Zero Waste Awards

    Who should enter?

    Entries(参赛作品) are welcomed from anyone who processes waste. While we expect

    most entries to come from the UK, we welcome international entries, too. Entrants have been split into the following groups: private sector, public sector, community sector and partnerships.

    What are the categories?

    There're five categories which are based on the Waste Hierarchy(层级). We appreciate that companies will have different strengths within those categories as they work towards Zero Waste. The broad categories are: waste prevention, re-use, recycle/recover, energy recovery, general.

    How do I enter?

    Submitting an entry is really easy! Just follow these few simple steps:

    1) Carefully read through the category information;

    ). Write your entry--it should be a maximum of 1,500 words and a word document;

    3) Arrange your supporting material into a single document--maximum six pages long;

    4) Complete the simple online entry form.

    Important dates

    While entries are welcomed all year round, these are key dates—this is to give the judges plenty of time to read through all the entries! These are listed in entry deadlines column below. Don't worry if you have just missed one of the entry deadlines, your submission will be automatically entered into the next session.

    You can submit a maximum of two entries per year—six months apart.

    Awards

    We understand that working towards Zero Waste is an ongoing journey and as such the

    Zero Waste Awards scheme offers organizations a structure to celebrate their progress along the way. The four awards are: Gold (76-100), Silver (51-75), Bronze (26-50), Highly Commended(0-25).

    Of all the things that will make life entirely happy, the greatest is the possession of friendship. One loyal friend is worth ten thousand relatives. Friends are very rare jewels, indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed.

    On the first Sunday in August, it's time to recognize your friends and their contribution to your life. The first Sunday in August was fixed as National Friendship Day by the U.S. Congress in 1935, and remains a tradition observed in many countries and cultures. In 1997, the United Nations named Winnie the Pooh as the world's Ambassador of Friendship.

    Apparently, there are several friendship holidays, all of which fall on fixed dates.

    National Friendship Day is on the first Sunday in August

    Women's Friendship Day is on the third Sunday in September

    International Friendship Month is February

    Old Friends, New Friends Week is the third week of May

    People show their appreciation for friendship in various ways. Some expressions may be practical ones, such as flowers, particularly the pink friendship roses, cookies, chocolates, souvenirs from their vacations, a tape of favorite songs, farewell dinners, and welcome balloons.

    Recipe for Friendship  2 cups of patience, 1 heart full of love, 2 handfuls of generosity, 2 cups of loyalty, 1 cup of understanding, A dash of laughter. Mix them all well. Spray generously over a lifetime and serve everyone you meet.

    Friendship helps to bring peace and positivity to the globe, another great reason to celebrate! Although our friends certainly deserve thanks on more than just one day of the year, what better day to honor them than Friendship Day!

    A large body of research has been developed in recent years to explain many aspects of willpower. Most of the researchers exploring self-control do so with an obvious goal in mind: How can willpower be strengthened? If willpower is truly a limited resource, as the research suggests, what can be done to make it stay strong?

    Avoiding temptation (诱惑) is an effective method for maintaining self-control, which is called the "out of sight, out of mind" principle. One recent study, for instance, found office workers less attracted to candy in the desk drawer than that on top of their desks, in plain sight.

    The research suggesting that we possess a limited reservoir of self-control raises a troubling question. When we face too many temptations, are we to fail? Not necessarily. Researchers don't believe that one's willpower is ever completely exhausted. Rather, people appear to hold some willpower in reserve, saved for future demands. The right motivation allows us to tap into those reserves, allowing us to carry on even when our self-control strength has been run down. High motivation might help overcome weakened willpower-at least to a point.

    Willpower may also be made less vulnerable (脆弱) to being exhausted in the first place.

    Researchers who study self-control often describe it as being like a muscle that gets tired with heavy use. But there is another aspect to the muscle comparison, they say. While muscles become exhausted by exercise in the short term, they are strengthened by regular exercise in the long term. Similarly, regular practices of self-control may improve willpower strength.

    The evidence from willpower-exhaustion studies also suggests that making a list of resolutions on New Year's Eve is the worst possible approach. Being exhausted in one area can reduce willpower in other areas, so it makes more sense to focus on a single goal at a time. In other words, don't try to quit smoking, adopt a healthy diet and start a new exercise plan at the same time. Taking goals one by one is a better approach. Once a good habit is in place, Baumeister says, you'll no longer need to draw on your willpower to maintain the behavior. Eventually healthy habits will become routine, and won't require making decisions at all.

Hot Spots for Retirees to Start Their Encore Career

    Encore Career: Vocational School Instructor

    Retire in: Los Angeles, CA

    Ever since IBM CEO Ginni Rometty coined the term "new collar" to describe well-paid jobs that require specific skills but not necessarily a degree, vocational schools have made a serious comeback. Apparently instructors are in short supply in sunny L.A., where there are 13 jobs at vocational schools for every applicant on the market. This is a great opportunity for skilled retirees since, unlike teaching at a public school that requires a state certificate, the only requirement here is that you be a seasoned expert in your field.

    Encore Career: Business Consultant

    Retire in: Miami, FL

    Consulting is a great option for a retired business professional looking to make their own hours, be their own boss, and earn as much or as little as needed to maintain their standard of living. For every consultant in Miami right now there are 13 businesses hoping to hire them. There's even greater demand here than in Washington D.C., which is typically considered the consulting capital of the world.

