One bin, one year, one family. Hooray.

[Keaniebean]

no ,no offence taken - the point i was making is that as a disabled - single - non parent - non car driver - unable to play sport - been to the museum - non library using - local who has to pay council tax ,( unlike the hordes of students down here who cause a load of mess and rubbish and pay ZILCH - yet can run cars - party - etc and still moan about how hard done by they are ) - i may as well get some value for my buck

Totally understand your point there Brett, but lets say there was some scheme in place that meant you had to pay for what went in your rubbish bin and the section of the council tax that was used towards rubbish collection was scrapped (sorry for the pun). Do you think that this would be a fairer system, and would it make you cut your rubbish.

I can't actually beleive I've lain awake at night thinking about this!!!!!!!!!!

[brett53]

no ,no offence taken - the point i was making is that as a disabled - single - non parent - non car driver - unable to play sport - been to the museum - non library using - local who has to pay council tax ,( unlike the hordes of students down here who cause a load of mess and rubbish and pay ZILCH - yet can run cars - party - etc and still moan about how hard done by they are ) - i may as well get some value for my buck

Totally understand your point there Brett, but lets say there was some scheme in place that meant you had to pay for what went in your rubbish bin and the section of the council tax that was used towards rubbish collection was scrapped (sorry for the pun). Do you think that this would be a fairer system, and would it make you cut your rubbish.

I can't actually beleive I've lain awake at night thinking about this!!!!!!!!!!

ah but imagine the bureaucratic aspects of the scheme and the lengths some would go to to avoid putting THEIR rubbish in THEIR bin - and the amount of paper work - petty officials and such it would cause be enough to give you nightmares let alone keeping you awake ( shudder )

and it STILL would not cure the freeloading student non payers i would not mind if they just payed say a tenner a month - as there are 23, 000 of em apparently down here - it would help keep OUR bills down - and whats a tenner ?? a half a round of drinks on their Friday night razzles - but nope - must not upset that bloody university

- latest is some developer wants to build an eyesore of a flipping skyscraper on the old woolworths site slap bang in the middle of town - who for - not locals - but flipping students !!! - er do they know a lot of well off students then ?? - as they wont be renting out plush hi rise "apartments " for peanuts - and how many students will be able to afford to eat in the high price "atrium " restaurants and cafes included in the scheme ??

seems to me these developers have s**t for brains - must have gone to uni

( sorry off on one of my RANTGENTS ..... rant / tangents ( TM & pat pending ) )

ignore me - not having a good day

[Green Rosie]

I've been muling this one over all day. Whilst what this family achieved is very commendable I know it is beyond what most people could achieve even if they wanted to. So it IS a case of everyone doing their bit and making a collective difference - and that includes manufacturers reducing unnecessary packaging.

But I also think we should be looking at the bigger picture which was touched on with the curry sauce in a jar comments. Recycling is great but as well as that we should all be greatly reducing the amount of stuff that we need and thus need to recycle. It's all very well for example, recycling curry sauce jars, but there is still a huge amount of energy needed to make and then recycle these glass bottles. I would be interested to see how much stuff comes into this lady's house per week, even if much of it is recycled. I am lucky enough to produce my own meat and veg and I get milk in refillable bottles from the local farm so I buy none of these products with their recyclable (or not) packaging and associated carbon footprint.

I hope I'm getting across what I want to say - everyone makes a big fuss about the need to recycle, we hear quite a lot about re-using things but we hear much less about reducing the amount of stuff we buy or the fourth of the "R's" - repair. But I suppose these don't fit so well in our consumer driven society do they?

[red]

I hope I'm getting across what I want to say - everyone makes a big fuss about the need to recycle, we hear quite a lot about re-using things but we hear much less about reducing the amount of stuff we buy or the fourth of the "R's" - repair. But I suppose these don't fit so well in our consumer driven society do they?

i think this is an extremely good point - I'm proud to say we don't put out much recycling for the bin men. Which actually seems to the opposite of what we are told all the time. But the reason we dont recycle much is because we don't bring into the house much that needs recycling.
I even have other people saving their jam jars for me, as aside from the occasional jar of peanut butter, and gifts of jam etc from other people, there are no jars coming in. Paperwork is burned in the fire, then ends up on the compost heap - and again i have to ask other people for newspapers for the hen house. etc

we all need to do 'our bit' but the focus should perhaps be more on reducing

[Flo]

Funny but I came in tonight to post what Green Rosie has already said. Hmm. It has come to me that rubbish is rubbish whether or not we can recycle it. Now if the family had achieved the same amount of recycling as they did landfill that would really be impressive.

But none of this takes into account what happens if the computer, washing machine, kettle, telly, radio, cooker blows up and needs to be taken away from the house. That's rubbish as much as what goes into the landfill bin - likewise clothes that are worn out or outgrown, cars that come to the end of their days, garden waste and all other such things.

The detrius of life is far more than what goes into one landfill rubbish bin. We didn't have any rubbish collections of any sort where I grew up as a child - in the middle of nowhere you see and way out of where the dustcart went in its travels. And I never did learn where the household recycling centre was - even if there was such a thing in the late 1950s and early 1960s. We had to sort out all our own waste. There wasn't a lot I can tell you.

Really keeping things out of landfill is an excellent thing to do but it's only the tip of the iceberg. But if a family like this draws attention to our household waste habits and starts a discussion on it - good.

[ElizabethBinary]

Are the same people posting in this thread about how the family isn't perfect also the same ones who posted in the 'in what ways are you naughty' thread? I think so!!

