Friday 13 June 2008

The weeks waste

plastic Quorn packet
plastic cereal packet
a small free sample sachet of coffee.
Sanitary wear.
Plastic wrapper from soap tabs.
tablet blister pack (from Steves hayfever tablets),
a very dry bread roll
the plastic pitta wrapper
3 plastic noodles packets
plastic quorn nugget wrapper
3 metal beer bottle caps
plastic shower gel container
plastic yoghurt pot
plastic pasta container
wax from the cheese
sachets from the cat food
Plastic wrappers from the almonds, and sunflower seeds

4 comments:

rae-ann said...

Hiya :)

How did you feel about your first week's rubbish?

Do you think there is anything in there you could recycle or reuse?

I'm seeing a couple of possibilities. If the cereal pack wasn't torn / dirty that would make packaging for sandwiches or home made bread.

The dry bread roll could have gone out for the birds and it's worth just checking the code on the showergel container for a number 1 or 2 as these can go in with plastic bottles in the recycling.

You did really well though; far less stuff than the average household. Are your family onboard with this, or is it just an extension of things you've always been aware of?

Mrs g x

Sue said...

Thanks for your comment Rae.
I have tried to be aware of the amount of rubbish that I throw out for a long time (I was in The Citizen, Christmas 1999 talking about rubbish and recyling!), I have been recycling for many years. But I have never actually recorded it before.
When listing it like this is looks like a lot, but in the bag it is such a small amount.
The cereal packet was torn, that's how the children open the packet!! But we be don't have Cornflakes, so it isn't something that will regularly go in the bin.
Yes, I agree with you on the bread roll, but we do not like to encourage birds into the garden, having chickens it's best to keep other birds out due to avian flu risks. I could have given it to our chicken if I had soaked it, but it was one of those days, and it was just thrown in the bin!
The shower gel was not marked, it is a soft rubbery plastic.
I think everyone in the house is used to separating the rubbish, they know what can and can't be recycled. The never go out buying sweets, so do not bring their own rubbish home! I think it is an extenton of what we always do. Now I am just giving it an extra pause for thought to see if there IS some way to reuse what I am about to bin.
x

rae-ann said...

Ah, now I feel like a giant sized prat; I didn't realise you had been 'onboard' with this for nearly a decade - doh! And there I am trying to give you advice **blush**

It's great that your kids are on board and I didn't know that about chickens; you live and learn.........

Have a wonderful sunday,
Rae x

Sue said...

Ah, don't worry. I DO need the advice!
As it has been something that I have been doing for long time, I have kind of become set in my ways! As more recyling facilities have come 'on line' I have started to recycle additional items.

The Christmas 1999 thing was something I felt really strongly about, the bin men did not come round for 2 weeks, and there was an uproar. Most people had 7-10 black sacks of rubbish sat around, the streets looked terrible with black sacs piled along all the driveways. Everyday there were more and more people writing into The Citizen, it was like a competition, who had the most bin bags! My point was that we still only have less than our 1 bin. As lots of things could be recycled. I even chose to do it as a project at Uni!
You have been an inspiration for me to stand back and have a new look at things, a fresh start, thinking about new ways to reuse items that I have not thought of before.