Which Can Can Go In

Did you know everything that can go in your orange box in North East Lincolnshire?

Cans that can go in your can orange box include Food and Drink cans and tins (rinsed out), household aerosols like Deodorants, Air Fresheners, Furniture Polish etc. ...... (not things you use in the garage though).

I had an airfreshener can I wanted to recycle this week, I knew I could leave the labels on now and also on the integral bits of plastic nozzle, but the plastic cap that was easy to take off I didn't put in (it went in the general waste).

If you want more information about what goes in each box have a look at the website:

http://www.nelincs.gov.uk/resident/recycling-rubbish-waste/household-collections/triple-boxes-recycling-collection/

Great expectations?

Changes to the service

All households in North East Lincolnshire are now expected to recycle using the facilites available to them.

For most people this means the triple boxes scheme, with paper in the Blue Box, Glass in the Green box, and Cans and tins in the Orange box. The boxes are collected fortnightly and residents can find out their collection day by typing in their postcode at www.nelincs.gov.uk/bincollections

We asked the public if they thought this was a reasonable expectation and offered two sign up sheets, one labelled 'Agree' one labelled 'Disagree'. Over three events we collected 79 signatures on the 'Agree' sheets and Zero on the 'Disagree'. Brilliant!

Some kind people even left comments such as ' It's been a long time coming' and ' Excellent idea' and ' Without recycling too many items would just go to waste'.

If residents haven't had their triple boxes then their first set is free! The way to order is to phone up the Waste hotline on 01472 325841

Celebrity Spotting

Prof. David Bellamy is now all in favour of Real nappies!

Lincolnshire Environmental Awards 2012

Congratulations to the volunteer Real Nappy Champions of North East Lincolnshire for being shortlisted in the Community category of the Lincolnshire Environmental awards 2012.

They were awarded a Highly Commended certificate, and spread the word about Real Nappy options to over 100 people on the day - including David Bellamy!!

The Real Nappy Champions are local parents who use/ have used Real nappies on their children, and want to tell others about them. They can offer advice and help to parents thinking of using them, who have questions or who simply have never heard of them.

Real nappies are the modern washable nappy option, which can save parents up to £500 on their first child, and £1000 on each subsequent child! www.nelincs.gov.uk/nappy The average baby will cost £1000 in disposable nappies, but parents can get set up in Real nappies for just £200. They go on just like a disposable, with poppers or velcro, but can be washed at 40 degrees or 60 degrees in washing machines and can dry overnight. They come in lots of different designs and styles. This can sometimes be confusing for parents trying to make the environmental choice, so the Champions volunteers are on hand to offer their experience and help.

One of the Champions has even been inspired to set up a trial kit lending scheme to help parents test out the different styles of nappies, before they commit to making a purchase. http://www.comfybots.co.uk/ For a deposit and a small fee, Tracey will lend families a kit either before or after babies are born, so that the chief nappy changers can get to grips with their choices.

The Champions also promote the cashback incentive from North East Lincolnshire Council, which can really help parents with the initial set up costs. Even if they only buy a few of the real nappies to try, they can be refunded half their costs, up to £100 spending, so families can claim up to £50 cashback. www.nelincs.gov.uk/nappy

We are delighted to be highly commended and recognised for the time and help given by the volunteers!

The cardboard question

Recycle week was last week and we were out and about in the borough, taking on board comments about our changes in collection services, so we'll now start answering some of your Frequently Asked Questions.

From 1st June 2012 cardboard will no longer be accepted in your brown (garden waste) bin. Instead it must be placed in the green wheeled bin or taken to the CRC. This is to improve the quality of our garden waste collections and the compost produced.


In fact we've already seen a dramatic improvement in the quality of garden waste being recycled - no more lurking polystyrene or nappies, cat litters or car parts! It really was amazing what people were sneaking into their garden waste collections, and the cardboard meant it was easily disguised! This meant we had to incinerate (instead of recycling) 600 tonnes of the garden waste collections last year, spoiling it for all those who thought they were doing their bit by recycling. It was really sad.

