The Rubbish Diet could be coming to a town near you!

The Rubbish Diet team visiting Nesta!

Please excuse my tardiness in sharing this VERY EXCITING news with you. 

I should have done it last week, but with news of my mum falling ill, then rushing to Wales to see her, then losing my laptop en route, and continued worries about her health, understandably this blog has had to take a back seat.

However, I can't keep it quiet any longer!  What's happening with The Rubbish Diet is far too exciting to keep tucked away in my desk drawers and if you follow me on Twitter, you may have indeed caught a few snippets of the news.

So to the sound of an imaginary drum-roll, I am chuffed to pieces to announce that my Rubbish Diet challenge has been selected as a semi-finalist in a national waste reduction competition, which could see the 'slimming club' analogy rolled out to villages, towns and cities, right across the UK, helping communities achieve an amazing impact on reducing their rubbish.

The Waste Reduction Challenge, run by Nesta, the UK’s innovation foundation, and funded by the Cabinet Office, aims to identify new ideas that can influence and mobilise communities to make significant reductions in waste and impact behaviour for years to come.

In partnership with the Zero Waste Alliance UK (working with Katy Anderson, pictured above), the Rubbish Diet competition entry proposes to engage with established community groups around the UK, including schools, Transition Towns and W.I. branches, to help them organise their own waste-busting challenges, following an 8-week plan of fun and lively events that will help to empower households to slim their bins.

The idea is, of course, based on the very roots of this blog, when I took St Edmundsbury Borough Council's Zero Waste Week Challenge almost five years ago, (remember that plaster?), and which then developed into the online Rubbish Diet Challenge 2012, where I mentored 8 households through the process of slimming their bins, by at least 50%, at the beginning of this year.


Building on that, I have since been busy with Transition Shrewsbury, which has already launched its Rubbish Diet Shropshire community pilot, where 20 households have signed up to reduce their waste.  This is just the first stage. The Rubbish Diet Shropshire project, which is being managed locally, will launch even wider in the new year,  with events run by the community for the community, with households just like yours and mine, sharing knowledge about how they reduce their waste and attempting to overcome the hurdles that arise.

And it's that process, which the Nesta Waste Reduction Challenge will help to replicate around the UK.

So, we're in the semi-finals!  What next?

This is where even more hard work begins, in putting together an ambitious but realistic plan to roll-out the Rubbish Diet challenge next year, featuring a communications strategy, participant engagement, measuring & monitoring procedures and lots of other exciting things that will help communities launch their own slimming clubs for bins.

So, there really really could be a fun Rubbish Diet challenge coming to an area near you.  Just imagine!

We just need to get through the next round! But, boy, is the competition tough! So please keep watching this space for further news.

And of course, if you think your community would like to join in, then do get in touch.

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The Waste Reduction Challenge Prize is offering a prize for the innovation that achieves the biggest measureable reduction in waste, by providing new opportunities for communities to come together to give time, skills and resources.

The semi-finalists (which also includes a Mattress Recycling Scheme in my home county of Suffolk) will be supported to develop a detailed plan for their idea. In January, five concepts for each, with the potential for sustainability and scale, will be selected to test their ideas. They will receive up to £10,000 and professional advice to set up and test their projects before a winner for each challenge is selected in September 2013 and awarded £50,000.

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Celebrating the launch of The Rubbish Diet in Shropshire

Meet Ali, my new partner in grime from Shrewsbury. Well, I say 'grime' what I really mean is striving for lighter, cleaner bins throughout Shropshire.

Ali Thomas is the driving force behind the launch of the Rubbish Diet challenge in Shropshire. Organised by Ali and Katy Anderson, as a Transition Shrewsbury project, the challenge was announced on Thursday to a room full of local residents who are now set to slim their bins before Christmas.

The Shropshire project will be based on the Internet-based Rubbish Diet 2012 challenge, which I ran earlier this year and I will be working closely with Ali to develop resources and processes that can be tailored to help empower the local community.

The households, which are taking up the challenge over the next few weeks, will play a vital role in helping to gather research on local waste issues and waste-reduction opportunities, supporting the next phase of the project, which will be launched in the new year.

It really is an exciting time for the development of the Rubbish Diet into the wider community and it's great timing that this is being rolled out in Shropshire now, supporting the recent news that Shropshire council has recently launched a mixed plastics collection.  Naturally, there will be challenges for the residents, as cardboard is no longer collected from the kerbside, but Transition Shrewsbury is already prepared for that and will be re-running its successful 'Cardboard Christmas' campaign that took place last year.

The Rubbish Diet Shropshire project already has its own blog, where Ali will be posting regular advice and updates.  You can also follow the latest news on Twitter, via @RDShropshire

If you know anyone in Shrewsbury, or Shropshire, who would love to get involved with this exciting challenge, please forward these details, so they can get in touch. If you are interested in running a similar challenge in your own community, I also would love to hear from you. Email enquiries@therubbishdiet.co.uk.

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More information can be found at www.rubbishdietshropshire.blogspot.co.uk.  Ali Thomas can be contacted by email at alison.thomas08@gmail.com.

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Making the most of 2012. Happy New Year!

Well Happy New Year all!   I hope you enjoyed your New Year's Eve celebrations and are poised to take your empties down to the bottle bank at a decent hour.

