Do you remember our Ruby and how she decided to put her own bin on a diet.Well, I managed to catch up with her yesterday and wow, what a difference!She told me that her family's amount of recyclables is down almost by as much as 50%, which is amazing! This means they are no longer filling their landfill bin with packaging because of overfilling their recycling bin. These days, it can all fit into the recycling bin with room to spare. This means the amount of rubbish in their landfill bin has also shrunk over the last few weeks.When I spoke to Ruby she told me "It's as a result of being aware...
Wednesday, 30 April 2008
Tuesday, 29 April 2008
A trip to the cobblers to boot!
(Image copyright Flickr's GazH)"Twenty Quid?" I gasped in disbelief!Twenty Quid to replace the soles of an old pair of boots that cost just 35 pounds in the first place! The same boots that have been in the boot of my car for six months.I must have passed the cobblers over 100 times , but still they remained in the car-boot.I remember buying them in Marks & Spencers, not too cheap and not too expensive, just priced nicely in the middle.It had been a bit of an emergency. I had been walking in town, turned a corner and my heel suddenly fell off.Oh dear, I've just re-read that sentence. Now...
Monday, 28 April 2008
Me, Me, Me...Revisiting Almost Mrs Average
Hello, hello, hello. I'm back from my "week off" and it's been a fun old week consisting of experiments with yoghurt, making a Jedi costume and drinking cider with Spandau Ballet's Tony Hadley......okay, I exaggerate...Tony Hadley was in the same room while opening the East Anglian Beer Festival in Bury St Edmunds. We didn't quite get the opportunity to chew the fat over a beer, but we did engage in some brief banter while he was posing for press photos on the other side of the bar.Anyway, we start the week with the news that The Rubbish Diet is featured in our regional newspaper, The East...
Monday, 21 April 2008
Try Zero Waste for Earth Day
It's Earth Day this Tuesday (22nd April), so if you fancy doing something different and are up for the challenge, why don't you attempt Zero Waste for just one day. It doesn't even have to be on Earth Day, any day this week will do.All it means is buying nothing with packaging that can't be recycled or composted and throwing nothing away in your landfill bin. Some ideas include cooking less to avoid food waste and while you're at it, skip the crisps and chocolate bars. If you have a packed lunch avoid clingfilm and use a container or aluminium foil instead. Have I made it sound easy? I hope...
Saturday, 19 April 2008
Bin there, darn that, and even bartered the T-shirt
I'd like to extend a warm welcome to readers of The Times, who have found the blog in today's Body & Soul supplement, as well as a huge thank you to columnist Anna Shepard for the mention in her Eco-Worrier section.What a busy few months it's been since I started my council's Zero Waste challenge three months ago. Did I say three months...?That means for a whole quarter of the year, I've been talking rubbish!Who could have guessed there would be so much to talk about. Even curiouser, who would have thought it would get into the papers, the radio and on TV or that I would be interviewing Oliver...
Thursday, 17 April 2008
Recycling: a modern way to pull?
Rubbish: - A short film with Anna Friel, Martin Freeman and James Lance,I love this short film which I found on You Tube yesterday. You'll need about 12 minutes to watch it but it's worth the patience.It made me wonder what dating must be like in the 21st Century, in a world where environmental issues can raise such passions within. Having been in matrimonial bliss for 10 years (and still am, I hasten to add), I haven't needed to consider a chat-up line since the last century, which makes me feel happy even if a teeny weeny bit old.But if you're single in the 21st Century, can outlining your...
Wednesday, 16 April 2008
Talking rubbish at the hair salon!
I went along to my local salon for my regular hair cut yesterday. I was in desperate need, especially since my fringe made its impromptu appearance on national news a few weeks ago.While I was there Lize, my wonderful stylist, brought up the subject of what happens to all the hair that gets cut at salons. I'd never thought about it before, but pricked up my ears with interest.The hair collected by the salon actually gets sent to landfill. There's no surprise there as I had never considered any other use. Of course there is the option of collecting longer hair for use in wigs, but having done...
Tuesday, 15 April 2008
Campaign for Rural England's Stop The Drop
Hot on the heels of Radio Suffolk's Don't be a Tosser campaign, comes the CPRE's (Campaign for Rural England) Stop The Drop, which is targeting both litter louts and fly-tippers.Reported on BBC's Breakfast news this morning, the CPRE is also urging government to introduce a 10p deposit charge on plastic bottles, in the hope that consumers will return bottles, which will leave the UK's litter-louts and non-recyclers penalised by the extra charge. According to the BBC report, the average household uses 500 plastic bottles a year but only 100 of these get reycled. It is thought that the extra charge...
Monday, 14 April 2008
An invitation...
It's great news that more and more people are getting involved in reducing their rubbish. Regular reader John Costigane has emailed me about his own successes in working towards zero waste. You can read about his progress at his website, Home Composting Recycling Forum. John is also keen to hear from anyone else who may be interested in developing the website through an online forum, sharing knowledge and raising awareness. His idea is to gather like-minded people who can contribute their ideas as resources for newcomers who wish to reduce their waste. John can be contacted by email at You_...
