Search results for ""Author Feidhlim Harty""

ideas and inspiration for those looking to reduce their household waste Is recycling really the answer to household waste? How do we eliminate microplastics from our wastewater? How do we avoid consumer goods that are designed to break? How do we stop the oceans being trashed? Towards Zero Waste offers practical tools for change in your own kitchen, on your weekly shop and around your home, as well as in the wider world. Feidhlim Harty explores how and why we need to go zero waste, firstly looking at where waste currently goes, and revealing the hidden world of food and product miles and embodied energy. He shares how to reduce waste room by room, at events, parties, during our travels, and at work. Having minimised waste for over two decades, Feidhlim and his family share their clever ideas to eliminate junk, buy wisely, free yourself from useless packaging, reduce not only your eco footprint but your household bills, compost all biodegradables, and reuse, repair and reroute. They share five simple steps to zero waste and inspire us to be active and push for change. There is a hunger now within society to address the root causes of plastic waste, right back to the point of oil and gas extraction. People want no part in adding to plastics in the oceans or spreading microplastics into our water, soils and food. Nor do they want to be subjected to the cynical betrayal of consumer built-in obsolescence. Patience with government policy and corporate greenwashing is wearing thin. Towards Zero Waste offers clear guidance for anyone wanting to actively be part of the solutions and not the problems.

Read more less

Septic Tank Options & Alternatives by Feidhlim Harty is a user-friendly guide through the maze of selecting an eco-friendly sewage treatment option for your home. With so many different treatment systems and technologies available, it can be a challenge to make the choice that really reflects your values and priorities. This book lists conventional and alternative sewage treatment systems and outlines the pros and cons of each in a straightforward and non-technical way. Septic Tank Options covers The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved systems, plus innovative sustainable solutions, and also proposes alternatives where site and soil conditions are suboptimal. This book is a must for anyone worried about how well their current system is working, for people undergoing inspections, or for those who know they need an upgrade but don't know where to start. It is an invaluable guide for architects and engineers who are guiding clients through the options available, and gives treatment options that may be less costly, less energy intensive and more eco-friendly than an inspector may propose. It covers: Initial check - assessing your current treatment situation, Making good - examining the potential for repairs and improvements, Taking stock - looking at your site characteristics, priorities and personal preferences, Options available - different treatment systems explained, Putting it into action - planning, implementation and maintenance. If you want to be proactive about getting your system working and make sure you have as eco-friendly and cost effective option as you can, then this holistic overview is the book to read.

Read more less

The Permaculture Guide to Reed Beds is a comprehensive overview of reed bed systems and treatment wetlands for household effluent treatment. Going from system selection and design to construction, planting and maintenance; this guide offers the reader a complete how-to manual for getting your own reed bed system up and running. Reed beds are an efficient, effective, low-energy filter system for protecting local groundwater and streams from septic tank effluent and greywater. This thorough book explains the background to wastewater treatment and water quality and describes how reed beds work to get wastewater clean again. Reed beds and treatment wetlands are well-established elements within permaculture design, and many of the permaculture principles are readily applied to them. This guide goes a step further than simply explaining how to design and build reed beds by providing greater insight into permaculture as a design tool and exploring how to maximize the yields, beneficial relationships, and sustainability of the reed bed and indeed the whole sewage treatment process within your site. Complete with an overview of planning guidelines for the UK and Ireland, The Permaculture Guide to Reed Beds is an invaluable resource for homeowners who want to build their own system. It is also an essential reference manual for permaculture designers, architects, engineers, landscape designers, planners and others with an interest in this area. Easy to follow and clearly set out, with beautiful line drawings to illustrate the text, this is a book you'll find both useful and inspiring.

Read more less