Personally, I've been looking forward to the start of 2012.  Not that 2011 was a crap year.  In fact it was rather good to me, aside from the upsets of losing our beloved cat and having to rehome our chickens. 

Last year was most definitely one of opportunity, whether that meant understanding even more about the opportunities and challenges for Zero Waste, to interviewing Kevin McCloud about upcycling at his Grand Designs exhibition, or making an appearance on Dispatches and Woman's Hour, which both left ripples of amusement as a backdrop to the very serious subject of waste.

But there were three significant events that could solidify what 2011 was about for me.

The first was the Save the Children conference, which not only gave greater understanding of their amazing work and constant quest for support and funds, but asked us, the attendees, what we were born to do.  It was then, after many previous thoughts of ditching the blog and my incessant natterings about rubbish, did I make a personal commitment to carry on the challenge to encourage folk to reconsider their rubbish and think about the world outside their bins.  There is a great imbalance between the parts of global society that can 'afford' to waste and those which, for reasons of poverty or natural disaster, can't, and this creates a reminder of why as an international community we need to make the most of our resources and use them more wisely, both now and in the future.

The second event was my 1000 bins campaign, a 12 week challenge to raise awareness of the often overlooked on-street recycling bin. The aim was to promote Recycling on the Go through the summer of 2011 and draw attention to two significant waste related events, making a connection between Recycle Week, which took place in June and Zero Waste Week, which provided the finale in September.  Led by the bespectacled, curly-haired Welsh bundle of gorgeousness, Shedwyn, who was outed as my newly acquired alter-ego, the campaign taught me a number of things:  People will actually do things if you ask them to (demonstrated by self-embarrassment when taking photos of bins in public) and that the serious world of recycling and waste could do with a bloody huge injection of comedy that tickles people into rethinking waste.

The third event was the energyshare project, where I was sponsored to help raise the profile of the Hexham River Hydro project in its bid to win the funding. This brought me into a community of people who demonstrated not only the appreciation of protecting its foundations but illustrated the power of innovative thinking in moving forward, how making use of a renewable energy source could harness future opportunities for energy creation, generating much-needed income and knowledge sharing to inspire others.  2011 ended with Hexham River Hydro successfully winning their category, which was fabulous news.  However for me, the icing on the cake was how not only did I make some new friends, but it unexpectedly brought me back into contact with an old work friend too. A wonderful surprise, which illustrated not only what a small world this is, but how connected we all are, even if we don't actually realise it.

So, onto 2012 and looking to the future.

Drawing on lessons of 2011, I've decided my theme this year is going to be Making the most of what I've got!

Some could say it's enforced.  I confess to spending far too much money on clothes and shoes in 2011 and I've been forewarned by my husband that I need to tighten my proverbial belt.  However that picture provides an image of doom and gloom.  Friends who know me well, know that I'm stubborn in nature and never like being told what to do.

However, I refuse to consider 2012 to be a year of austerity, even if it's defined as such.  Instead, I'm going to make it into a year of opportunity, and here's a taster.

In 2012 I endeavour to:

• Make more use of my culinary talents, instead of eating out so often (yes, they are still buried deep inside, if I dare to look). Who knows, I may even throw a party, so watch this space for invitations!
• Make far better use of my clothes, by repairing them myself, or taking them to one of the many alteration shops that are starting to pop up in town.  The latter is already sounding a more realistic option.
• Make better use of my space: do I really need half the stuff that's cluttering up my home? No! Especially as it clutters up my head too.  So this is the year I am going to be brutal and set things free. Oh such bravado!
• Make things last longer, whether it's a glass of wine, an item of clothing or a gadget.
• Make do with what I've got and borrow what I need.

And finally, yes finally, I'm going to make the most of what I've learned over the last few years and work harder to share that knowledge in 2012.  I know I've got to overcome my natural shyness first - don't laugh, I really am that shy!

I've realised, it's no good keeping my enthusiasm and jolliness about reducing waste to myself.  Other people should be entitled to a good giggle too, so that's what I'm going to do this year, get more folk laughing about their rubbish and in doing so, hopefully encourage ambitions to reduce it.

So watch this space. 

In fact, you won't need to wait long.  In a few weeks time, I'll be rolling out the 2012 Rubbish Diet Challenge and revealing a handful of bloggers, Tweeters and Facebook friends who have decided to have a go and I can't wait to see them poking about their bins!  I hope you'll join in too, or encourage your friends to have a peek.

In the meantime, I'll be back over the next few days, chatting about how I'm making the most of my gas consumption as well as my new mobile phone - but not at the same time of course.  Tut tut, that would be far too dangerous a combination.

So here's to a brand new year ahead of us and ensuring we make the most of it.

I do so hope you'll join me.

Happy New Year to you.  I hope you have a fabulous 2012!

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P.S.  That hat, yes THAT HAT, is not mine, but a frivolous item that can be found amongst the treasures of the Theatre Royal wardrobe department in Bury St Edmunds.  Hat hire is available for a small donation only, whereas you can hire a whole costume for just £12.  I definitely think I'll be making the most of that this year.  As Miranda Hart would say.  "Such Fun!"

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A rubbish hack to help sort out your waste

Amongst many things, the Dispatches documentary on Monday demonstrated how confused people still are over which packaging can be recycled in their local bins.

Packaging information, especially in relation to plastics, is still inconsistent and even though the on-pack labelling is getting better, for many the uncertainty of what can be recycled locally still pervades like a bad smell.

