Monday 12 November 2012

Thoughts from a bin slimmer

I'll admit to making a somewhat half-hearted attempt at slimming my bin. Partly, because it seems to be quite slim already. This isn't because I'm some eco-warrior, just because I've done the easy stuff and I'm not sure what to do next. 

I unintentionally slimmed my bin a few years ago, I actually had to go out and buy a smaller bin. We were emptying ours so infrequently that it was really starting to smell!

I wasn't really trying to at the time it was just a lucky coincidence. 

The things that made this happen were:
1. We bought a house with our very own garden and started composting. All the veg peelings that used to go in the bin are now outside making lovely compost for my veg patch.

2. We stopped buying milk in plastic bottles or cartons and instead have it delivered. Three times a week a bottle of fresh milk is on the doorstep before breakfast and the empty bottles are taken away to be re-used. This is surely one of the most wonderful and environmentally friendly ways of packaging anything - nothing to throw away at all! 

These two things made a dramatic difference. And, I'd got rather complacent until I heard about Karen Cannard http://therubbishdiet.blogspot.co.uk/ getting her weekly rubbish down to just one plaster. 

I'm definitely a long way off from that one.

I quick peek in the kitchen bin has revealed the following:
A cake box - This is mostly cardboard so could have been recycled but is also coated in sticky icing and needs the plastic film window peeling out. I was too lazy to get covered in lemon icing while trying to rip out a bit of necessary plastic that I just binned it. 

Washing up gloves - I always bin these and dishcloths. I think the only answer is to buy a more expensive, better quality brand, in the hope that they last longer and so I throw away less. Also, instead of binning a pair of gloves I just bin the one with the hole in and so only need one new one. I occasionally end up with two left hands, but every little helps! 

A biro - At the risk of covering everything in blue ink, I'm going to hunt down my old fountain pen from secondary school and stop using disposable pens.

Hope you've enjoyed these ramblings and please share your bin slimming challenges and successes! 

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