5 Top tips Re:Junk mail

How can we Reduce, Reuse and Recycle the pesky leaflets we never asked for?

Well it looks as though central government is going to try to pull together a one stop shop to allow householders to unsubscribe from junk mail once and for all in the UK.
Most of it is a waste of paper, especially if we already have the takeaway leaflet ten times over, don’t shop in the particular supermarket which has millions of deals on every week, and certainly don’t have a need for the product being advertised.
Currently the system involves contacting at least two companies – the Royal Mail, and the Mail Preference Service.

But how well will this work? I can’t honestly imagine that the local takeaways will take much notice of whether a house has signed a register or not, unless it confronts them on the doorstep!

What methods have we tried and tested already to Reduce and Reuse junk mail?

1. Put up a sign. Yes it may look like Mr Scrooge has had a hand in decorating your letterbox, but a small polite sign really can work wonders. We tried it on our letter box, simply saying, ‘No junk mail including charity textiles bags, please.’ The impact was fantastic! Until weathering gradually wore it away. So, on my To do list is: replace the sign. Some people choose durable stickers, but I liked being able to personalise my notice, as charity bags was a real issue for us, receiving up to 5 a week!

2. Catch them at it. A short conversation could flag up your property as a ‘No, thanks’ address, with that particular distributor, but probably you won’t be in, or the message won’t be passed on to the bosses.

3. Send it back. Costly in postage, but it does make a statement. Let us know if you get a response? Mrs Green at My Zero Waste probably has some great templates for returning mail, as well as sending back unnecessary packaging!

4. Chopping it up and making use of it. This was especially fun cutting out pictures of our favourite foods for a school project! Shredded coloured paper would make decorative, recyclable fillings for hampers or present boxes.

5. Crafting it. Magazines and direct mail are often printed on brightly coloured or patterned papers, so why not turn them into some beautiful paper flowers – they’ll never wilt or die,
The paper flowers are made in a similar way to making paper snowflakes, each a unique design. Then roll a sheet around a pencil, use a dab of glue or smidgen of sellotape to seal the end, and slide the pencil out, making your own stalk to attach. Paper aeroplanes and origami are also a popular activity, and cost-free!

And of course if you can’t reduce or reuse it, please recycle it. Maybe our blue boxes will be lighter once the new measure comes into play – keep your ears to the ground!

Let us know about your junk mail successes and messes below.

Top 5 foody waste (and money) saver websites

Our top 5 foody waste saver websites

1. Ok, if you’ve been a regular on this blog you’ll have heard us bang on about how great Love Food Hate Waste’s website is – but that’s just it, it IS! I especially recommend the party planner, where you can specify how many people are visiting and how long for, to plan the amount of party nibbles to provide. But please let us upload more recipes soon… http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/

2. However as another tasty treat for the regulars why not have a look at Scotland’s version http://www.wasteawarelovefood.org.uk/. I especially like the recipe section, which has a recipe finder for you to type in your ingredients to use up. www.wasteawarelovefood.org.uk/recipeTools

3. One of the best parts of the Love Food Hate Waste webpages is the meal planner, but I think that the NHS have actually cracked it on their 5 a day planner.

Not only can you drag and drop all your favourite recipes, but you can do it for a whole week, print off the plan, as well as the recipes, and plus count up lots of healthy eating points too! If we're planning our meals for the week ahead we're much less likely to have lurking items forgotten about in the fridge.
www.nhs.uk/Tools/Pages/5aday.aspx

4. Can I keep yoghurt in the freezer? How long for? How do I blanche? All the answers to these questions and so much more, can be found at http://www.stilltasty.com/ They brand themselves as Your Ultimate ShelfLife Guide, and I tend to agree.
It’s an essential guide to safe storage of every food type you’ve ever thought of.

