Ways To Use Epsom Salt For Healthy Living

Epsom salt is a chemical compound that has proven itself for having many uses. One such use that people have discovered for Epsom salt is for promoting good health. Why has Epsom salt come to be associated with healthy living? That is because Epsom salt has magnesium, and magnesium is a very important element in making sure that our bodies are functioning as they should.

By what ways can we use Epsom salt to help keep our bodies in tiptop shape? Here is a list of a few things we can do with Epsom salt for our health.

As bath salts. Epsom salt was first used as bath salts. A good soak in a tub filled with warm water and mixed with two cups of Epsom salt is great for detoxifying the body and relieving stress.

As a foot soak. The feet are often the most abused parts of our bodies, and it is not surprising when we feel pain in our feet. Soaking the feet in warm water mixed with half a cup of Epsom salt can take the pain away from the feet. Doing so also helps reduce the appearance of varicose veins and helps treat athlete’s foot and other fungal ailments commonly afflicting the feet.

As a facial scrub. Epsom salt can be an effective agent in cleaning and exfoliating the face. Exfoliating the face is necessary because it sloughs away the layers of dead skin cells from the face and allows newer, healthier cells to emerge. This is easy to do; all that needs to be done is to mix a pinch of Epsom salt with the facial scrub and massage it onto the face. Afterwards, rinse it off.

As a body scrub. Just like the skin on the face, the skin on the body also needs to be exfoliated. But other than that, massaging Epsom salt all over the body can also promote better blood circulation, soften the rough parts and help in making the skin tone look more even. Just rub Epsom salt on your skin and rinse.

As a hair cleanser. The shampoo, conditioner and styling products that we use on our hair often leave remnants on each strand, leading to product buildup. When product buildup happens on the hair, it can be hard for the nutrients supposedly supplied by shampoo and conditioner to be absorbed by the hair. To clear the hair of product buildup, mix Epsom salt with your shampoo and rinse thoroughly.

These are just some of the uses Epsom salt has that can help promote bodily health. Having some Epsom salt at home is always handy.

All You Need To Know About Epsom Salt

What is Epsom salt? Epsom salt is the name by which most people know the chemical compound magnesium sulfate, with the formula MgSO4. The compound is more popularly called by that name because it was first discovered in Epsom, England, where it was distilled and marketed primarily as a bath salt. The knowledge of Epsom salt and its many uses have been with us since the 1500s.

As mentioned above, Epsom salt has many uses, more than just being a bath salt. It is used in gardening and agriculture, in medical treatments, in beauty treatments, and in the production of tofu.

The Agricultural Uses of Epsom Salt

Plants derive energy from sunlight and the process that allows them to do this is called photosynthesis. The main component that lets plants get this energy is in turn called chlorophyll, and chlorophyll is made up of magnesium. Applying Epsom salts to plants, especially potted plants left indoors most of the time, encourages these plants to get more energy despite their limited exposure to the sun.

Epsom Salt in Medical Treatments

Epsom salt has properties that make it useful in treating patients with various illnesses. One of the uses of Epsom salt in medicine is as part of the procedure used by doctors in emergency rooms to revive patients who have suffered from cardiac arrest.

Epsom salt is also sometimes prescribed by doctors to treat patients suffering from colds, respiratory congestion and asthma. In the maternity ward and the nursery, Epsom salt is administered to delay or prolong the labor in women who are experiencing it prematurely. There are studies showing that intravenous application of Epsom salt to premature babies prevent the development of cerebral palsy in them.

In first aid, Epsom salt is applied to treat boils and carbuncles. It is also known to draw splinters from a wound.

The main use of Epsom salt comes in pain relief. Gels and compounds containing Epsom salt are given to patients suffering from fibromyalgia and osteoporosis. It also flushes out the toxins in the body that are brought about by stress and replenishes the magnesium that stress seeps away from the body. It relaxes the muscles and soothes away the pain.