So... we're hoping to be able to reintroduce a separate cardboard collection from households in the future, but in the meantime we have to ask the really keen recyclers to bring it to our community recycling centres where we can check it's clean and add some to our composting process.

Thank you to all you keen recyclers - let's waste less and recycle more!



There's lots of help and guidance available to help households who are struggling to recycle or to fit their waste in their green wheeled bin, please contact the Waste hotline on 01472 325841 or follow us on Facebook or Twitter . @RubbishGeek and www.facebook.com/letswasteless



Thanks to all those who are already recycling and cutting down on their rubbish! Let's work together to protect the planet and waste less!

Changing times

 

Look out for the new booklet

Please keep an eye out for the new booket coming through the letterboxes of all households in North East lincolnshire over the next few weeks. It tells you all about the services available for recycling and waste disposal, as well as some changes agreed by the Council recently.

Some of the big changes will be covered on the blog in the next few weeks, including Frequently Asked Questions answered.

The ones to be aware of are :

• All residents must recycle as much as possible using the triple boxes.
• Side waste (extra bagged waste) will not be collected. All waste needs to fit inside the green wheeled bin.
• From 1st April 2012 residents must pay for a second garden waste bin collection. All residents are allowed one bin for garden waste collected free of charge.
• From 1st April 2012 residents will be charged for replacement wheeled bins. The first set of recycling boxes will be provided free of charge and subsequent sets charged for. 
• From 1st June 2012 cardboard will no longer be accepted in your brown (garden waste) bin. Instead it must be placed in the green wheeled bin or taken to the CRC. This is to improve the quality of our garden waste collections and the compost produced.

There's lots of help and guidance available to help households who are struggling to recycle or to fit their waste in their green wheeled bin, please contact the Waste hotline on 01472 325841 or follow us on Facebook or Twitter . @RubbishGeek and www.facebook.com/letswasteless

Thanks to all those who are already recycling and cutting down on their rubbish! Let's work together to protect the planet and waste less!

 

Out and about for Real Nappy Week 2012

Happy to help

Our team have enjoyed popping into various groups and locations to show off the modern designs for Real Nappies this week for Real Nappy Week 2012.

People have been genuinely surprised to see how easy they are to use and wash, and how much money they can save.

Thanks to all those who have come to chat with us about their nappy options, whether on purpose or just passing by!

For more information on Real Nappies visit http://www.goreal.org.uk/ or for details of support (including up to £50 cashback incentive from North East Lincs Council) visit www.nelincs.gov.uk/nappy  

On Tuesday of Real Nappy Week 2012 in Freshney Place, Grimsby

We also got into the local paper ! :) Have a read at http://www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk/Mums-urged-switch-usable-nappies-save-money/story-15848547-detail/story.html

Visits in Real Nappy Week 2012

It's here again! Real Nappy Week organised by those lovely people at Go Real  www.goreal.org.uk

We'll be out and about in North East Lincolnshire to talk to residents about their choices when it comes to nappies, and to show off the options in modern, reusable nappies.

We'll also be telling them how to claim back £50 off their purchases from North East Lincolnshire Council

Hope you can join us!

Please feel free to share this image on Facebook, or print it out as a poster to share locally. Thanks!

Reusing our rubbish



Over £1400 was raised for charity this time we had a bring and buy sale at the Grimsby Community Recycling Centre!

10 porcelain dolls had been disposed of at the Community Recycling Centre, but were rehomed on the day

 Thanks to all who made donations on the day.

It really does show that one person's trash can be another's treasure.

Items for sale included : 1 telescope, 2 full sets of dining chairs, 3 airing racks, 4 oversized teddies, 5 sets of plates and crockery, 6 sets of golf clubs and 10 porcelain dolls

Thanks to our lovely volunteers!