So if you're one of the hundreds of thousands who are still confused, here are my top tips.


1. Get the latest information from your council

Before you do ANYTHING ELSE, yes,  even embarking on reading the rest of this post, get on the blower to your local council, and ask the recycling officers EXACTLY what you should put in your bins. I know it sounds obvious, but if you've been pondering how complicated it all is, this really is the best place to start.


Council information generally describes recyclables by product type and you'll find local authorities mainly fall into two categories; those where you can recycle most types of plastic packaging (and will include yoghurt pots, margarine tubs and fruit punnets) or those that can't, thus limiting your plastics collection to simply bottles (including drinks bottles, detergent bottles, milk containers & toileteries).

If the information isn't clear.  Then ask questions so that you are clear on what can\can't be put in your local bins.

Another excellent source at your disposal (please excuse the pun), is the Recycle Now website.  You just pop in your postcode and Bob's your uncle, as the system will return the results of what can be recycled at your kerbside, as well as Bring Banks and Household Waste Recycling Centres.

Once you are confident about your council's rules, you will become less reliant on packaging labelling and hopefully less frustrated.

After all, if you can't recycle a plastic fruit punnet through your local collection, you just can't recycle it regardless what  message the packaging information might tell you, so don't fall into the trap of getting hot and bothered.  Instead try and buy the product loose instead.




2. Find out what the recycling labels really mean.

Even though your local recycling officer is the best source to use, the new on-pack recycling labels can offer some extra help, and that's mainly to raise awareness of the materials used and the likelihood that they can be recycled.

Again, the best place to find out about the labelling guidelines is at the Recycle Now website.  Remember, the labelling advice should be followed as a call to action, prompting you to check with your local authority (coming back to point 1) as opposed to a definitive guide in itself.

Once you are familiar with your local rules, even if the packaging doesn't have the correct up-to-date information printed on it you'll be more confident about what you should do.  For example, whilst shopping in a supermarket the other day, the own-brand bread packaging showed that it couldn't be recycled, despite the fact that a new in-store collection had been introduced only a month or so earlier, which actually collects packaging film such as bread bags and toilet-roll wrappers.



3. Avoiding packaging that can't be recycled.

With all the controversy surrounding recycling, with its complications, targets and whether it is sorted properly in the first place, it is very easy to lose sight of what we as consumers actually can do to reduce our waste contribution. 

We might not feel as though we have much power, but actually we do...lots!   There are many small changes that we can make, which can have a huge impact if they are applied across the nation.  I'd hoped to include some of these this week on Woman's Hour, but we simply ran out of time.  This list is not exhaustive by any means, and should really be considered as a starter for ten....

• Avoid packaging: Buy loose wherever possible, and support independent stores such as Unpackaged, which actively promotes that you use your own containers.

• Switch packaging: If there isn't an unpackaged option, switch products you can't recycle for those that you can. For example one particular major toothpaste brand comes in small thin plastic bottles, made from the same plastic as fizzy drinks bottles and can be recycled widely.

• Choose reusable: You can also reduce your packaging by switching from disposable products to reusable ones and prevent other waste too.  Jackie, who was featured in the Dispatches programme, took my advice about ditching floor wipes and bought a reusable mop.  This will save her loads of cash as well as reducing the amount of rubbish thrown away.  If you're an avid baby wipe user, try using soft washable cloths instead.

• Upcycle: If you can't recycle the packaging or avoid it completely, try upcycling it instead and raise some cash for your favourite charity.  Terracycle offers an upcycling service for packaging from brands that include Johnson's baby wipes, Ella's smoothies, Kenco coffee refills and Aquafresh toothpaste tubes and toothbrushes.  It's a great scheme for schools and local community groups.  The products are turned into new things that are sold on the Terracycle website.

• Split It: If you live in one of the areas that doesn't recycle plastic yoghurt pots, check your supermarket shelves for products that use less plastic.  There are pots on the market that now have a thinner plastic liner and a tear-off cardboard outer (just like the one in the photo).  These can be separated, with the cardboard being recycled and less plastic actually going to waste.   More packaging will move in this direction, especially thanks to innovations such as Split-it, so keep an eye out on the shelves for products that can help you reduce waste.

• DIY: That's right, do it yourself! If you're hacked off with not being able to recycle your ready-meal trays, see if you can save money and waste by making it yourself.  Or if you've got a great friend who can really cook, and I mean really cook, invite yourself around and have a great night out instead of worrying about what you're going to do with the dirty plastic tray and ikky film. Then invite them over next week for some beans on toast!

These few ideas are just touching the surface, but I hope it at leasts provides some food for thought.  I am sure you'll have loads more suggestions to add to this, which suit your lifestyle better.  And if you want more inspiration, then check out The Rubbish Diet Challenge, which you can read online for free.

Of course, all I've covered here is just packaging waste.  Food waste is much more of a significant issue.  If you're interested in tackling that, watch this space as I'll be back soon with more tips on what you can do at home.

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If you missed the Dispatches "Britain's Rubbish" documentary on Monday, it is still available for the next 27 days at 4OD. It's packed with footage about fly-tipping, plastics, recycling systems and politicians arguing their case as well as the story of how Jackie, a mum from Manchester reduced her family's rubbish from 13kg a week to 5kg.  I know I'm biased, but for me, that's the best bit.  (Just in case you're looking out for it, my appearance is at 15 minutes and 28 minutes into the programme).

