The Green Cone is one of the easiest ways to reduce your domestic waste. Unlike traditional composters, it is suitable for all food waste, even meat scraps, dairy products and other cooked foods. Primarily it converts food waste into water and carbon dioxide. Because it's so well insulated, there's no smell of rotting food to attract four-legged friends and it comes with a kitchen caddy, which you empty into the cone once a week. Add a little accelerator powder and all your scraps are converted into liquid fertilizer. The cone can also be set into a planter filled with earth if you don't have a garden.

2 Trio Bin Price: /37 (excl VAT at 21%) But it: The Eco Store, www. ecostore. ie; 0818-719955

Curver have brought out this nifty little bin with three removable compartments for recycling, which avoids having several different bins, ideal if you only have a small kitchen. Two of the compartments have a 17-litre capacity each, while the third one is a six- litre bin for compostables. The bin comes with liners, a clovershaped lid and pedal openand-close lid. It's light grey in colour and measures 470mm x 390mm x 590mm.

3 Paper Briquette maker Price: /35 (excl VAT at 21%) Buy it: www. ecostore. ie; 0818-719955

Be guilt-free about all the newspapers you buy with this paper briquette maker. Weighing about 4kg, this gadget compresses dried out newspaper, making them into compact pulp logs. They make a roaring fire and each log burns for between one and two hours. Easy to use, all you have to do is mix the newspaper and cardboard in a bucket of water. When the paper starts to come apart in soft lumps, pack it into the briquette maker, forming the briquette shape. Let it dry and hey presto, you've got paper briquettes.

4 Green Earthmaker Price: /195 (incl VAT and delivery) Buy it: www. greencone. ie; 01-492 0603

The world's first continuouscycle composter, the green earthmaker takes the hard work and hassle out of composting. The bin has a triple-chamber design which allows continuous input of kitchen and garden waste to the top chamber. This gadget uses gravity to do all the hard work, providing a continuous source of compost from the bottom chamber. It's easy to use and assemble and produces twice as much compost as traditional methods, with a 466-litre capacity. And you don't need to have any previous composting experience.

5 Siemens SE26T551 dishwasher Price: /860 Buy it: for stockist details and a brochure call 01 216 2402;www. siemens-appliances. ie

Siemens new freestanding dishwasher features its unique 'hydroVario' technology which selfregulates the amount of water pressure used, according to the soiling of the wash. One of the most eco-friendly appliances of its kind on the market, this model has been rated triple A for top washing, drying and energy performance, and for incorporating a special hydroSensor to save even more energy by reducing the amount of water used by shortening the programme times. On top of that, 98% of all components in Siemens dishwashers are recyclable.

The latest digital sensing technology means the 'power wash' function is powered by hydroVario intelligence, which uses high temperatures suitable for heavily soiled pots and pans, and increased water pressure to speed up the spray arm for tough cleaning. The 'delicates wash', which is suitable for glasses, reduces the temperature, decreases water pressure and slows down the spray arm to give a safe and gentle result.

6 Household Water Saver Kit Price: /65 (excl VAT at 21% and incl delivery) Buy it: www. ecostore. ie; 818-719955

This water saver kit is perfect for the average household. Simply connect to one of your downpipes and it collects rainwater when it's plentiful, saving it for use either watering the garden, washing your car or washing your paving, which means you don't have to waste your valuable drinking water, particularly in summer. It can collect water either from your house or the roof of your garage, greenhouse or shed.

7 Electrisave Price: /99 (excl VAT at 21%) Buy it: www. electrisave. ie or www. ecostore. ie; 0818-719955

The Electrisave measures domestic electricity use and displays the cost per hour on a portable display located inside the home. About the size of a small digital alarm clock, this handy little gadget keeps a check on what electrical goods are running in the house. It tells you at what cost your home is running per hour, so if the figure looks higher than normal, you know that you've either left on the immersion or a heater that you've forgotten about, making you more conscious about lights, radios, TVs, etc left on in rooms with no one in them. It also lets you know how much greenhouse gas your home is generating, allowing you to cut back on unnecessary electrical use, which reduces your bills and helps save the planet!

8 Ladybird Growing Kit Price: /29 Buy it: Eco Logic, www. ecologic. ie

This kit comes with 50 ladybird eggs, and instructions on how to grow and monitor the ladybirds before releasing them into your garden to attack your green fly. The average ladybird eats up to 5,000 aphids in a year.

9 Laundry Soap-pods Price: /26.50 per kg Buy it: www. ecologic. ie

Grown on trees in India and Nepal the soap pod or soap nut offers a gentle way to do your laundry that doesn't damage your cloths, your skin or the environment.

Place the little sack of soap pods into your washing machine and close the door.

There's no need for conditioners but if you want a fragrance from your laundry add a couple of drops of your favourite essential oil to the sack.

Eight pods does three full loads of laundry.

Then empty the sack into your compost bin and pop in another eight pods ready for the next three washes. A 1kg bag of pods will do around 140 washes.

10 Ladybird Feeders Price: /10 Buy it: ecologic. ie

Ladybirds eat aphids (green fly and black fly) but unfortunately the sprays used to kill them also kills ladybirds as well.

This simple device, comprising of two small bamboo tubes held on string and containing a special paste, hangs on the low branch of a tree, and attracts ladybirds to your garden.

Apparently within a couple of days you notice lots of ladybirds in your garden.

READER OFFER

The Eco Store (www. ecostore. ie) will deliver for free if you spend over 100 and the company are offering 10% discount (excluding shipping costs) to Sunday Tribune readers who buy before the end of June