Hurrah for my Green Box

I came home yesterday evening to find this waiting for me on our doorstep.  It's our new green recycling box.  I can't tell you how eagerly I've anticipated its arrival and how delighted I was to see it.  After seeing me take this photo of it my neighbour must have had his worst fears about my sanity confirmed.

Bristol City Council actively promotes recycling and we already have an excellent weekly kerbside collection for glass, paper, tins, aluminium foil etc.  However, until today, we have been unable to recycle plastic or tetra paks other than by taking them to one of only a few recycling stations, most of which tend to be located at the far end of supermarket car parks! 

Now I know I should be cutting down on plastic consumption and I am trying to.  Honest!  But there are still a number of essentials(?) that come in no greener packaging.  Chief among them are dairy products - milk, yoghurt, cream.  We have milk delivered in glass bottles but it's no longer delivered every day and we sometimes require extra at short notice.

So now, while I shall continue to try and 'reduce' first, I am thankful that I'm now able to' recycle' more easily.   

Waste Free Latte

Inspired by Beth Terry over at Fake Plastic Fish, it has long been my intention to invest in an insulated mug to eliminate the cardboard and plastic waste inherent in takeaway drinks. So today, when I stopped for a latte at the Fair Cup stall in Colston Circus and saw their own cheerful red mugs for sale, I jumped at the opportunity. It cost me £3.95 and I get 10p off every drink I fill it with on future visits.

I plan to carry it around with me and use it in other coffee shops. I'm not sure what reaction I'll receive from the big chains but I'm going to give it a go. I'm not necessarily looking for a discount, although I wouldn't refuse! I'm just hoping to save waste.

Has anyone any experiences they would like to share?

Day 4 - Sunday 4 October 2009

Today, being Sunday, we had a roast. Actually we don't always have a roast on Sundays but today we did and it was chicken. I find that the effort in preparing a large meal is rewarded later on in the week by the benefits obtained from the leftovers.

It was my husband who cooked the chicken and he did so according to a recipe we picked up from the family we visited in France this summer. Cut a couple of slices of bread (stale bread would do nicely) and rub them with the cut edge of a clove of garlic. Then stuff the bread into the cavity of the bird and roast as normal. The dry bread soaks up the juices released on cooking and the garlic flavours the meat from within. I can't remember whether this was in the original recipe but, in addition to the garlic, my husband seasoned the bread with salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. The result was exceedingly tasty.

There was minimal waste from the chicken today; just a few wing bones. The remains of the bird have been returned to the fridge. Tomorrow I'll salvage every last edible morsel of meat from the bones before boiling the carcass with an onion, a carrot and a couple of bay leaves to make a fragrant stock. I haven't yet decided what to do with the meat, but it will provide one more meal. If the chicken had been a larger one we might have got another two meals, but it was a smaller bird and we were very hungry/greedy this evening!

So today's waste comprised:

2 egg shells (from biscuit making this afternoon)
170g vegetable peelings
bones from two chicken wings
3 apple cores
1 pear core

The bones will be added to our brown council household waste recycling bin. This is collected weekly and sent to a special heat treatment plant where it is converted into compost. It can take meat and fish waste which we can't compost at home and which would otherwise have to be put in the landfill bin. The introduction of this bin collection has made a considerable reduction to our waste.

Two of the three apple cores will go to the wormery. The third has been fed to our hamster!

PS The chard we ate with our chicken came from our garden. It was planted in amongst the alpines in our rockery in the spring. It made a slow start but then it suddenly took off and has produced a bountiful harvest. Besides which the rhubarb pink stalks are rather decorative.

Love Food Hate Waste

I am taking part in Bristol's Food Waste Diary Competition, being run in partnership with the excellent Love Food Hate Waste campaign.

Each month the average family throws away £50 worth of food that was bought but not eaten. Nationally this works out at 4 million pounds or 6.7 million tons. Unbelievable! Unforgiveable!

Having been born and brought up in India and seen hunger at first hand, I have always felt a twinge of guilt every time I throw away a piece of food that might otherwise have been eaten. I try to shop thoughtfully, buying only what I know I will use. I relish the challenge of producing a meal from leftovers. And I tend to rely on my own senses rather than a printed date when deciding whether or not food is still edible. However, despite my best efforts I do sometimes have to throw stuff away. Bread grows mouldy. Ham lingers past its use by date. Leftovers are shoved to the back of the fridge and forgotten. Milk turns sour. Potatoes sprout and turn green.

So for one week I will log every morsel of food I throw out and where it ends up. And I will let you know how I get on.

Week 3 - Plastic Spouts

Since Bristol introduced recycling facilities for Tetrapak containers I have been taking regular bagfuls of juice and milk cartons to our nearest bin in the Bedminter Asda car park. It's a positive step and I welcome it.

However, before I can recycle my cartons, I have to remove the plastic spouts and/or lids, which are not recyclable and which I fear may contaminate the recycling process.

I remember when containers were made of treated cardboard and nothing else. You snipped the corner with a pair of scissors to form a spout and poured yourself a drink. If this was done carefully there was no mess and the whole container could be recycled.

While preparing for last year's Zero Waste Week Challenge I discovered that Sainsbury's Basics fruit juice comes in spout-free cartons. I shall have to seek them out again.

Weekly Weigh-In = 345 g + a broken gas lighter weighing 95 g making a total of 440 g.
This is well up on last week's 290 g. We are still throwing out a lot of Christmas waste. I'm hoping that as this peters out my levels will go down again.

PS To encourage members of my family to consider what they are throwing away I have removed the waste basket from the living room. I think it's helping.

By Way of Intoduction

Having accepted Bristol's Zero Waste Week Challenge I've decided to separate the countdown and the challenge week itself from my regular blog. My hope is that will serve as a record of my progress, as well as a forum for waste related issues.

I'm a 49 year old woman. I'm married with two teenage daughters. I work part-time as a school secretary. We live in a 3 bedroom terraced house. We do not own a car. We walk or use public transport. We are fortunate enough to have access to fairly comprehensive recycling facilities. The council collects paper, glass, tins, aluminium foil, batteries, old clothes and glasses etc from our black box and kitchen waste from our brown bin. There is a type 1& 2 plastic bottle bank in our local Aldi car park and a tetrapak bank in our local Asda car park. We also have a compost bin and a wormery in our back garden and another compost bin on our allotment.

I am not exactly new to recycling but it is only recently that I have become passionate about it. My motivation is the welfare of my fellow human beings across the planet and its preservation for future generations. I am inspired by celtic christianity, ecowarriors, outspoken writers and fellow bloggers. I try not to be discouraged by those who pooh pooh my efforts. I am compelled to do my bit, however small and insignificant.