HAVE you ever wondered what happens to all those empty plastic milk bottles you place into recycling bins?

You can now buy loft insulation made from recycled milk bottles and it is estimated that for every tonne of recycled bottles used for this purpose, that is equivalent to saving one-and-a half-tonnes in carbon emissions.

And the good news is that the finished product is safe to handle, you don’t need to wear a mask and the products are easily available from all good DIY stores.

Salisbury-based roofing contractor, Bill Wyatt, was the winner of Salisbury and District Chamber of Commerce & Industry’s Green Business Award earlier this year, and is committed to using greener products.

“They are the way forward,” he told me at September’s South Wilts Business Expo, where he took a stand. And to highlight just how safe this new insulation actually is, Bill made up a jacket from recycled milk bottle insulation and invited visitors to the trade fair to try it on for size.

“We have been using this product now for six months. It is better for us to work with. This stuff is so safe even a baby can sleep on it, and it has the same thermal quality as other insulation.

“All you need is a pair of dressmaking scissors to cut it down to size, it is easy to fit,” he adds.

The Energy Saving Trust says that, in an uninsulated home, a quarter of heat is lost through the roof and insulating your loft is the simplest and most effective way to reduce heating bills - thus saving money as well as reducing your impact on the environment through carbon dioxide emissions.

There are other materials commonly used for insulation, which are also highly effective, such as mineral wool and fibreglass.

And, there is the most natural of all insulation made from sheep’s wool (as featured in Green Living in October 2008), a product which is about as eco-friendly and sustainable as you can get. But whatever product you choose, one thing is common and that is the recommended depth. Adding a 270 mm layer of insulation in the loft is the minimum recommended by the Energy Saving Trust. When you are checking your loft, you may find you have insulation but it is not to the recommended depth. If that is the case, you do not need to remove what is already present, you can just top it up to the required depth. Insulating your loft is something you can do yourself unlike cavity wall insulation, which requires a registered installer. Full details of registered installers and other energy saving measures are available on the Energy Saving Trust website (www.energysavingtrust.org.uk) which is easy to browse.