If you want to catch up on the Woman's Hour broadcast this week featuring Bob Gordon, Head of Environment for the British Retail Consortium and Liz Goodwin, Chief Executive of WRAP, you can 'listen again' via the BBC Woman's Hour webpage.  Just look for the chapter on Zero Waste.

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It's exactly three years since...

...I started blogging about rubbish.

Three blimmin' years! 

That sounds like a bit of a confession, especially since this blog was intended to last for eight weeks,  but I'll save you the pain of too much personal reminiscing.  If you really want a bit of that, check out this post from last year and this special celebratory number from 2009. 


Instead of looking back, I want to take this opportunity to cast our minds to the future and how the subject of waste is going to remain a hot and relevant topic.

For instance it won't be long until April, when the cost of throwing rubbish into landfill will suddenly rise to £56 per tonne, and if you think that's steep, by 2014 we'll be looking at a cost of £80 tonne.  When you consider that landfill tax was just £24 per tonne when I started this blog, it's easy to see the financial incentives for councils to stop burying our rubbish and encourage householders to divert it to recycling instead.

In fact, our local paper published today news that if Suffolk councils did nothing about the amount of waste going to landfill, the county's tax bill would rise from £8,253,739 in 2010 to £13,756,232 in 2014.  Woah - that would be some burden on us taxpayers!   So, it's a good job our council is pretty progressive with its recycling streams (Suffolk is 5th in the league table, recycling 50.6% of our municipal waste). There are plans in place locally, within councils and at grassroots level to meet even higher targets by 2015.

What really concerns me though, is that across the UK, the public sector is hitting a time of real uncertainty, with severe budget cuts, council reorganisations and redundancies. Frontline services are being hit as well as a range of services across the board, so it will be no surprise if some recycling facilities are reassessed in accordance with efficiencies.  However, I remain hopeful that core services will remain unaffected.

But it's a reminder that the emphasis must also focus on the concept of pre-cycling and REDUCING the amount of unnecessary materials that end up in our bins in the first place.  As consumers, we have the power to make a personal switch from a disposable culture to reusable products, which can bring personal economic benefits as well as environmental gains.   It's also a good reason to bolster the "recycled market", by heightening our support for products that contain recycled materials and encourage companies and brands to switch to recycled components if they don't do so already.

A lot of progress has been made within the waste sector in the last few years and I still think there are many more exciting developments to come.  When I first started The Rubbish Diet, the standard statistic regarding food waste issued by the campaign site LoveFoodHateWaste was that the average household threw away one-third of its food.  In recent times I've seen communications that claim that this has now reduced to a quarter. At the same time, food waste collections have been introduced in many parts of the country, using anaerobic digestion to divert such material from landfill. In time, these facilities will become even more widespread.

Elsewhere, the mixed plastics recycling market has received a further boost from WRAP to develop processing facilities in the UK and there are even real opportunities to manage previously hard-to-recycle items such as toothpaste tubes and other laminated packaging.   With regard to municipal waste, this really takes us one step closer to the goals of a zero waste society  and if you're as excited about this as me, then you should really check out Enval, the technology business behind the process.  Using pyrolysis, the company can demonstrate a proven commercial application for recovering 100% aluminium from packaging such as food pouches and other products.  The solution is also carbon neutral, using energy and fuel derived from the recycling process.

I may not blog about waste as much as I used to, but one thing's for certain,  raising awareness of waste reduction is still high on my agenda and is still a huge part of my many commitments.  And I can only thank all those who still take time out to read this blog, my random Twitter\Facebook updates as well as those who come to my talks.  I'd especially like to thank the members of the Ipswich Oddfellows group who invited me to talk at their meeting this week, offering me the opportunity to reminisce over those first few months of 2008 and how I tackled St Edmundsbury's Zero Waste Week.  It was an appropriate way to celebrate this year's anniversary.

So as we look forward to another year ahead, this might be an appropriate time to remind you that if you're looking for a challenge to do something about your rubbish, then please consider taking up The Rubbish Diet Challenge, which can help you tackle your rubbish in just 8 weeks.  You'll find the links to the FREE online guide at the top of this blog, as well as a few anecdotes to keep you entertained.  And if you need extra motivation, why not get friends and family to sponsor your challenge and do it for charity.

Just eight weeks.  That's all it takes to make a huge difference.

Yes, just EIGHT WEEKS, to slim down your bin.

But be careful.  Once you delve into your rubbish, you could very well be hooked.... and you might just end up be talking about it for years!

Don't say I didn't warn you.

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For other updates, check out my recently revamped website at www.karencannard.co.uk, which includes a range of links to current blogs, columns and much more.

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Guest Post, by Julie Day on her Rubbish Diet Challenge

Author Julie Day, with her debut book, Rosie and the Sick School

Today I am delighted to feature a guest post by Romance and Children's writer Julie Day, who stumbled over the Rubbish Diet Challenge, via Mrs Green's blog at My Zero Waste, and decided to give it a go.  As well as slimming her bin, Julie has been putting pressure on her local council to improve plastics recycling.  Over on her blog, she has been busy documenting the progress of her Lewisham household, which comprises herself and her mum and has already reached Week 5 of her challenge.   Aiming to slim down to just one bag a week, this is how she's been getting on so far.


