A Greener Spring Clean: Why Charity Recycling Beats Mining Finite Resources

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As spring approaches, many of us feel the urge to refresh our homes, clear out clutter, and start anew. But this year, there’s an opportunity to make your spring clean go beyond your home—and benefit the planet too. By decluttering old and unused technology, you can help reduce environmental damage while raising funds for charity. 

We all have them: forgotten mobile phones tucked away in drawers, outdated cameras gathering dust, or tangled chargers and gadgets hiding in cupboards. What may seem like harmless clutter actually represents a much bigger environmental issue. Your mobile phone alone contains precious, finite materials such as copper, lithium, cobalt, manganese, tungsten, and tellurium. These resources are extracted through mining processes that can lead to deforestation, habitat destruction, and significant carbon emissions.  Read more

Recycling Electricals – Remove Personal Data

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By decluttering old and unused technology, you can help reduce environmental damage while raising funds for charity. 

For more details on which electrical items can be recycled, check out the “Valuable and Sensitive Items” section of this page: https://www.sussexgreenliving.org.uk/single-use/

Before donating, it’s important to protect your personal data. Make sure to remove any SIM or memory cards and perform a factory reset on your device. This ensures your information remains secure while allowing your old tech to have a new purpose. 

Removing Data From My Phone 

Mobile phones are still worth a lot of money, even if they’re a few years old or have faults. But before you sell with a company like us you may be thinking how do I clear my iPhone before selling it? 

Well you’ll want to know how to prepare your iPhone for trade in. We’ve provided a helpful step-by-step for this below. 

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Slow travel: Explore the gems on our doorstep this Bank Holiday

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With bank holiday weekends coming up in April and May, this spring offers the perfect opportunity to rediscover what’s right on our doorstep – and to think a little differently about how we travel. Many of us will already have booked our summer holidays, but there’s growing pressure on airlines to be more transparent about the true environmental cost of flying. 

From April 2027, airlines and travel agents will be required to display clear, standardised emissions figures at the point of booking, giving passengers the information they need to weigh up the environmental cost of their journey.  

The news was welcomed by environment group CAGNE, which had been campaigning on the issue for over a decade. But a spokesperson said the warnings should be similar to those on cigarette packets – warning of the risks to the health of the planet – adding that people should have all the information so ‘they can then seek greener forms of transport whether that be a different airline or travel by train or not to fly’. 

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Sussex Green Living

Collaboration for Nature: Charity and Business Partnership Creates Outdoor Learning Space at Thakeham Primary School

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As part of their action for World Climate Day on 23rd March, Sussex Green Living partnered in a brand-new way with local business to extend regional nature recovery efforts. Last week proved to be a very exciting time for Thakeham Primary School, as pupils became the proud recipients of a brand-new outdoor learning area thanks to a collaboration between Sussex Green Living, local business Mountjoy, and a network of community partners working together for nature.   

The project forms part of Sussex Green Living’s Pollination Education Station (PES) Trail, an initiative designed to improve food security, support pollinators and provide accessible environmental education. The trail is supported by the charity’s Green Business Network, which enables businesses to work alongside the charity, educate their staff about sustainability and use corporate volunteering days to take meaningful action for climate and nature.  Read more

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How can we not have enough water when it rains all the time?

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Water is something many of us in the UK rarely think twice about. It falls generously from the sky in March and April, and flows effortlessly from our taps, but behind that everyday convenience is a growing challenge. Even though it might feel like it’s always raining, the water isn’t always going where it’s needed or staying around long enough to be beneficial. This is why we face hose-pipe bans in summer and why water scarcity in the UK is an increasing concern. The average person in the UK uses around 140 litres of water every day, far higher than in the 1960s.  Read more

Nature is Still Sleeping

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It’s nearly Spring and our natural inclination is to clean up, tidy away and be ready for relaxing in the garden. It seems ‘natural’ to spray weeds and reach for quick-fix garden cleaners — but actually it’s not helpful to Nature! 

If we think about the hidden life that quietly depends on those fallen leaves, last season’s stems, and the “untidy” parts of our gardens, we begin to realise that what looks like mess to us is lifeline to essential organisms.  Read more

Delay your big garden tidy-up: Nature needs the mess 

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Nature is still sleeping, so the best thing you can do is sit back and relax. Delay your spring garden clean-up until temperatures are consistently above 10°C for at least a week—often late April or when apple trees bloom. Top tips for an untidy garden and its benefits:

  • Wait and Observe: Let the garden “sleep in” to support local ecology. 
  • Protect Pollinators: Many butterflies, bees, and beneficial insects overwinter in dead, hollowed-out plant stems and fallen leaves. 
  • Delay Lawn Care: Avoid mowing, walking on the lawn or wet spring soil to prevent damaging its structure. Soil compaction restricts air and water movement, leading to poor drainage, waterlogging, and limited root growth. It is better to wait until the soil is dry enough to not form a ball in your hand.  

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How Sussex Golf Courses are Embracing Eco-Friendly Practices

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The stunning Sussex coastline and rolling downs provide a unique setting for the region’s golf courses. As environmental awareness grows and climate challenges intensify, these courses recognise that sustainability is essential for their future.  

Sussex is an environmentally sensitive region, with unique coastal ecosystems, ancient woodlands, and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Careful stewardship is essential to maintain the county’s biodiversity, particularly as many courses operate within landscapes of national significance. Sustainability also ensures long-term viability, addressing the sport’s ecological impact. As the team at Golf Swing Systems highlights, “with sprawling golf links courses that require significant resources to maintain, it’s natural to question the sport’s ecological impact”. Adopting green practices today better positions courses to handle high energy costs, water restrictions, and stricter environmental regulations. 
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Arundel wetlands Centre – Communicating the Message of Nature

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Darren Cool – 07792308722 – www.dcoolimages.com

“The most effective way to save the threatened and decimated natural world is to cause people to fall in love with it again-with its beauty and its reality” This was the vision of Sir Peter Scott, the tireless broadcaster and naturalist who established the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust. We visited the WWT’s Arundel Wetland Centre in the year of its 50th anniversary, the WWT’s 80th, just before World Wetlands Day on 2 February, to investigate his legacy.  

We started our morning by meeting Marketing and Communications Manager Pat Warren and Reserve manager Suzi Lanaway in the impressive Visitors Centre. It’s a bright open space with huge picture windows looking out over a large lake bustling with all kinds of water birds such as geese, ducks and teals. As we sipped our coffee and talked, we couldn’t fail to notice the occasional blue flash of a kingfisher darting to the water a few feet from where we sat.  Read more

Birds in February: Challenges, Hope, and the Actions Homeowners Can Take

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February is a pivotal month for the UK’s garden birds. As winter tightens its grip and natural food sources run low, feathered visitors depend more than ever on the habitats and help we provide. And while the joy of watching birds brighten our gardens remains undiminished, the latest Big Garden Birdwatch reminds us that the broader picture is cause for concern. 

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