The Rubbish Diet - Spring 2013

Here we go again!

This isn't the first Rubbish Diet Challenge I've undertaken.  In many ways it's a continual challenge to keep on top of the mountains of rubbish that threaten to bury us under their weight.

But every now and then it's useful to be reminded of the facts, resume good practices that we've been forgetting and learn new ways of reducing, reusing and recycling.

So a big thank you to Mrs Almost Average for delivering that all important kick up the proverbial!

I'm Still Here

It's been a while since I last blogged here, or anywhere for that matter. Life has, as it does from time to time, got in the way.

I haven't, however, given up on my zero waste mission and have continued to weigh my weekly landfill rubbish. It's averaged around 300g per week, which is above my target of 100g and leaves much room for improvement.

The chief obstacle to zero waste is lack of forward planning. If I work out what we are to eat in the coming week and plan my shopping trips carefully I end up buying less packaged food and producing more homemade meals. It's the days I have no idea what we are going to have for tea that I end up in Tescos buying ready meals.

So I'm going to be more organised.

The Clean Bin Project

If you haven't heard of this remarkable trio then pop over to their blog right now and see what they've been up to these past 7 months. I'm afraid they put my feeble efforts to shame.

Week 2 - Gifts

This week's chosen items of waste are a number of empty chocolate packages. The cardboard boxes and foil wrappers have been recycled but the plastic trays that held the choccies remain.

I didn't buy any of these boxes of chocolates. They were all Christmas presents. Which brings me to the problem - how do I let my friends (and family) know that I do not want any waste without causing offence?

I was grateful for the effort to which some of my friends went to offer me environmentally friendly presents - fairly traded and sustainably wrapped. However other presents contained varying amounts of plastic (admittedly some of it hidden). Not that I can claim the moral high ground, as many of the presents I gave my family and friends were wasteful.

Judging by her list of Christmas presents Jen at The Clean Bin Project seems to have got the message across.

Perhaps the trick is to lead by example.

Weekly Weigh-In = 290 g

Plastic Straws (contd)

I haven't been shopping this week, so no luck yet on the reuseable plastic straw. If only I lived in the USA I could go one better and buy my daughter a glass straw. Thanks to Cousin Yellowstone for sending me to the GlassDharma site with their exquisite creations, in two sizes (the wider one for smoothies!) and supplied with a cleaning brush. Wow!

Ho Ho Ho for the Carnival of Trash

The lovely Almost Mrs Average has very generously asked me to host the next Carnival of Trash on Monday 15 December.

For those of you who have no idea what a carnival is (I didn't until very recently), it's a blog post which brings together a selection of posts on a particular subject. In other words, a blog magazine. If you're still confused you could take a look at one or more of the last three carnivals here and here and here.

This next edition will be a special Christmas one so please ensure that your submissions have a Christmas theme. The festive season is a veritable minefield for zero waste campaigners so if you have any thoughts, strategies or tips to help us pick our way safely through this year please feel free to share them with us.

As ever the categories are Composting, Recycling, Reducing Waste, Rethinking, Reducing and Zero Waste. Submit your entries here.

I look forward to hearing from you.