Hugh's War on Waste

missbiggles1

PasturesNew wrote: »

My "local butcher" is a bit of a drive away. I'm not going to drive a 5 mile round trip for 8 sausages. I'll walk to the nearest shop and accept that there's an empty packet to lob out. That fuel/car cost of £1 there/back would make the sausages too expensive.

When you buy little, you can't go poncing about. S0d the planet, I'm keeping my £1.

I probably buy 2 packs/year, max.... so I don't think the planet's in too much danger. And I'll be saving the planet by not driving!

What's worse for the planet? 5 miles of diesel fuel fumes, or a bit of sausage packaging?

Not saying you should but I think that most people who shop in separate shops tend to combine things if it means driving. So we used to drive into town, go to the library, browse round the charity shops/book shops and then pick up the bread, sausages etc before coming home.

I doubt anybody drives 5 miles just to buy a pound of sausages!

meritaten

PasturesNew wrote: »

I don't tackle them. I avoid them. Luckily I'm fine with the microwave and the slow cooker and the toaster. Although, to be fair, the toaster does scare me quite a bit as I stand beside it imagining that it's about to burst into flames from past/dropped/dried crumbs.

The kettle's OK, although I do imagine it's about to go BANG and trip the electrics every time I turn it on.

I can't leave much running. If I do ever get to the point where I feel capable of using the oven/hob, then I'd certainly NOT be able to leave the room at all until the food's cooked and I've triple checked I've turned it all off.

I can leave the microwave running, but I never have it on for more than 5 minute bursts max. I daren't. The SC's fine in the kitchen - and I just check it hourly.

It's like having a silent movie running in my head whenever I do anything. I am doing something .... and the movie in my head is showing me the explosions etc.... it's not nice really.

It's like living in your own parallel universe. Not sure if such a thing has a name .... but that's what's in my head 24/7.... the movie of my alternate life.

jeez - reminds me of Meryl Streeps character in 'Lemony Snickets - an Unfortunate series of Events'!

it sounds so awful for you but, this is OCD hunny! please see your GP as this is definitely needing help!

VfM4meplse

PasturesNew wrote: »

Oh, if only it were in isolation.

I thought as much. There is a lot that can be done to help you, if only you would seek it out.

Start with your GP.

PasturesNew

missbiggles1 wrote: »

Not saying you should but I think that most people who shop in separate shops tend to combine things if it means driving. So we used to drive into town, go to the library, browse round the charity shops/book shops and then pick up the bread, sausages etc before coming home.

I doubt anybody drives 5 miles just to buy a pound of sausages!

I don't go out except when it's essential. I've nothing to buy and no money, so I mostly only leave the house if I need food. It makes it difficult to combine it with other things if you're not doing other things.

I can walk to the shop and be back here in under 10 minutes.... and I tend to do that every 4-5 days.

PasturesNew

VfM4meplse wrote: »

I thought as much. There is a lot that can be done to help you, if only you would seek it out.

Start with your GP.

Ah... GPs... not got round to registering yet. They scare me

I'd expect them to just tell me to get a grip.

honeythewitch

PasturesNew wrote: »

Ah... GPs... not got round to registering yet. They scare me

I'd expect them to just tell me to get a grip.

No, they wont, PasturesNew. They will refer you to someone who will help, and who will understand and not judge.
The treatment really is effective, and many people go on to recover completely.
You deserve to be free of this, so I really hope you will see a GP as soon as you can. (I think you can register online now?)

GreyQueen

Rainy-Days wrote: »

Allot seems to depend on what your council will recycle. When we were in Northants we could put the Tetra packs into the recycling - up here it is a no-no! Same with things such as Lurpak tubs,yogurts pots etc, glass bottles, shredded paper, anything with a window in it envelope is out of the question. So consequently we have a fair bit to go into the ordinary black bin!

Yet other councils will happily allow all the above to go into a mixed recycling bin. There seems to be no uniform one size fits all type of system across the board!

From the outside looking in, it looks crazy, doesn't it?

From the inside looking out, I can tell you there is likely to be a very sensible explanation. The businesses which recycle the various packaging materials aren't evenly distributed across the nation. Your local council will have economic access to some of them but most councils will not have economic access to all of them.

Landfill charges mean councils are extremely motivated to get stuff out of the refuse and into the recycling but they can't fund trucks of tetrapaks on 150 mile journeys to a specialist plant.

There can also be issues with the facilities which sort the mixed recycling into types; these can be upgraded to handle different materials than formerly, but the capital expenditure is huge. And the industrial infrastructure still has to be economically accessible. Your local council may be manoevering long-term behind the scenes to improve things (I'd be surprised if they weren't) but the announcements won't be in place until they're ready to go live with the changes.

Unfortunately, we live in a hybrid form of capitalism where businesses are at liberty to produce materials which the rest of us have to pay to dispose of via our household refuse and recycling.

missbiggles1

PasturesNew wrote: »

I don't go out except when it's essential. I've nothing to buy and no money, so I mostly only leave the house if I need food. It makes it difficult to combine it with other things if you're not doing other things.

I can walk to the shop and be back here in under 10 minutes.... and I tend to do that every 4-5 days.

That is so sad - don't you even go out to the library or for walks? Perhaps if you got some help with your other problems it would have a knock on effect.:)

lillibet_dripping

honeythewitch wrote: »

I am tempted to take the wrappings off in the shop and put it in their bin!


I'm sure I watched something on tv some years ago that this is exactly what they do in Germany?
I've often wondered what the deli/meat/fish counters would think if I took in my own stock of re-usable storage tubs and asked the in-store butcher to put my 500g of mince in MY boxes rather than his plastic wrap!! As long as the the barcode is on the lid, surely it shouldn't be a problem? They would probably quote Health & Safety at me....

Out,_Vile_Jelly

PasturesNew, do you think investing in a fire extinguisher, fire blanket and having a bucket of sand in the kitchen would help with using the oven and washing machine? It would perhaps make you feel more in control of any possible consequences (however unlikely).

What about reading up on how a gas boiler actually works so you understand the principles and safety mechanisms? My dad claims plumbing is extremely "interesting" and he likes to know how the whole system works. I scoffed, but when I had a spurting radiator, I called him and he talked me through fixing it (made sense when he explained) rather than a panicked and expensive call to an emergency plumber.