Zero Waste Week - One Month On
Well, today marks one month since the end of Zero Waste Week and what you see on top of the bin is our family's landfill rubbish for the last two weeks.I am extremely pleased with how we are keeping our rubbish down. I haven't put the black bin out for about 6 weeks. Well it just isn't worth it when you see what's in it.The only bag missing from here is the one that I took to landfill myself, when I did the BBC interview a couple of weeks ago.In fact, there is no longer any need to empty our kitchen rubbish bin every week or even every fortnight. It doesn't smell any more and I dare say that...
Thursday, 10 April 2008
Could you be Self Sufficient-Ish?
It's been great to focus on recycling this week. However, there are a couple of guys who take recycling to the next level. If you don't know them already, I'd like to introduce you to Andy and Dave Hamilton of selfsufficientish.com.I first came across their site last year when I was looking for ideas about how I could recycle or reuse the good old bread bag. I wasn't disappointed. In fact there were 66 ideas on their website, ranging from storage solutions to bird scarers. There are also some suggestions that will help raise a big smile on a rainy day, highlighting their light-hearted and...
Wednesday, 9 April 2008
Recycling swapsies and other ideas
Picklesmum swaps her cartridges for cartons.Regular reader Picklesmum left a comment this week, saying that not only is she pleased to have discovered Tetra Pak recycling facilities locally, but that she has even encouraged her mum to bring hers with her when she visits by train so that they can also be recycled.Even better, she is going to give her mum her Brita water filter cartridges so they can be recycled too. What a great swap, (which is why I couldn't resist including the intro to the 1970s UK children's programme which I found on You Tube - ahhh memories - forgive me won't you).This...
Tuesday, 8 April 2008
Waste Not Want Not
If anyone is playing lingo bingo on this site, you can at last tick off the good old "Waste Not Want Not." After avoiding the cliché for the last two and a half months, I'm afraid I couldn't hold off any longer.I haven't been able to forget Oliver Heath's point about the importance of seeing our waste as a resource and making the connection between what we throw away and what it could become.Up until now my impetus for recycling has been driven by guilt, the guilt of having too much rubbish to deal with, the guilt of sending so much stuff to landfill and the impact of my actions on the environment....
Monday, 7 April 2008
Talking about recycling with Oliver Heath
Last week I was privileged to interview Oliver Heath, designer, architect, television presenter and eco-hero. When he first appeared on BBC's Changing Rooms in 2000, he was described as one of the hottest interior designers around, with his approach being fresh and sometimes controversial. He now has several other programmes under his belt as well as a successful design practice and online eco-business.Influenced by windsurfing, travel and nature, Oliver Heath's application of creativity in both his personal and professional life is inspirational and thought-provoking, particularly with regard...
Sunday, 6 April 2008
Recycling with CBeebies
On Saturday, I took the children and one of their little friends to see CBeebies live at the theatre! For those who haven't experienced CBeebies, it is a BBC television channel dedicated to the under fives and it's a quality one at that.The visit to the theatre was a special treat for the Easter holidays and I must admit that at first I felt a bit dubious about being trapped in the Cambridge Corn Exchange, with a whole load of over-excited children for nearly two hours.But ladies and gentleman, I am delighted to eat my words. Not only was the theatre packed with children who were just happy...
Thursday, 3 April 2008
Ruby's Rubbish Diet Plan
After revealing her rubbish to us on Monday, this week I've been busy working on Ruby's diet plan, with the aim of slimming her bins. Even though it won't be practical for her household to go down to virtually nothing, the plan should help her reduce her rubbish by half.I thought it would be useful to include the list of recommendations here as there's nothing like publicly revealing the plan to encourage progress, as I too discovered a couple of months ago. However, please note that the information below is based on the recycling facilities that are available in St Edmundsbury. Local facilities...
Wednesday, 2 April 2008
More landfill issues: Waste problems in Italy (Guest Post)
(Photo by Flickr's Chris John Beckett)I normally like to hail "good news" stories on this blog being of a positive mind but when I heard about the waste disposal problems in Italy, I felt it would be interesting to get an Italian's view from the inside. Italy's waste problems have hit the press in particular over the last 12 months with reports of rubbish remaining uncollected in Naples because landfill sites are full. There have also been stories about how Campania has been hit by the tourist trade as well as tales of restaurants closing.Loredana, aka Danda, a regular commentator on The...
Behind the scenes at the landfill
I'm so sorry if you're reading this while having your breakfast, but yesterday I popped down to a Suffolk landfill site to do a brief interview with the BBC's Mike Cartwright for News 24.The story was to cover the news that landfill tax is increasing and that in Suffolk, we have only six years left before our landfill facilities reach capacity.Suffolk County Council's Assistant Director for Environment, Bryn Griffiths, was also there and it was very interesting to get some extra background info on the challenges of waste management and the problems of methane gas created by biodegradable waste...
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