HAPPY NEW YEAR

Please continue to follow us with our journey.

http://ourcontinuingpathtolivinggreener.blogspot.com/

WELCOME

Welcome to our New Blog.

One of my ideals would be to have full recycling facilities available to all, so that Zero Waste could be achievable.

However I know that this is not going to happen overnight so I will continue to "do my bit" and try to reduce further the amount we as a family put into landfill.

During 2009 we only sent just over 11kg to landfill via our wheelie bin.

We have reduced our packaging of all types brought into the house, and we have made descisions not to buy certain products because of their excess packaging.

Hopefully you will enjoy looking at our life as we strive to fulfil our goals

Weekly Weigh In 51

Our landfill bag this week weighed in at 134g.

But there was also an extra bag of wrappings etc from presents which weighed in at 135g.

This I think is fairly good really considering what used to be put into the landfill each Christmas.

Weekly Weigh In 50

Weigh in in the landfill bag this week was 133g.

Not sure how this happened, thought we were eating similar foods to usual, but heyho; at least it is in the right direction.

Although the bin was nowhere near full I put it out for collection, because I just know some stuff will appear over the next 2 weeks that will have to go into it. I will put it out again on Mon 4 Jan, so we can start our new year with an empty bin.

Weekly Weigh In 49

Am running behind this week; but the landfill bag still weighed in just under the 200g at 193g.

I have continued with my using stuff up from the freezer trend, but have also put some other leftovers back in but these will do for lunches for myself or Dave whilst the weather is cold.

Weekly Weigh In 48

Todays landfill bag weighed in at 198g.

Under target, so good.

It was amusing to see the amount of recycling bins put out for collection (myself included), even though we were notified by the council that we would have to go an extra week before collection of this; due to the removal of the green waste collection until March.

It would have been better if we had had a collection as normal of both landfill and recycling this week then just one of them next week so that nothing went 3 weeks, but hey ho the council know best.

Weekly Weigh In 47

Todays landfill bag weighed in at 230g, so not such a good week.

Although it did include a toothpaste tube and some chicken bones.

The rest was just plastic wrap etc that is not recyclable, including crisp packets.

Today also marked the last collection of my green waste until March 2010. I had however benn monitoring how full it has become over the last few weeks and think I may be able to keep putting my veg & fruit waste into the bin as normal as all is well wrapped in newspaper, then it will be a bin full for collection come March.

Weekly Weigh In 46

This weeks landfill bag weighed in at 238g.

It did include the bone from the lamb shoulder we had last week, which was also boiled to death for stock before being put into the bin.

If I took the bone away it only weighed 146g.

I have been using a few more bits from the freezer so there is no packaging as these are portions of things made previously and then frozen.

Weekly Weigh In 45

The landfill bag this week weighs in at 178g.

This did include:

crisp packets
spagetti wrapper
lentils bag
chicken wrapper
biscuit wrapper (just didn't have time to bake shortbread this week)

but all in all not a bad week at all.

Still under my 200g target, I am still looking at tweaking a few things to then be able to maybe try for a lower target come New Year.

Weekly Weigh In 44

This weeks landfill bag weighed in at 170g, and that included a couple of styrofoam cartons from a takeaway myself and Tom had on Saturday.

It would seem that changing yogurt brands for David has definitely made a difference, as without the styrofoam it weighed only 106g.

I will now monitor this more cloesly again and may be able to reduce my target weight down for the start of the new year.

Weekly Weigh In 43

Well even after having had the whole family at home all week the landfill rubbish weighs in at 157g.

One thing I have changed this week is David's yogurts, he doesn't like the homemade and as he still doesn't eat crisps (hasn't since New Year) I don't mind buying him some yogurts that he likes.

He had been having the little fromage frais pots or the yogurts tubes but these end up in landfill, however we have now switched to either the new Yeo Valley"Little Yeos" or drinking yogurts, both of which have nearly total recyclable packaging (especially as my council now accepts yogurt pots in the recycling bin).

The majority of the rest of the rubbish seems to be crisp packets, choc bar wrappers, and plastic packaging from things which don't come in an alternative that I know of; this is where my investigating will come in.

Weekly Weigh In 42

This weeks weigh in is just under target at 197g.

It will be interesting to see what happens next week as the boys are both on school holidays and Dave is also on holiday for the week.

I just don't seem to be able to get the landfill waste any lower than this, and still be able to satisfy everyone in the families wishes for certain food items.

I may have to a have a radical look at exactly what we are eating over the next couple of months and see what if anything can be eliminated which has excess packaging which is non-recyclable.

And also look to see if I can find any more alternatives in recyclable packaging.

National Baking Week

I can't believe it is National Baking Week again.

It doesn't seem five minutes since I was asking you all to go have a look last year.

Anyway if you can be bothered go have a peek again at all the lovely ideas on the website.

Weekly Weigh In 41

This weeks landfill bag weighed in at 204g, so only just over my target.

The main culprits were again non-recyclable plastics.

6 crisp packets
1 paracetamol blister pack
2 sore throat lozenge blister packs
pasta shapes bag
2 bags which fish and flour had been in
2 cheese wrappers
chicken wrapper

and although a couple of these can be found in less weighty wrappers (cheese in clingfilm), sore throat lozenges (plasticised paper); these were what were available when I made the purchases.

I am not too concerned that I'm over my target, but will again look at what I'm purchasing and consider other options.

When in Tesco last night I noticed that their value 2 pack kitchen roll was the same price as their own label recycled kitchen roll.

Weekly Weigh In 40

This weeks household landfill bag weighed in at 186g, so under my target zone again.

There were this week however some of those monthly plastic items:
razor blade refill and packaging
toothpaste tube
spagetti wrapper
macaroni wrapper
brown sugar bag

There was also extra to this weighed amount some puppy poo bags. Dave's work have got a new puppy, but it is too small to be left overnight as yet, and as all the other workers have dogs we were asked if we would look after it, so there will be some extra from this but I'm not going to include it as this isn't part of our normal day to day rubbish.

If we were to have a dog ourselves I would get one of those dog poo composters that go in the garden.

Weekly Weigh In 39

This weeks landfill bag weighed in at 193g, so under my comfort zone total, however there were quite a few silly bits of plastic in that.

The boys decided to spend their pocket money and biked to the shop to get sweets etc, all the plastic wrapped variety of course.

I could in theory not include those as these were not something I would purchase but it is household landfill waste so it is being included.

Apart from those sweet wrappers the rest was packaging that is unavoidable for things that we like/use and there isn't a suitable alternative for or that we already had in the house.

3 x yogurt mix packets (foil backed plastic sachets)
2 x cheese wrappers
2 x sausage wrappers
2 x pizza wrappers
1 x toothpaste tube
3 x blister packets (paracetamol and strepsils)
plastic bag meat wrappings

Guest Post

For anyone who may be interested I have made a guest post on www.myzerowaste.com today to help out Mrs Green and the family due to the loss of their beloved pet.

Please take a look.

Weekly Weigh In 38

We have again kept below our target weight of 200g per week.

This weeks landfill waste came in at 182g.

I will be for the next few weeks monitoring again to see just what exactly is going into the landfill bin.
I'm hoping that now I've swapped the boys choc bars for totally recyclable packaging that this will eliminate some more.

Watch this space.

Weekly Weigh In 37

This weeks landfill bag weighed in at 198g.

As this is just under my target weight of 200g I am happy.

I'm quite surprised though as the boys have been on an eating frenzy.

We have however come to a compromise on chocolate bars (penguins etc); I will not be buying these any more but instead will buy some poppets or smarties which both come in cardboard boxes/tubes only, if bought individually, only just not as many due to the price increase.

I am still baking up a storm and to that end have not purchased any biscuits for at least 3 weeks, which also means hardly any waste, only baking ingredients wrappers, most of which are recyclable.