5. Premeditated Leftovers is a blog from an American homemaker mum, filled with recipes and brilliant tips for being frugal with your food. You can sign up for regular updates or just pop in for a visit at www.premeditatedleftovers.com/

Going green in the garden

The demonstration compost bin we take to schools and community groups

It may not be spring but we're turning our attention in this post to going all green in the garden. Garden waste is becoming an issue that’s getting people all hot under the collar at the moment in North East Lincolnshire. But it could be getting all hot in a compost heap instead!
The council isn’t obliged by law to make a doorstep collection of garden waste, and when the first bins were put out for this use it was paid for using funding from Defra. Unfortunately we’re living in hard financial times and NELincs council may well have to introduce a charge for this service in 2012. Many councils already make a charge to collect the garden waste instead of expecting people to take it to a council tip, but the prices charged range widely.
Of course any moving of green waste from the house means extra pollution whether it’s a public or a private vehicle taking it away.
The nutrients in green waste can be used as a perfect soil conditioner for your own garden, and allsorts can be included such as grass cuttings, plants, even egg boxes and tea bags! For more information to know what to compost or not go to www.nelincs.gov.uk/environment/recycling--rubbish-and-waste/recycling/home-composting/ or for a reduced price compost bin visit
http://www.nel.getcomposting.com/

We’d love to hear from you if you’re a keen composter, live in North East Lincolnshire and would like to offer your advice to anyone who’s struggling to compost or is just starting out.
Please phone 01472 325843 and ask about becoming a Compost Champion!

The textiles issue : an investment

The textiles issue : an investment (or should that be t- issue?!)

3% of an average waste bin in North East Lincolnshire is made up of textile waste. This could be sheets, holey socks, torn or stained shirts. What could happen to it instead?

Well thinking in terms of the waste hierarchy the first thing to consider is: how can we plan out textiles waste? I suppose the best answer would be to buy high quality goods which will be durable, and last a long, long time. But there’s a lot of perceptions to change in society, to get people back to seeing clothes as an investment (no pun intended!). There’s a big uptake in the ‘make do and mend’ mentality, so stitch up that holey sock, or get even more creative!

We’re very keen to promote reuse of textiles, and most clothes can be passed on to younger siblings or willing friends. Have you heard of ‘swishing’? This is the idea of having a party where everyone brings a few items of clothes which don’t fit or would like a change. For every item you bring, you can take home a different item, so your tight jeans could become your new shoes! These items can be affectionately referred to as ‘pre-loved’.
Everyone has their favourite charity shops to donate to or shop in, and some charities will even collect bulky items such as furniture from your door, it’s always worth checking.

Lots of people may not be aware that textiles which are not suitable for reuse can actually be recycled. This might be the torn or spoiled materials which can’t be sold on, but could be shredded and turned into mattress stuffing, or cushion fillings. There are charities which can benefit from this as well, by selling on their textiles collections.

Some local schools have started collecting textiles through Wastebuster’s Sport into school project, which allows them to swap bags of their textiles for new sports equipment! Why not ask your local school if they have signed up yet?

Zero Waste Week

Zero Waste Week

As a self confessed RubbishGeek it is with great excitement that I can announce the approach of Zero Waste Week!

Get those dates in your diary Zero Waste Week is 5th – 11th September 2011

To get involved just pledge to cut back on your waste producing habits.
There’s encouragement available online from http://myzerowaste.com/zero-waste-week-2011/ so make sure you remember to sign up your pledge there, and there are some hints for easy everyday waste free ideas too. This year’s theme is ‘Reducing waste away from home‘ in support of Recycle Now’s Recycle Week where the theme “Recycling - Home and Away” got everyone thinking about recycling not just at home, but when out shopping, at work or socialising.

There’s also a photo competition for those of you who, like me, love to spot different recycling bins on your travels. Two happy waste bloggers have got some snazzy prizes to award for the best photos and videos of people using ‘on-the-go’ recycling bins. More info at http://www.1000bins.com/ The deadline for submissions is the end of Zero Waste Week, midnight on 11th September, so get your cameras out!

We’re also looking forward to seeing what kinds of creations our local artists have come up with to contribute to the Reusable bags exhibition held at Cleethorpes Discovery Centre from 20th September 2011.

We love to SNUB (Say No to Unnecessary Bags) - or No Thankyou anyway! But especially if we can produce our own stylish bags from the pocket, or the depths of the handbag, for use instead.

Learning for life

We’ve had the pleasure of being invited to several open air events this summer to talk to people about Reducing, Reusing and Recycling, and show some in action.

It’s always better not to make rubbish in the first place, and we can avoid producing it by choosing to use good quality reusable products instead. We took some cotton reusable bags with us, and allowed visitors to the stand to decorate their own with fabric pens. The stand was non-stop action until we ran out of bags! What would you decorate your own Bag for Life with?

We’ve also been exploring all the possibilities of used magazines – all the colours and patterns can make for some really pretty paper flowers, brightly coloured paper aeroplanes and some very useful paper fans! We need to remember that recycling paper uses a lot of water and energy and if we can reuse products as much as possible before needing to recycle them, that’s better for the planet.

