The Rubbish Diet

Meet the bin slimmers in London & New York

noreply@blogger.com (Almost Mrs Average) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:10:00 +0000

It's been great catching up with the volunteers who have taken The Rubbish Diet challenge, and finding out more about the specific issues that they are facing, as well as the new opportunities that they are discovering to help them reduce their household waste. So, having introduced you to a couple of households in Suffolk last week, this week we're heading for the city, or rather two cities, and saying hello to Donna in London and Amy over in New York.

Meet Donna

Living in London, with a challenging job that involves spending a lot of time away from home, means that with most aspects of her personal time, Donna has the "balance challenge". Taking on The Rubbish Diet is no exception to that rule!

For things to work for Donna and her husband (who also has has a time-consuming job) they really need efficient systems. Efficiency and ease are highly important to them. They don't have a car so for "bin slimming" habits to stick, their efforts need to be practical for the true urban dweller!

Donna tells me that their local council Tower Hamlets has really embraced recycling and makes it very easy for residents, and they also have a kerbside food waste collection programme. Since starting The Rubbish Diet, she has also discovered that a green garden waste collection is available for homes in her area, and was able to request for her street to be included, which will now be effective from next week.

She's found that local shops have been extremely helpful too, with facilities to recycle plastic bags, batteries and Brita water filters. A visit to her mobile phone provider prompted her to look into the Electrical Waste recycling that companies are obliged to provide and following a search on Google, she also learned about Sky's programme to take back older electrical satellite decoding boxes via a Freepost address.

Although Donna didn't tell her husband about this project at first, he was supportive from the moment he read her initial blog post. He has had some great ideas, including better labelling for their bins at home, and ensuring they verify with the council what should be included in each bin. For Donna, it will be interesting to see his reaction to changes as the weeks progress - and to figure out together how they can keep things simple, straightforward, and a part of their routines once the eight weeks are over.

Read more about Donna's progress on her blog: www.beatinglimitations.com/blog

Meet Amy

Amy lives with her husband in New York City and they already recycle a lot, so for them waste reduction is going to be the key challenge, and in particular food waste.

As well as having a regular waste collecton service, the couple also installed a garbage disposal unit in their kitchen, when it was remodelled last year. These used to be outlawed in NYC, but regulations have allowed them in recent years.

However, Amy tells me that although it has decreased the amount of food waste going into their rubbish bin, it doesn't address their actual food waste issue and this is something she would like to work on. She's also considering starting home composting by week 8 of The Rubbish Diet, which at the moment seems like a huge step.

This week, she's decided to take measures and ditch the disposables too, including tackling her coffee machine and switching to the reusable k-cup filter and buying coffee in bulk. She's also making the switch from disposable paper towels.

Amy tells me that her fellow rubbish dieters have inspired her to look further into the plastic bag recycling over in New York and she's now found that she can also take other types of plastic bags to participating retailers!

You can find out more about Amy's progress on her blog: www.beyondthebluebin.com

Monday Meeting: The Rubbish Diet Challenge Wk 2

noreply@blogger.com (Almost Mrs Average) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:41:00 +0000

After such a great start to Week 1, which saw our bin slimmers sorting out their recycling systems at home and getting familiar with what can be recycled locally, this week's challenge will take them to a whole different level when it comes to their waste busting mission.

Whilst last week's challenge was to recycle as much as they could, this week's focus moves to eliminating other waste through what they buy.

There are even more mini challenges to contend with this week, which will have the rubbish dieters scouring the shelves of the supermarkets and checking the packaging to see which products will suit their recycling bins and their rubbish bins alike.

This is the week, where I'd recommend that you allow an extra half-an-hour for your grocery shopping, or if you normally do it online, make some time to go off the store for just this occasion. It will be worth the effort.

So are you still up for the challenge? Great, then here we go:

This week is all about getting used to shopping with waste in mind, becoming knowledgeable about packaging and your own shopping habits and asking yourself some questions before you buy. It won't be easy because, against the aim of reducing waste you will also need to weigh-up other factors such as budget, convenience, values and personal taste. There is lots of information in the Week 2 of The Rubbish Diet Challenge guide, but these mini-challenges will get you started in the right direction.

1: Before you buy anything, ask yourself the following questions:

If I buy this product, will I definitely use it?

Can I buy it without packaging?

Can I reuse, recycle or compost the packaging?

Are the reycling options convenient?

Do I really need the product if the packaging ends up in landfill?

Without this packaging, will the contents end up as food waste?

Are there alternative products that create less waste than my usual choice?

Is the product\packaging made from recycled materials?

Can you make it at home?

2. Become familiar with recycling labels: The first thing you need to understand about recycling labels, is that they should NEVER replace advice from your local authority. Only your local council can tell you exactly what they are able to recycle. Packaging labels only offer extra reminders about which materials can be recycled in the UK and the extent of the sevices available.

More information is available in The Rubbish Diet Challenge guide, but even without that, my top tips are:

Ignore this symbol, as it means nothing to UK recycling guidelines. It has no value in this country and just makes me want to spit feathers, so just pretend it's not there.

Look out for these labels instead, developed by WRAP and the British Retail Consortium and which have become the retail sector standard. However even if the label says it can't be recycled, e.g. Film, as shown below, you should check with your local council first.

3. Learn to lift and separate. This particular exercise is for those who live in areas where plastics such as yoghurt pots and margarine tubs aren't recycled. If are looking for off-the-shelf alternatives which enable you to throw less plastic into landfill, try and identify products that have been designed to use less plastic, ie developed with a thin plastic inner and a stiff cardboard outer. Brands such as Yeo Valley have redesigned their packaging in this way. It just means that before you recycle, you should split and separate the packaging.

4. Remember prevention is better than cure and here's a list that might help.

Pick up an old bag before you head to the shops.

Buy loose, where possible (Bananas don't need bags)

Take a container, if the shop allows (and follows in the footsteps of Unpackaged)

Buy concentrated products.

Look for refillable options.

Supersizing your purchase can sometimes help reduce packaging, so look for larger packs.

So, it will be interesting to see how our 8 volunteer households get on this week, throwing these extra decisions into their already busy lives. However, as experience shows, once you become aware of how much waste results from our purchasing choices, it really does become easier to shop with waste in mind as a subconcious mindset, just as we shop with any of the other values that we carry with us.

So, without further ado, it's time to reintroduce our bin slimmers and see how they are getting on. I think they're doing really well and the results of this week's weigh in will be updated as the results come in.

1. Terry-anna.
Household: 2 adults, in Ipswich Borough, Suffolk.
WK1 Weigh-in: 1.5 large bags, filling one third of a wheelie bin (fortnightly): THIS WEEK: half a bag, with another week to go before collection.

2. Ness. @NessyThompson
Household: 2 adults & 5 children, a rural village in Mid Suffolk
WK1 Weigh-in: 2 full wheelie bins (fortnightly). THIS WEEK: less than 1/2 a wheelie bin, with another week before collection.

3. Donna. @Donna_De
Household: 2 adults, in Tower Hamlets in London. www.beatinglimitations.com/blog
WK1 Weigh-in: 1 30L rubbish sack. (weekly). THIS WEEK: 1 30: rubbish sack.

4. Amy. @AmyMarpman
Household: 2 adults in New York City. www.beyondthebluebin.com
WK1 Weigh-in: 2 bin bags - estimated 9kg / 20lbs. (Weekly) THIS WEEK: 1 small bag - 3.6kg / 8lbs

5: Kate. @BusinessPlumber
Household: 2 adults, in a rural village in Mid Suffolk : www.businessplumber.co.uk
WK1 Weigh-in: 1 unusually full wheelie bin - incl Christmas waste. (fortnightly): THIS WEEK: 1 bin bag with another week before collection.

6: Jax. @LiveOtherwise
Household: 2 adults, 3 children & a baby on its way, in Suffolk Coast. http://liveotherwise.co.uk/makingitup/
WK1 Weigh-in: 7 small bin bags - filling one third or half of a wheelie bin (fortnightly). THIS WEEK: 3 small bin bags, with another week before collection,

7.Melanie
Household: 2 adults, 2 children, Aylesbury Vale, Buckinghamshire
WK 1 Weigh-in: 3 large bin bags, almost filling a whole wheelie bin. (fortnightly). THIS WEEK: 2 Bags.

8.Tim @Dotterel
Household: 2 adults, 3 children, Lincolnshire. www.bringingupcharlie.co.uk
WK 1 Weigh-in: 1 full wheelie bin (fortnightly). THIS WEEK: 4 small bags with 1 week to go before collection.

Don't forget, just because the Rubbish Diet challenge is already in WK 2, it doesn't mean that you can't join in. Just visit the online guide to catch up with everything you need to do. There's also lots happening on Twitter too, so to join in the conversation just use the hashtag #therubbishdiet, or tweet @karencannard.

And if you're a blogger, remember to share your latest blogpost on the topic using the clever little linky below. If you're got any questions, please feel free to get in touch.

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The Friday Journal: It's all been happening in Week 1

noreply@blogger.com (Almost Mrs Average) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:14:00 +0000

What a week it's been. Very much of a whirlwind really, which kicked off in great style on Monday launching on BBC Radio Suffolk from Bury St Edmunds' Household Waste Recycling Centre.

It really is incredible to see how much can happen in just five days. News coming in from the households participating in the challenge includes great discoveries of local recycling facilities that will help keep all sorts of materials out of the bin.

There have been challenges too, including one household, which was trying to find a convenient Tetra Pak recycling bank. Hopefully that will be resolved.

The bin slimmers have also been organising new storage facilities, recycling new things and have even given me access to their bins to see if anything had been missed. And yes, it is rewarding to find stuff in a bin that can be passed on easily for recycling and already fits in with an existing recycling routine.

I've made a few discoveries this week too, not least that all the recycling centres across Suffolk take plastic packaging such as rice and pasta packets as well as the polythene bags, but we can also bung corks in their timber collection and their media banks will accept VHS tapes, cassettes as well as CDs and DVDs.

That's the thing with recycling centres, facilities are always changing so if it's been a while, it's always worth popping in for a bit of a gander, as was discovered by one of our participants today, who drives past most days but has never been in, except for one occasion as a passenger.

Other great discoveries include improvements over the last year to council business recycling facilities in Bury St Edmunds, which now includes heavyweight items such as glass. Having met with our borough council today, I'm also looking forward to more good news being announced over the next few months. Further afield, Aylesbury Vale District Council, home to one of our families, will also be announcing improvements to their service too.

This week, our local primary school commited to taking its own Rubbish Diet Challenge and has already started to investigate how they can reduce food waste over the next seven weeks, a project that's been adopted by their eco-club, so I'll be keeping an eye on how they get on.

And elsewhere, a local cafe, The Coffee House in Moreton Hall, signed up as a Tapwater.org refill station, enabling passers-by to refill their water bottles for free and reduce the need for bottled water. I only suggested it on Wednesday and by Thursday, they were on the Tapwater map.

