Rubbish Diet Shropshire are meeting up 3rd December 7pm

Well the Rubbish Diet Shropshire group have been going since the 25th October and by all accounts we are all still on track with minor diversions from bin slimming caused by dogs, cats and children that don't seem to understand the concept! For all those who would like to come and meet a few Rubbish Dieters - find out what all the fuss is about and join us for a mince pie please come to the Hobbs Room, Shrewsbury Library, 7.00pm on Monday 3rd December. We will be celebrating the loss of all those collective kilogrammes and sharing information on how we think we can sustain the slimmest bins in Shropshire! Hope to see you there Best wishes ali

Why oh Why do supermarkets sell stuff in black plastic trays?

Please tell me why supermarkets are selling stuff in black plastic trays? We cannot recycle them in Shropshire - even the most modern. sophisticated plastics separation facility can't do anything with black trays!! So why is stuff still sold in them? Are the black trays cheaper to produce? Does the food look better on a black tray? Either way, there should be a way that forces non-recyclable packaging out of the loop. Perhaps, there should be a disposal surcharge on products if their packaging is non-recyclable to discourage food companies from using it. Perhaps, supermarkets could start to refuse to sell products which come in non-recyclable packaging.... Another idea would be for supermarkets to provide the facility to take back all their own packaging.... all the bring banks in the car park are a good start - but if supermarkets had to find recycling and disposal routes for all the packaging they sold - they would soon start to only sell things wrapped in stuff that is easy and cheap to handle. Oh for a joined up World...

How to stop "to the Occupier" mail....

People have been asking how to stop mail that isn't personally addressed: James Thompson, Waste prevention officer at Shropshire Council has sent over this information about how to stop "To the occupier" mail... The Mail Preference Service only stops addresses mail for the named occupants www.mpsonline.org.uk You can stop 'to the occupier' by emailing royal mail optout@royalmail.com see http://www.royalmail.com/you-home/controlling-your-mail And you cant completely stop but you can try to reduce free newspapers and take away fliers / political leaflets etc by adding a polite no thanks sign to your letter box It's also about being a bit savvy with giving your address out and making sure you always tick the box to say no to future marketing or not tick the box when they try to reverse the question subtly You can also ask the yellow pages etc not to bother sending you one too https://www.yellowpagesoptout.com/about-us - I find this is a good site http://www.saynotophonebooks.com/ Also this is a really good website http://www.stopjunkmail.org.uk/ This is worth a read too http://myzerowaste.com/articles/household/yellow-pages-bt-directories/ Here's to paperless communication!! Have a nice day

The results are in.... 1st fortnight on Rubbish Diet Shropshire

Well after 2 weeks of eating, sleeping and talking rubbish - tonight I have weighed our rubbish..... da da daaah 5 people and a dog have produced 2 and a half bags of rubbish weighing a total of 5.4 kg. My wheelie bin is one third full. Our wheelie bin at the last bin day was nearly full with 5 bags in it weighing a total of 10kg. So in both weight and volume we have reduced our rubbish by almost 50%. The reduction is great but is 5.4kg still high? What weight of rubbish does an average UK family throw away each fortnight? Can anybody tell me? My next question is can we get any lower? Well, we seem to be getting into a rhythm now - avoiding non recyclable packaging. Our recycling system has had an overhaul to make it more efficient and the boys are heeding the big notice on the bin that says NO PLASTIC, NO METAL, NO PAPER, NO CARD AND CHECK WITH ME FIRST!! Our biggest problem is food waste. A couple of errors on portion size or forgetting to use up leftovers and bingo you have another kilo of methane just waiting to happen! So my big push over the next 2 weeks will be to be much more careful planning meals, buying food - trying not to be drawn in by bargain buys and using my freezer more effectively. Check out www.lovefoodhatewaste.org.uk to stop feeding landfill!! And thanks to the grow cook share project in Craven Arms because tey are going to share their Bokashi knowledge with us.

Recyclable versus Biodegradable plastics - what do you think?

