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Don't Throw Anything Away Challenge

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Hi, I know this is a biggie, having suggested the don't throw food away challenge, and having tried (not always successfully) to live that way for a while, its now got me not wanting to throw anything away. I do recycle, but what do you do with those bits that don't recycle? I'm going to try to only buy recyclable packaging, but i am also on a tight budget, maybe we can suggest cheap recyclable food packaged items, what do you do with the items that are broken, where do you send/give those, i recently threw 2 freeview boxes and a very old video, i felt a twinge of no, where is that going, is it gonna get buried, maybe its an age thing or i need to get more of a social life (definately need to do that), but i care about these things. I give clothes to the charity shops, the really rubbish ones, i put them in a separate bag, as some shops do bags that they sell on, can't remember the name for that, but not always, sometimes i bung them in the bin (twinge, guilt), why do i do that when a charity can get a bit of money from them. I would love like minded MSE'ers, a lot more clued up than me, to help and others to have fun trying to do this, also well seasoned experts teaching us and informing us where we can environmentally dispose of these goods. This challenge is not about dwelling on things you throw, its about celebrating things that you would normally have thrown, but decided to recycle, rehome, etc. including food, that you save from the bin. Hope you would like join.
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  • We are only allowed to recycle plastic in the form of bottles here for some reason. I give a lot of my other plastic packaging to my daughter who runs a pre-school for the kids to make things with. Plastic bottles also have re-uses before recycling - plant waterers, freezing soup etc etc.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0 Newbie
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    edited 30 October 2011 at 7:43PM
    well, just been given this from a kindly mse'er from another thread called what to do with old appliances, and have kindly been given this link http://www.tescotechsupport.com/tradein/
  • I got rid of a load of stuff on Freegle...people just come and take your unwanted things away...no hassle, no cost.

    Stopped recycling most plastic as it was shown that most of it ends up on ships to be landfilled in China!! check this plastic bottle house
    http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/02/amazing-house-made-entirely-of-plastic-bottles-from-argentina-photos.php

    do recycle the odd plastic bottle if it has pet 1 or 2 sign. most other stuff is recycled (tin foil, glass, tins & paper)

    I reuse padded envelopes.
    I have a big bag of winter clothes that I'm taking to the homeless shelter, rather than giving to charity shop...will go direct to those who need them.
    GC - Oct £36.17/£31
    GC - Sep £35.56/£30:o
    GC - Aug £30.73/£31
    GC - Jul £30.80/£31
  • Ben84
    Ben84 Posts: 3,069 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Usable items I no longer need either get given to the charity shops or sold on eBay. Worn out things and general everyday packaging get thrown away in the landfill bin. I used to be very enthusiastic about recycling, but I've had a rethink a while back and am no longer convinced it's such a strong answer to environmental issues as I had believed. Domestic recycling is costly in environmental terms and financially to collect, sort and process. By mass it's also a pretty small amount of the UK's total landfill waste. It also misses a huge part of the problem, by the time you get to throwing something out it has already been produced and bought, so the major part of the environmental and financial impact has already taken place. It's more important I believe to consider these issues before buying something than to feel bad about the disposal when it does wear out.

    I try to buy things that are durable and functional now. Reusable is important, so I use mostly rechargeable batteries for example and a razor that only needs replacement blades rather than the whole disposable ones. Low mass packaging helps too, so I like the milk bags, coffee refills and refillable pens as well as soda crystals that come in a bag and solid shampoo bars/soap bars that don't need bulky bottles. My overall aim isn't to reduce landfill waste, I landfill our household rubbish with little concern as domestic waste is a small waste stream when compared to the total, it's to consume less resources in manufacturing, delivery and retail where the major impact really is. The packaging and items that do this most effectively are normally non-recyclable, but for good reason. They're so small they're impractical to recover.
  • esmf73
    esmf73 Posts: 1,793 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic
    Ben84 - wow - what you're saying makes sense and yes I try to do this, reuse, freecycle, charity etc and we have dogs who ensure we have no waste food. I know I could still get my household rubbish down further though and am now intending to do so. Yesterday OH broke the kitchen bin, so I swopped it for the smaller bathroom bin. I was going to throw the kitchen bin away, but have now decided that I will use it to "force" my rhubarb! Will have to stake it down during the gales though!! Wonder if it will work?
    Me, OH, grown DS, (other DS left home) and Mum (coming up 80!). Considering foster parenting. Hints and tips on saving £ always well received. Xx

