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! 

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?

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!