Weekly Weigh In 36

This weeks bag weighed in at 193g which just under my 200g target.

Most of this again was non-descript plastic packaging in particular, spagetti, and pasta bags.

You know the time when you have used the last in the storage jar so have to open the new packet. This happened with both this week.

A Day in the Life Of

I have decided to also do a typical whilst the boys are in school and I am at work. The evenings are dictated to more by which after school activities the boys do, be it at school or individual clubs; Tom does football on a Wednesday and David does Karate on a Thursday.

6.30am - Alarm goes off

6.45am - Myself and Dave get up, we have a cup of tea, I sort his pack up and put an extra load of laundry in if needed. I also make the bread dough into whatever bread I want for the day and put to prove whilst the oven is heating, if we need cakes then these are also made at the same time.

7.15am - Daves wakes the boys, they get up and have their cereal etc, then get any last minute things sorted for school.

8.00am - Dave goes to work and the boys go to catch the school bus, I put bread and cakes into oven to bake; prepare the dinner to put in the slow cooker if using. I then peg out first load of laundry. Obviously I am checking the bread and cakes as well. The computer is switched on so it is ready for checking online banking. ( I try to do this daily)

9.00am - The second load is usually finished by now so this also gets pegged out, (On wet wintry days I use an airer to hang the laundry on) I then empty the dishwasher as this has been running overnight on economy 7 electricity. I will then put away the laundry from the day before, and quick clean the bathroom. I straighten the all the beds. Hoover the upstairs and gather laundry which will go in overnight. This is the time I would also spend half hour doing a bit of sorting out.

10.30am - Coffee break, I check emails etc again,

11.30am - I have my own lunch

11.45am - I get ready to leave for work

1.30pm - return form work, cup of tea and check emails etc, I would then spend some time reading maybe or do some extra sorting and hoover downstairs,
once we start using it I also set the coal fire so it is ready to just put a match to just before the boys come home.

3.30pm - the boys come home and raid the fridge ( both claiming starvation!!); I have usually made a plate of sandwiches and left in there, they both have school canteen dinners.

4.00pm - they are off outside with their friends.

4.30pm - Dave comes home, we have a cup of tea and catch up on the day.

5.30pm - David usually comes in does any homework and spends approx an hour on the PC on MSN, Facebook and the online games he likes. I will prepare dinner if not done earlier in day.

6.30pm - I prepare the remainder of dinner, the boys set the table etc.

7.00pm - we eat dinner, the boys clear the table, I load the dishwasher so it can be put on timer to run overnight. I also load the bread machine and set the timer. I set the washer as well on its timer. Myself and Dave will either read or watch tv.

7.30pm - The boys both go back outside with their friends, they usually come in approx 8.30pm. Tom then does any homework and has approx 1 hour to catch up with his other friends on MSN, Facebook etc (certainly cheaper than him phoning all of them).David either watches tv with us or a dvd in his room or goes on Playstation or Wii.

9.00pm - David goes to bed,

10.00pm Tom goes to bed

10.30 - 11.00pm Myself and Dave go to bed.

Once the really wintry nights come in the boys obviously don't go back outside after dinner and will probably be on the Playstation or Wii, or we play family games.

Also although I think it is good for them to get a good blow/burn some energy off when first home from school homework takes priority over the extra leisure time after dinner.

Grocery shopping would be fitted in one morning once the boys had gone to school and before I needed to be at work.

Weekly Weigh In 35

Well the boys are back at school now. Has this had an impact on the amount of landfill waste?

You bet the landfill bag weighed in this morning at 153g.

That is a good reduction on the amounts we had been putting into landfill during the holidays, and more in keeping with the amounts I'm fairly happy with..

National Zero Waste Week

Over at MZW Mrs Green has declared next week National Zero Waste Week.

So pop over and have a look at some interesting articles to inspire you to join in and have your own Zero Waste Week.

Myself I am going to not buy any biscuits/choc bars/sweets unless the packaging is totally recyclable.

So I will have to get my baking head on, and also look very carefully at my purchases.

Crisps are also gradually being replaced by pop corn done on the stove with either a little salt or a little sugar sprinkled over as soon as it comes out of the pan.
It does mean there is one plastic bag per week that the corn came in but that is preferable to 20 odd crisp packets plus outer bags.

Weekly Weigh In 34

I'm a day late with this but the landfill bag was still weighed on Monday morning.

The bag this week weighs in at 197g.

So considering Dave has been off work as well as the boys on holiday this is really good.

Over the last few weeks by doing the No Spend Challenge I have used some things out of the freezer, and from the tins cupboard.

I do though like to have a store cupboard/pantry so it will be refilled this next week; but I have taken note of things which were not regular items we eat and will not be getting those again unless needed for a specific recipe.

No Spend Food Challenge

I had another look at the cupboards and the freezers over the weekend, and decided that as Dave is off work this week and we might go for days out that we could do this for another week; I have cancelled the veg box for this week so I can get everything used up, I do have some frozen veggies if needed, and may have to buy some salad.

Monday - fried new potatoes with hm meatballs

Tuesday - Beef Casserole served with noodles

Wednesday - Fish Fingers and hm chips

Thursday - Macaroni Cheese but using penne pasta

Friday - BBQ - still have sauasages in the freezer, will make some buns

Saturday - hm pizza

Sunday - Roast Pork, (found a joint hiding under the bananas in the chest freezer)

I will more than likely do a grocery shop on Friday or Saturday to replenish stocks, as there definitely isn't enough to keep us going another week after this.

Weekly Weigh In 33

Todays landfill bag weighed in at 327g (oh no!!).

It did have chicken bones in though which will account for some of the excess. So all in all this isn't too bad.

There haven't been as many crisp packets this week as I have been popping corn a plenty, add in a little salt and there is a big bowl full for sharing which costs pennies.

Dave is on holiday this week so we will see if that generates any extra waste as he likes to graze during the day whilst at home, and then just have his evening meal.

We have only got approx 6 cotton buds left with the plastic sticks then we will be using the paper sticks which are then compostable. This is only a small thing but "every little helps" as the advert says.

A Day in the Life Of

Over on MZW Mrs Green has done a "Day in the Life Of" and she asked her readers to do the same.

Here goes:

This is a typical day whilst the boys are on school holidays.

6.45am - alarm goes off

7.00am - Myself and Dave get up, we have a cup of tea, I make his pack up and put an extra load of laundry in if needed. I also make the bread dough into whatever bread I want for the day and put to prove whilst the oven is heating, if we need cakes then these are also made at the same time.

8.00am - Dave goes to work, I put bread and cakes into oven to bake; prepare the dinner to put in the slow cooker if using. I then peg out first load of laundry. Obviously I am checking the bread and cakes as well. The computer is switched on so it is ready for checking online banking. ( I try to do this daily)

9.00am - The second load is usually finished by now so this also gets pegged out. I then empty the dishwasher as this has been running overnight on economy 7 electricity.

9.30am - David gets up, I chat to him and check emails, blogs, facebook etc.

10.00am - David has breakfast usually cereal, ice cold milk and fresh orange, he watches some tv.
Tom usually surfaces around this time, he gets himself a cup of tea and some cereal, has to be hot milk.
I will then put away the laundry from the day before, and quick clean the bathroom.The boys make their beds and ensure their rooms are tidy.

11.00am - Coffee break, I check emails etc again, boys are either already playing outside or are on Playstation or Wii, this depends alot on the weather.

11.30am - Hoover the upstairs and gather laundry which will go in overnight. This is the time I would also spend half hour doing a bit of sorting out.

12.30pm - get boys their lunch (usually been complaining hungry before now)

1.00pm - I have my own lunch and check emails etc again, the boys will have gone back outside with their friends,(only usually see them now when they want a drink or a snack). I would spend some time reading maybe or do some extra sorting and hoover downstairs.

4.30pm - Dave comes home, we have a cup of tea and catch up on the day.