So what with our Ipswich bin slimmer receiving her new slim bin from the council, a compost bin on order for another and a kitchen waste caddy awaiting delivery and some reports coming in of less waste, it has been a really good start to The Rubbish Diet Challenge 2012. And I really can't thank the participants enough, as well as others who are joining in as the challenge progresses.

But the proof is always in the pudding and we will find out more at next week's Monday Meeting, when a new set of mini-challenges will be set,

However, in the meantime, if you haven't seen it before, do check out one of my favourite videos of this week, put together by Tim Atkinson, aka The Dotterel, who's taking the challenge in Lincolnshire. The full blogpost can be found here.

The Rubbish Diet: The sponsored approach

noreply@blogger.com (Almost Mrs Average) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:41:00 +0000

It warmed the cockles of my heart yesterday, to discover that there were even more bin slimmers officially on board, aiming to reduce their household waste over the next 8 weeks, and one of them had extra news to share.

It came in the form of Joanna Boardman, who has not only pledged to see how low she can go, but has also registered her challenge on the DoNation website in the hope that she can also gain some sponsorship for her efforts.

Now, before you think I'm going to ask you to empty out your spare change, if you haven't come across it before, the DoNation scheme is a sponsorship site with a difference.

It asks supporters not to delve into their pockets, but to donate by doing instead, a marvellous idea based on the inspiration of founder Hermione Taylor, who cycled from London to Morocco in 2009. She didn't ask friends and family for sponsorship but asked them to do something to make a difference to help environmental issues. She was amazed that this drew sponsorship from 216 people, whose actions saved over 16 tonnes of CO2, the equivalent of 84 flights from London to Morocco.

Joanna challenge was the 100th to be registered at DoNation, and she is now keeping a diary over at her blog Let's Waste Less, which encourages people in North East Lincolnshire to make less waste. Joanna also happens to be a waste minimisation officer for North East Lincolnshire and having just moved into the county it will be interesting to see how she gets on, whilst wearing both her professional hat as well as being a resident.

Her starting point last week was 1 sack full of kitchen rubbish and two carrier bags full of other household waste. She lives in an area that doesn't recycle yoghurt pots or plastic meat packaging and she'll no doubt have trouble with all kinds of plastic film as well.

And having left her old compost bin in situ at the previous house, one of her first tasks has been to organise a new one for her latest property.

I remember that was one of the first things I did when we first moved to Bury St Edmunds. Even though the council collected fruit & veg peelings and garden waste, I recall crossing my arms defensively and saying "They're not getting their hands on my compost!", so there's nothing quite like a girl after my own heart.

We'll be keeping tabs on Joanna's progress over the coming weeks, but do visit her blog for more info and pop over to see how you can sponsor her at the DoNation site. I've just promised to switch from my car to using my bike once a week, which will apparently save 9kg CO2 each time. It's about time I got back to pedal power..... and I suppose it's a form of 'recycling'. (Boom Tish)

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Meet the bin slimmers

noreply@blogger.com (Almost Mrs Average) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 07:00:00 +0000

Each week, I will be introducing some of the volunteers who have signed up for the Rubbish Diet challenge, so that we can find out more about their rubbish, the issues that arise and their plans for slimming those bins.

For Week 1, I'd like to introduce you to two people from Suffolk, Ness and Terry-anna.

Meet Terry-anna

Terry-anna lives with her partner in Ipswich, which falls under the district of Ipswich Borough.

When she first volunteered for the challenge she mentioned that she threw out between 2 -3 bags of rubbish every fortnight. However, already at the start of the challenge this week, she'd already slimmed this down to one and a half bags for her first weigh-in.

This is great. Taking advantage of less waste, Terry-anna has already ordered a new slimmer bin from her council, a 180L, which will take up less room than the average 240L that's issued to most homes.

Some of the key things that her household will be tackling throughout the Rubbish Diet Challenge include some food waste (but not much), aerosol cans and those annoying little things such as tissues. However, she doesn't want to stop there. When she was offered the opportunity to have a larger recycling bin, she politely declined. Instead, she hopes to slim down her recycling bin too.

Huge thanks to Terry-anna for joining in and helping to support the launch of the challenge on BBC Radio Suffolk this week. You can listen in on the link to Mark Murphy's show, with my introduction at 1hr 6min and Terry-anna's interview at 1hr 25m, where she confesses that she really hopes to get down to zero during Week 8.

*Terry-anna's new bin is part of Ipswich Borough Council's 60\40 plan where they are aiming for 60% recycling and offer residents the choice of smaller rubbish bins and larger recycling bins.

For Ipswich's recycling guidelines, click here.

Meet Ness

Ness lives with her husband and three children (aged 6, 8 & 10) plus a dog and two cats, in the rural district of Mid Suffolk.

Currently she has two wheelie bins for rubbish, which are generally full to capacity each fortnight. However, for her first weigh-in this week, she was already pleased to see that her rubbish was down by one bag since she's been preparing to take on the challenge.

The key challenges for Ness will be organic waste and making sure that her family follows the recycling guidelines. It's a busy household, which means things that can be recycled often get thrown into the rubbish bin. Just like Ipswich, Mid Suffolk residents benefit from mixed plastics recycling so most packaging can be put in the recycling bin for kerbside collection.

However, Mid Suffolk doesn't collect compostables, except for garden waste, and even so, this service is only provided on subscription for residents who need it. Knowing that organic waste such as peelings and odd pieces of mouldy fruit end up in her rubbish bin, Ness has committed herself to getting to grips with home-composting and has already got a bin on order.

She's also focusing on how she can organise other materials to drop at the Household Waste Recycling Centre, which admittedly is not always a convenient exercise, but will allow her to recycle textiles, Tetrapaks, plastic film and hard plastic. I'm hoping that by the end of this challenge, Ness will have cut her rubbish down by at least half and the council will be able to wheel that second bin away.

*For Mid Suffolk's recycling guidelines, click here.

I'll be reporting back on how both households have managed later on in the challenge. In the meantime, for further information about recycling facilities in Suffolk, visit the county's new website.

Educating the family

noreply@blogger.com (Almost Mrs Average) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:18:00 +0000

Sometimes the family can make you scream!

So, we're only in Day 2 of the Rubbish Diet Challenge and several of the volunteers - and other folk - are already confessing their first major hurdle ... and that's the recycling bin saboteurs who strike when their backs are turned!

The question I've been asked is how the heck do you educate other family members to get on board with your goal of slimming that bin!

This is a tricky one, especially if others in your household don't have the same amount of patience as you, or even think that recycling is a futile exercise, And then there's the issue that recycling is often not as straight-forward as it should be, so without proper supervision they get confused.

Confusion is probably the easiest obstacle to tackle. The first step is to list the rules and place it next to your recycling bin. I would suggest placing a copy on your rubbish too for double measure. If you're a family with young children, it might be possible to task them with creating a poster with pictures of the things that should go in the recycling bin and hope they follow the rules if they've taken some ownership on the matter. From a practical perspective you may also need to provide some extra boxes, to make it more simple.

If children are the main culprits, you could suggest they compete against each other to see who can create the least rubbish each week. Give them a box or a carrier bag each to collect their personal rubbish and see how they go. Warning! Incentives may be required.

Even adults might want to give this a try. For inspiration, I recommend paying a visit to the Clean Bin Project, where Jen and Grant challenged each other to see who could create the least waste for a whole year. Yes a year! Those taking part in The Rubbish Diet Challenge will now be grateful that this is just for eight weeks.

If the issue stretches beyond confusion over what can be recycled and moves into the area of values or different levels of patience, I woudn't want to meddle as I'm no expert in such matters, but I'd suggest expressing your feelings first and offer evidence that it is worthwhile, whether it's the £56\tonne landfill tax that we pay to dump our rubbish in the landfill, or the energy savings that are created as a result of recycling.

The Recycle Now website is a great place to start for basic consumer information, and features useful videos. The Recyclometer on the Coca-Cola website is also an informative resource.

For further information about policies and research that are being developed at a national level, across all sectors, including government, retail and manufacturing, I'd recommend delving into the WRAP website as well as WasteWatch, which is an educational charity.

Of course another aspect of education is food waste, but this issue is a total minefield and worthy of a blogpost of its own, which I plan to visit in a few weeks time.

This blogpost offers an insight into how things have worked in our family and amongst some of the households with whom I've discussed this issue before. And trust me, my husband is not always the most patient when it comes to recycling or my piles of stuff waiting for the charity shop run! If you've found other ways of getting your family on board, I'd love to know, so please do share.

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On Twitter? Then do join in the conversation using the hashtag #therubbishdiet or tweet @KarenCannard

Monday Meeting: The Rubbish Diet Challenge wk 1

noreply@blogger.com (Almost Mrs Average) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 07:13:00 +0000

Welcome to Week 1 of The Rubbish Diet Challenge, 2012.

Do pull up a chair and settle yourselves in. My name's Karen. I'm a blogger, housewife and self-confessed waste geek and over the next eight weeks, I am going to take you through a programme of talking about utter rubbish.

The aim of the challenge is simple: to slim your bin over the next 7 weeks before attempting a zero waste week. But we won't worry about that now. I don't want to give you the collywobbles.

And of course the reason for the challenge is to cut the amount of valuable resources that currently end up in landfill or indeed incinerators, as a result of a lack of recycling facilities, insufficient knowledge or insufficient incentives. We all lead busy lives, so I hope this challenge will provide a short break with opportunities to make long-lasting changes.

The Rubbish Diet will take you through this process gradually. The focus will be our Monday Meetings, highlighting mini-challenges each week. These challenges will hopefully get your brain whizzing, thinking about new ways in which you can keep your rubbish down. There will be links to useful resources too.

You will also be encouraged to 'weigh-in' just like any other slimming club, where you can measure your progress over the coming weeks and see that weight coming off. How you record it is up to you. You can either get on the scales, count your bags or just take photos.

So, are you up for the Challenge?

It would be great if you are. And if so, here are your tasks for Week 1.

1. Write a list of the top 5 things that fill your rubbish bin, e.g. cooked food waste, plastic, nappies. This will be your Hit List, that will help you in your goal over the next 8 weeks.

2. Try to recall the amount of rubbish that went out on your last collection day and record the level that you put out next time.

3. Phone your council, visit their website or visit www.recyclenow.com to find out EXACTLY what can be recycled at your kerbside, local bring banks or your Household Waste Recycling Centre (commonly known as the Tip). Even if you think you already know, you may be surprised about new services that have been introduced. And don't forget retailers such as supermarkets or electrical stores. Leave no stone unturned! Even TetraPak has its own recycling website.

