The kettle campaign

[Andy Hamilton]

A tea advert was just on the telly and my girlfriend said why don't tea companies have an bit on the end of their ads telling people to use less water. Great idea!

So I am sending this to the tea companies.

I wondered if you ever thought of putting a note either at the end of your ads or one the side of the packet telling people to only use enough water for the required cups of tea? It could be a real boost to help the environment as most people use too much water and therefore more electricity than they need to.

Andy
http://www.selfsufficientish.com

If we all sent something they might even listen. - here are the contact us pages for who I assume are the top 5.

Typhoo
Yorkshire Tea
Tetley
PG tips
Twinings

[Wombat]

Are they likely to listen to me? (Wrong country!)

Nev

[Andy Hamilton]

worth a go! - Do you have tea in Australia

[Wombat]

Cheeky!

Yes we do nly over here it's made from lawn clippings and dried blow flies. (May as well be considering how the stuff tastes!).

Fair enough!

Nev

[Luath]

All environmental issues are global-wide, so go for it Wombat. Overdoing the water and wasting energy here in Dorset will have a ripple effect elsewhere in the world.

[Wombat]

Good point Luath!

Nev

[Chickpea]

What a fantastic idea.

There's a fabulous site called "A Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down" http://www.nicecupofteaandasitdown.com/ This is their mission statement:

Our Mission Statement
Well I think we should all sit down and have a nice cup of tea, and some biscuits, nice ones mind you. Oh and some cake would be nice as well. Lovely.

They get a lot of hits. It would be cool if you could get them to join the campaign.

[Shirley]

What a great idea Andy!!!

Chickpea - that's a good site... some recipes would be good on there rather than the packets.

[Luath]

There's a book to go with the Nice Cup of Tea........

Anyone else read it? I got it from the library, quite enjoyed it.

[Andy Hamilton]

Not read the book sorry.

I have heard of the website though and have asked them if they want to help out. I did have that in mind chickpea, but thanks anyway.

[The Chili Monster]

From the www.nicecupofteaandsitdown.com site:

PG Tips half time cuppa comp
This summer there is only really one cup that Wifey and I are interested in, the one which helps wash down our biscuits, although strictly it's a mug. Still, with all the half time tea drinking ahead this summer NCOTAASD and PG Tips have teamed up to bring you an inspired tea orientated, sport led, eco-friendly win a cutting edge kettle sort of competition.
After all, it’s a well-known fact that those half-time power spikes are down to people running to the kettle and flicking that switch. If everybody boiled just the amount of water they needed we would save enough energy to practically run all the street lights in the UK, and could also take the edge off those half time power spikes.

To help you on your way, PG Tips is offering three lucky NCOTAASD readers a fantastic eco-friendly kettle, a special edition PG Tips football mug and a year’s supply of PG Tips tea, oh and we're throwing in a copy of our book signed by Wifey and I.

To be in with a chance of winning these PG Tips Premier Prizes and NCOTAASD goodies, just answer these two simple questions by logging in to our mailing list page:

1) If everybody just boiled the water they needed then with the saved energy we could practically run all the street lighting in
a) Battersea b) London c) The UK

2) What distinctive shape are PG Tips tea bags
a) square b) round c) pyramid


Competition now closed!

[Andy Hamilton]

Interesting - I did not see that when I emailed them both. I can't really tell when it was posted.

[Chickpea]

I've emailed all the companies you listed Andy, asking them to include some advice about not boiling too much water. Thanks for posting the links.

I've also included a mini-poll on my blog challenging people to boil the right amount of water. I've wanted to have a poll for a while but I couldn't think of a good topic.

[Andy Hamilton]

Nice one chickpea,

I have had two responses so far -

This one from yorkshire tea.

Dear Andy

Many thanks for your energy saving ideas, it's great that customers take
the time
to share things with us, I have passed your thoughts onto our
environmental champion
for her information.

Best wishes

and this one from Tetley....

Andy

Thanks for your email, I'm not sure if this is something that Tetley has considered but I will make sure your suggestion is passed on. We always listen to our consumers and regularly discuss comments and ideas.

Thanks for thinking of Tetley.
Kind regards

[Chickpea]

I've just got the word-for-word same response from Tetley. Marks for a quick response, but no bonus for personalisation.