Zero Waste

Orange29

This is a great thread.
I am trying to reduce our throw away rubbish as well, do pretty much the same as others on here such as magazine swaps, recycling etc. The difficulties I have are:
1.yogurt pots - I like the seedlings idea, am going to see if I can recover them out the bin!
2. egg shells, tea bags and orange peelings. We used to have a composter but rats invaded it because of the warmth in winter so had to get rid of it. I am now thinking of getting a wormery as they are self contained, but they seem to be really expensive. Perhaps there is a homemade version. Am not sure I am likely to get one on freecycle!

Ben84

I'm trying to reduce packaging, but zero waste seems unlikely for us.

We have almost no food waste now, which is a big improvement as the major consumer of energy and resources is the product and not the packaging - so reducing wasted food is likely to be the biggest improvement anyone can make. It also means less packaging.

A reasonable amount of my shopping is now completely packaging free as I buy loose fruit and vegetables from the market and use my own shopping bags. A few things like cherries come in a brown paper bag, which can be recycled or composted if dirty.

I'm still dealing with the remaining packaging we produce from other goods. We do use our local recycling service for all the paper, cardboard, cans and plastic bottles. Glass bottles go in the bottle bank. However, we still make quite a bit of packaging waste, so I'm looking for ways to reduce that.

I've been buying bigger packets of things and looking for wrappings that can be easily and completely recycled, for example I now buy 3kg of washing powder in a card box without a plastic scoop. The 2-in-1 powders that contain fabric softener can also save some money and plastic bottles. The whole packet just goes in the recycling bin when its empty.

We buy the big bottles of cooking oil now, and yoghurt can be bought in the big plastic tubs and served in smaller containers, or put in lunch boxes in smaller reusable containers like jam jars.

Margarine tubs are difficult (I believe impossible) to recycle in most places, but we reuse them as tupperware and freezer containers for some time before throwing them out.

germish_se

flutterbyuk25 wrote: »

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We also have compost heap and wormery for all the scraps/veg waste. 3 cats get some scraps too. Also we put any stale or left over (un-useable again) food out for birds/hedgehogs to eat.

The main thing I put in the rubbish is used tissues, cos I have a few allergies so blow my nose a lot! Can't think of another (hygenic) way to dispose of them.
.................

Can you not put the tissues in the compost or the wormery? I would.

morg_monster

i'm glad someone said about the hankies!!! I was thinking, about the person with the allergies, are you crazy, what about hankies?!! (in a nice way!!!) its so funny how you can overlook the most simple solution. You start thinking about how to recycle and reuse but forget the most important R - reduce.

Actually the most simple solution is probably, wipe your nose on your sleeve, then there's no extra washing...

Idiophreak

Just to note that local preschools and playgroups are often glad of a lot of stuff you'd normally trash. Junk modelling, innit.

A_fiend_for_life

Another bonus with real hankies is that they don't break up into paper mush if you leave them in a pocket when you do a wash.

Some folk recommend boiling them every so often, I don't know if this was habit from pre antibiotics days but rather than doing a hot wash you could put them in a small bowl cover with boiling water, cover and leave to soak then just wash with a normal 30C or cold wash if your getting really frugal.

You make your own if you can't use old cotton material for something larger.

Wipe on sleeve? I would recommend wearing layers though.

A_fiend_for_life

Purple_Sparkles wrote: »

I love the idea of returning the bottles back to the retails for reuse Moggles. I think this is something that should be pushed forward. Locally recycling of plastics is virtually none - I know of one location where I can take it but that has to be a special trip, so I save them all up.

Yes, we have the same problem no plastic recycling except milk cartons.

The lack of reuse in glass bottles is poor though. I'm not sure what the hold up is here so many people mention it yet there is a lack of action by government and the retail sector. Local breweries ie real ale etc are increasingly owned by a parent company and use half litre bottles that can be reused locally. Where ever you go in the UK there is probably a brewery not far away. This opportunity would seem ripe for exploitation and carbon credits to boot too I'm sure.

Can I just say here though first brewery to put out returnables I will be backing them as a consumer 100%.

An overdue thread Purple_Sparkles. Thanks

flutterbyuk25

thanks for the mention about hankies but I don't just have a sniff i need to properly blow so would need lots of them! I may try it for awhile though.

x

exlibris

flutterbyuk25 wrote: »

thanks for the mention about hankies but I don't just have a sniff i need to properly blow so would need lots of them! I may try it for awhile though.

x

I use OH's for a big cold (or man-flu)

Calephetos

germish_se wrote: »

Can you not put the tissues in the compost or the wormery? I would.

That's what I do In fact, to my partner's slight irritation (he's sick of my ecoways ) we have two bins in the bedroom - one for rubbish, the other for the vast volume of tissues, hair, cotton wool and dust, leaves, scraps of paper and card, etc that seem to collect in there.

I use hankies now, almost all the time. Retrained myself into it over a couple of weeks, and never looked back. I have a friend who has allergies and sniffles the year round, and he's always in possession of a large man-kerchief

Even with colds or hayfever, as long as you have plenty, and wash stuff on a regular basis, you should be OK. I have heaps (from the days when I took the bus and thus could goth up gorgeously for work everyday, and a small pile of them from my late grandmother) but because we don't seem to have much light-coloured clothing, I do sometimes run low between launderings. I remember Grandma boiling Grandpa's hankies, though I am ashamed to admit I've never boiled mine... If I did they might be whiter. Must resolve to boil them at least once every couple of months!