4. Organise a proper place to sort out your recycling at home, even a few empty boxes will do or hang some bags on a hook behind the door. If you haven't got a compost bin, now's the time to consider one. Visit http://www.recyclenow.com/home_composting/

5. Think about ways in which you can reduce your waste, even before the need for recycling, e.g. reducing mail, (visit www.stopjunkmail.org.uk) reusing stuff, or simply making things last longer through repair or extending their use. If food waste is your issue, have a rummage over at www.lovefoodhatewaste.com.

If you want further inspiration and ideas, check out The Introduction section of the online Rubbish Diet Challenge guide, which also provides the background to this challenge and the one that I took in 2008. Then have a read of Week 1, where there is a lot more information to support the tasks listed above.

Other great sources are: My Zero Waste and Can I recycle this.

And if you can, do join in the chatter over on Twitter, either by following the hashtag #therubbishdiet or tweeting me @KarenCannard.

Participating Households

If you're joining in the challenge, you certainly won't be on your own. Eight households have volunteered - yes volunteered - to have a go and blog, tweet or show their friends their rubbish on Facebook.

So let me introduce you, along with any Twitter IDs and blogs that they might write. As their weigh-in results are recorded, they will be updated as they come in. I don't know much about their rubbish at this stage, but over the weeks all this will unfold as we get to know them better. Just bear in mind, their rubbish will be collected on different days and they have chosen to record it in the best way that suits them. This is okay as it's their personal challenge and not a competition.

1. Terry-anna.
Household: 2 adults, in Ipswich Borough, Suffolk.
Weigh-in: 1.5 large bags, filling one third of a wheelie bin (fortnightly)

2. Ness. @NessyThompson
Household: 2 adults & 5 children, a rural village in Mid Suffolk
Weigh-in: 2 full wheelie bins (fortnightly)

3. Donna. @Donna_De
Household: 2 adults, in Tower Hamlets in London. www.beatinglimitations.com/blog
Weigh-in: 1 30L rubbish sack. (weekly)

4. Amy. @AmyMarpman
Household: 2 adults in New York City. www.beyondthebluebin.com
Weigh-in: 2 bin bags - estimated 9kg / 20lbs. (Weekly)

5: Kate. @BusinessPlumber
Household: 2 adults, in a rural village in Mid Suffolk : www.businessplumber.co.uk
Weigh-in: 1 unusually full wheelie bin - incl Christmas waste. (fortnightly)

6: Jax. @LiveOtherwise
Household: 2 adults, 3 children & a baby on its way, in Suffolk Coast. http://liveotherwise.co.uk/makingitup/
Weigh-in: 7 small bin bags - filling one third or half of a wheelie bin (fortnightly)

7.Melanie
Household: 2 adults, 2 children, Aylesbury Vale, Buckinghamshire
Weigh-in: 3 large bin bags, almost filling a whole wheelie bin. (fortnightly)

8.Tim @Dotterel
Household: 2 adults, 3 children, Lincolnshire. www.bringingupcharlie.co.uk
Weigh-in: 1 full wheelie bin (fortnightly)

So, I guess that means that The Rubbish Diet Challenge 2012 is officially launched and it's no coincidence that it's the same week as I set up the blog four years ago, so this forms pretty much of a blogging celebration too.

Thank you too all who take part. There'll be more coming up on the blog this week, as we find out more about the issues and challenges that two of our participants, Terry-anna and Ness, will be facing.

In the meantime, if you're around at 10am, listen in to The Mark Murphy show on BBC Radio Suffolk, where I will be talking more about the challenge and the households that are taking part, live from the Household Waste Recycling Centre in Bury St Edmunds.

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If you have a blog and are inspired to take up the challenge, I'd love to follow your progress, so do let me know about it by adding your blogpost in the linky box below.

My thoughts and hopes for The Rubbish Diet Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Almost Mrs Average) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 15:13:00 +0000

It's the eve of the Rubbish Diet Challenge and I realise that part of me feels quite nervous but excited too. Who knows what will happen over the next few weeks as 8 households endeavour to slim their bins in public.

As four of these households are based in Suffolk, I will be officially launching the challenge live on BBC Radio Suffolk just after 10am, quite appropriately in an outside broadcast from our local Household Waste Recycling Centre in Bury St Edmunds. So if you get a chance, do listen into the Mark Murphy show, which is also launching its own Don't be a Tosser anti-litter campaign on the same day.

In the meantime, here's a video I made earlier today about my thoughts on The Rubbish Diet Challenge... warts and all. See you again tomorrow for the first Monday Meeting, where I will send you away with your first set of mini-challenges.

Weight loss, Watt loss!

noreply@blogger.com (Almost Mrs Average) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 10:21:00 +0000

See that bin on the left?

That's our rubbish bin.

No, not the big one.

But that little one.

The teeny-tiny one on the left-hand-side.

Yes, I know it looks like an ordinary bathroom bin, but it actually is the main one for our household waste, and resides in the kitchen.

The bin on the right-hand-side used to be our rubbish bin, but during my very first zero waste challenge, it was promoted to handle our recycling. As our rubbish gradually got lighter and the bin bag became slimmer, we didn't need such a huge bin, so downsized a little...or rather a lot.

During the last few years we've also been doing the same with our energy usage. However, unlike rubbish, it's much harder to visualise the impact if your energy source gets delivered through pipes and wires.

Wouldn't it be great if you could look at that small bin and pat yourself on your back with great satisfaction knowing that was all the energy your household used in a week instead of needing that huge bin.

Before I even begin to blow my mind with musings on the actual size of bin we would need to demonstrate that, there are simple tools that can deliver the kind of information needed for analysis, and that's in the form of an energy monitor. An energy monitor tracks how much electricity you’re using translates that into amount of money you’re spending by the hour.

We bought one several years ago and had so much fun. The children were even distracted from the TV and instead spent several evenings running around the house turning lights on-and-off and helping me to start the washing machine, dishwasher and oven. I was just relieved they couldn't find the switch for the fridge\freezer or I really would have been in trouble.

But energy monitors aren't just fun for entertaining the kids, they're great for adults too, not that Mr A and I indulged in similar games of running around flicking the switches mind you! STOP IT! No, we'd look at the digital display and rub our hands together in a scrooge-like manner thinking 'Kerching' when pondering the savings made, while my mind distracted itself towards gorgeous vintage jewellery or shoes. Wrong I know, and I've worked hard at improving my attitude since.

Soon everyone will be using them. The government has set a deadline of 2019 for all British households to have smart meters, gas and electricity meters that also monitor energy use. British Gas has already started upgrading its customers.

Since we've used our monitor, it's made me think twice about regulating the temperature of our radiators, making more efficient use of our hob & oven and even the amount of washing we do. Where I used to bung everything in the washing machine after each wear, stuff now only goes in if it doesn't pass my quality control tests, i.e. having a whiff of it first. And we hardly use our tumble dryer these days, preferring to air-dry the washing instead.

But I know we've got to work harder. Leaving on the various computers remains a problem for us (sometimes three can be running, talking amongst themselves, while we all sit down for dinner or are distracted by something on TV), which is why I've agreed to follow the Smart Mums Watt Loss Challenge.

Maybe I should get another bin, for recycling our Waste Electricals and if I see no progress, I can threaten to bung the computers in there. Ah, there's nothing like a spot of visualisation to inspire results.

And don't think I'm immune from my threat. If you don't see me again, you'll know my husband has read this post and has recycled my laptop for leaving it on when I should have turned it off!

_________________________________________________________

I’m a British Gas Smart Mums Ambassador, working with BritMums and British Gas to highlight energy issues in the home.

The Rubbish Diet Challenge 2012 - And you're invited!

noreply@blogger.com (Almost Mrs Average) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 13:13:00 +0000

Next Monday on 23rd Jan, I am launching the Rubbish Diet Challenge 2012.

And I am inviting you to take part, along with your friends and family and even colleagues at work.

Your mission will be to find ways of slimming your rubbish bin and you will have 8 weeks to do it. In the final week, if you want to push the limits and create a name for yourself, there's even the chance to attempt a Zero Waste Week.

Rubbish and waste management is still a huge problem in the UK and even though recycling targets and are being increased and often met by local authorities, we still have a long way to go in tackling the wider issue of waste reduction.

I believe that people power is a key component to tackling the country's waste problem.

The Rubbish Diet Challenge aims to empower average households everywhere to do something positive about waste reduction at home or at work, even if it's just taking the opportunity to learn that little bit more about local recycling, tackling food waste or encouraging your council or community to introduce a new recycling bank.

During the next 8 weeks I want to take you on a journey of discovery, and I know I'm going to learn a whole of host of new things myself.

And just with any other diet, there will be regular weigh-ins, starting on Monday, when I will be introducing some of the families, whom I will be personally mentoring over the course of the next couple of months.

But this will not be formulaic. I have no idea of the outcomes, which I confess makes me slightly nervous. At the moment I don't know much about their rubbish, or how low they will go, but I look forward to finding out more as we investigate different lifestyles and recycling issues from all around Suffolk, London, Lincolnshire, Buckinghamshire and even New York City.

So if you want to join in and be part of the conversation, come back on Monday and find out more. In the meantime, if you want to know more about the challenge itself and see what's going to be coming up week-by-week, take a look at the Rubbish Diet Challenge page on this blog, which features links to an online guide to the next eight weeks.

So are you up for it?

I hope so!

And if you want to join in the conversation on Twitter too, tweet @KarenCannard. sharing your results, questions and thoughts, using the hashtag #TheRubbishDiet

________________________________________________________

Background info: The Rubbish Diet Challenge is based on my own experience of taking my local council's Zero Waste Week challenge in 2008. As a result, our family's household waste reduced from almost a full wheelie bin's worth of rubbish per fortnight to what now is on average one carrier bag's worth per month. Since then, The Rubbish Diet has been featured in all sorts of places including BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour and C4 Dispatches It also inspired a national Zero Waste Week, which is the creation of Mrs Green over at My Zero Waste.

Disclaimer: If you're looking for picture of a perfectly empty bin, or an all-singing-dancing industry expert, I am not that kind of girl. I'm simply an average woman, who still battles against her own family's rubbish habits, but who happens to know how to deal with it and has a passion for tickling people into wanting to find out more about theirs. But I do confess to being a geeky waste groupie and poking my nose into the world of new technologies, meddling with my local council and talking rubbish at conferences.

For more info email: karen[at]therubbishdiet[dot]co.[dot]uk

Saving energy on the hob!

noreply@blogger.com (Almost Mrs Average) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:53:00 +0000

As part of the British Gas SmartMums campaign, looking at ways, to save energy around the home, I have been asked to illustrate some ideas on video.

So here's me, getting underway with Sunday dinner, demonstrating the advantages of using a steamer instead of a hob full of old saucepans.

__________________________________________________

I’m a British Gas Smart Mums Ambassador, working with BritMums and British Gas to highlight energy issues in the home.

