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....