Wednesday, 24 February 2010

A four-leafed clover for Suffolk's 'Green Oscars'

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A very large four leafed clover, from a secret location in Suffolk.
It might just come in handy for March.

I am really proud to share the exciting news that I've been shortlisted for one of Suffolk's prestigious Creating the Greenest County awards.

So how excited am I!

Well, I know I said I'm proud...but the truth is I am totally chuffed to bits.

Affectionately called the Green Oscars, the Creating the Greenest County awards are now in their third consecutive year, celebrating the efforts of individuals, businesses and communities who support Suffolk's aspirations to engage the whole county in responding to climate change.  And I've been shortlisted in the Community: Communication and Events category.

At first I felt rather shy about entering the awards.  Then my husband reminded me about the number of times I've forgotten to wash his pants because instead of getting on with things at home, I've been off doing things like this:


and trekking around the region to do this


or going on a sponsored bin round to do this


and helping my local community do this..



...and helping other lovely people achieve this



..then talking about it in places like this!


Phew! But why?

It's because I want to encourage more people to reduce the amount of this!


and commit to making best use of places like this


I hoped that by entering the awards, it would help raise the profile of waste reduction in Suffolk, encouraging individuals and communities to rise to the occasion by boosting our expectations of what our society is capable of achieving.

So after such a busy year promoting practical ways of reducing waste, it really is a privilege to have been shortlisted for the Creating the Greenest County awards. However, as far as the results are concerned, I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave you on tenterhooks because they won't be announced until three weeks time, at a Gala dinner on the 18th March when I'll get to mingle with the Suffolk's "greenerati" .

In the meantime, I've got plenty to get on with, including our street's Waste Reduction Fortnight that kicks off on Monday.  As well as my own challenge, I'll be helping our local school tackle their rubbish too.

And I'll also be talking even more rubbish later, chatting with BBC Radio Suffolk's forever effervescent James Hazell  (pictured below with his studio recycling bin and producer Sal, who is just as sparkly ).  If all goes to plan it should be about 9.40am this morning.


I still haven't quite got used to this radio lark you know.  I may not be as nervous as I once was, but I still have to take my shoes off for fear of the audience hearing me pacing up and down my living room.

And I promise, once the interview is over I will finally get around to this week's laundry.....otherwise it won't be just my husband who's demanding clean pants....the kids will be in tow too.

At least I'm reducing their carbon footprint, well that's my excuse anyway.  It's far easier doing the laundry in one go in the style of just-in-time delivery.
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For more information about all the shortlisted entrants, please visit www.greensuffolk.org.

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Tuesday, 7 July 2009

Eh! At least he tried...a bit!

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I've just come back from more fun and frolics at BBC Radio Suffolk, popping into the James Hazell Show to see how James did with his Zero Waste Week challenge.

So, the big question is...did he make it?

Er...um..mmmm

Well...let's just say he didn't do quite as well as his producer Sally Goodwin, who only the week before managed to go zero waste with the exception of a chocolate bar wrapper and some bags and film that I took off her hands to drop off at our local HWRC.

James on the other hand managed ...

...cue drumroll...

....a day!

Even with the promise of a zero waste bar of chocolate as a reward.

Something tells me he didn't quite take it as seriously as Sal.

BUT - and I don't mean cigarette butts - his household bin is only half full each fortnight, which is fab.

AND...

...during the last week, he's discovered there's a recycling bin in the kitchen.

AND...

...he found a reuse for those cigarette butts, which led to some jokes about Hazell's Butt Couture.

AND...

...even if he didn't take it as seriously afterwards, he did manage a rubbish-free day,


...which is, what could be called a vital start!

With news of his partial failure, I'm just relieved that James didn't bring his rubbish bags into the studio, but just in case I was prepared with my safety goggles and rubber gloves.

Because you never know...!

So when it came down to the jury...did he earn his bar of chocolate? Well, call me an old softie, but I just had to say yes. Not sure it was the puppy look that swayed me or the fact that he was trying at the very start of the week [note to Sal - you're free to interpret that as you like].

But I wasn't going to let him get away with it completely, so gave him a couple of booby prizes, including a special souvenir from Felixstowe that I picked up from Fran Crowe's exhibition at the weekend....a piece of old rope that she rescued from the beach during her work "Walking to Save Some Sea".

So the final verdict?

Well James - at least you tried...a bit,

...but could do better,

so.... shall I come in and see you again next year?

Eh?

With 12 months notice, we're bound to see further improvement.

But seriously, huge thanks to both Sally and James for everything they've done to promote the message about the range of recycling facilities that exist across Suffolk and giving me a chance to plug Recycle Now's Recycle Week.

It has been lots of fun!

So for me, it's feet up for the next couple of months until I'm back again for the Girls Talk session in September.

Who am I kidding. I'm afraid it'll be nose to the recycling grindstone as usual.

Update: You can hear it all for yourself on the BBC's Listen Again service. Just fast forward to two hours into the programme at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p003lm3k/James_Hazell_07_07_2009/

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Wednesday, 1 July 2009

Sal's Recycle Week Success

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Huge congratulations to Sally Goodwin, producer of the James Hazell show on BBC Radio Suffolk.

For Recycle Week, which took place last week, Sal rose to the challenge of a Rubbish Free Day and found it such a fantastic idea, she went for the whole week.

Well, I dropped into the studio today to see how she got on and blimey, she's most definitely worthy of a zero waste medal. Live on air, she revealed that after a week of recycling more and avoiding creating rubbish, the only things in her rubbish bag were a few pieces of film and some polythene packaging.

These things are pretty tricky to recycle in most areas, but in Bury St Edmunds we can take them to the local Household Waste Recycling Centre. So I've taken them off her hands and will add them to my collection at home, even though many supermarkets will take polythene packaging along with their plastic bag collections.

So well done Sal. That was fab.

Now onto James' challenge and his promise to reuse his carrier bags.

It was a fantastic pledge, but the cheeky chappy managed to circumnavigate his challenge by avoiding shopping all week.

Admittedly it was a success and should be hailed because the less shopping you do, the less waste you create.... but both Sal and I felt he needed to work harder.

So to make up for it, we've challenged him to his own Rubbish Free Week....

STARTING TODAY.

Nothing like pressure eh.

You can check on how he gets on at the programme pages for the show, where he will be blogging about his progress.

And I'll be back in the studio again next week for an update.

So good luck James and don't forget that promise of the chocolate bar.

As you can tell, we've switched the motivation technique to one of incentives.

UPDATE: You can hear about how Sal got on with the challenge and how James took to his new Rubbish Free challenge on Listen Again. Fast forward to 2 hours in...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/radio/bbc_radio_suffolk/ James Hazell 1 Jul 2009

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