The Mystery Sacks

Well Ruth was nearly there and Fumblina just that bit closer, almost bang on with the location!

The sacks which I talked about last week are for biodegradable waste, all of which can be shredded and processed into soil improver and humus.

They were spotted in and around Stretham in East Cambridgeshire, when visiting my newly-wed friends Mr T and his wife, who as you can see was more than happy to demonstrate the rest of their household recycling facilities.

What a novel way to spend one's first day of wedded bliss eh, rooting through the recycling! (I am sorry Mrs T and feel that I should apologise profusely for the impromptu distraction).




Anyway, at risk of digressing like Ronnie Corbett in full flow...let's get back to the sacks

...and here they are all looking very lovely!


The best thing is that all sorts of stuff can go in them including:

Garden Waste (Grass Cuttings, Leaves, Hedge Trimmings, Twigs, Dead Plants & Flowers and Weeds)

Household Waste (Cardboard, Yellow Pages, Directories and Shredded Paper)

Kitchen Waste (Fruit & Vegetable Peelings, Cooked Foods, Fish & Meat Waste/Bones, Tea Bags & Coffee Grounds, Egg Shells, Stale Bread, Old Fruit & Vegetables).

Their collection is organised by East Cambridgeshire District Council, a member of the RECAP (Recycling in Cambridge and Peterborough) partnership, which won Beacon Status for Waste and Recycling in 2006/2007 and consequently shares information about good practice with other authorities.

Interestingly, where some other local authorities have issues over collecting household waste if bins are too full, East Cambridgeshire doesn't seem to have any problem with the amount of sacks that are left out. As long as the green waste is contained in the official sacks, it will be collected.

So where do all the sacks go?

...to the huge composting vessels at the very eloquently named Waste Management Park in Cambridge no less, which is run by local company Donarbon.


WASTE MANAGEMENT PARK eh...

It sounds all posh doesn't it?

And so it should.

After all, as I am finding out, waste is a very valuable resource that needs to be managed like any other commercial business model and not just buried in the ground.

The park is even family friendly and has an Open Day coming up on Saturday 7th June to promote Recycling and Waste Awareness. If you live nearby and are interested in going along, more information about the free event, which will be opened by Tony Juniper of Friends of the Earth, can be found by calling 01223 861010.

I know it's not quite a trip to Lego land, but with mini-bus tours, opportunities to see the composting vessels and a chance to climb into the cabs of the heavy machinery, it all sounds like a hoot...well for enthusiasts like me that is!

There is even free soil improver available, not to mention the bouncy castle, balloons and face-painting. Hmmm, I think I know where I will be heading on 7th June.

With facilities like this, I bet the people of East Cambridgeshire have very slim rubbish bins indeed.

So if you are thinking about embarking on your own rubbish diet and are coincidentally also planning a move to the East of England, then East Cambridgeshire looks to be a prime candidate as a Rubbish Dieter's hotspot, especially as cooked food, meat and fish can be "recycled" without the aid of a Bokashi bin!

I'm now getting itchy feet.

I wonder what the house prices are like!

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