The Rubbish Diet is taken up by a street in Shrewsbury

The Rubbish diet has been taken to a new level this week with a street deciding to take on the rubbish diet challenge. 10 households on Ashley Street in Shrewsbury are planning to slim their bins together. The big weigh-in is next Wednesday the day before bin day. Then they will spend the next 8 weeks trying to produce less and less rubbish by following the Rubbish Diet. This process really works and helps you to get to grips with what you can and can't recycle, it helps you save money because you get really good at not wasting food. On average each household reduces waste by 50%. Slimming bins together is great fun - it is fascinating to find out how little rubbish we need to produce. The bin doesn't smell anymore because the foodwaste has gone, the wheelie bin is never more than half full so no need to panic when you are lying in bed and hear the bin lorry coming down the street!! Now the families in Ashley street are not just doing the rubbish diet - they have also set up a rota to share trips to the HRC or bring banks for all the cardboard, tetrapak, batteries and rags which don't get picked up by the council. So under their new regime, each family will only have to make the trip once every 10 weeks now - so they are saving time and money and the planet! by recycling together! If you think your household, your street or your friends might like to take up the rubbish diet challenge or would just like some bags to collect cardboard and tetrapak please give me a shout on 07972 858313 or alison.thomas08@gmail.com - we have a new diet starting at the beginning of April 2013.

Should food go down the sink?

I have been thinking a lot about food waste this week and which is the best way to treat it.Obviously we all agree that the best thing is not to produce any in the first place! And we re doing pretty well at that since the rubbish diet started here in Shropshire!!! I am not talking about how to treat the packet of ham that's gone off or the half a loaf of bread that nobody got round to eating or chicken bones. I am thinking about the plate scraps - such as peas and gravy, the odd bit of meat or dessert the rest of the cereal bowl. What is the best way to deal with these things? Ok - I have learned this week that quite a lot of UK sewers take sewage to anaerobic digestion plants where stuff gets broken down and energy is produced instead of methane being released to the atmosphere. Then I heard about these Food Waste Disposers which are designed to macerate food as it goes down the sink - which is an alternative to collecting food waste from households - as it gets transported to the AD plant via the sewer - neat eh? So I was thinking if your waste water and sewage is going to an AD plant why not just mash up any waste food and wash it down the plug hole? The risk is blocking the pipes but as long as the food is mashed up into really small pieces it seems to me to be a better to wash waste food down the sewer than to put it in your refuse where it will end up making your bin smell, then go to landfill releasing methane to the atmosphere. So am I right - is it ok to mash up food waste and stick it down the drain? If it is ok - then I can put my dog on a diet too!