Where will it end up? Tracking my mobile with O2 Recycle

noreply@blogger.com (Almost Mrs Average) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:19:00 +0000

Look! That's my scared face, which says, "I don't really want to let go of this phone, but now I'm here and I promised I'd do it, I suppose I'm going to have to let you take it."

Have you ever recycled a mobile phone?

I hadn't until today, despite having owned six of the things ever since I got my very first phone in 1998. Look, it was such a momentous occasion back then, we even captured it on camera! It was so big, I almost needed two hands to hold it up my ear!

Christmas morning, 1998. I'd never wear that dressing gown with FaceTime!

It's sad to think that phone is still packed away somewhere in my loft. When recovered, it will be like an historic artefact from the days when phones were phones, not the mini computer devices that they are now. Even though I have no use for it, it will probably be very hard to give up. You see, I really do get attached to my phones for all sorts of odd reasons, whether they remind me of a time when I had a cool job, or contained the recording of my toddler telling me he loved me, or even symbolise the day I jumped into a swimming pool to rescue my drowning four-year old, with my phone in my back pocket.

There is one phone that I've not particularly been attached to though and that's my Nokia N97. It might have been great at getting me onto Twitter and Facebook and juggling my multi-media usage, but I haven't half given it a good battering these last few years. Its time was definitely up twelve months ago, not least because the back-end would fall off at impromptu moments, It's also developed several other features that are noteworthy of its early demise, including the semi-detatchment of its silver fascia as a result of recent contact with the floor. Then there's the way it would suddenly reboot while I was surfing the mobile net.

However, if it hadn't been for a discussion with some friendly folk from O2, this phone would be sitting in the drawer that's now dedicated to out-of-date gadgets and electronic leads, while I enjoy my more up-to-date technology.

I'd explained to O2 that given my bizarre attachment to old devices, I would only ever recycle one of my phones if I could be convinced that it was worthwhile. After all, I'd much rather keep it in a drawer than go to the trouble of stripping off the data, just for it to be taken apart.

They then reassured me that just because my phone looked like it was due for the scrapyard, that wasn't necessarily the case and that it would most likely be refurbished and sold on as a reconditioned device, probably in an overseas market.

Suddenly I was interested in finding out more.

I wanted to know exactly where my phone would end up.

And I wanted to know the story of who would be using it.

I asked O2 whether we could do that, and after some phone calls around head office and to their recycling company Redeem, they said yes. We could certainly track my old Nokia to its end market and depending on the privacy wishes and language capabilities of the new owner, it may be possible to discover the other information too.

And that got me very excited.

So, with all my photos copied, contacts deleted and messages stripped, I skipped off to our local O2 store this morning to do the deed. Well, I say I skipped. Actually, for some reason, I was very nervous. I wanted reassurance that no sensitive data, or remote access to my emails or online accounts could be retrieved from my old phone, once I handed it over.

Glendon, the Store Leader, reassured me. In fact, one of the first steps was to restore the phone to its factory settings and ensure that everything had been deleted off.

The rest of the process was very straight forward, confirming that I should hopefully get around £32 for my old phone, which will soon be credited to my bank account, without me having to lift a finger.

It was really that simple, I'm now wondering what the fuss was about! Look, I'm now looking much happier about letting go of that dodgy old phone and setting it free for refurbishment and onto pastures new.

By tomorrow, the phone will be somewhere in Scotland, being refurbished by O2's recycling partner Redeem, and once it's passed quality control, it will be despatched onto its journey, where it will be tracked all the way.

Apparently it should only take two weeks until it reaches its end destination. Hopefully then it will quickly find its way to its new owner and I then hope they will get in touch. It's risky I know, but I've sent them a message with my email and phone number.

Oh gawd, I could be opening up a whole new can of worms, but it would be exciting to find out with whom it ends up and to discover what really happens when a phone gets recycled.

_________________________________________________________

If you're interested in recycling your old phone for cash, there are many ways in which you can do it, but it you wish to use O2's service, you can recycle by post and fill your details online, or pop into a store near you. You don't even need to be a customer. More information is available at www.o2recycle.co.uk. O2 don't make any profit from this service. All proceeds from their sales go to their charity Think Big, which supports community projects that help young people. Other gadgets such as iPods, cameras and even routers can also be recycled, although these are not processed on a cash-back basis.

My 5 year phone challenge....eeek!

noreply@blogger.com (Almost Mrs Average) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:35:00 +0000

I'm not sure whether this latest confession will demonstrate my inner lunacy or permanent state of wishful thinking, but eh oh, I'll show and tell and see what comes. I'd be interested in the debate.

The thing is, I've just got a brand new spanking smartphone, an all singing and dancing top model iPhone. It's been on my geeky-gadget list for the last 18 months and as my old phone began to fall apart / regularly freeze / randomly self-boot .... along with many other tedious failures, the seduction of the iPhone became more and more tempting, so much so that it looked as though finally it would make it to my Christmas list for 2011.

And hooray, it actually did arrive, but not quite as I'd expected (there'll be more on that later). However, with such a frivolous addition to my gadgetry, it arrived with a new personal goal that will definitely challenge the way I think about about new technology, especially mobile technology.

You see, I am a bit of a gadget girl and since the introduction of smartphones that don't just keep you connected to the whole social-media universe out there, but come packed with video functionality and access to multimedia entertainment, I have found it harder to step back to the days when a phone was simply a phone. I have wanted to keep pace with all the shininess that such a mini-computer in one's pocket can bring.

My new iPhone will be the third smartphone I've owned in five years - although admittedly the first one only gave up the ghost as a result of it being in my jeans pocket, when I saved my youngest son from a potential drowning incident a few years ago.

The second phone, its replacement, has been causing me nothing but bother for the last 15 months, mainly though collateral damage, but has also developed a very clunky feel about it compared to other touch screen technology. Consequently, my shiny new acquisition already offers much hope of a more streamlined and much more enjoyable experience in keeping me connected to the outside world of work, rest and play.

But the challenge I've set myself is to try and keep hold of this phone and keep it functioning for FIVE WHOLE YEARS!

I know I've not set myself a very good track record so far.

But aside from my accident-prone ways and technological desire, I hope this self-imposed challenge will not only encourage me to focus on the longevity of possessions, but will also bring into focus the challenges we, as consumers, have in a constantly fast-moving technological world. And this challenge is not new. For decades, built-in obsolence has been a key consumer issue as have opportunities for exciting applications only being realised as a result of hardware innovations becoming available.

And let's face it, I am grateful for such advances in technological science. After all, watching movies on our smartphones would not be so gratifying if we had to plug in a portable DVD player to do so.

Of course, opinions vary. There are many friends who have told me that I've got no chance, mainly thanks to Apple's proprietary systems as well as the company's speed of innovation and all round creator of consumer desire.

But then, there are others who say that this iPhone, with all its latest technology and mod cons should see me through the five year period quite easily.

So I guess the proof will definitely be in the pudding -or rather the apple pie - and I'll just have to wait and see. But I am going to try damn hard, against a world of high-speed technological change, to remain satisfied and keep hold of this phone for five years. And I will be delighted if I can do it.

But for those who know better than me, or indeed know me better than myself, I'd love to hear what you think.

_______________________________________________________

Disclaimer. In the spirit of blogger openness, I feel it right to declare that my lovely new phone was a surprise thank you gift that came out of the blue from the folks at O2, as a token of appreciation for the free-time I dedicated a few months ago to brainstorming a whole host of campaign ideas for a phone recycling project that's coming up soon. There will be more on that next week, when along with other bloggers who have now signed up for the campaign, I will be relinquishing my old phone for recycling and tracking to see where it goes. And would you believe, for many reasons, I have never recycled a phone before. So watch out for all that comes with that next week!

Making the most of 2012. Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Almost Mrs Average) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 09:00:00 +0000

Well Happy New Year all! I hope you enjoyed your New Year's Eve celebrations and are poised to take your empties down to the bottle bank at a decent hour.

Personally, I've been looking forward to the start of 2012. Not that 2011 was a crap year. In fact it was rather good to me, aside from the upsets of losing our beloved cat and having to rehome our chickens.

Last year was most definitely one of opportunity, whether that meant understanding even more about the opportunities and challenges for Zero Waste, to interviewing Kevin McCloud about upcycling at his Grand Designs exhibition, or making an appearance on Dispatches and Woman's Hour, which both left ripples of amusement as a backdrop to the very serious subject of waste.

But there were three significant events that could solidify what 2011 was about for me.

The first was the Save the Children conference, which not only gave greater understanding of their amazing work and constant quest for support and funds, but asked us, the attendees, what we were born to do. It was then, after many previous thoughts of ditching the blog and my incessant natterings about rubbish, did I make a personal commitment to carry on the challenge to encourage folk to reconsider their rubbish and think about the world outside their bins. There is a great imbalance between the parts of global society that can 'afford' to waste and those which, for reasons of poverty or natural disaster, can't, and this creates a reminder of why as an international community we need to make the most of our resources and use them more wisely, both now and in the future.

The second event was my 1000 bins campaign, a 12 week challenge to raise awareness of the often overlooked on-street recycling bin. The aim was to promote Recycling on the Go through the summer of 2011 and draw attention to two significant waste related events, making a connection between Recycle Week, which took place in June and Zero Waste Week, which provided the finale in September. Led by the bespectacled, curly-haired Welsh bundle of gorgeousness, Shedwyn, who was outed as my newly acquired alter-ego, the campaign taught me a number of things: People will actually do things if you ask them to (demonstrated by self-embarrassment when taking photos of bins in public) and that the serious world of recycling and waste could do with a bloody huge injection of comedy that tickles people into rethinking waste.

The third event was the energyshare project, where I was sponsored to help raise the profile of the Hexham River Hydro project in its bid to win the funding. This brought me into a community of people who demonstrated not only the appreciation of protecting its foundations but illustrated the power of innovative thinking in moving forward, how making use of a renewable energy source could harness future opportunities for energy creation, generating much-needed income and knowledge sharing to inspire others. 2011 ended with Hexham River Hydro successfully winning their category, which was fabulous news. However for me, the icing on the cake was how not only did I make some new friends, but it unexpectedly brought me back into contact with an old work friend too. A wonderful surprise, which illustrated not only what a small world this is, but how connected we all are, even if we don't actually realise it.

So, onto 2012 and looking to the future.

Drawing on lessons of 2011, I've decided my theme this year is going to be Making the most of what I've got!

Some could say it's enforced. I confess to spending far too much money on clothes and shoes in 2011 and I've been forewarned by my husband that I need to tighten my proverbial belt. However that picture provides an image of doom and gloom. Friends who know me well, know that I'm stubborn in nature and never like being told what to do.

However, I refuse to consider 2012 to be a year of austerity, even if it's defined as such. Instead, I'm going to make it into a year of opportunity, and here's a taster.

