After the Christmas break, the REACT group met at the end of January with further plans for existing projects and new possibilities for 2020.

Joanna Holah is fully charged with ideas for helping everyone find cheaper, greener energy suppliers.  The companies producing 100% of their own energy are Good Energy, Green Energy UK and Ecotricity.  Own production rather than buying in from elsewhere is important as it increases the overall green energy supply.

As a result of her investigations, Gerrans Parish Council is switching suppliers for their street lighting to Good Energy, cutting their bill by a third as well as reducing carbon.  Joanna is now approaching all Gerrans businesses and will then see how best to reach individual householders.

We’re delighted to report that Portscatho Stores is now supplying milk in refillable glass bottles.  Since the scheme started 10 weeks ago their sales of plastic cartons have gone down by nearly 2000 and people are already noticing how much less they’re putting in the recycling.  We’re trying to get other places selling milk locally to follow suit.

We’re also trying to find out if there’s a market for Dartington goat’s milk on the Roseland, so if this is for you do let us know.

Warm thanks to local residents for responding to our appeals in the magazine.  We had a wonderfully generous offer of sapling native trees from Polsue Wood, so if anyone would like one or more to plant, let us know.  Members of REACT and Wild Roseland have recently visited the site to identify saplings and see which could be transplanted this year.

Finally, a couple more environmentally friendly ideas.  Printer cartridges are bad news in landfill. You can get a freepost envelope sent to you by Empties Please which you send back to them when full.  All you need to do is fill in a request form online: www.emptiesplease.com

In January we reported South West Water’s free water and money saving gadgets:

https://www.savewatersavemoney.co.uk/southwest/free-water-saving-products  As someone who tends to daydream in the shower, I can recommend their four-minute egg-timer gizmo with a suction pad to fix on the shower door.  Just turn it over when you get in and when it runs out it’s a gentle reminder it’s time to reach for your towel.

Our next meeting is on Tuesday 25th February at 6pm in Gerrans Memorial Hall.  (Not the Standard as it’s closed on Mondays and Tuesdays until April.)  Do join us.

Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RoselandEnvironment/.  To get in touch, our contact details are:  Richard Cochrane richard@react.org.uk Helen Hastings 01872 580312 helen@react.org.uk