My war on waste!!!

lillibet_dripping

parsniphead wrote: »

A nice thread lillibet.

I used to be very good and put out one carrier bag of rubbish a month but have slipped in recent years, probably due to going from living alone to acquiring one husband and a small child.

I never put out a full wheelie bin, compost bits and reuse and recycle as much as possible but I could do much, much better.

I need to start training DH, I've started on DS.

Thank you parsniphead:j

I think the thing with recycling is that we all THINK we're doing our bit, but when you move through your day deliberately challenging everything you are throwing away, you realise that there is SO much more we can do. We're all guilty of being lazy and chucking stuff away because 'it's raining and I'm not going down the garden to the compost heap' or 'I'm running late, I haven't got time to wash the cat food tin out'.

Also, being organised helps. I have now moved my recycling boxes so that they are right outside the back door. I have a lidded container beside the sink so that I only go to the compost heap once a day (usually when I'm going to do the afternoon chicken feed). I have put a small cardboard box in the hall by the front door so that junk mail goes straight in there.

I'm open to any and all suggestions for making recycling easier ..... how do you all do it?

GrannyKate

We manage only half a wheelie bin of General rubbish each fortnight but think I can reduce that. At our request, Council swopped our larger general wheelie bin for a small one and gave us a larger cardboard/plastic wheelie bin. We seem to fill that every fortnight although only half full at the moment for tomorrow's collection.
I recycle old and damaged plastic bags to collection bin at Mr M or Mr S. I add all similar plastic to this - small bags for apples and bananas etc and bread wrappers.
We have compost bin and keep box in kitchen to empty out there. No food waste collection here. I re-use plastic containers for freezer - large yogurt and cream pots are good for stock and soups.
Often buy toys and books at CS for grandchildren. We have a room set up for them here but things often go home so replace stock from time to time.

lillibet_dripping

GrannyKate wrote: »

We manage only half a wheelie bin of General rubbish each fortnight but think I can reduce that. At our request, Council swopped our larger general wheelie bin for a small one and gave us a larger cardboard/plastic wheelie bin. We seem to fill that every fortnight although only half full at the moment for tomorrow's collection.
I recycle old and damaged plastic bags to collection bin at Mr M or Mr S. I add all similar plastic to this - small bags for apples and bananas etc and bread wrappers.
We have compost bin and keep box in kitchen to empty out there. No food waste collection here. I re-use plastic containers for freezer - large yogurt and cream pots are good for stock and soups.
Often buy toys and books at CS for grandchildren. We have a room set up for them here but things often go home so replace stock from time to time.

Hello GrannyKate:j
I must admit I was unaware that bread wrappers couldn't go in the plastics recycling box until I read the recycling information on the back.:o . I now have a separate box for this type of plastic and take it with me when I go to the supermarket.
HOWEVER, as my plan is to move away from said supermarket, where do I recycle this waste now?

GrannyKate

LillibetD There aren't many places that take that type of plastic - collection point just inside doors so don't need to shop there - you can just drop off when you are in the area when you get a bag full.
I have just done 10 minutes gardening in the rain as I realised brown bin for tomorrow contained only a dead bouquet of flowers. ( lots of woody bits so those were not put in compost).

lillibet_dripping

We love what we call 'shaky bag' chicken in this house - you know, a sort of roasting bag.
I've just had to throw away the shaky bag part
So tomorrow's exercise is investigate which spices are in our favourite one and work out how to make it myself, preferably in the Remoska to save energy.
I guess it goes back being lazy and just chucking it all in the bag and going off to watch Neighbours, then 30 minutes later tah-dah!

camelot1001

Good idea lillibet. I used to buy jars of fajita mix but now I know what's in it I make my own.
Re the bread wrappers, do you mean the plastic bags? I use very little bread but keep the bags to use in the freezer. If I make loaf cakes they are wrapped in greaseproof and then a bread bag. Sticky label (or masking tape!) to identify it and it has been re-used.

lillibet_dripping

camelot1001 wrote: »

Good idea lillibet. I used to buy jars of fajita mix but now I know what's in it I make my own.
Re the bread wrappers, do you mean the plastic bags? I use very little bread but keep the bags to use in the freezer. If I make loaf cakes they are wrapped in greaseproof and then a bread bag. Sticky label (or masking tape!) to identify it and it has been re-used.