Epsom Salt in Beauty Treatments

Aside from giving stress relief, which is also part of the aim of beauty treatments, Epsom salt also has clarifying properties that make it good for the skin and the hair. When used on the skin, it acts as an exfoliating agent and sloughs off the layers of dead cells from the skin. The clarifying properties of Epsom salt also help in treating excessively oily skin and in reducing the appearance of wrinkles.

TEXTILE RECYCLING

• Old clothes are accepted by recycling banks.
• Most home recycling bins, provided by your local council, accept old clothes and textiles.
• Old clothes could be donated to charity shops. Taking the old textiles to the jumble shops is another option.
• Rather than throwing away old textile items, they could be used to make cushion covers, cleaning clothes etc.
• Old woolies are shredded and re-spun taking half the energy of new wool. However, the re-spun wool needs to be washed thoroughly.
• It is estimated that, of collected textiles:

6% goes to waste

12% goes for fiber reclamation

19% goes for filling materials

21% goes for wiping cloths

38% goes for second hand clothing

4% goes for second hand shoes

• The textile recycling association may be contacted for more information regarding textile recycling. You can reach them through their website- www.textile-recycling.org.uk.

Advantages of textile recycling and reuse:

ü Reduces the need for landfill space. Textiles present particular problems in landfill as synthetic (man-made fibers) products will not decompose, while woolen garments do decompose and produce methane, which contributes to global warming.

ü Reduces pressure on virgin resources.

ü Aids the balance of payments as we import fewer materials for our needs.

ü Results in less pollution and energy savings, as fibers do not have to be transported from abroad.

CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL RECYCLING

• Buildings are made from many materials, many of which are recyclable such as metal, wood, glass, etc.
• Metals used for construction generally include steel, iron etc. The metals could be recycled according to their specifications.
• Wood and glass materials used in construction could be recycled with the appropriate recycling methods.
• Some construction items could be re-sold to the architectural salvage yards.
• Most of the building materials such as wood and bricks could be re-used.
• The recycling of bricks can be broken down into several different categories:

1. Demolition materials - Mixture of materials resulting from demolition of buildings
2. Salvaged materials - building materials salvaged from the materials remaining after demolition
3. Reclaimed building materials - The materials that can be generated from the careful demolition of an old building by hand which are suitable for reuse in their original form
4. Recycled building materials - The materials that can be generated from the careful demolition of an old building which are suitable for re-use as raw materials in the manufacture of new materials
1. Brick recycling involves the following steps:
   1. Crushing- There are lots of commercial brick crushers available today. They are capable of crushing the masonry into fine rubble.
   2. Recycling- The crushed rubble are again cleaned and used to create new bricks.

Advantages of brick recycling:

1. Bricks do not require disposal
2. Recycling reduces the waste dumped in landfill sites
3. Brick recycling saves the need to extract new raw materials from the earth
4. The cleaned bricks are an asset.

AIRPLANE RECYCLING

• More than 3500 airliners will reach their end-of-life between 2008 and 2025 at a rate of around 200 aircrafts per year.
• The aircrafts are the absolute sources of the valuable metal, ‘Aluminum.’
• Almost 80 percent of Aircraft parts are recyclable. Most of the fuselage and wings of jets such as Boeing 727 is made of Aluminium which can be sold as scrap.
• Once the engines, landing gear, avionics and components are removed from the aircraft, there is still value in the aluminium.
• This scrapped Aluminium will be later used to manufacture automobile parts including wheels and transmissions.
• Steel, found in the landing gear of planes like Boeing 707, is also relatively easy to recover.
• Recycling composite aircraft materials is trickier than working with raw metals.
• Composites using lightweight and durable carbon fiber are found more and more in newer aircraft, and make up half of each Boeing 787.
• Recycled carbon fiber is being tested for use in tires, paint, industrial injection molds, and sporting goods such as skateboards.
  