    March 1st week £80 includes a new dog bed though £63 was food etc for the week.
  • valk_scot
    valk_scot Posts: 5,290 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    esmf73 wrote: »
    Yesterday OH broke the kitchen bin, so I swopped it for the smaller bathroom bin. I was going to throw the kitchen bin away, but have now decided that I will use it to "force" my rhubarb! Will have to stake it down during the gales though!! Wonder if it will work?

    Yes, it will work fine as long as it's tall enough...needs to be around 3 feet tall. I use an old black outside bin for forcing my rhubarb. I put a couple of bricks on top and pile earth round the base edge.


    For definate though the "reduce, reuse, recycle" mantra all works together. You have to reduce what you actually bring into the house, not just what you're going to consume or utilise yourself but all the extras, like packaging, excess food, unnecessary items. Reducing packaging is self evident and not buying so much food you're going to waste half is very OS too. But you can also do things like not pick up freebie magazines, read the newspaper online, use the library instead of buying books, borrow rarely used items from friends rather than buying them and ask yourself if every purchase is necessary. It's almost always better to buy reusable items rather than disposables when it comes to reducing wastage...nappies, shopping bags, batteries etc.

    Reusing things follow straight on from this. I have an allotment so plastic punnets and packaging containers get used repeatedly till they disintegrate. Yoghurt pots and loo roll inners make ideal plant pots. I cut plastic milk bottles down into pots, mini cloches, funnels and plant labels.(You need an indelible marker for these last.) I string the caps onto wire as plant scarers. I shred most paper (not glossy coloured inks though) and cardboard for composting. I reuse cardboard boxes for storing produce at the end of the season, ditto netting bags etc. I reuse any unexpected carrier bags to transport produce around as it's dirty stuff and I don't want to use my good shopping bags for this. Naturally I compost everything compostable from the kitchen and I've got a wormery (made from damaged recycling boxes!) to eat other kitchen scraps, though not protein foods. I also compost old woolen clothing, cat fur combings, hair clippings and the stuff out the hoover. Old bits of carpet, sheet plastic (from round big items like a new mattress) and big sheets of paper and cardboard are used as mulches. An allotment can be a real black hole when it comes to reusing household rubbish!

    Finally, recycling. We've got the usual glass/plastic/paper/green waste bins here. We've also got a very good local recycling facility that as well as all the usual skips and collection hoppers can also take bikes, oil, tv/computer items, small appliances and accept big white goods for safe disposal.

    So finally, as a family of four, we end up with a not quite full black bin liner of rubbish a week. What's in this? Cat litter (not safe to compost this because of meat eater pathogens getting back into the crops), unrecyclable/unreusable plastics like food wrap or tetrapacks, meat and other protein waste, scrappy broken bits of this and that like broken toys or unrepairable household items, sanitary products (I used to burn these but we're not allowed fires on the allotment now) and ...well, that's about it, really.
    Val.
  • lilac_lady
    lilac_lady Posts: 4,469 Forumite
    I hadn't realised how much I recycled until I had a recent holiday on a Scottish Island. No recycling there, just one bin for everything. I felt so guilty!
    " The greatest wealth is to live content with little."

    Plato


  • In lots of areas of the country tetrapaks can be recycled now. Just as well as what with fruit juice, soya milk and passata we get through a lot
  • oldtractor
    oldtractor Posts: 2,262 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker Mortgage-free Glee!
    I found something interesting on a blog yesterday. the person cuts up those orange onion netting ,that sacks of onions come in,layers them about 20 layers thick then crochets round the edge with bits of left over wool and you have a pan scrub. brilliant.
  • valk_scot
    valk_scot Posts: 5,290 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    In lots of areas of the country tetrapaks can be recycled now. Just as well as what with fruit juice, soya milk and passata we get through a lot

    Not in our county atm unfortunately. If I could recycle these I'd be pleased. Anyone got any bright ideas as to what I could make from them?
    Val.
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