My Rubbish Diet Challenge Weeks 1-4.

I’m a keen recycler, who likes to recycle as much as I can.  I thought I was doing very well until I came across Karen’s Rubbish Diet Challenge on the website www.myzerowaste.com, and read weeks 1-4.  I now realise what else I can do and here is what I’ve learnt and now do.

I recycle the usual at home inc batteries, Tetrapaks and metal clothes hangers, and had been recycling lots of plastics, until recently when I found out my local council only recycles plastic bottles.  So I did some contacting at work, and any plastics that have the Mobius Loop on I now take to work and recycle there. Problem solved.

I read week 1 and realised I could recycle more plastics at Sainsbury’s.  I have seen the bring bag banks but never actually took notice of them but now I do.  I read the label on the wrappers and if it says ‘can recycle at larger stores’ then I keep them with our shopping bags and take them when we do our weekly shopping trip.  We always use our own bags in store, and wherever I go I usually refuse plastic bags.  Any we do get, we reuse as bin bags.   I always read the label on plastic covers now and if the plastic isn’t recycleable then try to ignore it.  Unfortunately the bag of carrots Mum wanted last week wasn’t and I had to take it.

The other thing I do now is peel off foil from medicine tablet packs.  I have various medical problems so have lots of tablets, and instead of just throwing the empty blister pack in the bin, I peel off as much foil as I can then throw it away.

I didn’t realise that biodegradable plastic bags don’t really do much for the environment, not that I use them anyway but won’t now.  And I didn’t realise that some of the symbols on plastics don’t mean anything and the only one to take note of is the Mobius Loop.

Karen is wrong, you can recycle crisp packets.*  Here’s how.  I learnt from the myzerowaste website, that any shiny wrappers you can keep and send to the Philippine Community Fund in Southampton, who then ship them over on a ship that’s already going to the Philippines, who will then recycle them in to purses and bags, that help the poor make a living and afford schooling for their children.  So any shiny wrappers, inc Ryvita packs and cereal bars, I keep and when I have a bundle send them to Southampton.

Since my mum and I went natural and organic with our toiletries in 2008, we use Ecover products and soap nuts.  My mum recently bought the ecoballs but isn’t sure about them as they bang against the machine.  She has also tried the vinegar in the drawer but didn’t like it because it gave a too strong smell.

My mum and I don’t waste that much food and if we do then it’s usually cooked stuff such as meats and carbohydrates.  After reading week 3, I shall try to get Mum to weigh pasta and use less meat.  We had a left over potato the other day and kept it for the birds but I don’t think they ate it, even the fox didn’t like it.  If there’s any left over sauce from a tin, then if there’s enough for another meal, then keep it in a pot in the freezer for the next time.  This we do with our pasta sauce.

So I now recycle more and am more alert at what plastic wrappers can be recycled, even frozen packets.  And because I am more label alert my mum often asks me if it’s recycleable before throwing things in the bin, and where to put the recycleables for sending and taking to work.

Another thing, since starting the challenge is I’m always checking the symbols on plastics and have discovered lots of things I can recycle that I didn’t realise before, eg a tictac box.

I am blogging about my progress on my own blog, either through my website, www.julieaday.moonfruit.com or directly on www.julieaday.blogspot.com on a weekly basis and hope to let you know how I got on at the end of the 8 weeks.

These are photos of my rubbish and recycling bin over a week.  If you calculate this amount times four for a month’s rubbish then it can come out as about 8 bags of rubbish a week (although most of the time one bag is only half full) and a bin of recycling.  I hope that it means we recycle more than we send to landfill, as that is my aim.

One and a half bags of rubbish in one week: Target = 1 bag per fortnight

Amount of recycling exceeds landfill waste

*It's always great to hear people's stories of their efforts to reduce waste and updates like Julie's makes me glad that I finally put the Rubbish Diet Challenge online.  Although news of the Philippines Community Fund crisp upcycling scheme was included in Week 8 of the guide, thanks to Julie's reminder, I've now also updated Week 2 which was originally published before the details came to light.  The updated version can be found at www.tinyurl.com\therubbishdietweek2.

Thanks very much to Julie for her guest blogpost. It's great to hear of the changes made so far and I hope she will be back in a few weeks time with news of her progress as she reaches the end of her Rubbish Diet Challenge.  In the meantime, please do visit her blog at www.julieaday.blogspot.com to share words of encouragement.

And don't forget, if you've got a story to share about your waste reduction antics, please do get in touch via email at karen[at]therubbishdiet[dot]co[dot]uk.

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The Rubbish Diet goes on virtual tour

After packing my virtual bags to eat my way around the county last week, I've had only a moment to air my laundry before setting off again, this time to set up camp at The Green Living Forum, where I am inviting members to join in The Rubbish Diet Challenge to slim their bins in just 8 weeks!

There will be opportunities for participants to discover what those recycling labels really mean and try out new ideas to reduce waste at home, work or in their communities, following an eight week slimming plan that culminates in a Zero Waste Week.

Members will be able to share ideas each week at the regular weigh-in sessions and hopefully have a giggle, while they're concentrating on slimming their waste.

So, if you'd like to join in too, whether it's to slim your bin or join in the debate, you are more than welcome to sign up to the forum and get ready for The Rubbish Diet Challenge, which starts on Monday 5th April.

For more details, just click on this link.


