5 weeks into Rubbish Diet Shropshire and .....

Well we had a good chat last night - only a few people were able to make Rubbish Diet meeting but a big welcome to Gill, Katharine's mum who is now on board with us. The feedback from you all has been great over the last 5 weeks .... James is managing to reduce each week and was down to 520g for week 3 - any more data James? Tina has noticed a huge reduction in volume and is homing in on those awkward items. Howard brought up a really good point - we both realised very early on that getting down to one plaster was not an option for us. BUT both our households have managed to reduce volume by three quarters and weight by at least 50% from where we started. Does it matter if we don't get down to a plaster? My feeling is that we are showing that without wearing a hairshirt we can reduce our waste significantly and still make a difference. Shropshire is already doing quite well when you compare average bin weights - 16.4kg per household per fortnight with national averages. The average household size is 2.4 people in our area which makes an average of 6.8 kg per person per fortnight. The Shropshire rubbish dieters have completely smashed those figures! Even when things go slightly wrong our fortnightly weights are way lower than these averages for example, Anna with 3 adults in her house has just turned in a weight of 1.21 kg compared with an average of 20.4 kg for a fortnight. My first fortnight weighed 5.4 kg for 5 people instead of an average 34 kg!! Last night we talked about how the process is making us change behaviour.... Lots of discussion about leaving black trays on the shelves - Anna left a bargain on the shelf because it was in a black tray And we agreed that it is ok to not feel guilty about everything! It's ok to eat crisps and catfood in foil-lined packaging occasionally! Overall, people seem to have found the process interesting, a challenge and rewarding - my highlight has been putting the wrong bins out and it being no big deal! Incidently, 4 of my neighbours tried to tell us that we had got it wrong - they were so worried that we would be left with overflowing refuse for another fortnight! little did they know!!! Would love to hear your highlights - and Katy is devising a simple online survey for us to put down our thoughts. I am really glad to have made myself and my family go through this process and thrilled that you guys have done it too!! We have proved to ourselves that it is possible and indeed straightforward to slim your bin in Shropshire. So armed with the findings of our trial I am really keen to roll it out to more people in the New Year. People thought we should produce a ten point guide to the Rubbish Diet Challenge The Guide would start with all the benefits: No more smelly bins No more worries about missing the bin men Saving money by not wasting food Less money spent on bin liners! Council Tax going further if less has to be spent on landfilling stuff As well as the overall impact of using resources more wisely saves energy, saves landfill space and saves raw materials All leading to a happier planet! Then we can take the Rubbish Diet challenge to different people... Tina and I are thinking about trying to get Meole Brace School on board in the New Year. Gill is thinking about getting her choir on board Katharine had a great idea of taking it to a Young Professional Forum Could you get a friend, a neighbour, work colleagues on board - or would your club, guide pack or football team be up for a challenge? Have a think and let me know if you have any ideas, suggestions, comments or bin weights.... Many thanks and best wishes ali

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

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! 

It's really easy to recycle batteries in Shropshire

Did you know....? Batteries can be recycled at all sorts of places in Shropshire now: All shops which sell batteries including even quite small corner shops, electrical shops and all the supermarkets have battery tubs plus all the main council recycling centres plus all the main council offices, guildhall, shirehall, corve street etc plus all these schools: Albrighton Primary School Shropshire Council (Lacon Childe School site) Shropshire Council (Cae Post Community Recycling Facility) Bitterley CE ( Aided) Primary Ifton Heath Primary School Shropshire Council (Enterprise House) Shropshire Council (Cae Post Community Recycling Facility) Shropshire Council (Lacon Childe School site) Adderley C of E Junior and Infant School Albrighton Prmary School Belvidere Primary School Belvidere School Bishop Hooper Bishops Castle Primary School Bitterley CE (Aided) Primary Brockton CE Primary School Broseley CE Primary School Brown Clee CE Primary School Chirbury CE Primary School Christchurch CE Primary School Church Preen Primary School Claverley CE Primary School Cleobury Mortimer Primary School Bishops Castle Community College Condover CE Primary Corvedale C of E School Ellesmere Primary Greenacres Primary School Grove School Hadnall Hinstock Primary School Hodnet Primary Ifton Heath Primary Kinnerley CE Primary School Lakelands School Longlands Primary School Longnor Primary School Lydbury North CE Primary School Market Drayton Junior School Martin Wilson School Mary Webb Moreton Say C of E School Morville CE Primary School Myddle C Primary School Oakmeadow Oldbury Wells School Our Lady & St Oswalds Catholic Primary School Oxon Primary Pontesbury Primary Severndale Specialist School Shawbury Primary Sir John Talbots Technology College St Giles Primary School St Johns County Primary School St Leonard's Primary School St Mary's Primary St Thomas and St Anne Primary School Stoke-on-Tern Primary School The Meadows Primary School Thomas Adams School Trefonen Trinity CE Primary Whitchurch Juniors Whixall Primary Wilfred Owen Woodside Primary Woore Primary Worfield CoE Primary Worthen prim AND: Shirehall Guildhall Enterprise House The Council Offices Shrewsbury Furniture Recycling Scheme Bridgnorth Furniture Recycling Scheme Bishops Castle Community College Shropshire Secret Hills Discovery Centre The Hollies Learning & Training Centre The Severn Centre Cae Post Community Recycling Facility The Book Shop Bridgnorth Library Bridgnorth Council offices Stone House recyclenow.com Great job James!!