Remarkable are the stationery company that make plastic cups into pencils. We think this is pretty amazing. After all, not every stationery company out there's so clever to design bright, quality and eco-friendly products. The man behind the idea to recycle car tyres into note pads is Edward Douglas Millerin and began, as most good ideas do, by experimenting with ways to turn everyday throw away materials into something useful. What resulted was a collection of fun and functional products that had a long second - reincarnated - life.

The brand's philosophy ‘is to create recycled items that are well-designed, great quality and a joy to own.' Remarkable have a strong green credentials. As part of their environmental policy they endeavour ‘to develop technology and provide products that will be sensitive to the earth's finite resources and environment through the use of recycled and sustainable materials.' This month we launch the new look Remarkable range. There are even a few new products to discover and play with!

Whilst investigating this truly remarkable brand we came across the secret recipe for creating recycled plastic cup pencil...

Ingredients:

• Recycled plastic cups (1 per pencil)


• Graphite (enough to fill the middle bit)


• 1 x pencil-making machine


• water-bath (cooling tank)


• Tim (he makes them)


• Secret ingredient (makes plastic behave like wood)


• Sharpening machine

Collect as many plastic cups as possible and stop them from going to landfill.
Wash off all the tea and coffee off and shred them into tiny pieces.
Preheat pencil machine to 180oC (30 mins)
Mix some of the plastic cups into the graphite and pour into the pencil machine.
Take the rest of the plastic cup material and pour into the other side of the pencil machine. Watch closely while all the material is melted (technical term: extruded) and brought together to create one long pencil (this is another secret bit). Ensure there is always a continuous length of pencil leaving the machine.
Allow the pencil to cool and harden as it passes through the water-bath (cooling tank)
Cut long pencil into smaller standard pencil size lengths.
Sharpen and leave until ready for printing.
(Easy job Tim, the machine seems to do it all for you.)

Please note we are not entirely sure if this recipe was a distraction from the real secret processes and would not advise adults try this at home.

This month's free gift when you spend over £50 at So Organic is a Remarkable suprise. You may get a recycled ruler and pencil or a car tyre notebook. Very nice indeedy.

Raw Organic are a new brand on the organic skin care block. As their name suggests, their range was created on the philosophy that organic products made from nature's raw ingredients are better for our bodies and better for the planet. And the emphasis: pure ingredients sourced from nature do work. Raw Organic, like So Organic, hold firm on their belief that the beauty products and toiletries we use everyday should be organic for the simple well-founded truth that what is absorbed through the skin matters.

Stephen Ley embarked on this mission of creating an organic, affordable range of skin care products three years ago when he sold his medical supply manufacturing company and met with Dr Nigel Brassington, a leading chemist. The pair worked together to formulate a line of cosmetics and toiletries with the primary focus to make them from certified organic extracts in an ethical fashion.

Made in England, Raw Organic use as many locally grown ingredients as possible. None of their products contain synthetic ingredients, parabens, SLS, synthetic fragrance, colourants, formaldehyde, urea or genetically modified materials. They're also not tested on animals.

The Raw Organic range includes:

• Juniper and Bitter Orange Moisturising Soap


• Honey and Barley Moisturising Liquid Soap


• Apple and Elderflower Refreshing Body Wash


• Bilberry and Juniper Conditioning Shampoo


• Wild Chamomile and Olive Hand and Body Lotion


• Evening Primrose and Chamomile Baby Oil


• Apricot and Rosehip Warm-up Massage Oil


• Spearmint and Eucalyptus Cool-down Massage Oil


• Frankincense and Sandalwood Massage Oil


• Ylang-Ylang and Neroli Relaxing Massage Oil

Madara is an entirely natural and organic range of cosmetics that epitomises beauty - beautifully designed, all natural ingredients, and healthy body. The brand's motto ‘deeper than skin' represents a perception of beauty that more women every day are beginning to encompass. In their words: "A beauty which would not offend meadow flowers... the wisdom and force of nature."

Manufactured in Latvia the range is certified by ECOCERT, the international organic standard. Ingredients include biologically certified flower and herb extracts from the Baltic region. In line with the ECOCERT standards at least 95% of all ingredients within the Madara range are of natural origin and none of their products contain synthetic ingredients.

The organic skin care company recently won a prestigious Design Management Europe Award. It was also included in the WWF Deeper Luxury report which looks at environmental and social performance of a number of world wide brands, including the likes of L'Oreal. They stood out for reasons including the fact they make completely natural flower and herb cosmetics that use ingredients that are locally sourced and use easily recyclable packaging.

Madara's eco-friendly credentials don't stop there. They use only ecological cleaning agents in the production of their products, use energy efficient production equipment and do not carry out experiments on animals.

Eco Baby: A Green Guide to Parenting covers all things a parent with an eco-friendly mindset would need in the first year of an infant's life. Sally J Hall is the author and eco mum behind this book. Her advice and eco tips cover some of the biggest issues facing modern society (climate change, ethical and fairtrade companies, organic and sustainable living) and new mothers (feeding, nappies, toiletries, toys) today.

The book has a resource section to help you find support services and suppliers (SoOrganic included) of the products Sally mentions throughout the book. There's also an index, which is useful for quick reference when deliberating over a particular green area of your baby's life.

Sally's advice is practical, clear and not the least bit overwhelming for the already eager green beaver. She does have some straight up facts that are hard to avoid especially if you were hoping to take the easy path down greenville. Facts like ‘each baby is capable of filling 160 black plastic bin bags with used nappies by the time it is potty-trained' make you thoroughly consider the choices you have for your baby and the world you're bringing them into.

Firstly cleanse your face in your normal cleaner to ensure it is as clean as possible.

Prepare your mask by mixing 1 teaspoon of the mask powder with 1 teaspoon of water in to a small bowl and mix until a smooth paste is formed. If you wish you can also add a facial toner for extra help in revitalising the skin (I used Dr Hauschka's Facial Toner).

Before you add the mask it's highly beneficial to steam the skin. To do this fill a medium sized bowl with hot water and add an essential oil or similar (as I was on a role with the good doctor I used Dr Hauschka's Facial Steam Bath). Lean over with your face just above the water line, place a towel over your head and bowl and breath in deeply for anywhere between 3 and 15 minutes, depending on your skin type (3 min for sensitive skin, 8 for normal to dry skin and up to 15 for oil skin).

Immediately afterwards pat dry and apply your already prepared clay mask. Leave on as above for the steam bath (ie 3 min for sensitive skin, 8 for normal to dry skin and up to 15 for oil skin).

Remove with muslin cloth and rinse thoroughly. If in the evening apply your normal toner. If daytime apply toner and moisturiser.