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A note to moderators:  If you'd like to book The Rubbish Diet Challenge for your forum too and get your members talking rubbish, just drop me a line at karen[at]therubbishdiet[dot]co[dot]uk.
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The Rubbish Diet Challenge, Week 8: Your very own Zero Waste Week

I've shown you mine, so will you show me yours!

At last it's the very week you have been waiting for, or well at least I hope you have.  It may be 36 hours late thanks to all the comings and goings this week, but finally I can present you with your very own guide to help you plan your Zero Waste Week.

But before rushing on with the job in hand, you might want to grab yourself a cup of tea first or -  if you're still up late - a large brandy to settle your nerves.   Because this is no quick memo.  In fact it's packed with more than 13,000 words of advice, links and anecdotes, helping you to plan your Zero Waste Week from start to finish.

It even includes some top tips on working with the media, for those who want to throw an extra spotlight on their challenge to raise the profile of waste awareness in their local communities.  I've also thrown in a few stories of my own to hopefully reassure even the most bashful that having a microphone thrust under one's nose isn't as painful as it might first appear.

But most importantly this week is about enjoying yourself.  I wouldn't want you to live like a hermit all week, tempting as it is as a strategy for avoiding rubbish.  Instead, your Zero Waste Week is all about getting out there and living it up in restaurants, cafes, cinemas and anywhere else you fancy.  All you have to do is just keep an extra eye on the rubbish you might generate whilst you are having all that fun.  And if you're planning a really special occasion, it might be good to read this guide first.  I'd best not say anything else for fear of revealing all its secrets.

Well, I promised you I'd come up with a plan to slim that bin in just 8 weeks, so without further ado, I present to you the finale of your Rubbish Diet Challenge, Your very own zero waste week, with bells on. I'd love to hear how you get on.

So come on...don't be scared, you know you want to really........and good luck to all that do!


http://tinyurl.com/TheRubbishDietWeek8

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The Rubbish Diet Challenge: Week 7, The Big Declutter

Whoopadey woo, I've finally made it out from my piles upon piles and onto the blog to give you the big declutter update.  And look at the treasure I've found, a pair of sparkly shoes, which were stashed away in a box on top of the wardrobe.  They were placed there for safe keeping, but I forgot where I put them and have spent the last two years scratching my head wondering if I'm going mad.

We only live in a three bedroom house,  so there's hardly any room for stuff to go amiss, yet in the last couple of weeks, I've also uncovered one of my favourite umberellas, three more pairs of shoes, an MP3 player and a radio alarm.  It really is like Christmas all over again.

Now that I've found my rewards from my decluttering manoeuvres, it's over to you to see what you can find in your own little treasure trove of stuff that's tucked away or piled up high behind every cupboard and door in your home.

Yes, welcome to Week 7 of the Rubbish Diet challenge, where after six weeks of tackling your everyday rubbish, it's time to uncover the things that are wasting away in your clutter hotspots.

You'll find all you need in this week's guide, which is now published online at:

http://tinyurl.com/TheRubbishDietWeek7

My goodness, can it really be Week 7 already.  That can only mean one thing... that there's just one week to go until I ask you to attempt a Zero Waste Week.

Cor blimey!  Well, I wouldn't worry about that now, you'll be far too busy working out what to do with the bits and bobs you discover in your big sort out.

And as for me, I'm going to slip on my sparkly shoes and treat myself to a nice glass of wine then read the book that I rescued from a pile of stuff that had been crammed into a cupboard in the bedroom.

You'll never guess what it's called.....here's a clue!

You might snigger but it's never too late.  I might have made great progress already but Clare Baker from ClutterClearing writes on her website that as I've kept hold of  my clutter for a  year, it could take me 3 months to completely clear and organise it.   It's worth popping over to see how long yours will take too...assuming you've got some of course.

Oh well, it looks like I'll be busy for another month yet.  See you next week then, when I'll be sure to pop up for air!

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The Rubbish Diet Challenge: Week 4, cleaning up your mess

Well hello! How are you getting on with your mission to slim your bins? I hope the gradual steps over the the last few weeks have made it easier for you.

Anyway welcome back to Week 4 of the Rubbish Diet challenge, where my alter-ego Delores, will be introducing all sorts of novel ways to tackle the crud that goes in your bin. Look at her! She's a force to be reckoned with and will be rooting through your bins if you're not careful, so if I were you, I'd have a good crack at taking in as many tips as you can from this week's challenge.

Yes, this week's guide takes you through your domestic chores, encouraging you to reassess the amount of stuff that ends up in your rubbish, whether you're doing the washing up, the laundry or just running around the vacuum cleaner. Sorry I meant to write "running around WITH the vacuum cleaner", although I find the original statement far more entertaining.

There are opportunities to slim your bin at every angle through reusable and refillable options. So do keep your eyes peeled for new products that suit your lifestyle. Even Asda is in the news today, announcing the launch of its refillable fabric conditioner trial in five stores across the UK. See the latest article in today's Telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/greenerliving/7119191/Buy-fabric-conditioner-from-refill-machine-to-save-money.html.

But there's even more you can do than that and the great news is with so many alternatives out there, it's not that difficult to reduce the amount of cleaning waste that ends up in your bin.

So to get you in the mood, take a mini-break, grab a cuppa and read the guide to Week 4. You can find it waiting for you at:

http://tinyurl.com/TheRubbishDietWeek4

And when you've finished, let me know how you get on and I promise I'll keep Delores at bay!