5.30pm - David usually comes in and spends and hour on the PC on MSN, Facebook and the online games he likes.

6.00pm - I will prepare dinner if not done earlier in day.

6.30pm - I prepare the remainder of dinner, the boys set the table etc.

7.00pm - we eat dinner, the boys clear the table, I load the dishwasher so it can be put on timer to run overnight. I also load the bread machine and set the timer. I set the washer as well on its timer. Myself and Dave will either read or watch tv, we also sometimes sit outside with a cup of tea. The boys both go back outside with their friends, they usually come in approx 8.30pm.
Tom then has approx 1 hour to catch up with his other friends on MSN, Facebook etc (certainly cheaper than him phoning all of them).
David either watches tv with us or a dvd in his room or goes on Playstation or Wii.

9.30pm - David goes to bed, Tom either comes and watches tv with us or goes to his room

10.00pm Tom goes to bed

11.00pm Myself and Dave go to bed.


NB: If the weather isn't nice enough in the evening for the boys to be outside playing then often we have family games of cards etc.

Also we only have the one family PC which is situated in the dining room so I can monitor activity at all times.

Weekly Weigh In 32

The landfill bag weighs in at 194g.

It is again silly things with having the boys around, sweet wrappers from their forays to the shop.

Odd bits on non-descript plastic that have been found whilst cleaning and tidying.

Also the plastic wrap from the pizza Tom had for tea on Saturday (luckily it didn't also have the polystyrene base).

All in all though I think this is still a good week, and considering the landfill wheelie bin was emptied approx 8 weeks ago it is not even 1/3 full again yet.

The total is now 8.187kg which avaerages 255g over the 32 weeks passed.

Week 2 of No Spend Food Challenge

I have decided to carry this over a second week, as I still have plenty in the freezer meat wise and loads in the cupboard. I also decided to try and plan for the week this week rather than looking in the freezer each day, as we are having a more stay at home week.

Breakfasts and Lunches will be as last week, Cereal, fruit & yogurt; and sandwiches or hm ready meals.

So dinners this next week will be:

Monday -Fish, baked with butter and lemon juice, and served with new potatoes and veggies from the veg box.

Tuesday - Lasagne with garlic bread ( found a couple of bought ones lurking in the back of the freezer the other day), will also do a side salad with fixins from the veg box. Have Mince in the freezer and loads of tins of tomatoes and tomato puree in the cupboard.

Wednesday - Not sure as yet as David has a football match and we have to be there 5.15pm. So maybe jacket potato when we get home.

Thursday - Will be a Chicken Curry this week as have some drumsticks in the freezer and still some tubs of Curry Sauce Base; this again will be served with Basmati Rice cooked through with the garlic & herb stock cube.

Friday - Will be Omelette with salad, this is an easy dinner for the boys, Dave doesn't usually have dinner Fridays as he has a chippy lunch at work.

Saturday - Weather dependant we may have a bbq as I have burgers and sausages in the freezer and will just make some buns.

Sunday - This could also be a bbq as there would still be enough burgers and sausages even if we used some on Saturday.

Saturday and Sunday will also depend on what we are doing as Dave starts his weeks holiday when he finishes work Friday night.

My Weeks No Spend Food Challenge

I joined in the challenge over on MZW at the beginning of the week.

I get my milk delivered from the milkman, eggs from the farmgate and have an organic veg box delivered weekly, so in theory I shouldn't have needed to go to the shops for any food items whatsoever.

I had also done a small grocery shop on Saturday so did have some bits in.

Breakfasts are usually cereal or fruit and yogurt.

Lunches are usually sandwiches or rolls. Unless Dave takes a hm frozen ready meal.

Here is what I cooked for dinners throughout the week:

Monday - we had Turkey Stir Fry with noodles, using all ingredients from either the freezer, pantry and veg box.

Tuesday - we had Savoury Mince Cobbler, again using some mince frozen from a previous batch of mince in gravy, adding in a scone cobbler topping and some cabbage from the veg box


Wednesday - it was Macaroni Cheese, but using penne pasta instead of macaroni, I also prepared a salad to go with this.

Thursday - was Pork Curry and Basmati Rice. Pork Curry base was already in the freezer from a previous batch so just had to add in some onions, garlic and pepper and cook the rice.

Friday - Omelettes and salad, with fried new potatoes, cooked these up specialy to be able to fry them off.

Saturday and Sunday - these 2 days days are a little difficult as myself and Dave aren't at home on Saturday, and David is at a friends, so Tom is having pizza and oven chips (admittedly already in the freezer); Sunday we are out for the day so will be sandwiches and maybe a jacket potato when we get home if still hungry.

No Spend Food Challenge

Over on MZW they are having a





Why not head over and have a look at what is going on.

Myself I have cleared out and defrosted a freezer and found some bits lurking in the backs of the shelves.

The idea of the challenge is to only use what you have either in your pantry or fridge or freezer.
If needs must you can purchase fresh milk and veggies.

This idea also uses up things that maybe you've bought thinking they would be a good idea but never gotten round to using.

I run a pantry store cupboard so the theory is that I should never have to "nip" to the village shop for a staple ingredient.

As items are used from my pantry I mark them onto my master shopping list, so that they are replaced on the next shop. The idea behind this is that I could if necessary (illness, weather, unforseen extra expense) use the items from the pantry and not have to worry; we live approx 10 miles from the nearest big supermarket.

Weekly Weigh In 31

This weeks landfill rubbish weighs in at 218g.

So a little over my target of 200g per week, but not too bad in the scheme of things.

This weeks included a bag that fish had been, so even though washed had to be put into landfill, a chicken wrapper although the tray is aluminium so I will keep that to reuse.

The other is just silly bits of non-recyclable packaging including choc wrappers and crisp packets .

Recycling CDs and DVDs

I am shamefully copy and pasting this from MZW, but it is easier as Mrs Green explains it so nicely.

When we did our zero waste week last year, Recycling cds sponsored one of our prizes with their best selling cd clock.
Now they are asking you for your help!
Recycling cds have teamed up with Bruce Munro; a lighting design, chandeliers and illuminated sculptures company.
Bruce Munro are are currently working on an exciting art project involving a quantity of unwanted CDs and DVDs. They need 1 million unwanted cds and dvds by September and to date have 42,649.
This is your opportunity to sift through your cupboards and drawers and find all those unwanted discs ready to be recycled into a work of art.
In order to take part, you need to fill in a short online form on the Recycling Cd’s home page telling them the amount of discs you have to recycle, your name and email address. You will then be sent details on how to send your cds and dvds to them.
Get together with friends, family, school, college, community or other groups to gather all the unwanted CDs and DVDs you can find. If you run a website, blog, twitter or facebook, then help spread the word.
Not only will you be helping to reduce landfill but you’ll be contributing to a very special art work.
Go on; you know you have some unwanted discs lying around and it feels great to declutter!

Weekly Weigh In 30

This weeks landfill bag weighs in at 187g.

There is however an extra bag this week as we had some of Tom's friends over for a BBQ/games night. This weighed in at 400g.

Including Tom and David there were 12 lads ranging in age from 11 to 19.

I had set up 2 bins one for rubbish and one for recycling; they were all very good and put things in the right bins.

We had said we would sort the food if they all brought their own drinks, but they all brought some food as well.

I did a cooked breakfast for them when they got up at 9am and including this between them they devoured the following:

48 sausages, 24 rashers of bacon, 3kg new potatoes, 24 burgers, 20 drumsticks, 36 bread buns (hm), 2 whole cucumbers, 2 whole celery, approx 50 cherry tomatoes, 36 millies cookies(hm), 2 marble cakes(hm), 12 gingerbread muffins (hm), 24 bags of crisps, 2 loaves of white sliced bread.

They also had a few cans of beer/cider and bottles of pop.

Weekly Weigh In 29

This weeks landfill bag weighed in at 269g.

