Depending on whether consumers continue to find green fashionable, this could be quite a big bit of news.

If they don’t we’ll all have forgotten it in six months.

This is what Auntie Beeb just sent us:

14th March 2008: BBC Worldwide today announces an affiliate partnership agreement for its recently launched BBCGreen.com portal. Under the agreement the site will run adverts encouraging consumers to buy ‘used only’ goods from eBay as an everyday way to recycle and reduce unnecessary waste and the embedded energy of buying new products.

BBCGreen.com, which launched on February xxth, is a lifestyle portal offering consumers tips and advice from some of the UK’s leading environmental experts. During the development process the editorial team worked with the Stockholm Environment Institute to build the unique ‘Action Plan’ tool at the heart of the site. The tool rates all the practical changes users can make to live more environmentally friendly by emissions, cost and difficulty. It also allows users to customise the plan to select lifestyle changes that suit their daily life and budget.

A surprising result of the research was that ‘buying and selling second hand’ is among the top 20 things a consumer can do to reduce CO2 emissions due to the energy needed to manufacture, package and transport new goods. Buying and selling second hand can be just as effective in terms of reducing personal emissions as driving a more efficient car, recycling or insulating cavity walls. Installing low energy light bulbs is a popular and important change to make however cutting down your consumption of new products by 20% could offer three times the CO2 savings.

BBCGreen.com aims not only to help the public understand the issues and the context of their actions but also importantly to inspire and make taking action in their everyday life as easy as possible. The eBay agreement is a perfect example of a practical yet impactful change. With 20 million registered users in the UK alone and over 10 million items for sale at any one time, eBay is playing an important role in encouraging people to buy and resell their unwanted items and help the environment at the same time.

Of the millions of items for sale on eBay many lend themselves to be reused especially items such as text books or baby clothes which are often only needed once. Some, such as antiques, furniture and memorabilia can actually improve over time. To buy used items from eBay simply choose ‘used items only’ in the ‘item condition’ tab of the search options.

Will Watt, Publisher, BBCGreen.com commented: “The aim of our site is to think laterally and practically about ways to live greener. The eBay marketplace is a part of UK shopping culture and joining them to promote their already popular used only goods seemed like a smart idea to inspire our readers to think differently.”

Torsten Schuppe, eBay added: “Buying and selling your used items is not only good for the environment but also for your bank balance. This partnership with the BBC is a simple and fun way of getting people to do the right thing more often.”

BBC Green is edited by Paul Allen author of the acclaimed green business book ‘Your Ethical Business’. It also uses hard scientific fact and analysis from leading commentators including Duncan Clark, editor of the Rough Guide to Climate Change.

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