We took out the updated pedal power bike, to show people just how much energy it takes to power a single lightbulb, by making them power our generator (volunteers of course!). We then shared with them some fascinating facts about how much energy can be saved by producing packaging from recycled materials instead of virgin materials. For example…

DID you know?? The energy savings from recycling 1 plastic bottle is the equivalent of powering a lightbulb for three hours?! And the energy savings from recycling 1 drinks can would power a television for three hours?

So really every little makes a difference.

Recycle Week reviewed

Last week was national Recycle Week and so our team was out and about in North East Lincolnshire promoting recycling, thanking those who are using the services provided and finding out about how we like to recycle when out and about. There was a lot of interest in starting home composting and we were happy to give out advice leaflets as well as details of how to get hold of a subsidised price compost bin.

Some lucky winners have been given a prize bin too! It makes recycling easier, by having three compartments inside which can be used to separate recyclables from general waste. For many people the decision whether they will recycle, or not, is made at the bin – whether to put that piece of paper or drinks can in the recycling box or in the general bin. I know it was a battle in my house when we first moved in together!

The winners of the prize draw told us how they recycle when they’re out and about; some taking their recyclables home with them, others know where their 'on the street' recycling points are, and some using reusable containers to avoid creating waste. If you have a favourite on the street recycling point, why not upload it to the 1000 bin challenge? http://www.facebook.com/url

Again, when do we make the decision about if we’ll recycle or not? Before going out of the house? Or just as we get to the bin?

The grand finale to Recycling week was down at the Community Recycling Centre, where the staff have been cherry-picking some really decent stuff, to divert it from landfill. The site hosted a sale day of about two weeks’ worth of selected items and managed to raise over £1000 for local charity St Andrew’s Hospice! This isn’t the first sale they’ve held either, and they’ll be carrying on, on the last Friday of every month until October.

It was really shocking what some people are happy to throw away. Some items included ; a dolls’ house, books, bicycles, framed pictures, board games, a massage table, all sorts of furniture, soft toys and teddies, two drum kits… and most of these things were bought by bargain hunters on the day, so they weren’t in a condition that they would be unwanted by another person

Do we just make it too easy to throw away decent stuff? I couldn’t believe that many of these items weren’t at least donated to a charity shop. Whether you call it the tip, the dump, the Civic Amenity Site or the Community Recycling Centre throwing this amount of decent stuff away can’t be right.

Our thanks go to those who choose to reuse instead of putting things into disuse.

Food Lovers' Finale – for this year anyway

Thanks to our Food Lover Families for taking part!

Well as you may know we’ve been working with four local families to see what effects can be achieved when focusing on food waste. They all enjoyed getting involved, and are now out sharing the word of Love Food Hate Waste with friends, family and colleagues!

We all got together on Saturday to share our top tips live on the radio on Compass FM and to hear how each other had been getting on. Two families were focusing on portion sizes and found they’d really saved some money and picked up some good shopping habits by planning meals and only cooking what will be eaten. One family even felt they’d lost some weight, and recommended using smaller plates. Two families were delighted to be inspired by new recipes and techniques in the kitchen, including great ‘use up’ recipes, like homemade pizza, pasta, soups and risottos.

After they had kept a final food waste diary all the families had reduced how much they had thrown away – and the most successful family had saved £52 on their monthly shopping bill! This is right in line with the national campaign’s statistics – proving that we can all save money, and our impact on the environment by not wasting food.

Thanks to all those families who got involved, let us interview them, invade their kitchens and even one family who let ITV in! We do appreciate their help, and honesty!

Why not challenge yourself to take the Food Waste Challenge now? Then pick up some tips and advice from www.lovefoodhatewaste.com

Food waste no more!

Nigel Brown of Nigel Brown cookery academy shows the Green family how to use up those blackened bananas, to make fresh pasta and generally be more creative in the kitchen.

So we're done WEEK 4 with our Food Lover families now..

They challenged themselves to cut down their food waste specifically :

• Family A to Plan their meals a week in advance and only shop for what is needed,



• Family B to Shop online and avoid shopping more than once a week,



• Family C to try to cook with fresh ingredients more often



• Family D to tell all their friends about http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/

A treat in WEEK 5 is a visit from Nigel Brown, local celebrity chef to raid their fridges and store cupboards and create them a meal from scratch! Very Ready Steady Cook. Now all they want to know is, can he come back next week??

