PESTICIDE FREE BALERNO
Protect Nature
Protect Health
Protect Each other
Safe Alternatives
Foamstream the leading herbicide free treatment to remove weeds. It is a hot foam solution for safe weed control. The foam is made from natural organic plant oils and sugars making it safe to use around people, animals, and delicate environments like waterways.
Benefits
• Can be used in all weathers, unlike glyphosate
• Can be used to clean bus shelters, road signs, and outdoor street furniture
• Can remove chewing gum / graffiti
• Can be used all year round (reducing costs attributed to downtime and allowing better planning of labour resources)
• Doesn’t need to have ongoing operator hazardous certification/training
• Doesn’t require the operator to wear protective clothing like glyphosate
• Foamstream is environmentally friendly supporting biodiversity
• Approved by the soil association / organic systems
• Used in France, Germany, Sweden, USA & Canada. Successfully used by 25 councils in the U.K.
VOLUNTEER WEEDING GROUP
Our Volunteers are key to what we do
They choose their own hours and the locations that suit them best.Even a half an hour here and there really makes the world of a difference.
To be a PFB Volunteer
You don’t have to go to boring meetings
You don’t have to commit to weekly days
But you do have to care about Health & the Environment !
Our Volunteer weeding Group is made up of like minded individuals from all walks of life, all ages, all abilities working towards creating a better environment for us all and for future generations.
We illustrate that it is entirely possible to weed without harmful chemicals supporting Edinburgh Council introduce Safe Alternatives.
Benefits
•Helps encourage your council to stop the continued use of a controversial harmful chemicals to simply remove weeds
•Actively do something to help Health and the Environment instead of just talking about it
•Help less able residents manage weeds outside their home without harmful chemicals
•Engage with local residents and find out how they feel and often how grateful they are when you weed their street
•Free to join doesn't cost anything!
•Spend time outdoors getting fresh air and Vitamin D
•Be part of a positive change / the solution rather than part of the pollution!
•Every contribution made by every person makes a difference to the health and environment of the community and inspires other communities to do likewise.
WEEDING OUTSIDE YOUR OWN HOME
Encourage your community to manually weed without chemicals outside their own property .
Take responsibility for the small strip outside your own home, help a neighbour, imagine if everyone done a very small patch each!
We understand not everyone is able to manually remove weeds and that is why the Volunteer Weeding Group is here to help!
LEAVING THE WEEDS DOES NOT WORK
With the choice for councils between using Pesticides or safe alternatives for weed control we have to keep a clear message
‘Leaving the weeds' creates confusion and divides and limits community support.
It is important to remember the whole reason pesticides are used by our councils in the first place -the huge market for weed control and for many years, we have been convinced the only way to remove weeds is by using toxic chemicals …
Thankfully times and demands have changed. There is now a market for safe methods of weed removal to protect our health and the environment .
We noticed with other councils who ‘left the weeds’ a return to using glyphosate the following season, after weed complaints or cracked pavements etc
With the choice often between Glyphosate or safe alternatives to remove weeds in communities - we think we know what the bees would say!
Those individuals keen to return to chemicals and those who those do not agree with leaving the weeds have reasons to request a return to other methods -which usually means glyphosate…
We appreciate aims of encouraging biodiversity however the ‘leave the weeds’ message ultimately means a return to chemicals.
Therefore we encourage residents who want to ‘leave the weeds’ to do so , in their own private garden which supports biodiversity but does not upset others.
Leaving weeds in shared areas =Continued use of glyphosate = does not help biodiversity
Our birds and bees will thank us for this in the long run!
With Balerno having the highest number of weed complaints in Edinburgh the Council were bound with their duties and limited budgets, this sadly usually meant Glyphosate ...
In Balerno our first stage was to acknowledge and respect that the majority in our community still had concerns about getting the weeds removed on our streets and pavements but on the other hand some wanted the weeds to be left for biodiversity…
Ultimately we can all find ways to support crucial biodiversity BUT ending the use of glyphosate for weed removal is the crucial first step.
As Dave Goulson, an expert on the ecology and conservation of bumblebees states:
“Our wild bees are in trouble many have been declining for decades, driven out by habitat loss and pesticides...’
We can all find ways to support crucial biodiversity which ultimately supports us all. BUT Ending the use of glyphosate for weed removal is the crucial first step.
HOT WATER BY MULTEVO
•Multevos Hot Water is 100% hot water which treats weeds effectively without chemicals
•Safeguards our waterways , soil, biodiversity , pets & people
•Requires fewer treatments
•Significantly less £/m²
•Also removes chewing gum /graffiti removal making it desirable for councils
•Can be used in all weathers unlike glyphosate
Multevos Hot Water safe alternative is already being used by around the U.K.