In 2012 I endeavour to:

Make more use of my culinary talents, instead of eating out so often (yes, they are still buried deep inside, if I dare to look). Who knows, I may even throw a party, so watch this space for invitations!
Make far better use of my clothes, by repairing them myself, or taking them to one of the many alteration shops that are starting to pop up in town. The latter is already sounding a more realistic option.
Make better use of my space: do I really need half the stuff that's cluttering up my home? No! Especially as it clutters up my head too. So this is the year I am going to be brutal and set things free. Oh such bravado!
Make things last longer, whether it's a glass of wine, an item of clothing or a gadget.
Make do with what I've got and borrow what I need.

And finally, yes finally, I'm going to make the most of what I've learned over the last few years and work harder to share that knowledge in 2012. I know I've got to overcome my natural shyness first - don't laugh, I really am that shy!

I've realised, it's no good keeping my enthusiasm and jolliness about reducing waste to myself. Other people should be entitled to a good giggle too, so that's what I'm going to do this year, get more folk laughing about their rubbish and in doing so, hopefully encourage ambitions to reduce it.

So watch this space.

In fact, you won't need to wait long. In a few weeks time, I'll be rolling out the 2012 Rubbish Diet Challenge and revealing a handful of bloggers, Tweeters and Facebook friends who have decided to have a go and I can't wait to see them poking about their bins! I hope you'll join in too, or encourage your friends to have a peek.

In the meantime, I'll be back over the next few days, chatting about how I'm making the most of my gas consumption as well as my new mobile phone - but not at the same time of course. Tut tut, that would be far too dangerous a combination.

So here's to a brand new year ahead of us and ensuring we make the most of it.

I do so hope you'll join me.

Happy New Year to you. I hope you have a fabulous 2012!

__________________________________________________

P.S. That hat, yes THAT HAT, is not mine, but a frivolous item that can be found amongst the treasures of the Theatre Royal wardrobe department in Bury St Edmunds. Hat hire is available for a small donation only, whereas you can hire a whole costume for just £12. I definitely think I'll be making the most of that this year. As Miranda Hart would say. "Such Fun!"

So boys, what should you do when you get cold?

noreply@blogger.com (Almost Mrs Average) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 19:23:00 +0000

Over the next few weeks I will be working with British Gas as one of their Smart Mums ambassadors, thinking about the significance of energy conservation this winter.

This project comes hot on the heels of the energyshare campaign, where I saw the hard work of communities who are trying to create energy from renewable sources. With all the complexities of such a project, it's a far cry from the simplicity of flicking a switch in our homes to immediately emblazen rooms in light or to turn up the heat.

With the festive season being one of the coldest times of the year and now the boys are off school, it's been a good time to have a chat with them about how we can save energy over the holidays.

I caught them by surprise, this Sunday, just as my youngest came home from swimming and my eldest was about to embark on a Pokemon Fest at the computer, wearing just a short sleeved top - his choice - brrrrr. The house was not particularly warm that day.

"What should you do if you get cold?" I asked.

A simple question.

"Turn up the radiators!" shouted one.

"Dive under a blanket!" called the other.

The first was just being a frivolous tease. He knows we have a permanent choice of blankets in our living room, which are always put to good use whenever we're sat around watching television, or using the laptop. Aside from the technology, it takes us right back to an era when central heating wasn't available. I'm snuggling under one, whilst writing this post.

Of course, being just seven and ten, when the boys are not sat around, they're tearing around the house, using their own energy to keep warm.

It's just a shame I can't harness that and divert it back into the National Grid.

Or the sound of their laughter too, just like in Monsters Inc.

We're actually pretty good at managing the heating and putting on extra layers. However, our particular downfall is leaving the lights on, especially in the children's rooms, when they are rushing around to get to school. It's always the bedside lights that are a pain to remember to turn off.

So he who laughed about turning up the radiators has now got his nose to the grindstone, designing mini-posters to remind him and his brother to turn off the lights!

And if that doesn't work, as a back-up plan I'm busy gathering together a load of pennies as a financial incentive, so that each time they remember to turn them off, they will physically be able to visualise the saving too.

The problem with that last strategy is that I can see them turning on the lights especially to turn them off again.

Best not tell them about that one yet then!

________________________________________

This is a sponsored post for the British Gas, Smart Mums project. More posts are also available at the BritMums Smart Mums Blog.

"No More Socks for Christmas" says Suffolk Circle

noreply@blogger.com (Almost Mrs Average) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 10:36:00 +0000

Members of Southwark Circle in London. Suffolk Circle members will be marching with similar banners, 11.30am, Wednesday 14th December, The arc, Bury St Edmunds.

As a little girl, I used to love helping my mother wrap the Christmas presents. It was one of my favourite things to do... until I got bored. And I would get bored. There were always too many presents and they were always the same, with the long monotony of socks, ties, handkerchiefs or bubble bath. Sometimes there would be bath salts, just to break the routine.

As I carefully wrapped the presents, which would then be dutifully distributed to all the older members of our family in time for Christmas day, I couldn't help but think how awful Christmas Day must be for old people if every year they opened a pile of socks. It would be like The Day of The Triffids, except with socks. Surely they already had enough socks or if they didn't they were old enough and sensible enough to buy their own.

Some of those 'old' people were only in their forties.

I'm now 43. a ripe old age to be caught in the firing line for chance gifts that belong to the older generation.

"The joy is in the giving, not the receiving" we hear all across the land at Christmas time.

Indeed it is and as a society we get hooked into the joy of giving presents as tokens of our love and kindness, our appreciation and our warmth towards others. Yet, very often giving is purely duty-bound and an automatic process that ends up with a national pile of unwanted gifts.

"I really don't know what to get Uncle Jim," I heard a lady say last week, as I walked past her and her friend in Bury St Edmunds. "He never likes what I get but I've got to get him something because it's bloody Christmas!"

It sounded like Uncle Jim's joy would definitely not be in 'the receiving'. And as for the lady concerned, there was certainly no joy in the act of 'giving' either. It sounded more like she was desperate for some pain relief!

So thank goodness the world is coming to its senses, at least in Bury St Edmunds, where under the auspices of social enterprise Suffolk Circle, a Flashmob & protest march is taking place this Wednesday to encourage people to think twice about what they buy for older friends and relatives this Christmas.

Suffolk Circle members will gather in the Arc shopping centre at 11.30am, bringing unwanted gifts from last year. They will march with banners to Suffolk Circle HQ, where the gifts will be donated to the Gatehouse, a West Suffolk charity dedicated to helping those in material and emotional need.

Suffolk Circle believes that wasting money on unwanted presents is even madder in the present economic climate. For me it's all about physical waste too, i.e. the embedded energy and water wastage just to get the thing from the factory, to the shop, to the Christmas tree, only for it to sit in a drawer for 12 months before ending up in a carboot sale, landfill or charity shop

It's not about ingratitude, because actually it really is simply "the thought" that counts and the awareness that an unwanted present puts unnecessary emotional pressure on the benefactor as well as the beneficiary and leaves a trail of material and economic wastage in the process, even if it is just one pair of socks!

Of course it goes without saying that no offence is intended, accidentally or otherwise, towards anyone who really adores getting socks or just simply always needs another pair, whether that be at Christmas or any other time of year.

And I admit, it really is nice to get a snuggly pair sometimes.

Sometimes!

_____________________________________________________

If you live in Suffolk and would like to take part in the flashmob, please go along on Wednesday 14th December. 11.30am. Meet opposite the Costa Café, arc shopping Centre, 14 Prospect Row, Bury St Edmunds, IP33 3DG.

Suffolk Circle is a social enterprise whose members can get practical help with life’s little bits and pieces from local Helpers. They can also get out and about, meeting people with similar interests, reconnecting with their community, doing and learning new things. For family members and friends who live further away it’s a great to make sure their loved ones have neighbourly support, as well as a lot of fun, all year round. Membership costs £15 for six months or £30 for a whole year.

For further details about the Suffolk Circle or Wednesday's march, please contact:
Finbarr Carter, Head of Membership. Tel: 01284 774880, or visit www.suffolkcircle.org.uk.

energyshare, Hexham, social media, old friends and me

noreply@blogger.com (Almost Mrs Average) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 12:41:00 +0000

The last couple of weeks have have been some of the most extraordinary in my blogging life, having spent much of November helping to campaign for public votes to help Hexham River Hydro win energyshare funding of £100,000, WHICH THEY DID ON SATURDAY, so a HUGE THANK YOU to all of you who voted.

With the campaigning over, I now want to take some time out to reflect on what has been a very exciting but overwhelming experience in many ways.

When energyshare first got in touch to ask if I'd like to work with them as a blogging champion for one of the shortlisted entries, it sounded like a very exciting prospect. It was the first time I'd heard of energyshare, but the idea that it was supporting community based energy creation, based on inspiration by River Cottage & Landshare originator Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall was a very interesting one indeed.

What I hadn't expected though was the community project that I would be allocated would be one that would involve a 5 hour train trip, up north to Hexham in Northumbria.

Nor had I expected the impact the community would have on me when I arrived there.

And I certainly hadn't prepared myself for the string of coincidences in my life that would surround Hexham either.

Energyshare recognised that they'd given me a community that was very far away from home and gave me the opportunity to support them remotely. Having read the project details for the Hexham River Hydro scheme, I knew I could blog about them enthusiastically - I love the idea of harnessing power from water - but I didn't think I could do it with the level of passion that was needed unless I saw it first hand.

The first phone calls I made with Tamsin, then Gillian and then the rest of the the Hexham River Hydro team revealed the first glimpses of their drive and enthusiasm that I was desperate to harness during my proposed visit there. And I wasn't to be disappointed.

From the moment I stepped off the train and was welcomed by Malcolm, one of the project team members, I knew it was going to be a 24 hour whirlwind of a visit. During the short walk to the town centre, I'd already gleaned some information about the town's initial commitment to renewable energy, with Malcolm pointing out the solar panels that had been installed on the roof of the sports centre.

Then came the opportunistic video in the stocks outside the town gaol (you'll need to see my video), followed by the very exciting introduction to the team, who were having a project meeting at their hub, at Scott's Cafe in the Forum cinema.

The Hexham River Hydro Project Team

Once calm had been restored, it was a real privilege to settle myself into the meeting and hear the ideas that the team was planning for campaigning to secure as many public votes as possible for their energyshare funding bid. There were so many ideas that truly reflected the group's energy

That night after pizza, I was "unofficially inaugurated" into the community by taking part in the Hexham Community Choir. For 50 minutes, the choir suffered my tone-deaf vocals, until Gillian announced why I was in town. Soon after it was off to the pub for some cider and more singing. It was a real warm welcome to what was an unfamiliar town in an unfamiliar part of the country.

Hexham Community Choir

The real work started the next day. Well, I say it was work, it was more of an insightful introduction into the team's enthusiasm, knowledge and commitment as well as their vision on how a hydro electricity generator could create funds for social projects around the town.