  

FACTS:

• According to Boeing, the largest manufacturer of jet airliners, about 7200 commercial planes including Boeing 737, 747 and Airbus A320, A340 models will be scrapped.
• Boeing, in 2006 co-founded the Aircraft Fleet Recycling Association, with an aim to expand the airplane recycling rate to 90 percent from about 60 percent today.
• The lifespan of most commercial airliners is said to be around 30 years. Most of the airliners used today were born by 1970s and now there is a jump in the number of planes beyond use. So aircraft recycling will reach its peak through the next decade.

HOW TO RECYCLE WOOD

• In the first instance, you should contact your local authority to Visit at the wood recycling facilities they offer to the householders.
• Wood recycling ensures that the waste does not end up in landfill site where, as it is biodegradable, it produces greenhouse gases.
• The wood that cannot be reused as reclaimed timber could be recycled into any one of the following:

Ø Mulch- which prevents soil erosion, enrich soils, help limit water loss and moderate soil temperature change.

Ø Composting agent- Sawdust and wood shavings can be used as a bulking agent to improve air flow and decomposition.

Ø PET bedding- Untreated wood material could be used foe PET bedding.

Ø Chip board and medium density fiber board- A resin is mixed with the chipped wood and heat/ pressure is applied to the mixture to form a board.

• There is little scope for the recycling of domestic wood waste. While companies exist for the collection and reuse/recycling of pallets and crates for example, there are only a few such facilities for household waste.

FACTS

• It is estimated that 50 million cubic meters of wood are used in the UK every year. Almost half of these goes into paper making but two thirds of the wood is imported.
• Rainforests are being cut down at the rate of 100 acres per minute.
• The amount of wood and paper we throw away each year is enough to heat 50,000,000 homes for 20 years.
• Ten million tonnes of waste wood is produced each year in the UK
• Only 1.5 million tonnes of waste wood is recycled in the UK every year. The remaining 85 per cent is sent to landfill
• Wood sent to landfill produces methane gasses and contributes to global warming.
• The Government has now set targets to reduce the amount sent to landfill

HOW TO RECYCLE ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT

• Old electrical appliances are quite unlike common urban garbage. These are complex artifacts and many contain toxic chemical substances. Inappropriate disposal methods such as land fill or incineration can pollute air, soil and water.
• Most of the electrical equipment could be reused or separated into electrical equipment parts.
• Many of the electrical items that we throw away can be repaired or recycled. Recycling items helps to save natural finite resources and also reduces the environmental and health risks associated with sending waste electrical goods to landfill.
• You can donate old working electrical equipments to the charity shops rather than just throwing them away.
• All new electrical and electronic products sold now carry the 'crossed out wheelie bin" logo to help you identify which products are recyclable.
• To avoid environmental and health problems due to hazardous waste substances in electrical and electronic goods, appliances marked with this symbol mustn't be disposed of with unsorted municipal waste, but recovered, reused or recycled using an official recovery system.
• To make recycling easier, when you take your waste electrical items to a Household Waste and Recycling Centre, they are now separated into the 5 groups below.

1. Large household items- washing machines, microwaves
2. White goods - fridges/ freezers
3. TV's and monitors
4. Gas discharge lamps
5. All other electrical goods

FACTS

Electrical goods are the fastest growing waste stream in the UK, growing by 5% each year

Each year in the UK we go through over 1.2 million tonnes of electrical waste. That is the equivalent of 150 thousand double Decker buses

75% of waste electronics end up in landfill sites

In the lifetime of 1 UK citizen 3.3 tonnes of waste electronics is created

Two million TV sets are discarded every year - most end up in landfill sites

"Over six million electrical items are thrown away every year in the UK. It is estimated that over half of them are still working or could easily be repaired

AUOTOMOBILE RECYCLING

• More than 80% of the material used in automobiles could be recycled.
• Fixing the repairs and using the old vehicles is better than dumping them straight away.
• The abandoned vehicles could be reported to your local council. They will remove them and take them to the recycling facilities.
• There are hundreds or even thousands of approved vehicle dismantlers and recyclers around the globe.
• Engine oil could be recycled at the civic amenity sites.
• You can contact your local council for more information regarding automobile recycling.
• These automobiles are huge sources of steel and aluminium.
• Moreover, almost all the parts of an automobile, from tires to plastic materials used in the automobiles could be recycled.
• There are also many automobile recycling programs conducted by several companies who offer a free pick up of the junk cars for recycling.