One of the biggest problems for consumers is working out what is the best thing for the environment! Most plastic packaging is recyclable - but only some can be taken back to supermarkets. Then some packaging is biodegradable so is designed to disappear in landfill How are we supposed to know what goes where? Without specific legislation - companies are taking the initiative to come up with their own solutions. BUT that means we end up with a mish mash of materials all of which need to be dealt with in a different way. Biodegradable plastics still use fossil fuels and still go to landfill albeit temporarily. I don't think this is closed loop thinking it just muddies the water!! What do you think? John Lewis unveils biodegradable packaging 'fit for landfill' 8 November 2012, source edie newsroom John Lewis has introduced biodegradable polyethylene packaging across its bed linen and schoolwear lines, in what is thought to be a UK first. Related articles Zero waste to landfill for milk bottle manufacturer The material, which will replace conventional polyethylene, contains an additive biodegrade introduced during the manufacturing process which will break down with or without oxygen, heat or light, in 5-15 years - meaning it will still degrade even if sent to landfill. John Lewis packaging design & production manager Mark Gallen said the company had been researching more sustainable packaging materials with its suppliers, and believes this is a ground-breaking development. "We have already replaced PVC packaging with recyclable polyethylene ... while it is possible to recycle traditional plastic bags at some recycling centres, it is less common to be able to recycle this type of plastic at kerbside collection points meaning that most of it is thrown in the bin," he commented. "Until recycling facilities are more widely available, most people will throw the packaging away. We know that our customers want to reduce their environmental impact, and this new material makes it easy for them to do this." The retailer plans to roll out the packaging across other product lines including own-brand ready-made curtains next year. Following an initial six months of exclusive use, it will then make the technology behind the new packaging available to other retailers. John Lewis takes accountability for its waste arisings very seriously. Last month its recycling & waste operations manager Mike Walters told edie that the company was now focusing on end destination and keeping secondary materials in the UK wherever possible.

Cardboard Christmas will be on 5th January in Shrewsbury

In the last year Shropshire Council have provided a number of cardboard bins around the county www.shropshirewaste.org.uk BUT these will not cope at Christmas!! To make sure that we keep cardboard out of landfill Transition Shrewsbury are running another Cardboard Christmas day on 5th January 2013. The aim is to collect as much cardboard as possible - getting it out from under your feet, keeping it out of landfill at the same time as raising some cash for local charity We will be collecting cardboard at at least 3 sites in Shropshire: The Red Barn Pub on Longden road Belle Vue The United Reform Church, Abbey Foregate South Shropshire Furniture Scheme Ludlow If you would like to volunteer to help us .... ....or if you would like to run your own Cardboard Christmas project please contact Ali on alison.thomas08@gmail.com Download our Keeping Cardboard out of Landfill Guide from www.transitiontownshrewsbury.org.uk How about collecting down your street - we can supply bags for you to use. For more information - drop us a line So far we have Ashley Street, Woodfield Road and Woodfield Avenue, Castlefields, Would love to have more......

Recycling Day - a good or a bad thing?

Just put out the recycling for kerbside collection tomorrow.... great to get it all out of my kitchen!! 1 and a half black dustbins completely full of plastic pots, bottles, trays, foil and tins 1 green wheelie bin full of woody garden waste about 10kg of paper 6 wine bottles Plus I had a meeting at the Red Barn tonight so took my cardboard up there and I took a carrier bag full of plastic film to the plastic bag bin at Sainsburys and this week I recycled 3 bags of toys and 2 bags of clothes Meanwhile in my grey wheelie bin there lies one bag of rubbish weighing 3.1 kg. Mixed feelings about all this - on the one hand it is amazing how much you can recycle in Shropshire when you put your mind to it but, then again, we have used so much stuff, so much energy has gone into making all that stuff, everything comes in so much packaging...... SO now i have a dual challenge - the first to try and eliminate non recyclable waste and the second is to reduce the overall amount of stuff we produce as a family. Any tips on where to shop to reduce packaging gratefully received thanks ali

Even your odd socks can be recycled!

Just had a nice conversation with lady at Severn Hospice. She says that the Hospice shop on Wyle Cop is very happy to receive rags - just put them in a tied up bag and label them rags so that they don't waste time sifting through them. they sell them to the rag man who recycles all the textiles. You can put clothes in bags in a bank at Red Barn - these clothes are not sorted and are sent lock stock and barrel to eastern Europe. Usable clothes will find a new home - but you can't be sure that unusable items will be recycled. The Salvation Army have a bank at ASDA - check out this link to see what happens to them http://www.wear2bank.co.uk/Questions Better to take rags to OXFAM banks at Sainsburys or bag them up and take them to a charity shop. By the way - I also found a cardboard bank at ASDA! Great for people in Abbey Foregate, Monkmoor and BelleVue

Stopping junk mail benefits all

Follow the link to see how to stop junk mail http://shropshire.gov.uk/news/2012/11/council-helps-residents-to-reduce-junk-mail/ Although we can recycle all our junk mail - it is still better not to produce it in the first place! By signing up to the mail preference service we save trees, save energy, save space in our recycling bins and save the council money in reduced collection costs which in turn means our council tax goes further! I signed up on-line and even I found it straightforward! By the way - anyone got any clue what to do with plastic animal feed bags?

3 days of rubbish diet

Ok we are 3 days into rubbish diet.... I have 4 broken plastic plant post in my wheelie. But my kitchen bin although small and compact is almost three quarters full!! What on earth is in there? yoghurt lids chocolate wrappers the plastic film from meat trays scrapings of a burnt pan a load of bits and bobs including half a plastic sword from under the bed!