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UPDATE: Here's a bit of link-love. To see what NixdMinx makes of Ecover's latest range of waste-free products and how she's getting on without kitchen roll, pop over to her post about Green Living.

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The Rubbish Diet Challenge: Week 3, Waste Not Want Not

Welcome to Week 3 of The Rubbish Diet Challenge, where this week I am taking you into the kitchen to find out how much food gets thrown in your bin.

Managing food waste is one of the most important areas of waste reduction. Not only has it huge potential for slimming your bin, but by reducing what you throw away can save you money and provide environmental rewards too.

According to WRAP's LoveFoodHateWaste campaign if we all stop wasting food we could have eaten, the CO2 impact is the equivalent of taking 1 in 4 cars off the road. That's a startling statistic and when I first heard it, it really made my jaw drop in surprise.

So in Week 3, I will be revealing what type of food waster I was, in the hope that even the least careful of folk will see that there is light at the end of the tunnel. And I've included tricks for using up leftovers as well as advice about portions and ways of dealing with waste if you just can't simply eat any more.

And if you're a stranger to the kitchen with the exception of visiting the microwave, I hope to inspire you to grab your apron, or lab coat and start experimenting with food. There's so much more to being a rubbish cook, than simply being rubbish in the kitchen. You never know, you may even be tempted to have a go at making pasta or bread as an alternative way to cut down on packaging.

So if you're ready to crack on with Week 3 of the Rubbish Diet Challenge, find out what you're in for at:

http://tinyurl.com/TheRubbishDietWeek3

Oh and I almost forgot, I did a spot of reminiscing today and if you didn't catch it at the time, here's one of the recordings I did for BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour a couple of years ago.



STOP PRESS

iPhone users - there's an exciting new app available from www.wasteawarelovefood.org.uk, which will help you plan your meals from your phone with a recipe finder and portion planner. You can download it directly from the itunes store.

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The Rubbish Diet Challenge: Week 2, Retail Therapy

My favourite fruit & veg stall at Bury St Edmunds Market.
I can't believe I never used to shop there before.

Welcome back to the Rubbish Diet Challenge, where this week it's time to hit the shops with a good dose of retail therapy.

However, this is a retail experience with a difference, introducing a range of steps that will help you find ways to reduce rubbish before it gets anywhere near your kitchen bins.

So having worked out your local recycling options in Week 1, the tasks in Week 2 will challenge you to become more familiar with the choices you have in the shops and make you aware of the pitfalls of packaging.

You'll learn the key principles to shopping with waste in mind, find out what those recycling symbols on packaging really mean and discover how to avoid tempting offers that will just end up in your bin.

So if you are ready to find out why you should ignore this symbol and discover which ones you should look out for instead, then it's time to see what challenges are instore for you at Week 2 of The Rubbish Diet Challenge, which you can find at http://tinyurl.com/TheRubbishDietWeek2


And if you want to know what else to expect in the forthcoming weeks, check out the sidebar, which has a list of everything that's coming up.

As usual, it would be great to hear about any progress you're making, so please don't hesitate to let me know how you're getting on and if you've got any questions, please feel free to drop me an email, or leave a comment below.

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The Rubbish Diet Challenge Week 1: Starting with the basics

A simple recycling system: a couple of bins and some hooks

So, for everyone who's resolved to slim their bins this year, I hope you've weighed your rubbish and have now got your sleeves rolled up ready to kick off with the first week of your Rubbish Diet Challenge.

This week is all about easing yourself in gently. After all Rome wasn't built in a day and neither was your rubbish, so I'll be getting you to flex your muscles by tackling some basic ideas to get you started. It's a warm-up if you like for the weekly challenges that lie ahead.

This week's mini challenges are really simple and I hope that by addressing these now, they will create a foundation to make things easier for you further down the line, by gradually changing habits and introducing small changes. So to kick-start your Rubbish Diet, I will be asking you to especially think about:

• Simple ways to reduce waste.
  
• Saying no to junk mail.
• Finding out exactly what can be recycled in your area.
• Setting up or improving your recycling system at home.

And even though the advice given is mainly for UK residents, there are also some hints and tips for readers from the US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

All this and much more can be found in the webpage The Rubbish Diet WEEK 1: Starting with the Basics at:
http://tinyurl.com/TheRubbishDietWeek1.

And if you've missed the introduction with advice about weighing-in and ways to rethink rubbish, you can catch it all here at http://tinyurl.com/TheRubbishDietChallenge.

As you aim to slim your bin, remember you're not alone. There are plenty of folk who have done something similar and this week's guide includes a list of blogs by other people who have taken on their own independent challenges in the past. You may find it useful to visit them regularly and scour old blogposts for extra help. And be sure to use the relevant links in the Rubbish Diet sidebar too.

So I hope you enjoy your tasks and don't forget to "weigh-in" at the end of the week so you can measure your progress. I'd love to know how you get on and if you want to publicise your achievements on this blog, let me know, by emailing me at karen[at]therubbishdiet[dot]co[dot]uk.

In the meantime, if you need even more inspiration this week, especially relating to setting up a recycling system at home, check out this BBC report where Mrs Green from www.myzerowaste.com - aka Rachelle Strauss - demonstrates her recycling system. It makes me very grateful for my council's commingled recycling service, where I can put most of my stuff in one big recycling bin. More videos like this can be found at the MyZeroWaste website.