WEEK 6 is for keeping another Food Waste diary, and seeing what the difference is between WEEK 1's and this one - the plan is, they should be saving lots of money, and lots of food! We'll see...

Food Waste Challenge!

We're working with 4 local families to tackle their food waste so here's some updates!

If you're inspired to tackle your own food waste then try - what have you got to lose?
1) keep a diary of everything food wise that goes in the bin, down the sink or in the dog! Also keep a note of WHY they need throwing.
2) look through your diary, and group things together eg. leftovers, inedibles, mouldy, out of date
3) Consider Why these things went in the bin - cooked too much? not used up in time? didn't like it?
4) Think of how you could have used the food before it was beyond the edible stage. Check out www.lovefoodhatewaste. com for new recipes, storage solutions, portion calculators and more!
5) tell a friend what you've been up to! challenge them to have a go!

WEEK 1
We sat down with our families and had a chat about their kitchen - what meals do they like to eat? what seems to end up in the bin no matter what, week in, week out? What equipment do they have?
All four families are so different ; one family of 3 teens, one of two school age kids, mum and dad, a middle aged couple, and a couple in their 20's.
Everyone has different favourite foods and interest in cooking, but all are taking the Challenge!

WEEK 2
The families have been keeping a food waste diary - everrrything that goes in the bin that's foodie, right down to apple cores and tea bags. There's lots of dairy on their lists, and some soggy fruit and veg. One family have put lots of food in because it's past the best before date - but that's only a recommendation. Use your senses to see if it's still edible, don't just go by the printed date! It's Use by dates that should have danger signs appearing with the date - they come on dairy, meat and danger foods.

WEEK 3
All the families are receiving a toolkit to help them out including : a freezer board (to keep a list of what's in the cold cupboard!), food bag clips (for re-sealing bread, or packets), tupperware containers, a fridge thermometer (should be between 1-5 degrees celcius) and loads of recipes and tips. They'll also get specific items to tackle their own problems. One family got a permanent marker and a roll of sellotape to label their freezer tubs. Once the food is used up, a new label can be made easily. Another family got thermos mugs - keeping those cups of tea warm, instead of having to chuck them down the sink, cold.

More updates to follow....

What a week!

Real Nappy Week 2011 : Austin Mitchell MP, Jo Smalley (local nappy champion) and son Callum (age 2+1/2)

We've been to Immingham, Cleethorpes and Grimsby this week to show parents the new options for cloth, washable nappies. Lots of people have been really surprised at how modern they are - terry towels and pins aren't needed! Also the cost savings have been a big impact - parents can save over £500 - and more if nappies are used on little brothers or sisters.

Lots of mums and grannies also told me about how proud they were of having a line of clean nappies when their little ones were...well ..little!

Our society has changed a lot in the way we think of products, and many disposables have become the norm : wipes, biros and sanitary products to name just a few.

But this isn't good for our planet, to use something once, then throw it away. And where is 'away' anyway? All that rubbish has to go somewhere.

Jo, mum of Callum, said :
" I decided to become a local nappy Champion because there's not enough awareness of Real nappies locally, and I know how easy they are to use. I got mine online, at a reduced cost because they were second hand, but unused. Callum was potty trained before he was 2 and I'm sure it's because he was in Real nappies."

Lots of learning all round it would seem, as Jo could tell the designs have developed even since Callum was in nappies.

More information:

Lots of advice about the choice of Real nappies is available on www.goreal.org.uk They also have a very helpful Helpline : 0845 350 0606

Information about North East Lincolnshire Council's £50 refund on Real nappies is found on www.nelincs.gov.uk/nappy

Get that junk out of my house!

Spring cleaning, junk mail and getting into the garden

Spring has sprung, the grass is riz, I wonder where the birdies iz...

Spring is definitely here - the sunshine is showing up my cobwebs! So... the big cleaning jobs inevitably means de-cluttering is seriously needed.

My clothes with holes in are going to the textiles banks (poor lonely odd socks too!) to be recycled - a job I've been putting off for too long in the wintery weather.

The toys and games that haven't been played with are going to charity shops - if they've gathered such a thick layer of dust in the garage, no-one will miss them much!

How will you be Reducing, Reusing and Recycling waste in your spring clean?

Junk Mail

We've got a new page on the Council website about tackling your junk mail too. Have a look at the green Let's Waste Less button on www.nelincs.gov.uk/recycle to see our ideas to Stop Junk Mail.