Check out James' blog on love shrewsbury

James Thompson, Waste Prevention officer at Shropshire Council is blogging about recycling on Love Shrewsbury website http://www.loveshrewsbury.com/blog/james-thompson Great stuff James - please can you blog about our Rubbish Diet thanks

I'm going in, I may be some time!

Ok it's half term and it has to be done - the bedroom raid! Time to reorganise and declutter my 15 year old's bedroom. It is time to put the train set, the bricks and lego in the loft and to persuade my children to part with a whole load of soft toys and games that haven't seen the light of day for about 5 years. So after about 4 hours of cleaning, sorting and a lot of arguing - I finally ended up with 4 bags of toys for the charity shop. Just dropped them off at Hope House along with a bag of rags from the dressing up box - the lady was really happy to have toys at this time of year and Hope House gladly accepts rags. Just checked the wheelie bin and someone has put some old cracked black plastic plant pots in there!!

Repurposing! Don't you just love Americans?

Check out these great Reuse ideas http://www.boredpanda.com/creative-reuse-upcycling-repurposing-ideas/ So far my reuse ideas have not been quite so creative! - I am amusing myself by making wrapping paper from foil lined chocolate wrappers. I vow not to buy any wrapping paper at all this Christmas. Apparently coffee foil pouches turned inside out make pretty gift bags as well - not sure cat food pouches would have the same appeal?

What to do with ripped clothes and socks beyond repair

James Thompson at Shropshire Council has answered my query about whether you can put unusable textiles in the BCR textile banks at the Household Recycling Centre. James checked with the contractor and they assured him that they recycle everything that cannot be sold or used. James has suggested that they state this clearly on their banks - to stop people throwing textiles in landfill. Textile banks provision has been sub-contracted to midlands firm BCR Global who have installed containers at around 80 public sites including all of the main Council recycling centres Watch this short film to see how the textiles get sorted for re-use in developing countries or recycling into industrial rags http://www.bcrglobal.com/videos.html?play=full_dvd They obviously prefer to get as much of the good quality wearable garments which have more resale value but they can accept torn, ripped, broken and worn out do recycle the lower grade stuff, virtually nothing goes to landfill. So it's also a good outlet for lower grade textiles, linen, towels etc. I've checked with the contractor and the specification has not altered - it's still as per this list on our website. I have asked Veolia to make sure their staff are briefed and containers are clearly labeled etc. http://www.shropshire.gov.uk/waste.nsf/open/9FB272EC5FF31FD7802570D9003A2C00 On the same note - I noticed that the OXFAM textile banks at Sainsburys do state that all textiles that can't be sold will be recycled. Do you know of any other outlets for unuseable textiles? Bye for now Ali 07972858313

Did you know how important metal recycling is?

Recycling metal saves a huge amount of energy because the raw materials don't have to be dug out of the ground. Here is the information about kerbside metal recycling from Shropshire Waste website: http://www.shropshire.gov.uk/waste.nsf Metal packaging is 100% recyclable. Not just once: It can be recycled over and over again, into a huge variety of products. Every time it is recycled it saves natural resources, energy and cuts greenhouse gas emissions. Best of all, it doesn't take a lot of effort on your part to make a big difference. You can recycle the following metal items at kerbside: cans tins empty aerosols foil foil trays It's really important that we recycle every last scrap of metal, because all metal is precious. Metal recycling is one the most environmentally beneficial bits of recycling you can do. If you put just two extra metal cans in your recycling box you'll save enough energy to power your TV set for 12 hours! What happens to Shropshire's recycled metal? To make collection more efficient for everyone, metal packaging gets collected mixed with the plastics and so first it has to go to Veolia's Materials Recycling Facility in Wolverhampton to be separated using special magnets. The metal needs further sorting into the steel and aluminium fractions before they can be recycled. Steel goes to AGM in South Wales to be melted down in a furnace to make new steel. It goes into a variety of manufacturing processes. It could end up as a steel girder in a building, or a bicycle or a kettle or a washing machine or baked bean tins - the possibilities are endless! Aluminium goes to the Novelis closed-loop recycling plant in Cheshire where it is primarily used to make more cans. All metal is recyclable ...but unfortunately we cannot currently collect it all from the kerbside… Please dont put metal items like pots and pans, empty paint tins, bikes, garden tools, door handles, nuts and bolts etc. out for collection! You can still recycle them all but you just need to take them up to Battlefield and put them in the scrap metal bay at the Household Recycling Centre. http://www.shropshire.gov.uk/waste.nsf/open/1536bb96cc150f2580257021004523da

Lush for a Zero Waste bath

Thanks James for reminding me about Lush - a company that produces great toiletries with no waste!! Great for zero waste present - I might treat myself if I manage to halve my refuse over the next two weeks! For an alternative theres truly no waste with these lush bath bombs There's one in Telford, they only use recyclable paper wrappers and generally try to avoid any packaging at all Lush are quite a good example of a firm doing something on waste http://www.lush.co.uk/content/view/783 I remember them running a "shop 'naked' with lush" campaign http://pudding88.blog.com/2009/10/28/lush/