To find out when the next sale day is being held please visit our events page on the Council website (but it's usually the last Friday of every month)

Spring into action

Too busy to blog??


Well I must admit the blog feels a little neglected recently, sorry about that!
But with only 2 more views needed to hit the 3000 views mark, I think it's been ticking over nicely!

We've been very busy out and about with workshops and planning roadshows, including paper recycling with South Parade primary school. We showed them how energy intensive, and resource intensive the recycling process can be , especially for water! They made some fantastic posters about why it's important to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle and some lovely creative recycled paper.

There are going to be some changes happening to our recycling service, so residents please look out for a booklet coming through your doors in April with full details!

One of the big things will be that all residents are required to recycle, using the triple boxes. If residents don't have the boxes they should phone the Waste hotline on (01472) 325841. This will be in effect from 1st April 2012, so not far away!

It's our shared planet, and we all need to get into the habits of making less waste, reusing wherever possible, and recycling what we can, to save our resources for future generations.

For more information on events coming up see the web pages http://www.nelincs.gov.uk/resident/recycling-rubbish-waste/competitions--promotions-and-events/

Let's get composting!

Well it wouldn't fit through the letterbox but FINALLY it has arrived! My new compost bin!

£10 purchase from http://www.nel.getcomposting.com/ (cheaper from here, because the Council pay part of the cost before you! AND you get a little caddy for the kitchen)

Actually if you look carefully there are two here, as I took advantage of the buy one get one half price offer. There are therefore also two composting kitchen caddies, for peelings, flower heads etc.

If you live in North East Lincolnshire you can also get a copy of a little book on composting for free (RRP £4.95) and a Frequently Asked Questions sheet, to help you on your way!

http://www.greenbooks.co.uk/Book/41/Composting.html

 Getting greener

  This is brilliant, because the theme for this week's Rubbish Diet Challenge has been all about gardening.

I've been challenged to plant a few salad crops instead of buying large lettuces that I inevitably don't finish, and come in polythene wrappers - if I had my own in the garden I could just go and get the leaves I need for that meal!

I must admit I am not green fingered in the slightest, but with Spring in the air, I am keen to make the most of our garden. Most of it is taken up with a trampoline, admittedly, but the idea of the satisfaction of growing my own basics; carrots, onions etc. is very tempting!

Back to bad habits

This week has been a slump for the rubbish diet with a whole black bin bag going out for the collectors
 :( Serves me right for being smug last week!
Lots of recycling went too, nicely separated, but somehow everything I used this week seemed to have packaging that had to go in the regular bin. Future Hubby remembered to put the recycling boxes out, so big pat on the back for him!

Must make more effort with shopping in the next three weeks.

It's worth seeing how others have been getting on with their Rubbish Diet too :
http://www.beyondthebluebin.com/ is one of my favourites!

Chocolate experiments !

Tiffin - food waste super saver

I am a self confessed Chocaholic. I had some friends round on Friday afternoon and when testing the biscuits in preparation (essential) for their arrival, found they were soft :(
I think the seal has gone on my biscuit barrel. I wasn't going to chuck them though, not just yet, but I did need a tasty treat to go with our cups of tea.

Never fear! I had a lovely recipe for Chocolate fridge cake, that I've been recommending left, right and centre, from http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/

But I couldn't find the recipe card at home, or online, despite hunting high and low! So, instead I got all experimental (and checked out a recipe from Jamie Oliver online instead!).

I've also included my next three Top Kitchen waste saver tools in this post: weighing scales, spatula and reusable baking sheet.

So here's my experimental tiffin recipe, with some tribute to that nice Jamie Oliver:

1 tablespoon Golden syrup

200g Plain Chocolate

150g butter or margarine

200g digestive biscuits (I didn't have enough around the house, but did find some neglected cranberry biscuits left from Christmas to make up the total)

1 handful of sultanas

1 handful raisins

3 crushed meringue nests (I'd made some earlier in the week, and they were already half squished! Jamie's suggestion)

If you don't have some of the fillings other substitutions to bulk it out could be : nuts (any kind), pieces of fudge, chocolate chips, dried fruits, dried peel, cherries... let your imagination run!