On location at the site of the river hydro scheme

And everything that I experienced that day was eye-opening, whether it was watching leaping salmon for the very first time in my life, making Christmas cards with the mums who use the community house No. 28, or meeting the teenagers at the Youth Initiative, who are so grateful for their facility and also realise how it's heavily dependent on fund generation.

The Community House, No 28.

And having the opportunity to meet, conservationists, councillors, the mayor, members of Transition Tynedale, students of the local Mencap college and local schools, really cemented how much Hexham Community Partnership worked hard to create a fantastic foundation for such a great community.


Members of the community, including The Mayor, Transition Tynesdale, Hexham Community Partnership and councillors

I really felt honoured to have met so many people during my visit, which is why when it was announced at the live countdown on Saturday that they had won the £100K energyshare funding, I found myself getting quite emotional over the result too and so pleased for the community that I'd championed.

Hexham River Hydro's Gillian Orrell at the energyshare finals. If she was this pleased about winning a vote rush prize, just imagine how it felt to win the £100k funding. It's just a pity my camera battery ran out, so I couldn't capture the scene.

I've now got a funny feeling, that this isn't the end of my relationship with Hexham. Not only because of the lovely welcome and my interest in following the development of the Hexham River Hydro project.

There are a few coincidences that have come about too.

Having uploaded my photos onto Facebook, it quickly emerged that not only does one of my social-media contacts originate for this beautiful town, but one of my favourite soap-makers lives only ten minutes away too, the fabulous Allyson, with whom I've had many a conversation during the last three years. Even while I was there, I stumbled upon the gallery of the most amazing artist Matt Forster. We'd started following each other on Twitter well before I'd even heard of Hexham. His work is truly superb and is really worth checking out. Here's a peek at just one photo I took during my brief visit to his gallery.

By artist Matt Forster

However the most amazing coincidence of all is the news that Gillian, had received a telephone call from a good friend of hers several days after my visit, to enquire whether it was true that a Karen Cannard had been in town.

It turns out that her friend is none other than a lovely former colleague of mine, who as a young lady used to work for me at a music digitisation company in London, back in the 1990s. After I'd left, she'd spent time travelling overseas. I moved house several times and then relocated to Suffolk. We lost touch, but I'd always wondered what had happened to her.

Now I know and it was an absolute delight to hear Gillian bring me up to speed a whole decade later.

So, I've now got plenty of reasons to visit a place, which until a few weeks ago, I'd actually never even heard of before.

Huge congratulations to Hexham River Hydro for winning the large category on Saturday and thank you for being such fabulous hosts.

I have no doubt we will meet again and I am looking forward to catching up with my old work friend too.

So thank you to energyshare for pairing me up with Hexham. My personal tale is a very unexpected result indeed.

My appeal video for Hexham River Hydro (@energyshare)

noreply@blogger.com (Almost Mrs Average) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 12:26:00 +0000

Last week I had the unique opportunity to visit Hexham and meet the community with whom I have partnered in the bid to win funding from energyshare.

I received the most amazing welcome from so many people in the community, including the project partners, volunteers, Transition Town members, the local Abbey, councillors and the Mayor. However it was the visits I made to the potential beneficiaries of the funding that inspired me the most, including a local community centre in regeneration area and the fabulous kids who really need their local youth initiative.

Armed with just my very old smartphone, I managed to take some footage while I was there, to ask for your support in voting for a community project that will not just create renewable energy but will help provide some much-needed social projects too. So please, take a look and then I urge you to join in the EnergyShare vote. The deadline is 5pm 3 December, so Hexham River Hydro needs your support urgently.

To vote, you will need to register your email address at www.energyshare.com, but it doesn't take long and you will be in with a chance of winning one of five River Cottage books that are being given away each day. It will only take 5 minutes, and if you vote for Hexham River Hydro and their public vote is successful, you will be making a real difference to a community's heritage and social well-being as well as helping to create an amazing renewable energy project that will be a valuable resource for the rest of the UK.

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This is a sponsored opportunity on behalf of British Gas. However, all the author's views and research are her own.

Photos of the visit are now also publicly available on Facebook.

Teaming up with energyshare & Hexam River Hydro

noreply@blogger.com (Almost Mrs Average) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 19:18:00 +0000

It is very rare that something pulls me away from talking about rubbish, but when I was asked to team up with an exciting hydro energy project that's competing for energyshare funding, it was far too interesting to miss.

Energyshare has been created by River Cottage and British Gas, jointly managing a campaign whereby communities across the UK have applied to energyshare to have their project funded. These communities have been shortlisted into a small number of finalists, all looking to have their project funded up to the value of £100,000.

The competition has also been supported by Channel 4’s Three Hungry Boy’s who spent five weeks touring the South West over the summer, visiting communities just like those shortlisted for energyshare funding. Trevor, Thom and Tim were challenged by River Cottage’s Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall to live off the land and barter their way around the countryside, sourcing the energy for their electric vehicle from renewable technologies.

Today the finalists have been announced and campaigning has now begun in earnest to help generate public votes to choose the winning communities.

All the finalists are brilliant in their own way. The community that I am supporting is Hexham River Hydro, a fabulous project which will create a100kW community hydro power generation scheme on the River Tyne in Northumberland. It is a joint initiative by Hexham Community Partnership and Transition Tynedale and for anyone who, like me, has grown up or lived near such a similar powerful waterway, it is very easy to get excited about the possibilities of harnessing such energy.

However, this project is not just about generating renewable electricity, it is also about securing sustainable funding for social and economic regeneration and community activities in the market town of Hexham and its environs, as well as creating an education and awareness-raising tool for residents and visitors alike.

When I say, I'm very excited about this project, I really mean it and can't wait to get to meet the people and the community behind it. Having spoken to team member Gillian Orrell, this afternoon, I am now looking forward to a trip up north to find out more about their hopes and plans. This project may seem that it's about technology, but at the heart of it, it's really about people and harnessing the energy around us, without impacting on the environment itself. It's amazing to think that it will generate approximately 700MWh of electricity per year – enough to satisfy the average electricity consumption of 150 households, whicle reducing Hexham’s carbon emissions by approximately 400 tonnes CO2 per year.

With such localised energy supply, it is also deemed a project of national significance that will be of interest to other similar communities around the UK.

I will be able to report on my discoveries next week, but in the meantime, if you are over 13-years-old and have just two minutes to spare, please get voting at the energyshare website. More information about Hexam River Hydro can be found at www.energyshare.com/hrh. So, please pop over and if you like what you see, please do hurry and vote for them.

Voting is open until 5pm on 3rd December with the opportunity to win one of 5 books that River Cottage is giving away every day to voters. Furthermore, for the energyshare Group that gets the most supporters voting, there is the chance to scoop a £1,000 cash prize.

So please do get involved now and visit energyshare.com/voting.

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This is a sponsored opportunity on behalf of British Gas. However, all the author's views are her own.

It's that time of year again with "Buy Nothing New November"

noreply@blogger.com (Almost Mrs Average) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:19:00 +0000

For the last few years I've welcomed in November with a personal challenge, to get through the month without buying anything new. And after an expensive few months through the summer and early autumn, once more I'm welcoming the challenge with open arms for 2011.

It's not an anti-consumerism protest as such, although it does give me a great excuse to throw a huge boo-hiss at all the stores that promote the festive spirit months before December has arrived.

Yes, I admit the heavily commercial unseasonal 'seasonal promotions' regularly hack me off, what with Easter eggs on sale in January, back-to-school gear being promoted in June and the gradual appearance of Christmas paraphernalia showing its face as early as August! Stuff that makes me go Grrrrrr!

However, regardless of what is going on outside my front door, the challenge is aimed at keeping my own levels of consumerism in check and building in a defence system against all those things that would have otherwise lured their way over the threshold.

I know some people thing I'm mad for attempting such a challenge during what many consider as the start of the Christmas Shopping period but it has proven to save me money and in turn, the less I buy, the less I waste.

Here are some examples of the benefits from previous years.

Scrapping November from my Christmas shopping diary keeps me focused. There are no temptations to buy all those 'extra' presents I would have once bought for the family. Don't get me wrong, they don't miss out, it simply helps to keep on top of the excess!
Less temptation means fewer presents and less wrapping paper. No longer do I return home with armfuls of wrapping paper, which only end up in the recycling bin. Instead we get crafty with inexpensive parcel paper, magazines, newspapers and reusable gift bags or festive fabric.
Although food is obviously not on the 'banned list', the challenge gives me an opportunity to focus on using up what's already in the freezer and kitchen cupboards to make space for stocking up on the seasonal stuff to take us through the winter. The Love Food Hate Waste site is always great for ideas.
Less time shopping also gives me more time to have a go at making gifts instead. There are loads of ideas around the Internet and Violet Posy's Thrifty Christmas site is one of my favourites, along with some great creative projects that can be found at LellaLoves.
I won't be tempted to buy any spangly new outfits or accessories for the Christmas dinners or parties on my calendar. Instead, I look forward to going through my wardrobe to plan what will work, without bowing to emergency feel-good purchases either in November or December.

So if you normally find yourself in the pre-Christmas rut, why not join me this year. I admit, it can be daunting at first, but three years in and it's amazing how calm and in control a "Buy Nothing New November" can actually make you feel. The best bit is, not only are you able to step back from the commercial rush, it makes December far more enjoyable too.

However, if a whole month seems too much of a challenge, there is some good news in that Saturday November 26th is officially Buy Nothing Day. That's just one day, not a whole month. Much easier by comparison! If you fancy a go at that, just click on the Keep Calm logo at the top of this post.

Washing with an Ecoegg

noreply@blogger.com (Almost Mrs Average) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 09:17:00 +0000

Having had a week of half-term fun, it's time to channel the domestic goddess spirit and get back to the chores. Can you sense my lack of enthusiasm? Well I suppose a girl can't be off enjoying herself all of the time and before the excitement of Halloween kicks off, today's task is catching up with a huge pile of laundry!

Anyone who's followed this blog for a while will know just how much I adore my relationship with the washing machine. In fact this old post about washing with balls was as true then as it is now, except for the tiny detail about the balls.

Don't get me wrong. The Eco Balls have done a fabulous job, despite one getting lost and another getting warped, leaving me with just one single ball to tackle the washday woes! They've also saved us loads of money that we would have otherwise spent on detergent. However, with only one fully functioning ball after three years of usage, I was recently left wondering how effective it all was.

Then just as I was pondering a temporary return to washing powder until I sorted out an alternative solution, out of the blue, in the guise of a fairy godmother, I received an invitation to test out something new.

Of course if it had been the real Fairy Godmother, my pumpkin would have turned into a carriage, I'd have been adorned with glimmering satin and glittering diamonds and despatched to the nearest high society ball, with the local mice dressed as handsome footmen.

Instead, I was offered...... an Ecoegg!