A friend pointed out recently that, actually, negative association is NOT what direct mail companies want, and it costs them to get the leaflets delivered too, so it's in their ethical, environmental and economic advantage for us to stop receiving it - if it's unwanted!

They should respect your choice too.

Into the garden

I bravely made my way around the dandelions to pick some beautiful daffodils from my garden this week. When Mr RubbishGeek decides to get mowing the lawn (or if I beat him to it!) our compost bin will be chockablock very quickly. Some grass might even have to go in the garden waste recycling collection.

If you haven't got a compost bin yet, the site for ordering one in North East Lincs still means residents of our area can get a subsidised price, as well as free delivery, kitchen caddy (for veg peelings) and activator liquid (to help you along). For more details go to www.nelincs.gov.uk/recycle again, and next to the green Let's Waste Less button, select Home Composting. Lots of tips there too, to get you started. It's a great time to have a go if you haven't tried to home compost before, as the weather gets warmer.

Right...now to Spring into action!!

Check it out!

New waste and collections calendar online

If you live in North East Lincolnshire, and get a bit confused between weekly and fortnightly collections - there's now an online solution!

We're delighted to present our tool which you can enter either your postcode, street name and number or house name, and identify your dates for the next collections for general waste, recycling and garden waste over the next six months.

www.nelincs.gov.uk/refusecollections

We're really hoping this will help residents to know when their recycling will be collected from their doorsteps, and make it even easier to recycle.

So, why not test out your home address today?

For those who don't have access to a computer can still get their collection dates by phoning the waste hotline Monday -Friday on 01472 325841

Recycling in action

Key Stage 2 playing 'Who wants to be a recycl-aire?'
'We are stars', it says on the display board - and they certainly are!

Hearing the story of Ian Graham (recycling officer) and his amazing recycled Time Machine

We love sharing the recycling message with the local schools, and were delighted to be invited to take part in South Parade primary school's Science Week.

By listening carefully to the story 'No Time To Waste' and answering the quiz questions, Key Stage 2 classes learnt about rubbish and recycling through history, and what we need to do now to save our planet. We are now producing more rubbish than at any other period of time in history, and that needs to change.

We're looking forward to visiting a Year 5 class again in Climate Week, for them to have a go at making their own recycled paper, out of old magazines.

School visits are so important because these children are going to be making the decisions in the future - and they are often much more enthusiastic than most adults!

Our bottle greenhouse is finally finished!

It took approximately 1,500 of empty 2 litre plastic bottles to do it, but it was most definitely worth it.

Our recycling officer was proud to help lift the roof into place, and the health promotions team are looking forward to growing all sorts of fruit and veg inside it.

We've already had some requests from local schools for the handbook on how to make their own too.

What a great example of re-use eh?

North East Lincolnshire Council gets blogging
I've been asked to help test out the www.nelincs.gov.uk/blogs facility on our new style website. I believe this is the only prototype blog so far for us, so some posts from this site will be copied over there, and we'll see how it goes.

Champions
We're keen to share the waste-less benefits, as well as cost savings of Real Nappies and now local parents have stepped up to help out too. We now have 9 local Real Nappy champions. They have all used washable nappies and will be sharing the messages and their experiences across North East Lincolnshire.

They're getting ready for Real Nappy week at the moment, which takes place from 16th-20th May www.nelincs.gov.uk/nappy

Fruity fun at Freeman Street

Our picture is from our team's visit to the Freeman Street Market Big 5 challenge on Saturday 26th February. Although we had planned to make smoothies by bicycle power again, our electrical skills let us down. Luckily we had a Plan B, so we could still whizz up some lovely smoothies - made of plum, banana and strawberry, with orange juice base. The fruit could be old or tired, and the smoothie would still be tasty and refreshing. As it was, the helpful grocers of the market gave us some really fresh and flavoursome fruits to sample.

Compass fm were hosting the event which showed how you can cook from fresh in 5 minutes, for under 5 pounds, and make some really tasty meals, and we were on hand to show how to make the most of that food!