Scales are my number 4 top tool in the kitchen





1. Line a shallow tin (approx 25cmx15cm) with a reusable baking sheet (if you have one) or greaseproof paper.

2.Weigh out the ingredients.

3. Lightly crush the meringue nests and biscuits, mix in other dry ingredients.

4. Melt the chocolate, butter and golden syrup gently. You could zap it in the microwave, but I chose to make a bain marie, a pan of boiling water on the stove with a bowl resting on the top (not plastic though!)

 5. Add the dry ingredient mix to the chocolate mixture and stir well. Remove from heat.

Plastic spatula is my number 5 top tool in the kitchen.

It makes a big difference to cleaning out bowls 

and getting the maximum of mixture into the tin

6. Empty mixture into the tin and smooth into the corners using the back of a metal spoon. It's best if the mixture is 1 -2 cms deep.

7. Place in a fridge to set for 1-2 hours. Cut into small squares to serve.



Reusable / washable baking sheet is my number 6 top tool in the kitchen.
A bit fiddly to wash a dry, but lasts a long while and saves on waste.

 Let me know how your experiments turn out and what you add in!

Week 4 Rubbish Diet Challenge

Smug. What a horrible word.
But it describes me rather well at the moment, when peering into the bin.

Have a look yourself:

Contents of our general waste bin Week 4 of the Rubbish Diet Challenge

I'm taking part in the Rubbish Diet for 8 weeks, and halfway through, we're down to a lot of recycling, but only half a black plastic bag in the general waste bin!
Our cardboard collection is monthly over the winter, and was crammed full!

I'm particularly glad it's not a lot this week, because I know that it is going to landfill. Normally in North East Lincolnshire we can be somewhat soothed by the fact that general waste doesn't get buried underground but incinerated and converted to energy and steam. Not ideal, and highly controversial, but also not preserved for generations to come. However every year the plant has a shut down to clean, perform maintenance and safety checks. And that time is now. Mostly the contents include : plastic trays (not marked at all for what type of plastic is being used), plastic bottle tops (not recyclable), tissues, and some melon that was forgotten about and not at all tasty, but I did try to eat some! I feel an angry letter coming on to my supermarket about plastics.

So, if you're a resident in our area, why not take up a Rubbish Diet Challenge yourselves? Now's as good a time as any.
And if you know your waste goes to landfill, think on what a legacy we're leaving.

This week's topic to tackle is household chores.. hmmm.... further into the bin we go!
Ah well, I promised to be honest!

Let's Waste Less.

Trashion from Grimsby Institute

I was delighted to be invited along to the local College Grimsby Institute's Trashion show on Friday.

 Some extremely hard work has resulted in some of these amazing pieces.

I think for this blog post, really, we'll let the pictures do the talking! What materials can you spot??

A tour of my kitchen!



Welcome to my kitchen!

I thought that as this week's subject for the Rubbish Diet Challenge was Food waste (and I'm meant to be a bit of an expert on the matter, giving out advice on Love Food Hate Waste etc. ) I would share with you some of my favourite tools in the kitchen which I believe help to reduce what food goes to waste.

So #1 comes in as: Food Bag Clips!

So many packets may claim to have resealing properties, but I inevitably don't open them properly, or have very little faith in the lasting stickiness of what is essentially a line of sellotape the company has so thoughtfully (hem hem) provided.

They come in lots of shapes and sizes. Some people use clothes pegs, some use bulldog clips, anything will do, as long as you squeeze as much air as possible out of the bag first, and make sure there's not another hole at the other end or something!

Especially useful for breadbags, because, let's face it, the twiddly little best before label does Nothing to reseal.