I'm not too concerned with this being over as I had gone round the bit bins upstairs, and we had a toothpaste tube.

I also cleaned out mine and Dave's washbags, which get used if we have an overnight stay anywhere, we needed toothpaste and rather than trail to the shop I thought there was a tube in there.
Found silly things like blister pack from paracetamol, a couple of dead disposable razors, all of which add to the total weight, but are not a weekly occurance.

Even with the total creeping up we are still only averaging 250g per week so far this year.

Washiing Liquid

I have been reading over at http://savingsnow.blogspot.com/

and found this recipe for a washing liquid which contains only natural ingredients.

I will be giving this a whirl in the next couple of weeks as although I don't use much washing powder and then only for dirty/smelly items this will be better.

HOMEMADE LAUNDRY LIQUID•
1 x bar of pure soap•
1 x saucepan {an old one if you have it}•
1 x cup soda crystals•
1/2 cup borax•
0.5 litre + 5 litres water•
1 x large plastic clean bucket•
wooden or steel spoon

I use the American cup for measuring as I find it easier.

Method:
Grate soap with a cheese grater & place in the saucepan with the ½ litre of water.
Heat this while stirring until soap dissolves.
Take saucepan off the heat.
Fill bucket with the 5 litres of water.
Add soda crystals & stir until dissolved.
Then add soap mixture from saucepan & stir until fully dissolved.
This will thicken as it cools -
Adding some essential oil makes a nice scent.
Add more or less water depending on the consistency desired then transfer liquid into bottles using a funnel.
Use one cup per wash.

Note: this liquid does NOT make suds. It has no foaming agent that is usually added to commercial liquids. Despite this it’s an excellent “green” cleaner that contains no phosphates.
Takes about 30 mins to make 10 pints.Cost approx £0.49 pence per batch.

Weekly Weigh In 28

This weeks landfill bag weighs in at 147g.

Again this is very good as we have had packups this weekend for football tournaments.

And even though we had a KFC takeaway last night it was ZW packaging/all recyclable.

They have changed the packaging for some items, so now it was all paper/cardboard based stating on it that it is recyclable, just got 1 carrier bag which I will reuse anyway.

Weekly Weigh In 27

Not quite sure how we've managed this one but the landfill bag only weighed 148g this week.

This is quite remarkable considering that we had a whole load of Tom's friends round on Saturday.

Next week will be the first of a few telling weeks as the boys are on school holidays from the weekend.

Weekly Weigh In 26

The landfill bag weighed in at 189g this week.

This week has seen a few things used up from the freezer which were in landfill wrappers; all I hasten to add bought before I got really into looking at all packaging with a microscope and deciding whether or not to buy said product.

There are still certain items which I can't find a suitable (choice/cost) alternative for and for now these will just have to be put into landfill as and when used.

I know others out there have children, so this not an excuse but it would be alot simpler if I didn't have to take their thoughts/choices into consideration; but then we as a family like our boys to make their own descisions about things.

David has still not eaten any crisps/quavers etc since New Years Day, I'm not really sure about the reasoning behind this descision, but for an 11 yr old who used to eat at least one if not two packets daily that is very good going. He hasn't seemed to miss them either.

School Trip

I'm not actually sure if this should be on here or my sister blog.

Anyway yesterday I went with the yr 4 students to our local Wildlife/Coastguard/RAF bombing range at Donna Nook.

The children were taught about beach safety by the coastguards, taken into the watch tower by the RAF and received a talk on the Coastal Environment by the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust.

The third of the 3 concentrated on how litter and rubbish can affect the birds and sealife around the Lincolnshire Coast, including the Grey Seals who annually come to the beach at Donna Nook to give birth to their pups.

The speaker explained to the children how a waste balloon or carrier bag can look like a jellyfish from underneath and showed pictures of the effects from the animals eating such items.

He also showed items of litter he had picked up off the beach which had either sell by dates or competition dates on showing how old the plastic was, and explaining how even though there is information on the internet quoting that sweet and chocolate wrappers will disintegrate in 3-5 yrs he had some which were 15-20 years old. He then showed the children a washing up liquid bottle that he had picked up that morning which was priced marked in "old money (d)" so showing that this bottle was still around after at least 40 yrs.

Another aspect he touched on was how dogs running free on the beach had a detrimental effect on the sand and grassland nesting birds, frightening them away to the point that one area a little up the coast from there does not now have any birds nesting from those types.

Hopefully some of the information will have been taken in and will be remembered.

Weekly Weigh In 25

This weeks bag weighed in at 187g, so again under my 200g target.

Tom has had some friends around this weekend who have brought sweets etc and obviously the wrappers go into my bin, so taking this into account the total is good.

I finally got my other plastics etc taken to the HWRC yesterday, so that is another job out of the way. I didn't notice any other recepticles for new items this time; but the sign at the gate stated that 80% was recycled this last week.

So a big yah to East Lindsey District Council.

Clearing things Out

I haven't done anything anywhere near as big as The Green Family for WRAPs recycle week but I have been having abit of a sort out in my filing cabinet.

Suffice it to say the hand shredder has been on overdrive.

Also I have sorted out some more old clothes etc which are past being donated to frinds or charity shop, and luckily we have had Bag 2 School collection today at school, so these items haven't been left taking up lots of valuable room.

My aim over the next few weeks is to tackle little areas for say 1 hour at a time so that it isn't overwhelming but the job still gets done.

Any items which may have a resale value will be put with the car-boot sale items. Anything for recycling that can't go into the doorstep collection will be stored in my recycling centre, for drop off at HWRC at a later date. Anything for donation to charity will also be stored for a convenient drop off.

Weekly Weigh In 24

This weeks bag came to a massive 183g. That now averages 260g per week over the 24 weeks so far.

We have had packups over the weekend which always produces more waste, but even the Chinese we had for tea on Wednesday for David's birthday all came wrapped in zero waste packaging - tinfoil containers with cardboard lids or wrapped in greaseproof and paper, and all placed into a cardboard box for ease of carrying.

I have put the wheelie bin out for collection today; this is only the 3rd time since Christmas, so we now start again for the next 6 months to see how few times this can be done.

Followup response from my Council

I received this today via email.

Hello,

Thank you for your email, and my apologies for the delay in responding, we will be looking into the zero waste campaign however it may not be for a while yet.

We are looking to hold education stalls on the relevant markets in East Lindsey during recycle week with the 'Lets waste less' in action and educating members of the public on waste minimisation. I will also try to collect names of those who I speak to who would volunteer on the scheme in the future.

Many thanks

Terri

As part of Wraps Recycle Week they want people to pledge to do something.

My pledge has been made directly to the writer of this in that I have offered to volunteer some of my time for the scheme in the future.

Weekly Weigh In 23

This weeks landfill bag weighed in with 178g.

Which considering we had a mad dash to the local shop for sausages and buns on Saturday night for a BBQ so wrappers there, is very good.

This gives a weekly average over the 23 weeks as now being 263g.

War on Waste - Hilary Benn changes packaging rules

Articles in the national press today are showing that we are getting a step in the right direction regarding excess waste and packaging.

It will be amazing for the UK as a whole if this actually comes to fruision, as we have far too much waste packaging.

Launching the new strategy at the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management Futuresource conference today, Mr Benn said:

“We need to rethink the way we deal with packaging, from production line to recycling bin. The plans we’ve announced today set out how we will achieve that – with the goal of making it as easy as possible for consumers to avoid needless packaging in the first place and to get rid of what they do receive in a way that doesn’t just create more landfill. I also want consumers to play their part by reporting excess packaging wherever they see it – because we’re all in this together.

“In a few years time I want people to be able to shop without having to worry about what they’re going to do with the packaging when they get home, and where it will go after they’ve disposed of it.”


DEFRA have also made some comments on this.

