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