Q. I’ve recently acquired some 1950s dinning room furniture and would like to use it as the basis for a theme in my dinning room. Can you suggest some products that will create a retro look? LESLEY says: Try the dandelion clocks wallpaper, a geometric floral in lime and teal that creates the right balance of retro and modern. It’s part of Sanderson’s Option 10 collection which also includes fabrics. To keep the colour theme running through your room check out House of Fraser’s new Daley range of tableware, it comes in snow, grass and sea allowing you to create an effortlessly co-coordinated look that will compliment your furniture perfectly. Q. As it’s national recycle week (which runs from June 22-28) I’ve been wondering what happens to my recyclables. And what happens to rubbish that can’t be recycled? ALAN says: The vast majority of the materials you put out for recycling will be used to make new products. Once your recyclables are collected and sorted, either from your home or at a materials recovery facility, they are sold to reprocessing companies. These companies then shred, melt or crush recyclables to create new raw materials. From these raw materials, companies can create a wide variety of items, such as newspapers, aluminium parts for cars or aeroplanes and even fleece jackets. Believe it or not one adult sized jacket can be made from 25 two-litre plastic drinks bottles! In most cases, after your local council picks up your rubbish, items that can’t be recycled are taken to a landfill site. After being checked to make sure there are no dangerous or prohibited materials, your rubbish is dumped at the site. It is usually then compacted and covered with soil or another material. The rubbish in a landfill breaks down over time, producing gas and liquid waste. These harmful liquid wastes must be collected and processed to protect the ground around the site. Biodegradable rubbish in landfills produces carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane, a gas that is 20 times worse than CO2 when it comes to global warming. Waste processing, including landfill, accounts for a third of our methane production. In some cases, landfill gasses are collected and burned to produce energy. Your rubbish may also be incinerated and the number of incinerator plants in the UK is on the rise. Here waste is burnt at a high temperature. In some cases this produces useful electricity or heat (known as energy from waste) and reduces the weight and volume of the rubbish. The smoke produced by the incinerator is cleaned to reduce the emission of pollutants into the air. The UK incinerates around 9% of its waste, compared to a European average of 20%. Q. I am in the process of viewing properties and may be about to make an offer on one of them. I am confused about the next step. Once I get my offer accepted, what happens next? DAVE says: Primarily, make sure that you have verbally agreed a price and a timescale for completion. It’s always a good idea to get this supported by an offer in writing too. You then need to exchange solicitors details with your vendor and once the sale is in your solicitor’s hands, all of the necessary legal aspects can be dealt with - known as the conveyancing. The information you will require for your solicitors needs to include the property address, the price you’ve agreed, the vendor’s details and the planned completion date. Your solicitor can then liaise with your vendor’s solicitor and complete the sale on your behalf. During the conveyancing process, it’s important to keep in touch with both the vendor and your solicitor as communication helps to keep the process moving and ensures the sale stays on track and on schedule. | 
