Where to recycle what?

It’s amazing what you find out once you get going…..

This week on the rubbish diet we are looking at all the stuff we can recycle in Shropshire so your local Bin Doctor has been out and about:

All your plastic pots:

As you know Shropshire Council are now collecting all your plastic pots such as margarine tubs, yoghurt pots from kerbside which is fab as this plastic makes up so much of our rubbish. Self Help Africa, above Paulo’s Osteria in Shrewsbury are collecting Plastic milk bottle tops - so if you are passing drop them off.

Stretchy plastic wrap:

But what about all that plastic wrap? What can we do with it? You may have noticed bins outside the Coop, Tescos and Sainsburys which say “Recycle your plastic bags here”  – well the good news is that it isn’t just carrier bags – you can put in wrap from toilet rolls, fruit bags, bread bags in there as well – in fact any plastic that feels a bit stretchy.

Biscuit wrappers:

As for biscuit wrappers – from your custard creams, digestives or any other biscuit can be recycled at the Shrewsbury United Reform Church – just pop them in a bag and drop them off at the church office or at 30 Ashley Street. They will be sent back to Terracycle where they will be made into new products.

Pen recycling:

Meole Brace School are collecting all your old pens, markers and highlighters – if you are anything like me you may well have a drawer full of old pens – have a sort out and drop them off in reception at Meole Brace school – they will be sent off to Terracycle to make  watering cans.

Electrical goods:

There are banks for small electrical items all over Shropshire – check out the Shropshire Waste website  www.shropshire.gov.uk/waste.nsf

For details of where you can recycle what.

If you know of a local group collecting particular materials – please let me know so that we can get the word out.

So here we are in the New Year - I always start a diet in the New Year - well I try to at least..... but this year, how about a different sort of diet - the Rubbish Diet - slimming your bin is great fun, it saves you money, it makes your council tax go further and of course it means that less stuff goes to landfill,loads more stuff gets recycled - saving space in landfill, saving energy and making much better use of valuable resources. One more great thing is no more panic about missing bin day - cos there's hardly anything in your wheelie!! The Rubbish diet – Here are the 7 easy steps to slim your bin: 1. Imagine that after your next bin day there will be no more refuse collections – and you will have to deal with all your waste – anything that can’t be recycled you will have to bury in your own garden – your very own landfill right up close! 2. With that picture in your mind you need to baseline your rubbish – so on the night before your grey bin is collected have a look and make a note of how full your wheelie bin is – roughly how many bags. If you are really keen – weigh each bag so you know how much weight you are chucking out. A photo of inside your bin is a quick way of recording your starting point. 3. So the lovely bin men come and empty your bin – now you are ready to start the rubbish diet – the first challenge is get your recycling system sorted out so it doesn’t drive you mad…. We produce a lot of cardboard and paper so I have 2 stacking boxes next to the bin one for card and one for paper – on top I have a tray (one from an old fridge!) – I put all my plastic, cans, foil tetrapaks, batteries etc in here and empty into recycling boxes every couple of days. The other top tip is to have a bag hanging on a door or under your sink for all plastic wrappers, bread bags, toilet roll bags etc. 4. So challenge for the first week is to try and recycle everything you possibly can – check out this website to find out exactly what the council will collect from your kerbside and what can be taken to bring banks at supermarkets and the Household recycling centre: www.shropshirewaste.gov.uk Don’t forget that all that plastic wrap can be put into the plastic bag recycling bins at supermarkets. 5. After one week of taking out all your yoghurt pots, foil, cans, glass, card and paper and plastic wrapping – the next step is to look at what is still in the bin – make a note of the stuff and have a think about whether there is an alternative that doesn’t produce the waste. For example, foil lined crisp packets – everyone loves crisps but can you cope with buying Sainsburys basic tortilla chips in a clear plastic bag that can be put in bag recycling instead? Will your cat eat canned food instead of the food pouches? Can you buy big pots of yoghurt instead of the little individual ones so you only have one lid instead of 6? 6. Give yourself the challenge of not putting any food in the bin for a week. Investing in a compost bin for all your peelings from fruit and veg is a great way to reduce your waste – maybe a neighbour is a keen gardener and would be happy to have your compost. Can you avoid any wasted food? This is the bit that has been brilliant for us – by cooking once and eating twice we have saved money and avoided waste food in the bin. www.lovefoodhatewaste.org.uk is a great website with all sorts of tips to avoid food waste – the portion measure has really helped us. 7. The rubbish diet is about talking to other dieters so that we support each other – maybe someone has a solution to a waste problem – like using the orange plastic nets from oranges as a scourer. Maybe you have found a waste free alternative and can share that with other dieters So please tell us how you are getting on – follow the Shropshire dieters on Twitter @RDShropshire and check out the blog www.rubbishdietshropshire.blogspot.co.uk and send us your thoughts, questions, complaints and discoveries to Alison.thomas08@gmail.com Thanks and good luck with slimming your bin!!

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.

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

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!