Did you know.....? 20 surprising items you can compost Taken from the RecycleBank (4 Sep 2012 by Jo Dimbleby) Think that composting is just for food stuffs? Think again! Many, many items of household waste can add extra nutrients to your compost heap – not just the obvious, such as vegetable peels and coffee grounds. 1. Stale wine and beer – great for after a party! Wine is actually used by many old school gardeners as an ‘activator’ for compost, kicking off the bacterial processes needed to break down the waste. 2. Hair from your family and your pets 3. Balsa wood boxes – such as the ones commonly sold with Camembert cheeses. 4. Used masking tape 5. Stale fish food 6. Hide or bone based dog chews – just make sure your dog’s finished with it first, otherwise you’ll have an unhappy hound. 7. Old rope – so long as it’s natural and not plastic-based 8. Really worn out leather items – chop these up into small strips with scissors to cut the time it takes them to break down. 9. Condoms – did you know that both latex and sheepskin condoms compost? 10. Wool or cotton clothing – finally a good use for that exhausted old jumper! Use old cotton clothing as dusters and cleaning cloths first; when they get too mangy, wash them through and bung them on the compost. 11. Cotton tampons and cardboard applicators 12. Seaweed – tried and tested ‘activator’. Useful as it gives the decomposition process a boost. 13. Feathers – another brilliant way to get your compost heap working overtime. 14. Vacuum dust – woollen carpets only, not synthetic as these fibres will not compost. 15. Muddy scrapings from your hiking boots 16. Lint from the tumbledryer filter 17. Fingernail and toenail clippings – provided they’re nail varnish free. 18. Ashes from the BBQ – worms go crazy for these. Make sure they’re cool first, unless you want a flaming compost heap! 19. Used tissues – collect them when you have a cold. The screwed up paper helps create space and aerate the heap. 20. Animal manure from vegetarian pets – best mixed with straw. Let us know if anyone's got any other compost tips?

I thought I would do what Karen suggested and just read the recycling information on the Shropshire waste website - and low and behold, I learned something!! Plastic film recycling You can take plastic wrapping/packaging back to the larger supermarkets and recycle it at their in-store carrier bag recycling points. What types of plastic film are accepted? They accept any low-density polyethylene (LDPE) film which is sometimes marked with a number 4. plastic wrappers from bakery goods plastic breakfast cereal liners plastic toilet roll wrappers plastic bags from fruit and veg plastic carrier bags plastic bread bags plastic freezer bags plastic magazine wrap plastic shrink wrap What types of plastic film do they not accept? bubble wrap cling film If you are unsure look out for the label on the packet which should say "recycle with your carrier bags at larger stores - not at the kerbside". Where can I take plastic film? The major supermarkets all offer recycling facilities for this type of material in their larger stores. Participating stores include the larger Asda, Sainsbury, Co-op, Tesco, Morrisons and Waitrose supermarkets. What happens to the plastic film? The supermarkets collect it at the front of the store and then they use "reverse haulage" so when new stock is delivered the empty truck takes away all their plastic wrapping. The plastic is recycled at a variety of UK reprocessors who use it to make recycled plastic carrier bags and rubbish bags. Why recycle plastic film? The average household gets through about 25 kg of plastic film each year, and while this seems like a tiny amount, it adds up to thousands of tonnes of the stuff across Shropshire. You can keep this out of landfill by taking it back to the supermarket. By recycling plastic it helps to reduce oil use, save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This is great for me as I have about 4 bin bags of the stuff in my garage - I will have to go in the dead of night in my gorilla garbage balaclava!!

Rubbish Diet Launch in Shropshire a great success!

Fantastic to see 27 people at the launch of the Rubbish Diet Shropshire last night and I have had messages from at least 5 other people who also want to join us!

Karen Cannard creator of the Rubbish Diet Blog inspired us with her tales of her experience of slimming her bin to just one plaster by taking the Rubbish diet challenge back in 2008.

So we have a great group of willing volunteers - So what do we need to do now?

1. Well the first thing we are going to do is  BASELINE our bin - work out when your next refuse collection is - this is your start date for the Rubbish diet. Before then, try and weigh what goes into your bin. I  have put my bathroom scales next to my kitchen bin and am weighing each bag on the way into the wheelie. If you do this for a week and double it to get your average fortnightly weight.

2. Next step - is get organised to make recycling easier

3. Are we recycling everything we can?

4. Then we can get going!!

In our first week we will be looking at what goes in and identifying those difficult items

In the mean time - I will be looking for practical solutions for unusable textiles, black plastic trays and film