(I have borrowed this from MZW as Mrs Green beat me to this)

Here’s the latest from DEFRA:
“Consumers will see a major overhaul of all packaging over the next decade, under plans announced by Environment Secretary Hilary Benn today.

The Government’s new packaging strategy, Making the most of packaging, looks at the packaging of the future and what our shop shelves and kitchen cupboards should look like if we cut the amount of packaging produced, used and thrown away, and increase the amount recycled.

Under the plans published today, the whole chain from production to disposal of packaging will be tackled:

Enforcement action will be made easier against manufacturers of excess and unnecessary packaging, and consumers will be encouraged to continue to report excessive packaging to Trading Standards;

The Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) will work with manufacturers and retailers to reduce packaging for everyday products in line with the best on the market;

The recyclability of packaging will be improved and clear guidance will be provided for manufacturers on designing it with recyclability in mind;

The use of refillable and reusable packaging could be expanded, so in the future customers could have the option of buying anything from laundry detergent to coffee by simply taking empty containers back to shops to be refilled;

The Government will work with local authorities and packaging producers to improve household recycling services, so that in future more types of packaging are collected for recycling;

Recycling rates for plastic, glass, and aluminium will be targeted for improvement. This will mean more ‘recycling on the go’ points introduced in public places for drinks cans, and more glass collected for recycling from pubs, clubs and restaurants; and

Banning of some materials, such as aluminium and glass, from landfill altogether is also being considered.

Add to this that Mr Benn has also indicated that Best Before and Use By dates will also be removed/changed and one catch all date will be used instead which gives consumers a clearer idea of when something will be past is useful date and may infact be harmful if eaten..

Palm Oil Follow Up

I was pleased to see in Sainsburys the other day that their own label frozen fish products not only have the Marine Stewardship Council label but now a flash on the packaging stating that the Palm Oil used is from a sustainable source.

Hopefully other manufacturers will folow suit.

Weekly Weigh In 22

This weeks bag just came in under the 200g target at 198g.

This averages 267g per week over the 22 weeks so far.

Again there were some crisp packets, some jelly wrappers, plastic meat wrappers, a spagetti packet, and a pasta shapes packet. Some chicken bones.
There were also some extra choc bar wrappers (DS2 is back onto packed lunch for the summer), and some sucky yogurt tubes (they were at least Yeo Valley Organic).

The one good thing I noticed when I purchased my cheese from Sainsbury's deli the other day was that the plastic bag now has a type 2 HDPE triangle printed on it stating that most councils will accept this.

I will have to try taking a tub with me next time and see what happens.

Ban the Plastic Bag

Please read the article by The Greenhouse Neutral Foundation over on www.myzerowaste.com and sign the petition.

Alternatively just sign the petition here

Magazines through the Post

I have a weekly subscription to the Radio Times, as not only is it a tv listings guide but also a good read.

I have it on subscription which means it is delivered along with my mail, so no need to go to the shop just to get it.

Just recently I wrote asking if they could change the polythene outer wrapping to a recycled/recyclable paper wrap.

Well today it arrived in a brown paper envelope.

Great I thought they've taken my request on board; then I opened it inside was the magazine wrapped in the polythene and then placed inside the brown envelope.

Needless to say I have just sent another email asking them to sort this out as I might as well just have the polythene and put it with carrier bags at the supermarket than have both.


Below is the response I got to my email sent :

Dear Miss Maisie Clark
Thank you for your email regarding Radio Times magazines.
I can confirm that my manager requested the despatch method was changed as per your original request.
I apologise that this was not done.
I have passed the details back to him for him to make our Despatch Warehouse aware of the problem, and ask that they ensure your issues are sent by Brown Envelope.-- If you require any further assistance, please don't hesitate to contact us.

So hopefully next weeks issue will be naked inside the brown envelope.

Weekly Weigh In 21

The landfill bin this week weighed in at 173g.

I'm pleased with this, as it is again under my new target of 200g. Averaging 270g per week over the 21 weeks.

There were a few crisp packets, a yogurt mix packet, plastic wrap from some meat,a few sweet wrappers, a couple of bits from the bathroom bin and some other unrecyclable plastic.

Hopefully we can continue along this vein over the coming weeks.

The larger kitchen bin has now been replaced by a smaller bucket sized container, and we shall see how this goes.

I will put another plastic tub on top of this for the boys to put anything they are unsure of into, then I won't be fishing around in the bin for items to sort.

Weekly Weigh In 20

This weeks landfill bag weighed in at 311g.

This is higher than I had hoped but we did a carboot sale today and when we sorted through for things to sell we had some bits of broken plastic which have to be thrown out.

If I take out the carboot items the bag weighed in at 178g so would have been a good week.

Bin or No Bin

Over the past few weeks I have been deliberating as to whether or not to keep my 45ltr kitchen bin.

It is hardly ever used and even when it is I usually end up fishing out whatever has been put into it.

My plan/idea is to put a small lined box for using for landfill rubbish, and to also utilise the space previously used for the bin with either a butchers block type trolley or a folding table which can be brought out when extra work surface is needed.

This would mean 2 things I would have more work surface when it is needed, and the bin would not be there for just throwing things into.

It would also mean that the boys and Dave would have to think a bit more about where things go, as as good as they are some things get thrown into the bin without thinking; especially if it isn't a "normal" item.

Compacting my Recyclables

I have always crushed the cans etc which go into the kerbside recycling bin (boys jump on them usually); but papers just got tossed in there regardless, so I decided to look at a way of making it neater.

I use at least a couple of flour bags every week with baking my own bread and cakes etc; so I looked at these and decided that all small pieces of paper like labels from cans etc can be put inside one of these and then the whole bag put into the recycling bin.

I know this isn't a major thing but I thought about it when I was adding some foil the my foil ball, and thought that maybe if small bits of foil can clog the machine then probably paper will do the same; it also keeps it tidier inside the box I collect it in before putting into the recycling bin.

Europes Largest Wind Farm

Here is a link to an article I read on Green Pepper about Europes Largest Wind Farm.

Question - where do you think this could be?

http://green-pepper.org.uk/energy/europes-largest-onshore-wind-farm/


Bet you didn't think Scotland.

Weekly Weigh In 19

Sorry its a day late but I wasn't around at all yesterday.

This weeks landfill bag weighs in at 227g. This averages 274g over the last 19 weeks.

This is a little over my new target but does include a toothpaste tube and a couple of razor heads. (no amount of asking will get Dave to change to the type with the steel blades), so this is something we will have to live with, he does use the type which you only replace the head each time not the whole thing.

There was also some plastic meat trays but luckily here I can take those to HWRC so they haven't ended up in landfill.

All in all not too bad, and the boys are getting better at asking if not sure rather than just putting into the landfill box and then me fishing the item out.

Sainsburys Crisps

I had to do a shop yesterday, and as I was near Sainsburys went into there.

I noticed that all their own label crisps are now made solely with British potatoes.

This is something I had never thought about before, assuming that as we are a nation of farmers that crisps would be made from British potatoes.

Now though when I need to buy crisps I will purchase these as it ticks one of my boxes for my grocery shopping.

Weekly Weigh In 18

This week the landfill rubbish weighed in at 177g.

It seems to consist of bits of unidentified plastic and a few crisp packets from myself and Dave.

This is really good though as it is under my new target of 200g per week.

Crop Swappers

I have recently joined a new idea called Crop Swappers.

Basically it is an internet based group who can swap either items or skills, within their given area.

Here is a link to the post on My Zero Waste, which explains it all in more detail.

http://myzerowaste.com/2009/05/crop-swappers-rebuilding-communities-and-sharing-resources/

Weekly Weigh In 17

This weeks landfill weigh in is 210g.

It has the usual crisp packets, a couple of bits of cling film and a plastic cheese wrapper.
We ran out of cheese and my local shop only sells it in the plastic wrapper.

