Rachelle made a decision to change her lifestyle after almost losing everything in 2004. She was on holiday with her husband and baby daughter in Boscastle, Cornwall, and they were caught in flash floods. She stood, clutching the baby as the waters rose round them, and she was separated from her husband. They were rescued - but she realised that global warming was not a future possibility but a present reality. She was determined to be part of the solution.
Check out the ZWW website for more details.
Last year I emptied all the bins in the house on the Sunday evening, so I could measure what was thrown away to landfill over the 5 days. I managed to get everything into a 250ml jar [plus a small jiffy bag containing some broken glass] and calculate it would take 8 years to fill my green wheelie bin if every week was that good. But I suspect it was rather unreal - packaged food is still an issue, and post still comes in plastic wrappers.
This year, the ZWW suggestion is doing a 'waste audit' to consider what you throw away and how you could change your behaviour to lessen the waste. There is a downloadable sheet to help with the process.
I have printed out my chart, which has four columns
Item/Why am I throwing it away?/Where will it end up?/Improvement
Last week we took both water bottles, and coffee mugs with us to Wales. But found that we could not get our mugs under the drink dispenser - we had to use one of the paper cups supplied to collect the coffee which we then decanted. Bob's cold drink at the services came in a plastic cup, with lid [and a paper straw] I now have three disposable cups, rinsed out, and standing on the window sill. I cannot bear to use them just the once. Full marks to the National Trust for our bottles of drink which came with glasses.This audit will help me think about what is recyclable and what isn't. I bought my loose veg in the supermarket on Thursday, and weighed them, then dropped them straight into my cotton bag - and I stuck the price label onto the back of my shopping list and scanned it. I shall let you know how things have gone at the end of the week.
I realised mid week that this blog now has had TWO AND A HALF MILLION HITS in 11½ years. I am astounded. Thank you for continuing to read and for posting the kind comments.
Thank you for the reminder about ZWW . Even though all rubbish from Mid Suffolk is going to incinerator at Claydon there's still a lot of Suffolk rubbish thats still going to landfill.
ReplyDeleteI notice you mentioned the Oxfam Secondhand September campaign on your blog today. Like you, I do not really feel that one affects me. I rarely buy 'new' clothes, and I'm not a "fresh outfit every week" type. I suspect this is aimed at younger people with more disposable income.
ReplyDeleteThank you for reminding us about this. I am going to consider joining, but, I am not sure what I can do about the litter box cleanings! I already have enough and more cat droppings in the garden thanks to the garden cats. I am not sure I want to add the litter box stuff to the garden, as well! I guess I had better check what the website has to say about pet by-products.
ReplyDeleteThis was so interesting. We don't have Zero Waste Week in Norway. But I found some interesting information about Zero Waste. I thought I was good in recycling, but now I see there is so much more to think about. An eye-opening reading. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteHi Marit. Maybe YOU could start a zero waste week? Scandinavians always seem so efficient to me!
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