With over 8 billion plastic bags used every year in the UK alone silksack is the smart alternative. Sumptuous to touch, reusable and tough but lightweight it is the very opposite of a plastic bag.

Made from 100% silk, the silksack is a bag designed to be always with you, a practical alternative to acquiring unwanted plastic bags during spontaneous and every day shopping. The bag is stylish and strong yet folds neatly into itself to form a palm sized pad, which is comfortable to carry in your handbag or pocket.

Just four fewer plastic bags a week, and in 20 years you'll keep 4,160 bags out of the landfill sites

Silverchilli was borne out of a desire to blow away the myth that 'third world' goods/crafts are of an inferior quality, to be bought out of sympathy for the cause rather than true desire for the product. An ironic perception when you consider that most 'labelled' clothing is made in sweatshops in the developing world, and that most Fair Trade goods are hand made to a high quality.

Silverchilli.com implements fairtrade ethics in a number of ways:

• They pay for the production of your ordered item in advance.
• They have spent time capacity building the communities to cost the items accurately so that they make a good living from the products you buy.
• They design the products in conjunction with the Silversmiths.
• They are working to delivery times stated by the communities we work with, not us.
• They return 95% of our profits back to the community.
• Silverchilli pays 50% in advance for all the orders to help fund raw materials, so the silversmiths are never out of pocket, and 50% on delivery.

Silverchilli are also keen to ensure that they do their bit for the environment and they consider it throughout their business activities.   The silver our silversmiths use is obviously mined, but Silverchilli are conscious that there are things that they can do to make some contribution to off-setting the effect of that activity. Notably there are things they do to neutralise the carbon that the business creates through its international deliveries.  They choose their packaging carefully to ensure that it is as environmentally friendly as possible.  Also, in partnership with UK charity, The Woodland Trust, Silverchilli has started planting trees in woods around the UK. It takes just 5 trees to neutralise the carbon from an entire plane which flies from Mexico to London.

The Windsave wind turbine system is roof or wall mounted and feeds electricity directly into the property on the consumer side of the meter, reducing the consumption of electricity purchased from the Grid. Windsave provides an environmentally-friendly, low-cost source of sustainable energy, providing an opportunity for every property, residential and commercial, in Britain to play a part in the Green Revolution.

The standard wind turbine will be available at B&Q stores in the UK from October at a price around ?1500.  Windsave suggest that payback can be in as little as 5 to 7 years depending on local wind speeds and availability of government grants.