Add in a few other bits of plastic which can't be recycled anywhere, a toothpaste tube and some plastic sticked cotton buds.

There were also a few chicken bones which had been boiled up for stock following on from the roast dinner.

Considering that I had only reduced my target to 200g last week this is not bad at all.

Palm Oil and DeForestation

I have read an article in the Independant online today which really made me think again about which foods I'm going to buy.

I wholeheartedly support the Orangutan conservation and would love to go out to Indonesia to see the work there.

The article lists some of the everyday foods which use Palm Oil but is listed in the ingredients as Vegetable Oil.

It is the DeForestation of the Rain Forests to enable Palm growing which is killing out the Orangutan and other species and affecting the Eco-systems in South East Asia.

Here is the link to the article
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/how-britons-fuel-destruction-of-the-rainforest-1677096.html


Here is a snippet which lists the main household brands which use this crop:

Household names: Big brands and palm oil

Kellogg's (US) Uses palm oil in 50 products, mostly cereal bars but also cereals such as Special K and Crunchy Nut, where it binds together clusters. Does not buy sustainable palm oil.

Cadbury (UK) Pours palm oil into chocolate bars, including Cadbury Dairy Milk, where it is listed as vegetable oil. Uses 40,000 tonnes a year, none certified as sustainable.

Mars (US/UK) Uses palm oil in Mars Bars, Galaxy and Maltesers, where it is labelled "vegetable fat". Does not buy sustainable palm oil. Says it wants to.

Procter & Gamble (US) Makes Ariel, Daz and Fairy Liquid, where use of palm oil is suspected but unproven. Says it will have a sustainable supply by 2015.

Unilever (UK) World's biggest user of palm oil, which is found in Flora margarine, Pot Noodle, Comfort and Persil. Buys 1.6m tonnes a year – 4.2 per cent of global production. Acknowledging the damage to its reputation and the environment, Unilever set up the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil.

Kraft (US) Says it does not use palm oil in Dairylea cheese but does in other products. Buys half a per cent of global supply. Says it will move to sustainable palm oil by 2015.

Heinz (US) Uses palm oil to fry potatoes for Aunt Bessie's Potatoes, which it makes under licence.

United Biscuits (UK) Uses palm oil across its range including McVitie's Digestives and McCoy's crisps. Says it is reducing quantities.

Nestle (Swiss) Palm oil in KitKat, Quality Street, Aero and other brands.

Premier Food (UK) Uses in Hovis, Mr Kipling Cakes, Bisto Gravy and Cadbury cakes (made under licence). Hopes to move to a certified sustainable supply by 2011.

Pepsico (US) Makes Walker's crisps. Has one of the best corporate policies, only using palm oil in Quaker Oat Granola and Nobby's Nuts. Intends to phase out use on those two products.

FAKE PLASTIC FISH - a blog

Please take the time to go over to http://therubbishdiet.blogspot.com/2009/04/beth-terrys-letter-to-oprah.html and view the video presented by Beth Terry.

Beth is the author of the blog Fake Palstic Fish.

This video really make you think about the plastic we use etc.

Beth has very kindly sent me a direct link to the You Tube video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae0nXDRVnjk

Weekly Weigh In 16

This weeks bag weighs in at 237g.

So again this is below my 300g target.

I must just raise the bar and state a new target of 200g.

This will give me something to aim at again as I am fairly consistently below the 300g.

Weekly Weigh In 15

This weeks bag weighed in at 198g.

Again this is good as this is from the second week of the school holidays and we had friends visiting during the week so extra bits and pieces.

A couple of bits of salad and fruit had gone past usable but these went into the compost bin along with the usual veg and fruit peelings.

I will have to make a trip to HWRC in the next couple of weeks as my box of other plastic is nearly full.

The weekly weight so far for the 15 weeks of this year averages out at 290g per week which is below my 300g target.

Getting Rid of Clutter

I have come across a website, which will pay you directly for CD's, DVD's and Games.

www.musicmagpie.com you enter the barcode of the item and it will give you a value, if you decide to go ahead then it sends you an envelope and pays a cheque on receipt. It is a secondhand online shop.

I haven't sorted out this myself but have heard from others who have sold lots of 80's CDs for decent amounts of money.

This also means that you are not having to store the items waiting for them to sell on any of the auction sites; and risk them not selling either.

It is a way of decluttering the old CD collection and making alittle cash in the process.

Weekly Weigh In 14

Todays landfill bag weighed in at 210g.

Still well below the 300g target I have and considering the boys are on school holidays so eating more, creating more rubbish etc this is good.

Eco Shopping

I have today found another company who sells things online which on the face of it look good on the eco credentials.

The company is http://www.wikaniko.com/index.php.

I haven't purchased from them as yet but will be looking in the future as they have a few things I would be interested in.

Zero Waste Menu

Mrs Green has been looking at what packaging she gets from cooking a days meals, so I thought I'd do a similar thing here.

Here are yesterdays meals:bear in mind the boys are on school holidays, so permanently hungry.

Breakfast: fruit juice
toast & butter
eggs

Snack: Fruit & yogurt
water or squash

Lunch: Sandwich with Egg mayo or Tuna mayo or grated cheese
cucumber & tomato
homemade cake
water or milk

Snack: Fruit & yogurt

Dinner: Salmon fishcakes
chips
carrots, broccoli & cauliflower

Apple & Blackberry crumble
water or squash

Snack: Cereal & milk




Fruit Juice comes in glass bottles from the milkman and so are returned for recycling, the foil lid is saved in the foil ball for recycling. Toast is homemade bread which is made using ingredients whose packaging can all be recycled except the yeast wrapper, so once a month this goes into the landfill. Butter comes in a plasticised foil wrapper so is not recyclable but it is English butter so I stick with this, the wrapper goes into landfill once a week. Eggs these come from a farm in the next village so the tray gets taken back each time I buy more.

Fruit comes usually as Fairtrade Bananas, English Apples or occassionally seedless grapes, the apples and grapes come in Type 4 bags which I can take to HWRC. The bananas I buy loose. Yogurt I make this using the "Easi-yo" system so this does provide 2 plasticised sachets once a week, but that is 2 litres of yogurt. Squash this comes in a doorstep recyclable bottle and the top can be taken to HWRC.

Sandwich bread as before homemade, eggs as before, tuna comes in a can totally recyclable, mayo comes in a glass jar which goes to the bootle bank and the lid goes to HWRC, cheese I try to buy cut off a big block so as to minimise the waste plastic, then grate and freeze in 100g tubs. Cucumber & tomato these come in my organic veg box, so this time of year may be imported but they do not air freight, the tomatoes can either be standard sized in a paper bag or cherry in a type 1 tub this can be doorstep recycled (not ideal but!!). Homemade cake this is made using basic ingredients all of which the packaging can be recycled either in the doorstep collection or at HWRC. Water is filtered and I send the cartridges back to Brita for recycling. Milk the majortiy comes from the milkman in glass bottles which get returned and the foil lids are added to the foil ball, with some extra bought in type 2 plastic containers which are doorstep recycled.

Fruit & Yogurt as before.

Salmon Fishcakes, the salmon was given to us wrapped in a carrier bag so that has been washed in soapy water and will be recycled, potatoes for the mash for the fishcakes and Chips come from the farm shop in a paper sack which gets composted along with all the veggie and fruit peelings, Carrots, Broccoli & Cauliflower all come in the organic veg box and are grown on the company's own farm. Apple & Blackberry Crumble is made using apples & blackberrys foraged or given last summer and frozen, crumble topping uses ingredients all in recyclable packaging.The cardboard box the veg is delivered in goes back each week to be used again.

Cereal & milk, this depends on which cereal they decide to eat, although most have a plastic non recyclable inner, I do keep some for using to put cakes in the freezer or even to put my landfill waste into, milk is as above.