    Encore Career: Tourist Wrangler

    Retire in: Austin, TX

    As the economy continues to boom and more Americans have extra income to spend, the tourism industry has taken off. This is particularly true in Austin, TX, where there were astonishing 36 tourism jobs for every applicant in July. Between four-star hotels, the noisy rock n' roll scene, and a new food culture, Austin is the place to be if you want to work in service industry.

    Encore Career: Supporter of the Arts

    Retire in: Charleston, SC

    If you're a Baby Boomer with a degree in the arts, now could be the perfect time to revisit your passion for creativity, especially if you also want to live in the center of southern charm. Between the 14 art galleries on King Street in Old Town, an abundance of acting companies and theaters, and music festivals, it's not surprising there were 25 jobs for every arty applicant iii Charleston.

    The United States estimates that about one out of every 10 people on the planet today is at least 60 years old. By 2050, it's projected to be one out of 5. This means that not only will there be more old people, but there will be relatively fewer young people to support them.

    Professor Richard Lee of the University of California at Berkeley says this aging of the world has a great effect on economics. "Population aging increases the concentration of population in the older ages and therefore it is expensive," he said.

    Aging populations consume (消耗) more and produce less. With more people living longer, it could gel expensive. But Mr. Lee says with continuing increases in worker productivity and wise planning, it can be manageable.

    Societies have different methods for caring for the elderly，but each carries a cost Generally, there are three types of support Seniors can live off the wealth they gained when they were younger. They can rely on their family to take care of them, or they can rely on the movement.

    In industrialized nations, governments created publicly-funded (公共资助的) support systems. These worked relatively well until recent years, when aging population growth in places like the United States and Western Europe began to gradually weaken the systems' finances(资金). These nations now face some tough choices. Mr. Lee says the elderly in some of these countries must either receive less money, retire later or increase taxes to make the system continuable.

    Most developing nations haven't built this type of government-funded support, but have instead relied on families to care for their elderly. These nations also generally have a much younger population, which means their situation is not as urgent as more developed nations. But Mr. Lee says that doesn't mean they can pay no attention to the issue. "Third World countries should give very careful thought to this process, to population aging and how it may affect their economies — now, before population aging even becomes a problem," he explained.

My dearest daughter,

    As I looked across at you sitting on the sofa watching The X Factor, I noticed that you are no longer a child, and that having just celebrated your 14th birthday, you are now a young woman starting a journey into becoming an adult woman. As I looked at you, I remembered myself at 14, and the vastly different places we are beginning this journey from.

    Your identity as a mixed-race young woman, with an English father and a Pakistani mother, has already influenced how you place yourself in this world. As yet, you are unaware of the personal struggles that I took at the age of 25 to marry. How it felt when my mother refused to come to my wedding. The sharp criticisms of the Asian community that such marriages do not work out and always end in divorce (离婚). The confidence I had to grow, as we chose to live in a multicultural community, as I refused to be shamed into living in the white suburbs (郊区).

    Then, at the age of 30, I became your mum with all the joys and struggles this brought, as I refused the Asian traditions for a new baby's arrival. From your birth, your life could not have been more different from mine. I was brought up on a council estate (地方政府建的住宅群), within a close extended Muslim family, through which poverty, racism and neglect were mixed. I was never given the freedoms or the opportunity to experience new things. Now, as I hear you play your piano, I am grateful that you have these chances.

    So many doors were closed to me as a young person, and as I fought for small steps of freedom, I soon learned that it was better to do what I wanted without the knowledge of my parents, and so lies and tricks became part of my life too. The pressures to obey, to be a "good Muslim" girl and keep the family honor, were choking. Behind closed doors at home, the neglect and abuse (虐待) took place. It was hidden, I felt the shame, lived with the fear and suffered together with my sister and two younger brothers. Oh, the power we thought our parents had over us! I was convinced that one day my father would indeed beat us so hard that leaving us for dead, he would, as his threats said he would, bury us in the large back garden, and tell the school he had taken us back to Pakistan for good. My sister and I longed for a different blue sky to live under.

    As a daughter of immigrant (移民) parents, I carried their hopes of a better education for their children—my own veins (血管) pulsing with the hard-work ethic (道德) and need to be grateful for the opportunity of a free education. And it was education that provided me with the strength to find my own blue sky. I fought to leave home to go to university at the age of 18, and never returned to live with my parents again.

    Now as you explore your mixed-race heritage, which I hope we have supported you to do with visits to Pakistan and ensuring you go to multi-cultural schools, I want you to take the very best of all that is Asian with you as you become a woman.

    The struggles of identity (身份) and belonging will come but I hope that we have given you a strong foundation from which to explore these struggles. All the chances and freedoms that I only dreamed of as a young woman, I have offered you. I have chosen a different path of loving you as my daughter, with an unconditional love that many consider "western".

    I want you to know that although your journey has been vastly different, I am excited as I watch you standing on the threshold (门槛) of becoming a woman for all the adventures and possibilities the future holds for you.

    May you fly your blue sky with grace, confidence and hope as you find your place in this beautiful and crazy world.

    Loving you now and always. Mommy