So happy slimming and remember to come back next week, where I'll be helping you out with your shopping.
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2010: Looking Backwards & Forwards and Onwards & Upwards

It's been two years since I made a tiny new year's resolution to smarten up my domestic landscape and stated unassumingly that I intended to reduce the amount of waste we sent to landfill.

With a memory like a fish, I needed a system to remember my reusable bags, I wanted to cook more and find a way to stop my husband from throwing so much crap in the bin including holey socks and unused presents. In short, I think I needed a miracle.

"It's decluttering" he'd say.

Witnessing unworn slippers being chucked away, my defence was limited to gurning and with an imaginary kick up the backside and a slap around his head with a wet fish, I would just slope off and leave him to it. Who was I to argue? After all it was me who topped up the rest of the rubbish with food waste and my lazy ways. And that was our life!

Then in January 2008 up popped St Emundsbury Borough Council with its Zero Waste project, offering a helping hand. It's almost as though they'd heard my plea for sanity. And I can't thank them enough, because two years later I've now thrown away in one year what I would have done in just one month...one wheelie bin's worth of rubbish.

And by shopping more carefully, using up leftovers and switching to reusable products, we've also saved around £2500, a £1000 of which has been by reducing food waste. I was never really frugal, but when I look at these figures, I can't help rubbing my hands and shouting "LOADSAMONEY" despite it bringing a shudder down my spine with memories of that obnoxious Harry Enfield character from the eighties!

It really has been an amazing couple of years and back then I had no idea how important this thing would become. And having succeeded in reducing my own rubbish, I've enjoyed challenging others along the way too.

Take last year. I had a great time with my friends over at British Mummy Bloggers, helping to inspire them to take part in WRAP's Recycle Week, which was a fabulous success thanks to all the bloggers involved who helped spread the word. Even James Hazell and Sal from BBC Radio Suffolk were up for a laugh with their rubbish too, with lots of on-air fun and frolics. Although James didn't quite give it his full oomph, Sally managed to get to zero waste.

And do you remember Ruby, Jo and Mrs Green, the original "Recyclettes" from 2008? In each case, all I did was get them to do a bin audit and offered some initial suggestions, then left them to their own devices.

While Ruby and Jo successfully managed to slim their bins by 50%, Mrs Green went onto achieve rubbish reducing levels of immense proportions. With environmental concerns at the heart of her ambitions, she even set up her own website at MyZeroWaste and worked hard to move from a full bin load and several side-bags each week to just one small bin in the last year! And for 2010, Mrs Green aka Rachelle Strauss is aiming for total Zero Waste.

Now that will be amazing to follow. I on the other hand, have long since found my comfortable weight and I daren't even try to slim our own rubbish beyond our monthly carrier bag's worth. With my husband's very settled habits it could make me a prime candidate for divorce. And I am not sure who would file for it first.

But for 2010 I will be supporting that hubby of mine in his urge to declutter. After stopping him in his tracks for two whole years, I the Queen of Clutter have finally signed up to some top tips from ClutterClearing.net and will be going head-to-head with he who rules: the King of Declutter himself. If you've ever watched Kramer vs Kramer, you'll get a sense of what life will be like in the Almost Average household, only this will be about rubbish, or the intended lack of it. We've already had cross words over what should be binned or recycled, so for the next three months you can expect war.

So what else can you expect from The Rubbish Diet this season?

On a calmer note, I will be getting away from the blog a lot more, still talking rubbish of course. With more speaking engagements on the horizon and a few collaborations in the pipeline, I'll be hoping to get people revealing their rubbish in the most unlikeliest of places, including having a nosey behind the scenes at one of London's most prestigious hotels to show that a luxurious lifestyle doesn't have to create waste.

And of course the exciting Seven Suffolk Streets waste reduction project is going to be a huge focus for this spring, with Suffolk County Council encouraging my whole street - and six others around the county - to reduce our rubbish by half in March.

But my priority over the next few months is to do what I love doing most and that's to help even more people slim their blimmin' bins AND have a giggle while they're doing so. Whether it's to save money, make life more convenient, learn more skills or become greener, I'll be lending a hand to help folk kickstart this year with a lighter load and enjoy cost benefits too.

So if this sounds like a challenge that appeals to you or your friends, then make sure you pop by each week for a whole load of tips that could help you slim your bin in just eight weeks. Yep, eight weeks! That's how long it took me and you'll be amazed how easy it can be to knock things off your Rubbish list. But what's needed are small, gradual steps, not to attempt everything at once. This is a gentle diet, not a full-blown crash diet!

But as with all diets, you'll need to do a weigh-in first, so click below for my online guide to conducting your very own waste audit. There are some words on Rethinking Rubbish too, which may just keep you motivated should you happen to get the wobbles.

Here it is. You'll find everything you need at

http://tinyurl.com/TheRubbishDietChallenge

Please feel free to share extra tips in the comments below and once you've sorted out your rubbish, pop by next Monday for the beginning of Week 1, where I will be sure to ease you in gently.

And the great news is we've got one volunteer already, Pippa from A Mother's Ramblings, who's challenged herself to take up a Zero Waste Week in March. So if you have a mo, do pop over to her blog to offer your support.

You know, I have a feeling this will be a very exciting new year.
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