My war on waste!!!

silvasava

BeautifulRavens - you've really got your recycling organised! Can I make a small suggestion. Instead of small bins round the house being replaced with bigger ones try removing them altogether so the rubbish has to be put directly into the correct place? It may be a nuisance at first but will save you the job of emptying and sorting too.
Christmas decorations coming down today. Cards will be sent to a local charity to turn into tags and calendars - nothing else to recycle - all will be reused next Christmas.

GreyQueen

:T I'm well-impressed with beautiful_raven's domestic set-up. Excellent example to set to the small people.

In my small home, I only have a 10 litre plant bucket as a bin and it lives in the kitchen, which itself opens directly onto the living room. I used to have a bag for mixed recyling, which I would transport out to the communal bins every few days, but it was always in the way. Lately, I've taken to chucking the clean, washed recyclables onto the doormat - that way I pick them up on the way out of the flat and post them into the recycling.

Eccentric, but working for me these past several months.

[Deleted User]

Good Idea GQ when my OH was alive and we had moved by downsizing from a large 4 bedroomed place to the very much smaller house that I live in now he kept walking around saying "Think caravan" as I was always saying "This blooming house, why ever did we buy it" It took me awhile to get used to living somewhere so much smaller, but now I am OK with it and almost automatically put things away as being so much smaller it gets messier more quickly IYSWIM.
I put things on my stair lift to go up with me when I go upstairs, and try not to go from the kitchen to the sitting room or visa-versa empty handed.Even in my kitchen I seem to always have one thing to tuck away as I am going around it :):) I am determined to sort the kitchen drawers out I made a start before Christmas and have only another three to do.Its amazing the junk that stacks up in them as I think most people have 'junk' drawers I had 5 of the blighters :):) I decluttered the cutlery drawer just before Christmas and had a bag full of stuff that went to the CS of knives and odds and ends that I no longer use. Who knew I had four carving knives !!! and why for goodness sake .So my resolution this year is to de-junk my cupboards and drawers a bit so less stuff to 'tidy away '

I have minimised my rubbish down to one recycling bag per fortnight and one very tiny plastic bag of un-recyclables per week.So my war on waste will continue through 2016
Happy New Year to all war-on wasters, less waste, even if each of us did a tint bit means less landfill sites hopefully in our green and pleasant land

JackieO

fuddle

That's such a good point that silvasava makes. The only other bin I had was a bathroom bin. I would find plastics and cardboard in there. It annoyed me so I took out the bin to see what would happen. All items would be brought downstairs and into correct places. It didn't happen by magic. I had to nag as all members decided to just leave empties in situ or on the cistern etc it's not an issue now. Well worth a try.

greenbee

silvasava wrote: »

Can I make a small suggestion. Instead of small bins round the house being replaced with bigger ones try removing them altogether so the rubbish has to be put directly into the correct place? It may be a nuisance at first but will save you the job of emptying and sorting too.

I've done this in offices before to improve recycling rates. If there is a bin under the desk people just shove everything in it - if they have to walk to the bin they tend to separate (more so after they realise I have eyes in the back of my head and I can yell at them NOT to put the coffee cups in the plastic cup recycling even when they think I'm not looking :cool:). In the office environment it also has the added benefit of making people get up and move every so often, which they can neglect to do.

GreyQueen

greenbee wrote: »

I've done this in offices before to improve recycling rates. If there is a bin under the desk people just shove everything in it - if they have to walk to the bin they tend to separate (more so after they realise I have eyes in the back of my head and I can yell at them NOT to put the coffee cups in the plastic cup recycling even when they think I'm not looking :cool:). In the office environment it also has the added benefit of making people get up and move every so often, which they can neglect to do.

There's also the aspect of peer pressure. If the group behaviour in the office clan is 'we separate our recycling and refuse' and one or two people don't, initially, they might feel a bit awkward and then decide to go with the group norm.

