Waste list

angelatgraceland · 2 April 2007 at 12:25AM

I have just put up a list in my kitchen for a waste reduction challenge for April. Anything which gets wasted has to be listed! Nobody has to plead guilty, just to be aware, and list it if they discover it. OH actually though it was a good idea-kids are a bit suspicious but youngest dd is very obliging.
First item on it today was half of a small bunch of greens which had got taken out of the guniea pig cage and got discarded-I rescued that(rescued is on the list)and it went back in the cage.
Second is the pieces of bread in bags in the breadbin and third is a pear left to rot in the fruitbowl. Trivial I know but thats about 55p worth wasted. The aim is to make us all aware of it and to eliminate it as much as possible. I think, although we are careful, that we will be saddened by what is actually wasted at the end of the month. Yes-I go through the bins now! All in the name of recycling :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :cool:

Quasar · 2 April 2007 at 12:38AM

No angela the items you have listed are not trivial at all. Or rather, each on their own may be a trifling, but taken together they do add up to a considerable amount at the end of the year.

I think your idea is excellent, because by the mere presence of this list, each member of the family will think now before discarding anything. Take the rotting pear. I bet half of it can still be eaten - ok, perhaps this is really scraping the bottom of the barrel, but just think about it.

Oh this is really great! I live on my own and I'm careful about waste, but I'm sure many here with families will benefit from your idea!

:T:T

angelatgraceland · 2 April 2007 at 1:28AM

Well I did use up the rest of the contents of the fruitbowl also as a result. 2 plums and a pear. I made fruit cobbler for desert-added a few sultanas also. By noticing one item I saved 3 more from the bin.I am going to try and take out half a loaf of bread at a time now from the freezer so that the bread is alwas fresh and therefore gets eaten. Now the other pear really was past anything-I cut it up to check though. My list also brought up a discussion regarding wasting water and I brought up the subject of water meters to dd now 13-we don't have one so this was a new idea to her.

Quasar · 2 April 2007 at 1:30AM

angelatgraceland wrote: »

Well I did use up the rest of the contents of the fruitbowl also as a result. 2 plums and a pear. I made fruit cobbler for desert-added a few sultanas also. By noticing one item I saved 3 more from the bin.I am going to try and take out half a lof at a time now from the freexer so that the bread is alwas fresh and therefore gets eaten. Now the other pear realy was past anything-I cut it up to check though. My list also brought up a discussion regarding wasting water and I brought up the subject of water meters to dd now 13-we don't have one so this was a new idea to her.

I think a water meter is a good idea because I heard that you generally pay a bit less than a fixed water rate. Every little help, so look for everyway to keep more of your money in your pocket. Amazing how it all adds up week by week, year by year. And without making changes to one's lifestyle.

lynzpower · 2 April 2007 at 7:40AM

this is a great idea ang, I'll be starting one!

Little_Miss_Saver · 2 April 2007 at 8:17AM

Hello everybody :hello:

I didn't realise how wasteful we'd become but recently I've become increasingly aware of my waste. Our bin gets collected fortnightly with weekly recycling collections, our bin would be overflowing each fortnight. Now as a result of meal planning and buying only what we need our bin is now half full!!!
Other things I have done is to return my carrier bags to Tesco's and recycle them, but I am going to invest in the bags for life so that I can earn extra points, when I buy a loaf of bread I split it in half and freeze it and any that doesn't get used we use to feed the birds/ducks.
I've become more aware of the packaging and try as much as possible to use packaging that can be recycled by our local authority (there are certain things that they can't recycle at the moment.)
I'm would like to try and get this reduced some more so if you have any more ideas let me know!!

LMS xx

lil_me · 2 April 2007 at 8:56AM

Great idea. I did this on my own (list in kitchen but only me who flings anything) and it shocked me into changing my ways completely. I threw out over £20 worth of food in just one week. I seem to have thrown a few silly items out lately, like chicken I forgot to freeze etc so going to start a list again.

To save on paper waste I make a template for lists and laminate them then wipe clean each week/month.

Plum_Pie · 2 April 2007 at 9:10AM

What great idea! I'm going to try this too.

I heard Margurite Patten on R4 t'other week talking about how during WW2, the government encouraged thrift by saying that if every family in the country wasted 1 slice of bread, this was the equivalent of 2 shiploads of wheat!

(She recommended turning stale slices to crumbs and freezing them.)

thriftlady_2 · 2 April 2007 at 9:19AM

Very good idea Angel :T

happyathome_withmyboys · 2 April 2007 at 9:47AM

Fabulous idea! I'm in - since coming on to this site I have changed my habits SO much - sometimes with rather odd results re mealtimes, but hey!
Well done you...

Mr_Proctalgia · 2 April 2007 at 9:48AM

Living alone certainly makes you realise how much stuff could potentially be saved as there is only yourself that causes or prevents it. I think I have just about got the food/household side of it sorted now and can go about 6 weeks before the wheelie bin needs to be emptied, that is mainly due to having a multifuel stove and the ash produced is very heavy. I have stopped buying newspapers so that is another source of waste gone. The "food" waste is generally packing as I quickly realised that a lot of my freezer space was fresh air due to boxes that were part empty, now stuff gets clingfilmed or foiled and this has given me loads of room in my ikkle freezers. (Note to self - Start labeling things!!!)

Last month I had both Economy 7 and a water meter fitted. They reckon that low water usage for a single household is about 40 - 50 cubic meters a year, that is a LOT of water - 40 to 50 thousand litres or around 10 thousand gallons a year - ridiculous! Mine was fitted on the 10 of March and so far I have used 1 cubic meter and a few thousanths of another meter. That means that I will hopefully get the water usage down to about 15 cubic meters a year. Also in a few weeks the bath will end up in the garden (chav style) as a nice new shower cubicle is going in and the waste will be going into a butt for recycling.

The electric usage is a doing well too, my usage is almost 50/50 low/high rate. All this has taken is the clever use of timers for dishy and sploshy and being bothered to get out of my pit in the morning and having a shower whilst the lower rate is still on. It is easier now as mine runs from 0105 to 0805 but in winter it is all an hour earlier and sometimes I missed the morning !!. The kitchen hot water is made in an undersink heater that is timed so in the morning it is a case of running a bowl of hot water for the clean down etc and letting it reheat before the timer goes off, this lasts me all day. When the bath goes the copper cylinder will get weighed in too! as the basin in the bathroom is getting an undersink instantaneous heater so I will not have to store any heated water at all and also will waste less as there will be almost no pipe losses.

I need to work on the freezers next - Does anyone know if a freezer will last all day turned off and be on all night to recover???

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