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