Monday 15 September 2008

Day 8

Unless I have missed something there are only two items in my bin today
  • plastic teabag sachet
  • paper/plastic coffee sachet

Individual sachets come in handy on holiday but I guess we could take small quantities of tea and coffee etc in reusable containers.

I've weighed my first week's rubbish and it comes in at 230g. I've never weighed my rubbish before but it certainly looks a lot less than usual.

Apart from sanitary waste, the only waste I haven't included are my daughter's eczema cream containers, because there is nothing we can do about them. I guess there is some waste we are going to have to live with.

One thing I could have lived without was the plastic wrapped ham I bought in Tescos this evening, especially as I was persuaded, by a special offer, to buy two packs for £1.60! I much prefer freshly cut ham from the butcher or the deli, but my daughters like 'plastic' ham. This illustrates the problem faced by every zero waster who lives with someone else. While I am prepared to argue my case I am not prepared to force the issue (or at least not on every occasion). My family is generally very supportive of my challenge but there are limits, and if I'm not going to put them off waste reduction for life then there are going to have to be compromises.

4 comments:

Maisie said...

Very well done!!!

It is amazing how pester power can disrupt what you intended to buy.

Almost Mrs Average said...

It's interesting about kids and plastic ham. It's the same here. When I get the lovely ham from the deli counter they turn their noses up at it, but the plastic ham goes down a treat.

I had the same experience as you too, in that it was my challenge as such, which called on the family to co-operate wherever they could. I remember when ZWW arrived I had the choice of going it alone and excluding Mr A's rubbish habits or counting him in.

Fortunately, he said he'd play ball, so he was counted in, but it just highlights that it's not just one person in a family who makes the difference it's everyone.

You're doing brilliantly, keep up the great work ;-D

just Gai said...

I guess the answer is to make a list and stick to it, Maisie.

It's interesting to hear of your experiences with your family, Mrs A. We'll have to have a family pow wow fairly soon to work out a strategy for our Zero Waste Challenge Week.

Anonymous said...

Did you have the family discussions yet? I'd love to hear how they went.

Mrs G x