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 leftovers, inedibles, mouldy, out of date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