Food bag clips - all over my kitchen! I find them especially useful on big packets - eg. big bags of crisps and bread

Waste Reduction Tool #2 : Tupperware

Well, if we're going to buy stuff in packaging, we might as well make it reusable!
This week I challenged myself to avoid using clingfilm. So instead of wrapping my sausages to put in the freezer, I put them in an assortment of tupperwares instead.
One of my favourite kinds of tupperware has different sections for lunches etc. - yes, getting a little geeky but it is very useful!

Tupperware - lots of free items available in the form of packaging. I use it for everything!

 Waste Reduction Tool  #3 Mugs with lids!

Being an avid coffee drinker (mainly at work) I was delighted to get a mug with a lid this Christmas.

When we worked with Food Waste Families last year, several of them found that they would make tea or coffee in the morning out of habit, but never get round to drinking it all. They were shocked by how much they were throwing away down the sink and the simple addition of a thermos mug meant that one cuppa could travel with them in the car, to work, and still be a nice temperature to drink for elevensies!

Often we don't think of things like flat fizzy drinks or dregs of cold coffee being 'real' waste, but it all adds up!

My fave Christmas present was a KeepCup, which keeps my coffee hot for longer with a lid. Genius.

So, come on then, what are your favourite tools in the kitchen to avoid food waste??

Don't forget to check out how other families are doing this week with their Rubbish Diet Challenge.

Final weigh in for the week : 1 bag of plastic bottles for recycling, half a black bag of kitchen packaging, one carrier bag full of plastic films for recycling.

Those tricky tissues

What is the Rubbish Diet Challenge? 

We're always trying to encourage our lovely locals to cut down on their waste, but how easy can it really be? Challenge accepted!!

Alongside 8 other bloggers we'll be following the top tips and advice of household waste guru Karen Cannard of The Rubbish Diet, as she encourages us on how to out our bin on a diet too! You too can see her tips and advice, as well as see how she got on when the spotlight was on her bins at http://www.therubbishdiet.blogspot.com/.

We'll be blogging away here, as well as tweeting on @RubbishGeek and Faceybooking at Letswasteless Nelc

We're up to Week 3


The theme for this week is FOOD! One of my favourites.


Check out previous posts for some top foody saver tips : http://www.letswastelessnel.blogspot.com/2011/11/top-5-foody-waste-saver-websites.html
http://www.letswastelessnel.blogspot.com/2011/07/food-lovers-finale-for-this-year-anyway.html


I don't think I'm really too bad with food waste, however it's tissue central here at Rubbish Geek HQ :( 


I've got a cold, which seems to have lasted forever (actually it's only a week!) and crumpled up tissues are filling up every bin in the house. I don't think the count up will be a good one on the waste front this week. In fact it feels like I've got worse! Not only did the tissues stack up, but when I went to buy them the best deal financially was a BOGOF, that came wrapped in an extra layer of plastic film grrrr.


I'm still discovering what extra bits can be recycled, and Future Hubby (FH) has decided to pitch in with his suggestions for sorting our recycling system. We've now got one bin in the kitchen for recyclables, kept in the pantry, which he assures me will get sorted into the appropriate containers as soon as it gets filled, by either of us...hmmmm... will believe it when I see it FH!


Will keep you posted on progress this week. In the meantime why not check out how some of the other RubbishDiet bloggers are getting on? You can find them all at www.therubbishdiet.blogspot.com

Pack it in!

What is the Rubbish Diet Challenge? 

We're always trying to encourage our lovely locals to cut down on their waste, but how easy can it really be? Challenge accepted!!

Alongside 8 other bloggers we'll be following the top tips and advice of household waste guru Karen Cannard of The Rubbish Diet, as she encourages us on how to out our bin on a diet too! You too can see her tips and advice, as well as see how she got on when the spotlight was on her bins at http://www.therubbishdiet.blogspot.com/.