I removed and donated my bathroom bin, a small pedal type, a few months ago. Haven't missed it for a moment, either. I seldom used it and the chief nuisance was that it was always in the way and collected dust and splashes, thus becoming both an obstacle to cleaning and another object to be cleaned itself. It's simple for me to chuck loo roll cores/ empty clean plastic bottles from the bathroom to the doormat (bathroom door is about 3 ft from front door) and then just scoop them up on my next exit.

greenbee

GreyQueen wrote: »

I removed and donated my bathroom bin, a small pedal type, a few months ago. Haven't missed it for a moment, either. I seldom used it and the chief nuisance was that it was always in the way and collected dust and splashes, thus becoming both an obstacle to cleaning and another object to be cleaned itself.

That's what annoys me most...

My home is a bit bigger than yours, so I'm not getting rid of additional bins completely. But no bin in my ensuite, just one in the bedroom which does for both. Spare rooms, bathroom and loo have bins for the benefit of visitors more than anything else. I don't want them wondering where to put used make-up remover pads, face wipes, dirty tissues etc.

Kids room has no bin - they're not at the age where they can safely sort rubbish. Nor do they create much (except at mealtimes).

Office and sitting room currently do have bins, but I might rethink these. And I really need to keep on top of shredding.

My recycling bin is currently full. Mostly due to my shopping allergy and therefore Christmas being delivered by post. And a bit to do with needing to buy various things (like light fittings) that came in boxes. It is collected on Monday and unless the rain stops, the extra recycling currently in the garage will mean it is refilled pretty quickly.

I have a bootload of stuff for the CS which I intend to drop off next week as I have some time off.

My biggest recycling/waste issue is bottled water. But the water here is disgusting. Even after going through the water filter (unless I've been running the tap for a long time). I tried to give up the bottled water but ended up dehydrating as I can't bring myself to drink the tap water. I boiled some unfiltered the other day (accidentally left some in the kettle from filling the yogurt maker) when a friend came for coffee and couldn't even bear the smell, let alone the taste.

Fiftys1

Grey Queen - I'm with you on removing bins. I also donated a small bathroom bin for the same reason.

I have one small bin upstairs (on the landing) for non recyclables and a small basket on the same landing for recyclables. Downstairs there is one general waste bin in the kitchen which is tucked out of sight in a cupboard. The downstairs recyclables are put on the end of the worktop by the back door after washing up. This is then taken to the shed just outside the kitchen and put in relevant boxes or bags. We have a green box for paper, glass, tins and bagged batteries collected at the kerbside. Card and plastics are put in a large bag and taken to RC at the supermarket when shopping. Other small recyclables such as foil (I am trying to use this as little as possible), bottle tops (taken to a work collection) light bulbs etc are collected in a small box in a kitchen cupboard.

Find this all works quite well once you have a system.

lillibet_dripping

Fiftys1 wrote: »

Grey Queen - I'm with you on removing bins. I also donated a small bathroom bin for the same reason.

I have one small bin upstairs (on the landing) for non recyclables and a small basket on the same landing for recyclables. Downstairs there is one general waste bin in the kitchen which is tucked out of sight in a cupboard. The downstairs recyclables are put on the end of the worktop by the back door after washing up. This is then taken to the shed just outside the kitchen and put in relevant boxes or bags. We have a green box for paper, glass, tins and bagged batteries collected at the kerbside. Card and plastics are put in a large bag and taken to RC at the supermarket when shopping. Other small recyclables such as foil (I am trying to use this as little as possible), bottle tops (taken to a work collection) light bulbs etc are collected in a small box in a kitchen cupboard.

Find this all works quite well once you have a system.

Hello and welcome Fiftys1:j

Having read all the posts on here, it seems to me that the key to recycling is being organised or 'having a system' . Once that is up and running, recyling becomes a no-brainer.

GreyQueen

I find reducing and recycling a lot easier than wrestling with huge bin bags of heavy refuse, dripping and splitting and being a nuisance.