Throughout the day I will drink tea with milk or coffee with milk and sugar or water, the teabags are composted, the box is recycled and now the wrapper will be sent to STM for recycling. The coffee jar is taken to the bottle bank and the lid is taken to HWRC; milk is as above and sugar comes in paper bags which are doorstep recycled.

Weekly Weigh In 13

Todays landfill bag weighs in at 230g.

This does also include 2 toothpaste tubes, and some bits from the bathroom bin.

So still a good week really.

Thought Provoking

Almost Mrs Average over on The Rubbish Diet has posted the following post regarding what happens to our "rubbish" when we throw it "away".

http://therubbishdiet.blogspot.com/2009/04/oh-memories-part-2-april-fool.html

please take the time to read this as it really does make you think

This Weeks Landfill Rubbish - Mon 23 - Sun 29 March

Monday 23 Mar :
Cereal packet inner, Yogurt pot lid, yogurt mix packet

Tuesday 24 Mar:
Yogurt pot lid, crisp packet, outer bag from some multipak mini biscuits, mini biscuits bag.
Chicken wrapper

Wednesday 25 Mar:
yogurt pot lid, cheese wrapper, crisp packet , spagetti wrapper,

Thursday 26 Mar:
yogurt mix packet, clingfilm from a cake bought at cakestall, rice bag

Friday 27 Mar:
bag from some sausages

Saturday 28 Mar:
cereal box inner(saved for next week), 2 choc bar wrappers,

Sunday 29 Mar:
Bread roll wrapper, Meat wrapper.



All other waste is either doorstep recycled, composted or taken to the HWRC to be recycled.

Weekly Weigh In 12

This weeks bag weighs in at .........164g.

Again this is lower than last weeks and is again I think down to buying in bulk and freezing in reusable containers rather than individual bags etc.

The recycling bin was approx 2/3 full this time when collected.

Weekly Weigh In 11

This weeks bag for the landfill bin weighed in at a massive 183g!!!

This is graudually getting smaller and smaller.

By the time the council do "zero waste" I shall have nothing to reduce.

This again fitted inside a cereal box inner which I had kept for the purpose.

The Rubbish Diet Awards

I would just like to say a huge thankyou to Almost Mrs Average for presenting myself and my blog with "The Keeping It Positive Award" at Saturday nights The Rubbish Diet Awards Ceremony.

Although I couldn't be there to collect it in person, I am very honoured to have met this lady "virtually".
Along with others including The Greens, Tracey Smith, John Costigane, Almost Mrs Average has been an inspiration to many who are trying to do their "bit" for the environment and greener living.

So I will say please raise your glasses to Almost Mrs Average.

Dilema

Today I have a dilema.

I try to support the British famers as much as possible buying British produced goods. If not my next tick box is Fairtrade.

I had been getting my granulated sugar from the Co-op when near there as they sell Silver Spoon which is made from British sugar beet.

I however also try and support my doorstep milkman as the convenience and not having to use my car usually outweighs the price difference.

Now to my dilema.

The milkman sells sugar which is the same price as Co-op , but it is I am told (after ringing Whitworths) only half British sugar beet, and half imported sugar cane. The sugar cane is not Fairtrade. Both come in recyclable paper bags.

Should I stick with buying British and bulk buy to equal out the petrol usage? or

Should I buy from the milkman knowing it doesn't tick all the boxes, but helps keep his delivery round going?

Dave and the boys have said it is up to me as I do the shopping, big help there!!

Clothes Pegs

Yesterday I bought some clothes pegs from Tesco, they are made by acompany called Ecoforce .

They are
100% recycled pre and post consumer waste plastic.
100% recyclable
100% metal free

The only blip I can see at the moment is the packaging is type 5 (PP) which we all know is not very easily recyclable.

I emailed them asking if they would consider a more eco-friendly style of packaging.

Their response to my email was:

"The pegs are also PP. Unfortunatly there is no cost effective alternative to PP film at this time that suits oiur process."

So although these pegs tick a few of the boxes they are still not completely eco-friendly. But in the bigger scheme of things they are definitely a step in th right direction.

Weekly Weigh In 10

The waste going into landfill this week weighs in at 243g.

It has all fitted inside a cereal box liner, which would have otherwise gone in anyway.

The recycling bin was emptied as well today and it was only half full for this fortnight.

Zero Waste Campaign

Yesterday I emailed my district council asking them to consider doing a Zero Waste Campaign, similar to those that have been done in both Gloucestershire and Essex.

I got a reply late yesterday afternoon, saying
Quote "Thank you for your email regarding the Zero Waste week promotion, It is not something I have been involved in before, however after looking it up, it does seem like something that could be very interesting and also very educational.
Thank you very much for bringing it to our attention, and I shall hopefully be in touch in the near future to give you details on the campaign."Unquote.

This is to me a positive reply and I am hopeful that my local district council will follow this through.

Weekly Weigh In 9

The landfill bag this week weighed in at ........235g. The juice bottle is for size demonstration purposes.

This is even better than last week.

The only thing I have really noticed lately is that now I have my recycling centre set up more of the type 4,5,6 & 7 plastic is going there rather than into the landfill bin.

Obviously we still have a way to go to be anywhere close to the likes of Mrs Green and Almost Mrs Average, but we are getting there.

Mobile Phones

I have just heard of a great website which sells recycled Pay As You Go mobile phones. They do not include SIM cards.

It is www.purplegossip.com .

Thousands of perfectly good mobile phones are put into landfill each year just because they are not the latest.

These recycled ones would be very good for a child to have as a first phone when starting secondary school.

The other main positive about this system is that new phones don't have to be made to meet demand. Which in turn helps save all the precious resources which are used in the making of just one mobile phone.

I have no affiliation to this company but think it is a great idea and will be looking at it when I have to replace my phone.

Clothing

I was sorting the bag of old clean clothes which can't be passed on to someone or donated to the charity shop, or used as rags.

We have a collection a couple of times ayear in David's school through a company called www.bag2school.com , this company pays by weight and the items are then sold on to either Eastern European or Asian countires or at worst flocked to make filler for beds and the like.

Our school only has 49 families and we regularly raise £200 per year doing this.

It is a good way of keeping otherwise useless articles of clothing etc from the landfill.

This company also takes shoes, blankets, bedding, even soft toys.

The flyer which comes with the collection bags state they collect for REUSE.

If your school doesn't do this it might be good idea to put to the Parents Body.

Weekly Weigh In 8

Todays bag of landfill waste weighs in at 260g.

This is a big whoohoo! as it is a bit below my 300g target.

The main things in the bag are again the non-recyclable plastic wrappers which we sometimes have to have if we need the product inside.

Recycling Centre

I decided to write this as Mrs Green gave my new recycling centre a mention.

We had a major clearout last week which resulted in lots of "rubbish" but also lots of recycling. Two car journeys one with the recycling another with a combination of landfill and more recycling. David just had room each time to sit one one seat in the back with the other half dropped to make the boot bigger.

All items were taken to our HWRC, and then I made a dedicated area in one of our sheds as a recycling collection centre.

The items we can take to HWRC which is run by Lincolnshire County Council and are on their list are:

Books and CDs
Textiles
Shoes
Green Garden Waste ( although we do have a fortnightly doorstep collection of this)
Glass Bottles etc
Paper (doorstep collection)
Cardboard (doorstep collection)
Scrap Metals
Tins and Cans (doorstep collection)
Flourecent tubes including Eco bulbs for Mercury recycling
Fridges and Freezers
Tvs and Computer Monitors
Household Batteries
Small Electrical Appliances
Plastic Bottles ( doorstep collection)
Plastic Bags (type 4)
Hard plastics (types 5,6, & 7)
Tetrapak Cartons
Used Engine Oil
Lead Acid Batteries
Car tyres
Wood
Soil & Rubble
Gas Bottles
Household Chemicals

I also saw a collection point for used cooking oil.