FACTS

1. The number of cars recycled in 1997 alone - nearly 13 million - would cause a traffic jam circling the Earth more than one and three quarter times.
2. Recycling just one car saves 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal and 120 pounds of limestone.
3. Virtually every car taken off the road today is recycled - thanks to the steel and iron content.
4. It takes about 45 seconds to shred the average automobile into fist-sized pieces of steel for recycling.
5. The automobile is the most recycled consumer product in the world today.

HOW TO RECYCLE PRINTER CARTRIDGES?

• Ink cartridges have highly toxic materials. Hence disposal of these cartridges is a major issue.
• In addition to environmental benefits, there are also economic benefits to a consumer when they recycle.
• Using refill kits usually ends up costing you about only $3 or $4 per cartridge refill.
• You can typically refill an inkjet cartridge three times before it fully wears out.
• You can have them professionally refilled for you through the mail.
• Once the cartridge is worn out and cannot be refilled anymore, you can have it professionally recycled.
• You can take them to your local office store, as most should accept them and many even have a promotion where they give you something in exchange for your cartridge.
• Look for the instructions in the box of your new inkjet printer.
• Ring up the International Cartridge Recycling Association at (202) 857-1154 for more information about recycling printer ink cartridges.
• Most of the printer ink cartridge manufactures provide free return envelop for used ink cartridges.
• If all else fails, you can contact your local sanitation department to see if they have a special recycling location where products like ink cartridges can be dropped off.
  
  
  

FACTS

1. It is estimated that roughly 350 million cartridges end up in landfills every year.
2. It is estimated that between 80-90% of cartridges are simply thrown in the trash.
3. The number of cartridges ending up in landfills increases by more than 10% annually.
4. A brand new laser cartridge requires 3/4 of a gallon of oil to be produced.
5. Discarded cartridges still have small amounts of ink in them which can leak into the ground.
6. It is estimated that the engineering grade polymers used to manufacture the printer cartridges takes almost 1000 years to decompose.
7. You are being kinder to the environment by lessening the amount of cartridges ending up in landfill sites.

METAL RECYLING

• Metals generally fall under two main categories: Aluminum and steel.
• Testing the kind of metal waste you are having is very much simple. Steel which is a magnetic metal can be easily separated fro aluminium, as aluminium is a non-magnetic material.
• Beverage cans are usually made of aluminium whereas food cans are mostly made of steel.
• It has to be noted whether the drink cans are clean before recycling process is started.
• Home recycling bins, provided by the local council, usually accept metal.
• Aerosol containers could also be recycled once they are completely empty.
• Metallic film wrappers such as chocolate wrappers cannot be recycled.
• There are many cash for can schemes that may be operating around you.

FACTS

1. Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours -- or the equivalent of a half a gallon of gasoline.
2. Every ton of recycled steel saves 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,000 of coal, and 40 pounds of limestone.
3. There is no limit to the amount of times that aluminum could be recycled.
4. More aluminum goes into beverage cans than any other product
5. A 60-watt light bulb can be run for over a day on the amount of energy saved by recycling 1 pound of steel. In one year in the United States, the recycling of steel saves enough energy to heat and light 18,000,000 homes
6. 1.8 billion drinks cans are made of steel
7. The recycling rate of all steel packaging is 46%; aluminum has a 23.4% packaging recycle rate
8. All steel cans contain up to 25% recycled steel
9. Its not just food and drink cans made from steel! - most of your deodorants, hairsprays, polishes, paint cans and other household and DIY products are made out of steel too!