Читать книгу The Organic Garden - Allan Shepherd - Страница 23

In some situations it’s worth buying new. People with back problems or disabilities that prevent them using run-of-the-mill secondhand tools can access good ergonomic tools at www.carryongardening.org.uk, the website of Thrive, an organisation specialising in horticultural therapy. One example is the Swoe cultivator – an extremely useful type of hoe that looks like a golf club. It’s lightweight, but extremely strong and can clear weeds on the backwards and the forwards motion. Turned on its edge it can be used to dig holes for planting, to draw seed drills, and for ridging soil. It is not necessarily designed for people with disabilities but its flexibility and lightness make it a particularly handy tool. The excellently named Lazy Dog Tool Company produce handmade back-saving tools in Yorkshire. Their RIP (removal of individual plants) system keeps bending to a minimum. I also found something called a speed weeder (a small hand tool that enables you to hook weeds out under the root; especially useful for removing weeds from walls and the cracks between paving), which is made in the UK for the Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Society.

Many new tools are made in developing countries. Most of the time it’s impossible to know in what conditions these tools have been manufactured. It is certainly true to say that health and safety regulations for workers are nowhere near as strong as ours; similarly environmental regulations will be less stringent. Some high-street retailers have made efforts to improve the rights of the workers who supply their tools. B&Q has a long-term goal of transforming the working conditions of suppliers and reducing the environmental impact of their work. If you want to know how good the claims are you need to check out Ethical Consumer magazine’s website www.ethicalconsumer.org.uk.

Most power tools get used for a total of just fifteen minutes in their entire lifetime so cut down on waste by renting from hire shops, borrowing from friends or asking on a swap shop. Of the ten companies investigated by the magazine Ethical Consumer, Draper came out top, followed by The Stanley Works and Makita Corp. and then Black & Decker. The WEEE Directive (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) requires member states of the European Union to set up collection systems for all old electrical equipment by the end of 2006.