The only thing on the list which my HWRC (Louth) doesn't accept is Printer Cartridges, but the school collects these and receives a payment for doing so. But alot of shops now collect these or you can get envelopes from Tesco etc to send them off.

Water Filter Cartridges can be taken to alot of shops or sent direct to Brita.

Brita Recycling
FREEPOST
NAT 17876
Bicester
OX26 4BR

Although our clearout day created 7 bags of landfill rubbish it was very theraputic in that I now know that all my recycling efforts can be acted upon alot easier with my recycling centre.

Weekly Weigh In 7

This week our bag weighs in at 292g.

This is under my 300g target.

Although during the week we have had a major clearout of 2 sheds resulting in 2 car loads to be taken to the "tip" HWRC.

One was all recyclable items which can only go to HWRC, including some old pots of paint that had set and congealed.

The other load was all RUBBISH, bagged up into 7 bin liners, it is totally surprising how much "stuff" can be accumulated and put out of sight until you need to use the space.

Now both sheds are fully functional with a dedicated area for me for the recyclable items which can't go in the doorstep collection but can be taken to HWRC.

This also means I don't now have a box of the above mentioned recycling permanently in the corner of the kitchen.

So although we have added the 7 bin bags to the landfill our own little space is more clean and alot less cluttered.

Weekly Weigh In 6

This weeks bag weighed in at a hefty 675g.

This is over double what my ideal is.

The main things I noticed in there were some type 6 yogurt pots which I bought for the boys whilst waiting for my Easiyo delivery.

Otherwise it consisted of plastic meat wrappers, butter wrappers, more cheese wrappers, plastic bags which couldn't be reused and were again the degradable type, I had been storing things in the freezer in them and a couple of light bulbs which have blown during the last week.

Not very good but the light bulbs were 77g each, so although I can in theory knock 144g off the total it is still way too much at 531g.

Back to the drawing board.

Weekly Weigh In 5

This weeks bag weighed in at 430g

it consisted of

waxed cheese wrapper ( need to source a better option for this)

5 crisp packets (David still hasn't eaten any since New Year)

a butter wrapper (foil backed paper - supporting the doorstep milkman)

a few non-recyclable plastic bags - all twisted and knotted

there was also a few bits and pieces of undescribable origin from sorting out a couple of drawers in the kitchen.

So still not too bad considering.

Postage Stamps

Whilst not a major issue in terms of rubbish and they can go into paper recycling; postage stamps can be donated to charity where they can then sell them on to raise funds.

I have always saved any postage stamps which came into the house and used to donate to a collection on the mobile library van, but that ceased.

I have just recently found the address for a RNLI collection point, and am happy to say received an email at the weekend confirming they are still collecting these and will accept any quantity.

For anyone interested in collecting as well the address is:

RNLI STAMPS
c/o 7 Speddwell
Brixham
Devon
TQ5 9MJ

Weekly Weigh In 4

This weeks bag weighed in at 290g

It consisted of :

1 pearl barley bag

4 crisp packets

2 waxed cheese wrappers

2 plastic wrappers which can't be recycled

4 carrier bags which had gone past reuse

a few bits which dave had put in which I couldn't be bothered to pick back out including the yogurt from his lunch box on Friday.

The recycling bin was also only half empty and that is after 2 weeks, so a big reduction there this time.

Food Waste

Following on with the ideas to not have any waste I have been looking at how to eliminate food waste.

As a family we do pretty well anyway not to have food waste, any that would normally go in the bin is given to the dogs at Dave's work.

But things can still be improved.

I had a couple of things in the veg box from last week which were getting past their best and needed using as the new box is delivered each Wednesday, these would have ended up in the compost bin.

There was half a cabbage, a small cauliflower and a small leek.

I had some chicken stock from boiling up the carcass from Sunday's lunch, so all veggies were shredded/diced fried off in a bit of butter, then added to the stock, simmer until nearly cooked, whizz up to a chunky puree, add in a handful of pearl barley(last bit in packet) and a handful of orange lentils, and some leftover mashed potato for thickner.

Serve with hm bread and a sprinkling of grated mature cheddar.

Lovely lunch for me for the next couple of days and a couple of portions for the freezer as well.

Weekly Weigh In 3

This weeks landfill rubbish weighed in at 270g

This consisted of:
the usual twisted and knotted crisp packets (14), (David is still not eating crisps);
a waxed cheese wrapper,
a butter foil paper,
a sliced ham packet (boys wanted wraps for snacks this last week),
3 plastic bags which can't be recycled,
3 meat wrapper from the PO butchers which again can't be recycled.
a bag from the basmati rice ( I do bulk buy this but do have a bag every so often)
a spagetti wrapper
a yeast wrapper (dove farm - can't give me full info for recycling this)

The compostable bin was approx half full, and the recycling bin is also half full .

Happy Birthday Almost Mrs Average

Today is the 1st birthday of The Rubbish Diet Almost Mrs Average has been blogging about her exploits and championing the rest of us to follow suit.

Please go and have a wander around the blog, it is full of inspirational posts and important links and information.

Well Done Karen!!

Weekly Weigh In 2

Todays weigh in is 240g

This consists of some twisted and knotted crisp packets, a couple of plastic bags which can't be recycled even at the HWRC, and a waxed cheese wrapper.

Thumbs Up!!

I have today received a parcel from Ethical Superstore, this was a cardboard box into which they had put my goodies and then had used brown paper as the filler.

On the box was a label asking that all be recycled once finished with.

The best part about this type of packaging is that the brown paper was left in a large piece, which means I can just iron it and then reuse as wrapping paper myself, and if I send it to the right person they in turn can probably reuse also.

The only blip was the parcel tape which they had to use to seal the box.

Weekly Weigh In 1

The landfill bag weighed in at 434g.

This is not good but not too bad either.

The majority of the contents were plastic wrappings which can't be recycled, and some bits and pieces found whilst clearing out a couple of boxes from the shed.

The recycling bin had the usual, cans plastic bottles and paper and cardboard.

There is also a box of recyclable items to take to the Recycling Facility when I next go that way.

This is now a way of life for us and I am determined that our landfill bin will be emptied the minimum amount of times during the coming year.

Bulk Purchase Mince

I always bulk purchase my mince from the butchers in 5lb bags; and then usually bag up into meal size potions.

This then creates the main bag plus the individual bags as they are used.

I have been thinking about this for a while and then hit on the idea "Why not use my margarine tubs".

So instead of individual meal portions in bags they are now frozen in the margarine tubs, which although can be recycled at the HWRC, are better being reused as much as possible first; and a 500g margarine tub just hold the right amount we need for a meal.

This also means that they can be stacked neatly in the freezer.

And the best thing only one bag to put into the bin rather than lots of little ones.

Our Weekly Weigh Ins

My aim is to try not to have more than 300g-350g of normal landfill rubbish going into the bin each week.

This may or may not be achieved.

However any progress made during the year is good progress.

I will be logging our progress weekly to keep a check on the amount we are putting into landfill.

New Beginings

I have today collected all the recycling and landfill rubbish ready for the bins going out on Monday.

Although the recycling bin is overflowing so extras will have to be put into a box as well, the landfill bin is approx three quarters full, which considering this includes all the Christmas rubbish, is good as it also has 3 bags of fire clinker.

The bins will both be emptied on Monday and then we will begin again in earnest at reducing the amount to go to landfill.

Over to our New Blog

Rather than run two independant blogs this year I am running one "Green" blog here.

In the run up to Christmas I was little lax in recording the amount of rubbish although it was on a par to a normal week, that we had been having.

If you wish to still follow our efforts/progress on reducing our landfill rubbish please join us on the new blog as above.

Welcome

Welcome to one of our new blogs for 2009.

This year we as a family are concentrating on 2 things:

Savings and reducing our outgoings and

Recycling and being Green

Our Story for 2009 Continues

Our story for 2009 continues here.