teenager. My favorite quote is from this poem:
” You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.”
Meet Claire. She's a real force of nature and yes... we have found in her yet another Ethical Business Superstar! Claire's thing is Bikes: she likes riding them, fixing them... she even Married a bicycle repair man! Oh, and the other thing she does with bikes is up-cycle them into gorgeous jewellery and accessories. Yes. She is very very cool! Read more about Claire in our interview with her, and checkout her web-shop too!
This month we have started stocking three new products. Our great eco-bed range (100% recycled plastic and super soft) has been expanded to include a large mattress, for big dogs. It costs 49.99 and measures 100cm x 70cm and a plump 18cm thick. We have also changed the supplier of our poop bags: they are the same size as the old ones (nice and large) but a slightly lighter weight plastic (waste not want not eh?). They also come in packs of 50 (rather than 20) which saves on packaging too! We have carried over the multi-buy offer, 250 bags for 9.99. They are degradable plastic which means that they won’t produce nasty gases when they rot down in landfill. Lastly, we now stock Yarrah Organic Chicken and Turkey Chunks, a great wet cat food. The unusual thing about this food is that it contains only chicken and turkey (and no other types of meat), so if your cat has special dietary needs, you are in more control.