Hello Camelot:j
Yes, I do re-use the (washed-out) plastic bread wrappers but there does come a time when they have to go.
Actually, here is a case for pre-cycle...... go to the local bakers and put the bread/rolls straight into my cotton shopping bag:T
RESULT!!!

GreyQueen

Excellent thread, I'm jotting down a few ideas I haven't thought of. I'm pretty hardcore at the 5 'Rs' (well, not in Bea Johnson's league, but trying hard ) but there are always a few new tips and wrinkles left to learn.

When I wash out plastic bags, I put them to drip dry over a wooden spoon parked business end uppermost in the cutlery drainer, it keeps the sides apart.

I retrieve stray screws and nails from urban pavements and the edges of roads to save people's tyres. About 9 out of 10 of these are perfectly good, so I save them up in jamjars and then freegle them (I have plenty for my own needs already). I figure it a mixture of a community service and recycling.

Apart from a few to use at work, I'm running down the teabag stash and going over to loose tea. I already use a teapot at home so it'll be no biggie plus I have a strainer. At the moment, I'm ripping open teabags and chucking the contents to dry on a baking sheet, before adding them to the soil up on the allotment. I regard my lottie soil as a project which I'm working on constantly. My heart nearly burst with pride when a retired farmer and fellow plotholder paused to admire the 'lovely drop of soil'. It wasn't any good when I took the place over.

I'm presently turning pulled-out jumpers and random balls of leftover new yarn into blankets, and have started saving the little offcuts of yarn and snipping them into lengths for making hooked rugs - I have three of these which I made myself and have made and helped make many others. When the rug is finished it'll be used here or donated, we'll see.

About 90% of my clothing is pre-loved and when something finally dies the death and has to go meet the great ragman in the sky, it is stripped of any useful trimmings. Ribbons are ironed flat and wound around bits of card and stored in those ambassador's chocolate boxes. I also save the narrow ribbon hanging loops off clothing. Buttons are sewn onto thin card in sets and when there's enough, bagged up and offered to chazzers or freecycled.

Bought a book yesterday, read it and it's now in the donation bag. It came from a 10p shelf in one chazzer and will go out to another where they sell them for £1. Who knows where it'll end up next?

Keep the suggestions coming, folks.

skogar

Been using loose tea for years - mostly because good loose tea is a lot cheaper than the equivalent teabags. Tastes nicer too. Win win.

Would be interested to hear how you have got on with your cone digester. I looked at one a few years ago but looked like it probably wouldn't work well in heavy shade. Unfortunately we have nowhere for a compost bin and the council will not accept veg peelings in the garden waste bin which seems ridiculous as it is send for composting.

meritaten

I was brought up in the late fifties when EVERY housewife owned shopping bags/baskets or your groceries were delivered in a cardboard box.
so it really doesn't seem that strange to me that goods are not wrapped in plastic at least three times!
anyone remember 'string bags'? like a 'string vest' they sort of stretched moulded to accommodate your shopping - I don't know where my Aunty Flo bought hers, but for some reason they always stretched the wrong way and it was funny watching her walking up from town with a three foot long shopping bag dragging on the floor!
but, her and my nan certainly knew how to minimise 'waste'! will try to remember some of their thrifty ways..........
first thing that comes to mind is 'pinnys'! any item of clothing which couldn't be cut down and the fabric used to make a dress or somesuch for a child was turned into pinnys.
double sheets were turned 'sides to middle', stitched and became single sheets.
nan was never without an old pair of knickers in her pocket - used for dusters, but she would occasionally get it mixed up with her hanky!
oh, and REAL Hankies were used and boiled up almost every day!
but she had this habit of starching them, because then they looked lovely and crisp - but were useless to actually contain the er, snot.