We spoke to lots of people and handed out our new recipe and tips cards - including a trifle, fish pie, spaghetti carbonara, and non-alcoholic fruit punch. This is all part of the Love Food Hate Waste campaign - a national campaign to reduce food waste. For more information visit www.nelincs.gov.uk/lovefoodhatewaste

Our favourite family popped down to see us too - the Johanssons kept a diary of the food they threw in the bin for 1 week. They were surprised how much was being thrown away, and after taking the Food Lover challenge, found they were able to save£50 a month. Careful storage and planning ahead were two things that helped to reduce the food that lurked in their fridge or went to the family pet.

We're looking for four more families to take the Food Lover challenge in May of this year, so keep an eye out on the Council webpages, if this could be you? www.nelincs.gov.uk/lovefoodhatewaste

Filled up February!

Full hands

I recently saw a great way of explaining why we should look after the environment:

" Many of us grew up with the adage "Don't Go Empty Handed" ... meaning that when we accepted the hospitality of another, we contributed in some way. Maybe we brought dessert to a dinner, or flowers to the hostess.
On a daily basis, we enjoy the generosity of nature ... we eat foods from the land, use fuels from the earth ... we enjoy fresh air and clean water and a multitude of natural resources. What if we decided to bring something to the party ... to contribute in some way?
We can consciously consider what we can do to give back ... to help the environment rather than deplete it.
When we entered a friend's home with full hands, they smiled and felt appreciated. The environment offers us it's hospitality every day ... let's not go empty handed"

www.reducefootprints.blogpost.com

Filled up...er other things!

We have recently begun the search for keen‘Real Nappy Champions’ for N.E.Lincs. This would allow you to be involved in promotion as little or as much as you would like, depending on your availability. Your views would inform our officers to improve the advertisement of the money back scheme, and better inform the choices of local parents about the alternatives to disposables. If you or your family have benefitted from the option of modern, washable nappies and would like to share your experiences with other parents, we would like to hear from you.

We would also like to share information more widely about the 50/50 money back scheme, to encourage more parents in our area to choose to ‘Go Real’, with up to £50 set up costs refunded. More information can be found on the website www.nelincs.gov.uk/nappy
On the national Go Real website www.goreal.org.uk you will find further information about the national campaign and their promotions

Love is in the air!

And of course - Valentine's day is coming up!
Why not show your love a different way this year by saving some money for your household, instead of spending it?! The New Year's resolutions page on www.lovefoodhatewaste.com give some quick ideas for how you can save up to £50 a month!
Our team is looking forward to sharing the Love at Freeman Street Market, Big 5 competition on Saturday 26th Feb 10am-12pm, we'd LOVE to see you there too!

May your life be full this February, but not your bin!

WOW

This a great competition for children year 5 and up to present their ideas to Wipe Out Waste.
It has come from footprintfriends.com and is now in the third year of running, so if you know anyone with a great idea, then pass them the details!
The WOW finals will be held at a London location in the summer of 2011 so the deadline for entries is Tuesday 1st March 2011

The site says : group up into teams of up to 4; assess the potential impact of waste wiped out via the adoption of their ONE BIG WOW IDEA; complete the WOW questionnaire; and submit it to Footprint Friends.
Waste* in this context would be in the broadest sense; it could be referenced by energy, water,food, materials, carbon, time and money and so on. They will also need to speculate how much waste would be saved in schools if their idea was adopted nationally.
*Our definition of waste is anything that is being used carelessly, being wasted, thrown away unnecessarily, misused, is surplus to requirement and so on. - The WOW aim is to encourage schools to get closer and closer to being zero waste. Put simply, zero waste extends current approaches to recycling by introducing the concept of circular systems in which as much waste as possible is reused, similar to the way that resources are reused in nature.
The application process is intentionally simple – all your students have to do is come up with ONE idea. Schools can submit more than one entry if they wish.

Let's see if we can get a winner from NELincs!

http://www.footprintfriends.com/Campaigns/WOW-Invitation.htm

Waste-less resolutions??

Happy new year to all, hope you've had lots of chances to encourage friends and family in 'waste-less' ways this Christmas?
Tomorrow is twelfth night, so see how much you can reduce, reuse and recycle in the seasonal tidy up.
Christmas cards can go to the following places: Tesco, Sainsbury's, TKMaxx, Marks & Spencers and Home Sense stores. In North East Lincolnshire we also accept them for recycling in the blue papers box. However if they go to the latter three shops, you can be supporting the Woodland Trust, and can even vote on their website for where they should plant more trees! www.woodlandtrust.org.uk
The blog www.myzerowaste.com covers loads of ideas for using christmas cards creatively too.
Let me know if you're making resolutions to be green and clean!