Saturday 27 September 2008

Day19

The more observant of you will notice that this blog is a day late.

Yesterday was a long day at the end of a long week - more work than I can possibly handle at the office, builders at home and a daughter off school all week. There was no time (or energy) to get to the shops after I finally arrived home, and my daughter was in desperate need of a treat to make up for her discomfort, so we ordered a Chinese takeaway. I thought I'd blown my zero waste challenge but, in fact, we haven't yet had to consign anything to the bin.

The plastic carrier bag will be used to separate items in our black bin. I emailed Bristol City Council to check what happens to these bags and I have just received a reply assuring me that they are always recycled. Thank you BCC!

Most of the dishes came in lidded plastic containers which I wash and reuse to carry food to work and/or picnics and/or train/coach journeys and to store leftovers in the fridge and freezer.

The rice came in foil containers which can be recycled in our black bin. The plastic lids are of no further use to me and would have been the only items to hit the bin, except that I 've been advised by Recresco who provide our plastic recycling facilities that there are plans to extend these to include types 5 and 6, which these are. So, in anticipation of this day, I have started a collection of such items (although I am, of course, avoiding them wherever possible).

The complimentary prawn crackers came in another recyclable plastic bag.

So, it wasn't so bad after all and we enjoyed our meal (and the latest episode of the Tudors which we watched while we ate it!)

But the best news is that there were no items in my bin today. Hooray!

Now all I have to do next week is have 7 days like that in a row. Help!!!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yay! this is a great omen for your zero waste week and I love how you have shown that you can still enjoy some of the luxuries of modern life and STILL achieve zero waste.

You'll have a great week I'm sure of it. Now enjoy your weekend.

Mrs g x

Alice said...

Wow, what an inspiring challenge! Good on you - thanks for making it seem do-able!

Thanks too for your lovely comment on my blog - I'm feeling a bit shy and embarrassed about it so you've given me a boost! Will be lovely to get to know you through blogs and then hopefully feel like old friends when we meet!!

xxx

Anonymous said...

Hi Gai,

Congratulations on a zero.

Collecting waste items is part of the trend. My collections include aerosol cans, used cooking oil and aluminium combination waste.

Keeping stuff out of landfill is first priority with the recycling later when available.

just Gai said...

Thank you one and all for your best wishes and encouragement. I feel as if I should have done more to prepare myself but life is ever thus. I'm going to give it my best shot and see what happens. One thing's for certain - neither me nor my bin is never going to be the same again!