We'll be blogging away here, as well as tweeting on @RubbishGeek and Faceybooking at Letswasteless Nelc

Week 2

Shopping in a waste aware way

This week’s focus for The Rubbish Diet Challenge is on Shopping!

I was feeling rather smug as I decided not to put out my general waste bin this week. All it had in it was a few pieces of polystyrene from a new TV. I wonder if there’s a way of buying electrical goods unpackaged?

Unfortunately because I wasn’t putting out my general waste bin, I forgot to put out my very full recycling boxes, so it’s either a two week wait or a trip to our friendly local Community Recycling Centre. And it rained. So they’re heavy. L

I went to an interesting talk this week with work on over-packaged products, and what consumers can do about it. Did you know you can report companies to Trading Standards if you feel something has excess packaging?

They can open up conversation with the company on improving efficiencies, making the packaging more easily recyclable or out of recycled materials. If the company can’t justify why the packaging use has been chosen, they may have to change it. I actually started boycotting one supermarket at one time because they had vac-packed an individual pepper!

Over the weekend I’ve been cleaning out my fridge ready for the fortnightly(ish) shop that’s well needed and using up leftovers. A lot of the products I’ve been buying come in the annoying plastic film, like my bag of beansprouts and pack of crumpets. This film can now be recycled at stores that have plastic bag recycling, so I’ll have to start separating it out as it would eliminate the majority of my waste. I don’t know if this includes clingfilm though. I prefer using old margarine tubs for leftovers. Clingfilm feels like an indulgence now!

However, it’s not just about recycling it, how can I avoid it? I already have reusable bags for my loose fruit and veg, but some things aren’t really sold loose locally to me (that I’m aware of).

It’s a case of weighing up between how much do I want a product if I can’t avoid extra packaging to go with it?!

I am very keen on my stylish reusable bags, but was pleased to spot spare cardboard boxes available at the end of the tills in the supermarket the other day.

Summary of waste for the week: 1 black bag of kitchen waste

Action for the week: Find a separate point to collect plastic films. Stop using clingfilm! 

Rubbish Diet Challenge 2012

What is the Rubbish Diet Challenge? 

We're always trying to encourage our lovely locals to cut down on their waste, but how easy can it really be? Challenge accepted!!

Alongside 8 other bloggers we'll be following the top tips and advice of household waste guru Karen Cannard of The Rubbish Diet, as she encourages us on how to out our bin on a diet too! You too can see her tips and advice, as well as see how she got on when the spotlight was on her bins at www.therubbishdiet.blogspot.com.

We'll be blogging away here, as well as tweeting on @RubbishGeek and Faceybooking at Letswasteless Nelc

Week 1 I took my homework back last night, and took some piccies. Week one we need to work out what waste we're throwing out, and what can be recycled in our area.

I've just moved house into North East Lincolnshire Council and new recycling system, so I've got new boxes and bins to get to grips with. Details of the collection system are on www.nelincs.gov.uk/recycle

Green wheelie bin is general waste (collected weekly)
Brown wheelie bin is garden waste and cardboard (collected fortnightly)
Green box is glass  (collected fortnightly)
Orange box is cans and tins (collected fortnightly)
Blue box is paper (collected fortnightly) see below

I've also got huge amounts of paper to recycle, having had a blitz on the filing system during the house move, so despite having a fortnightly collection of recycling, the box is full already with one week still to go! I keep the paper box inside for convenience.

Last week I put out loads of cardboard in the monthly winter collection (brown bin) from christmas presents. 

In the general waste bin (weekly) was 1 black sack of kitchen rubbish and two carrier bags of household rubbish. Not too bad really, I felt. The recycling boxes (fortnightly) were full to the brim from a party the week before.

So what's in the bins this week? 

Kitchen bin.. mostly plastic films, and yoghurt pots

bathroom bin ... some recyclables have sneaked in here!