I suppose that despite my dreams of running away from the domestic drudgery of the laundry, and having already won over my Prince Charming 19 years ago, this fairy godmother knew what I really needed and so the trial commenced.

Three months on, having tackled piles upon piles of laundry, I am pleased to say that the Ecoegg is still going strong. I haven't lost it! It's still in one piece and all's good.

I can't tell whether the Ecoegg is more effective than the Eco balls in terms of washing results. They are both comparable, absolutely perfect for getting your average laundry pile as fresh as a daisy but in need of extra help when it comes to more grubby marks that the children sometimes get on their clothes.

However, having experienced the two products, I admit that I like the Ecoegg more. I love the fact that it's a single item and from a design perspective, well it feels less clumsy.

If you've never considered the switch from laundry detergent before, I'd seriously recommend giving it a go. I can't remember how much we used to spend on monthly top-ups now but I'd hazard a guess that since 2008 we've saved somewhere in the region of £350.

Admittedly the lack of "fresh laundry" scent takes getting used to at first, but it doesn't take long to realise that it's actually one of the advantages and soon becomes more preferable to the chemically induced detergent scent that previously filled our drawers.

Well I guess all this talk of laundry is not actually going to get it done. I've already admitted how I let the side down for womanhood when it comes to multi-tasking. So for now I'll bid you Adieu and go and salute the washing pile and then it's time to hunt down a pumpkin....Fairy Godmother, if you are looking in, I still fancy the idea of turning it into a carriage once Halloween is over and perhaps popping to the ball too.

What's that..."In my dreams"?

Oh well - Washer Woman it is then - see you next week!

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More information about the Ecoegg and how it works can be found at www.ecoeggonline.com. As a comparison, you can also find out more about the Eco Balls here.

Adding glamour to zero waste

noreply@blogger.com (Almost Mrs Average) — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 10:28:00 +0000

Vivienne Westwood Skyscraper design

Forget cardboard compactors. These days jumping on your used pizza boxes in killer heels is the way to go to for adding extra sex appeal to recycling. Especially if you're wearing zero waste shoes.

Okay, I jest. I know I like to entertain my friends but the only way these shoes would add such glamour to my recycling activities is in carrying my feet towards my kitchen bin! Performing star jumps in high heels just to crush old boxes is a little far fetched, even for me.

However, the zero waste aspect of these shoes isn't. They're one of the latest designs to come out from Melissa, a Brazilian based shoe manufacturer that prides itself not just on great design and ethical policies but on zero waste operations too. Not only does the factory recycle its waste water, but any excess material used in its current collection gets recycled into the next season's shoes.

Melissa shoes, made from its mono-material MelFlex (apparently a toxin-free adaptation of PVC, developed from bio-engineered and recovered plastics) have emerged as one of the darlings of the eco-style world and have become popular with vegans and the eco-conscious alike. They even come with the promise that they can be 100% recycled. And I admit I too have fallen for them this season. Thanks to a friend bringing them to my attention, I was quickly seduced by a pair of Vivien Westwood heels especially designed for Melissa's Anglomania range,

Yes I admit, they add that special "je-ne-sais-quoi" never witnessed by my wardrobe in recent years and their comfort will hopefully ensure they remain a key item for many decades to come. However, despite my love of having shoes that have been made via zero waste production, I feel it fair to dispell the promise of a zero waste nirvana when it comes to recycling such items in the UK.

Just because a shoe is made from a single material that says it can be recycled, it doesn't mean it can be easily recycled. The Melissa range is the only collection of shoes I know that have a recycling triangle on them, (revealing type 3 for PVC), however in the UK, the municipal collection of this type of material is not particularly widespread. With that said, it is a sector that is currently being met by major research and development in Europe and eco-efficient collection and recycling processes, which replace less sustainable ways of managing such waste, should see much improvement over the next decade thanks to the development of voluntary agreements such as Vinylplus.

The recyclability may be marketed as a selling point when it comes to the end of a shoe's life. However as any "zero waster" should know, it's the product maintenance and reuse aspects that are the most obvious solutions to enjoying an item and managing its life-span post use.

As with anything, post-consumer recycling is just one consideration when making a purchase, but commitment to longevity and an ethical manufacturing process should be high on the agenda too, and for those reasons I think I'm going to enjoy my relationship with my Melissa shoes for many years to come.

I really was joking about jumping up and down on pizza boxes. I think these shoes are more suited to moments of enjoying cocktails and wine.

And of course, the closest they will ever come to a recycling centre, is if a touch of glamour is needed when recycling the empties.

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More information about the Melissa shoe range can be found at www.melissa.com.br/en, supplemented by a wealth of reviews appearing in Eco magazines that include Ecosalon, Dare2Magazine and The Ecologist.

Ornamental melons & food waste

noreply@blogger.com (Almost Mrs Average) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 05:58:00 +0000

(Photo credit: Bettnet on Flickr Creative Commons License)

How I wish I had the patience to carve fruit like this. The best I can do is to create an oddity of star-shaped slices from a hacked apple, a technique I learned a while back when trying to reinvigorate my children's interest in fruit. They were going through that phase, turning up their noses at anything but grapes and for a while much of the produce that I used to cart home from the supermarket would end up in the compost bin.

In short, our home was embellished with a weekly bowl of fruit whose purpose had become increasingly ornamental and it seemed I was the worst offender. Not only did I keep buying it automatically without thinking the issue through, I'd repeat shopping habits that were just plain daft.

For instance, take my love of melons. I'd spot them in the supermarket and pop one - or even two - in my trolley in anticipation of enjoying it later, thinking about the mouthwatering taste and refreshing texture. Then I'd arrive home, unpack, juggle the children and cook dinner and end up too blimmin' knackered to even think about taking a knife to the fruit I'd imagined myself devouring.

This pattern would repeat itself for days, with the melon perched on my kitchen worktop. Against a backdrop of busy family life, thoughts of its stickiness and mess-creating potential would stand in the way of the promise of it tickling the tastebuds. Eventually, it would just go off, creating that all familiar pungent melon stink and end up being tossed into the compost bin. The following week it would be replaced by a whole new fresh piece of fruit and the cycle of desire and inconvenience would begin once more.

When I told this story on Radio 4's Woman's Hour last week, I was met with an incredible response from friends and Twitter followers. The tale of my ornamental melons attracted a fair portion of light-hearted innuendo banter, but after the laughs were over, reactions settled into shared stories of similar habits that friends recognised in themselves, telling me about their ornamental pineapples and other fruity installations.

It really is startling that - thanks in part to habits like this - as a country we still throw away 8.3 million tonnes of food, which could have been eaten. That amounts to roughly £50 of food being wasted in domestic bins per month. Extrapolate the melon story to the contents of the fridge and wasted leftovers, it becomes easy to see how this mounts up.

The experts say that tackling food waste comes down to planning and they are right. Planning meals, budgeting properly and taking a shopping list really does help. However, I'd go beyond that and say it also requires much more. Realising the impact on the family budget. awareness of why food waste is such an environmental issue, being able to identify with your own daft habits, developing a conviction to change and then adopting new ideas that enable you to do so are all equally important factors.

Four years ago I was totally pants at managing food waste. As well as the fruity debacle, I'd think nothing of tossing out-of-date yoghurts in the bin along with leftovers from the serving bowl. I'm a terrible planner, a half-hearted cook and even now a shopping list still fills me with fear of control as opposed to the helpful guide it should be.

However, I stumbled through all sorts of changes in my habits. I stopped buying the stuff that I'd regularly throw out. I swapped the time-consuming huge weekly shop for a couple of very short visits, instead buying only the fresh produce that we really needed and I also got into the habit of using up leftovers. We saved loads of dosh in the meantime. I admit that I am by no means the picture of perfection. Threats from my husband, who sometimes reveals an unusal desire to post up some of my more dodgy looking carrots, could bear witness to that. But addressing food waste has really made an enormous impact on our household.

So, if food waste is your thing and you are now determined to do something about it, don't just take my word for it. I can tickle you away from using your rubbish bin, but for some really decent advice you'll find no better website than www.lovefoodhatewaste.com. It's full of facts and figures to get you motivated and is packed with top tips that range from using up veg that might appear to be at death's door, recipes for leftovers, how best to use the freezer and understanding date-labelling. If you use Facebook, you can also keep in touch with updates via the new Love Food Hate Waste community page.

Now coming back to those melons...I've just done a quick calculation and reckon I've probably saved somewhere in the region of £300 in the last three and a half years... and that ladies and gentleman is without the "Two for £3" deals.

Flippin' 'eck.

£300.

For once I declare myself officially speechless!

A rubbish hack to help sort out your waste

noreply@blogger.com (Almost Mrs Average) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 12:53:00 +0000

Amongst many things, the Dispatches documentary on Monday demonstrated how confused people still are over which packaging can be recycled in their local bins.

Packaging information, especially in relation to plastics, is still inconsistent and even though the on-pack labelling is getting better, for many the uncertainty of what can be recycled locally still pervades like a bad smell.

So if you're one of the hundreds of thousands who are still confused, here are my top tips.

1. Get the latest information from your council

Before you do ANYTHING ELSE, yes, even embarking on reading the rest of this post, get on the blower to your local council, and ask the recycling officers EXACTLY what you should put in your bins. I know it sounds obvious, but if you've been pondering how complicated it all is, this really is the best place to start.

Council information generally describes recyclables by product type and you'll find local authorities mainly fall into two categories; those where you can recycle most types of plastic packaging (and will include yoghurt pots, margarine tubs and fruit punnets) or those that can't, thus limiting your plastics collection to simply bottles (including drinks bottles, detergent bottles, milk containers & toileteries).

If the information isn't clear. Then ask questions so that you are clear on what can\can't be put in your local bins.

Another excellent source at your disposal (please excuse the pun), is the Recycle Now website. You just pop in your postcode and Bob's your uncle, as the system will return the results of what can be recycled at your kerbside, as well as Bring Banks and Household Waste Recycling Centres.

Once you are confident about your council's rules, you will become less reliant on packaging labelling and hopefully less frustrated.

After all, if you can't recycle a plastic fruit punnet through your local collection, you just can't recycle it regardless what message the packaging information might tell you, so don't fall into the trap of getting hot and bothered. Instead try and buy the product loose instead.

2. Find out what the recycling labels really mean.

Even though your local recycling officer is the best source to use, the new on-pack recycling labels can offer some extra help, and that's mainly to raise awareness of the materials used and the likelihood that they can be recycled.

Again, the best place to find out about the labelling guidelines is at the Recycle Now website. Remember, the labelling advice should be followed as a call to action, prompting you to check with your local authority (coming back to point 1) as opposed to a definitive guide in itself.

