Thumbs up, thumbs down

Thumbs up/Mobile recycling: There are about half a million unwanted mobile phones lying about the place and Centra wants to collect just 10 per cent of them in the first year of a new recycling initiative.

The campaign is aimed at raising money to fund two nurses for the Jack & Jill Foundation which provides early-intervention home respite care and support to families with young children with severe developmental problems.

From last Tuesday, more than 380 Centra Stores have been providing customers with prepaid envelopes to encourage them to post back any old, broken or unwanted mobile phones. The initiative aims to collect and recycle 50,000 mobile phones in the first year.

Ethical ice cream

Ben & Jerry's has gone Fairtrade in Ireland with the launch of a classic vanilla flavour. It is the beginning of a long-term commitment by the Vermont-based ice-cream makers to introduce Fairtrade ingredients across its full range.

By working with Fairtrade Mark Ireland for the first time, the vanilla and sugar producers supplying Ben & Jerry's Vanilla will receive internationally agreed Fairtrade prices and social premiums to invest in their communities.

"Fairtrade is about making sure people get their fair share of the pie. The whole concept of fair trade goes to the heart of our values and the sense of right and wrong. Nobody wants to buy something that was made by exploiting somebody else," co-founder Jerry Greenfield said.

Loadsa money

Last week AIB posted a 47 per cent rise in half-year profits to 1.2 billion. If 1.2 billion sounds like an absolutely ridiculous amount for a single bank on a small island to make in just half a year, it's because it is. Broken down, it means that AIB made 276,243 an hour or 4,604.05 every single minute of every single day for the first six months of the year.

Assuming the bank is making as much money right now it will have clocked up another €1,000 in the time it takes you to finish this sentence.