 I can see a lot of plastic - plastic films, plastic yoghurt pots and I used one of my bug bears this morning - plastic meat trays.

However on closer inspection I found the tray is actually a type 1 plastic! 

Type 1 plastic (as well as 2 and 3) can be recycled with plastic bottles in bring banks, one of which we have in the village. So the film and wadding will have to go, and I'll wash it out, but hurray - this tray at least can be recycled! Check for a number inside a triangle to work out what types of plastic are being used.
There are also a few items other that should be recycled, like paper and cardboard in the bathroom bin (I blame DH, he's not very good at looking beyond the nearest bin). So an action for future could be to get separate areas in the bathroom for recycling to go on.

My compost bucket is full to the brim but… I had to leave my outdoor compost bin behind in the house move, bye bye House A...

Compost bucket, full to the brim!

So my target action for this week is to buy a new one for my garden in House B. In North East Lincs the price is subsidised by the council, and includes delivery, a compost bucket and an activator liquid to speed up the process. www.nel.getcomposting.com is the website to order them from.

I thought I was going to have a terrible start to the week - as it was Chinese New Year, we invited some friends over to share a meal. We're not Chinese, but do LOVE chinese food. However I hate having to deal with all the various cartons and tubs that come with a takeaway. I try to re-use the tubs, but have ended up with a cupboard full of spare tupperware which drives DH bonkers, especially as many are missing matching lids! Anyway, this time brain wave struck! We ended up going to our local chinese restaurant instead and let them do the washing up! Lots of waste avoided, as well as having to tidy my dining room table!

Ok, lots of info about my bins - up close, and honest! 

How are your bins this week?

Rubbish Geek

New year's solutions!

I've been getting all creative with the Love Food Hate Waste theme, which means everyone benefits!

Well those in the office benefited from banana bread offerings, and you lovely readers can benefit from a bit of poetry.

It's important that we all make the most of the food we've got, because no-one likes throwing food in the bin, down the drain or out to the birds - not when its you that was intended to eat it!

And if we can pass on the benefits, then everyone's benefits grow! 

We're looking for some local Food Champions to spread the Love Food Hate Waste messages into their schools, community groups and colleges, workplaces and working men's clubs... anywhere really! So here's some verse to inspire you (hopefully!)

A poem about Food: 

We post a lot on Love Food Hate Waste, 
Because we think it's Really Great,
So now we think it's time to share,
Not just on here, but EVERYWHERE

There's money savings, help and tips,
Not to be secret, so let it slip -
To neighbours, friends, to mums & dads,
To get some help will make them glad

Recipes and FAQs,
not just for me, but you, and you
and everyone that we can tell
so the ranks of Food Lovers swell

Put up a poster, send round a card,
With a recipe on it – it’s not hard
To be a Food Lover just means you hate waste,
And want to give everyone a taste

Of £50 a month that could be saved
And CO2 gas effects that can be waived
So give some advice and egg someone on,
You too can be a Champion!

If you liked our poem and feel like making a difference in your community, follow the link to find out more about being a local Love Food Champion!

http://www.nelincs.gov.uk/resident/recycling-rubbish-waste/love-food-hate-waste/local-love-food-champions/ Love Food Hate Waste - Community

Those keen to have a go at tackling blackened bananas, here's a recipe for Banana Loaf:

8oz bananas

8oz plain flour

4oz margarine/ butter

2 eggs

2 tsps baking powder

4oz soft light brown sugar

1 sp mixed spice

1 tsp ground cinnamon

My bananas before starting out (Fairtrade of course!)

Mushy bananas can have other bananas added in too

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180ºc

2. Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin.

3. Cream together the sugar and margarine.

4. Beat in the eggs.

5. Add flour, spices and baking powder. Mix through.

6. Mash the bananas using a fork then add to the main mixture.

7. Put mixture into the tin and bake for 50minutes

The mixture doesn't look particularly appetising either!

Beautiful banana loaf!