Once you are familiar with your local rules, even if the packaging doesn't have the correct up-to-date information printed on it you'll be more confident about what you should do. For example, whilst shopping in a supermarket the other day, the own-brand bread packaging showed that it couldn't be recycled, despite the fact that a new in-store collection had been introduced only a month or so earlier, which actually collects packaging film such as bread bags and toilet-roll wrappers.

3. Avoiding packaging that can't be recycled.

With all the controversy surrounding recycling, with its complications, targets and whether it is sorted properly in the first place, it is very easy to lose sight of what we as consumers actually can do to reduce our waste contribution.

We might not feel as though we have much power, but actually we do...lots! There are many small changes that we can make, which can have a huge impact if they are applied across the nation. I'd hoped to include some of these this week on Woman's Hour, but we simply ran out of time. This list is not exhaustive by any means, and should really be considered as a starter for ten....

Avoid packaging: Buy loose wherever possible, and support independent stores such as Unpackaged, which actively promotes that you use your own containers.

Switch packaging: If there isn't an unpackaged option, switch products you can't recycle for those that you can. For example one particular major toothpaste brand comes in small thin plastic bottles, made from the same plastic as fizzy drinks bottles and can be recycled widely.

Choose reusable: You can also reduce your packaging by switching from disposable products to reusable ones and prevent other waste too. Jackie, who was featured in the Dispatches programme, took my advice about ditching floor wipes and bought a reusable mop. This will save her loads of cash as well as reducing the amount of rubbish thrown away. If you're an avid baby wipe user, try using soft washable cloths instead.

Upcycle: If you can't recycle the packaging or avoid it completely, try upcycling it instead and raise some cash for your favourite charity. Terracycle offers an upcycling service for packaging from brands that include Johnson's baby wipes, Ella's smoothies, Kenco coffee refills and Aquafresh toothpaste tubes and toothbrushes. It's a great scheme for schools and local community groups. The products are turned into new things that are sold on the Terracycle website.

Split It: If you live in one of the areas that doesn't recycle plastic yoghurt pots, check your supermarket shelves for products that use less plastic. There are pots on the market that now have a thinner plastic liner and a tear-off cardboard outer (just like the one in the photo). These can be separated, with the cardboard being recycled and less plastic actually going to waste. More packaging will move in this direction, especially thanks to innovations such as Split-it, so keep an eye out on the shelves for products that can help you reduce waste.

DIY: That's right, do it yourself! If you're hacked off with not being able to recycle your ready-meal trays, see if you can save money and waste by making it yourself. Or if you've got a great friend who can really cook, and I mean really cook, invite yourself around and have a great night out instead of worrying about what you're going to do with the dirty plastic tray and ikky film. Then invite them over next week for some beans on toast!

These few ideas are just touching the surface, but I hope it at leasts provides some food for thought. I am sure you'll have loads more suggestions to add to this, which suit your lifestyle better. And if you want more inspiration, then check out The Rubbish Diet Challenge, which you can read online for free.

Of course, all I've covered here is just packaging waste. Food waste is much more of a significant issue. If you're interested in tackling that, watch this space as I'll be back soon with more tips on what you can do at home.

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If you missed the Dispatches "Britain's Rubbish" documentary on Monday, it is still available for the next 27 days at 4OD. It's packed with footage about fly-tipping, plastics, recycling systems and politicians arguing their case as well as the story of how Jackie, a mum from Manchester reduced her family's rubbish from 13kg a week to 5kg. I know I'm biased, but for me, that's the best bit. (Just in case you're looking out for it, my appearance is at 15 minutes and 28 minutes into the programme).

If you want to catch up on the Woman's Hour broadcast this week featuring Bob Gordon, Head of Environment for the British Retail Consortium and Liz Goodwin, Chief Executive of WRAP, you can 'listen again' via the BBC Woman's Hour webpage. Just look for the chapter on Zero Waste.

Me being serious on TV: Dispatches, Britain's Rubbish, C4 8pm

noreply@blogger.com (Almost Mrs Average) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 06:10:00 +0000

Morland Sanders, investigates Britain's rubbish for C4 Dispatches

I recently did some filming for the Dispatches documentary that's being broadcast tonight. It's called "Britain's Rubbish" and will be aired at 8pm on Channel 4.

When I was asked to contribute, a huge part of me wanted to batten down the hatches, draw the curtains and say "Thanks but no thanks". I normally stay away from the heavy stuff and regular readers will know I don't normally campaign against issues, but instead promote ideas that help empower householders to reduce waste, even if it's just by a small amount.

But as I was about to say "No thank you" to the documentary makers, my thoughts turned back to why I keep raising awareness of recycling and waste reduction. It's because it really is such a serious issue, despite my own natural tendency towards lightening the mood. And I am still as passionate about getting people to talk about their rubbish as I've ever been. Furthermore I'm a constant troubleshooter, who loves sharing positive information that I've gathered, even if it has turned this average householder into a bit of a waste geek. So, as I gave my reply I found myself changing my mind and saying "yes".

I knew the documentary could offer another avenue to raise awareness of all the advances that have taken place in recent years, including the fantastic On-Pack Recycling Labelling standard that helps shoppers better understand whether an item can be recycled. There's also the news how popular brands have made steady inroads into "lightweighting" packaging, designing out wasteful components as well introducing a greater percentage of recycled materials into their products. Such developments should make it far easier for shoppers to dramatically reduce their waste.

However, it soon became clear during filming that whilst being able to demonstrate some of the aforementioned positive points, the experience actually revealed that we are still a long way off from the ideal of a totally transparent system that consumers can easily rely on.

Participating in the documentary gave me the first opportunity in ages to examine a wide range of packaging and I was shocked at that no matter what strides have been made in the last couple of years, labelling across products is still highly inconsistent, with many lines not giving any clear instructions. There were plenty of examples where the text was too small to read easily or simply had outdated advice. Where some products would state that the packaging was recyclable (where facilities exist), other products packaged in the same material stated that it could not yet be recycled.

Despite well thought-out labelling standards, design guidelines developed by the British Retail Consortium and WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) and strong engagement campaigns to get these adopted by retailers and brands, it has become clear that much of the grocery sector is still lagging behind the need to hurry change. Coupled with this are many examples of overpackaged products that have are still being introduced as new lines.

As a shopper, consumer, householder and waste geek, this is far more than just frustrating. It is a major concern that clear consumer advice is not coming at the speed that is needed and that if the government is serious about its Zero Waste goals and waste prevention strategy, change in the manufacturing sector needs to be implemented faster than is currently tolerated, whether by government or by industry itself.

And the same could be said for the processing of mixed plastics packaging. It's seems very much a futile exercise to invest in labelling if recycling facilities aren't widespread. It is very encouraging to see commercial plants for mixed plastics being implemented by Biffa and new developments in sorting technologies that are starting to be rolled out by Veolia, but the UK needs deeper investment to make more plants available at a faster speed with flexible contracts that enable disposal authorities to use them.

As things stand, it is increasingly difficult for busy households to shrink their packaging waste when so many local authorities are still unable to recycle common items such as yoghurt pots, margarine tubs, meat trays, ready meal trays, fruit punnets and the cake tubs, the latter of which are becoming an increasingly ubiquitous item in the confectionary aisle. I often argue that it's the consumer's choice to buy these products and I agree that many could chose to vote with their wallets and make alternative choices. However, not everyone has the impetus, the awareness, the time, motivation, access to choice or even the money to tackle their household waste in such way, and we shouldn't be expect it to ultimately be our responsibility either.

So whose responsibility is it to tackle the UK's waste problem? Naturally we need to start with the brands and the manufacturers. After all, that's where our rubbish actually starts, during the design and manufacturing process. However it only then becomes rubbish if waste operators and local authorities can't collect it because the facilities aren't in place or they don't have markets onto which it can be sold on. However demand is changing and I've spoken to a variety of manufacturers, ranging from bottling plants to recycled plastic tile-makers who want to buy more recycled plastic from the UK. So it's their responsibility too, to find sustainable solutions and a steady bank of customers. But then there's government, which has the power to legislate, to set much tougher targets, show greater leadership and make better investment to kickstart zero waste economies.

But it's all too easy to fall into the blame culture, which we often witness when one sector has a foodfight with the other. It's time to move forward from that and whilst the big boys battle it out, I believe that consumers can have a key role to play too in reducing our residual packaging waste and food waste where possible. Whether that means taking a small amount of time to clear up any ambiguities over local recycling advice, switching from disposable to reusable products, boycotting overpackaged products, composting, following great campaigns such as Love Food Hate Waste, Recycle Week or Zero Waste Week, or even asking for better recycling facilities in local neighbourhoods, it means we can take more control over our bins. And if you're unclear on the packaging guidelines tell your supermarket that you'll leave it all with them, asking that they get back to you.

The waste problem won't go away until we all start working together. Waste reduction won't be sorted without the help of us, the consumer, even if we are mostly beholden to what's for sale in the shops. Against the background need to preserve our material resources and save energy, as a society, it starts by individuals taking more interest and being more aware of some small changes that could make a big difference and the wider consequences of what happens to the stuff that we chuck in our bins.

The documentary will be aired tonight and I'll be happy to follow up on any issues raised, as soon as I can. However, I'm away for much of this week, including joining a discussion panel in London for tomorrow's Woman's Hour (BBC Radio 4, 10-11am)

So in the meantime, if you're a householder who is interested in how you can battle the elements of your rubbish bin and reduce the waste that goes in there, www.recyclenow.com and www.lovefoodhateswaste.com are great places to start, as is the fantastic website www.myzerowaste.com. Of course you can also ring your local council for advice and if you're the chatty type, talk to friends and neighbours about how they reduce their rubbish. You'll never know what local tips you'll find out.

But remember, don't feel guilty about what you can't do, just feel relieved about what you can!

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Many thanks go to the production team at Blakeway for inviting me to add my small contribution and also to Jackie and her family who were brave enough to let us go through their rubbish on camera. I don't know which of my contributions will be featured but I'm looking forward to watching what else was unearthed during the wider filming. More information about tonight's programe is shown below:

Dispatches: Britain's Rubbish, Channel 4 10 October 2011, 8pm

Dispatches lifts the lid on Britain's bins and asks what the plan is to tackle the country's growing rubbish problem.

Reporter Morland Sanders travels the UK in the wake of the government's Waste Policy Review to find out about bin collections, litter, excessive packaging and Britons' secret bin habits. He finds householders angry about their bins not being collected every week and fly-tipping setting resident against resident.

He asks whether we can do more to help reduce the rubbish problem ourselves and sets a family the challenge of living without a bin for a fortnight. Can they really recycle everything?

On the high street, he questions whether we are simply sold too much packaging with the things we buy, making us throw far too much away, and sifts through litter to see who should be doing more to keep Britain tidy.

He also talks to the people who collect, sort and recycle our waste and discovers what happens to our paper and plastics once they are collected. Does profit win out over green considerations?

And he investigates whether the waste companies are really solving our rubbish problem.

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