We all have our vices, we all have our desires and wants. Some of us can curb them as much as possible and some of us can find ways to go one step further than our neighbour but in the end, at least we're all trying. It's not a contest about who can recycle more than the other and then, after that, who can avoid recycling entirely.

A lot of us don't agree with how things work in our area but the truth is it'll most likely never change. We can try and fight and kick up a fuss, but there will still be overpackaged dolls and heck, my Kitchen-aid, which is domestic as all get out, came with enough foam to float a small child across the Pacific on.

At least, in the end, someone is trying. Someone is working towards a definite goal in mind. So someone has a penchant for jarred curries - what's your vice?

Maybe if we kick up enough of a stink, mandatory recyclables and more green packaging will be used, if none at all - but I honestly don't see that happening with every one of our needs before we die, so we have to sit back and consider what's worth it to us and what's not.

Poor lady is going to think about us every time she buys a curry sauce jar now, too.

[Green Rosie]

I'm not criticising this lady, just pointing out that recycling is not the saviour of all our rubbish problems and we need to look further.

[ElizabethBinary]

I wasn't referring to any person in particular, just the general theme of this thread.

[brett53]

ah repair - a word to conjure with - when i was a lad ( caution - shimmering of the drifting back in time sort imminent ) - we used to have "fix it " shops - where a guy in a brown coat and bottle glasses would take stuff over the counter and MEND IT - and YOU COULD get SPARES for stuff - and stuff was made to BE repairable ( actually it was built to last but that's another issue )

but today ?? - if its broke - bin it - well don't actually as the EU ( hock -spit ) dictate number 123457384623534-0039237623582375- part B forbids this and the item must be taken to the relevant recycling place or returned to the manufactured for disposal

and spares sir ?? - oh you cant have spares sir - only "qualified" people are allowed to repair things sir - we cant have unqualified people doing that - it would open us up to all sorts of litigation possibilities if something went wrong or you hurt yourself and we had been found to have supplied spare parts sir - and that will never do sir - but we CAN sell you a brand new and improved model sir - should last all of - oh 12 months if you are lucky , and it will be a lot cheaper than spare parts , which did i mention you cant have sir ??

( sound familiar any one ?? )

the stuff i have found chucked out in the back lanes round here that can and HAS been fixed is amazing - furniture - a good stereo - TVs - chairs - all sorts ( students have some uses ) - PC bits in abundance - lamps - you name it its there ( best pickings to be had at the end of academic year ) + i have a room full of "that will come in useful " bits - old washing machine ?? pumps and valves stripped out - and kept etc

fortunately i have had a practical bent since a kid ( and many a bollocking for taking things to bits to find out how they worked ) - did all my own car repairs when i was allowed to drive ( got me licences revoked following the stroke that left me disabled - eyesight not up to standard required thanks to a little thing called "upper -homonomus -quadtrantanopia " ( try saying that when you have had a few ) ) - repair and maintain my mobility scoots - the money pit here and all sorts of stuff - plumb - plaster - electrics - wood work you name it - i do it ( i should not boast but have a BIG tool kit ) - and only admit defeat with consumer electronics because surface mount components are too small to see , let alone work with ( did i mention you cant get the spares you know ?? )

[Green Rosie]

Repair - recently our breadmaker broke down - the motor still worked but the blade wasn't turning. Not to be beaten OH took it apart, located the fault - a nut had fallen off - put it back together again and now it works fine. BUT ..... it was an absolute pig to take apart and it took him 2.5hrs to do. I reckon lesser mortals would have given up. Things are not made to be repaired and this is wrong

[Keaniebean]

I have to agree totally with you Green Rosie, things should be made so that they can be fixed, but more importantly we should reduce the amount of things we bring into the house in the first place as rubish is rubish weather or not it can be recycled.

Well done to the family in question at the beginning of this thread, I think if we all tried to be just a little bit more like them then a saving is a saving. Hopefully they have made others think about their rubbish for the first time, who knows... it may be the beginning of a new journey for some just as it was for me a year or two ago. Every little helps towards the bigger picture.

[brett53]

Repair - recently our breadmaker broke down - the motor still worked but the blade wasn't turning. Not to be beaten OH took it apart, located the fault - a nut had fallen off - put it back together again and now it works fine. BUT ..... it was an absolute pig to take apart and it took him 2.5hrs to do. I reckon lesser mortals would have given up. Things are not made to be repaired and this is wrong

had a problem with mine too - the silly seal went on the shaft and it got seized - about 30 Min's and some easing oil sorted that - as to the seal - a rubber grommet replaced the shoddy original - works fine now and i know how to fix if it gos again - i love my bread maker - saves money and unlike bread the packaging the flower comes in is paper so recycled

[red]

Repair - recently our breadmaker broke down - the motor still worked but the blade wasn't turning. Not to be beaten OH took it apart, located the fault - a nut had fallen off - put it back together again and now it works fine. BUT ..... it was an absolute pig to take apart and it took him 2.5hrs to do. I reckon lesser mortals would have given up. Things are not made to be repaired and this is wrong

things just aren't made to be repaired anymore, not to last. boy do i sound old.....

but the old singer sewing machines i seem to be collecting - they have lasted more than 100 years and still going fine. the 1950s kenwood chef, new bits needed.. bought and replaced and the machines chunter on solidly no problem

[red]

Are the same people posting in this thread about how the family isn't perfect also the same ones who posted in the 'in what ways are you naughty' thread? I think so!!

hey dont jump in to stop the discussion...discussion is a good thing.

If starchild's actions have made a lot of people think - thats a good thing.

I was just now thinking about my bin - I'm glad the bin men took the contents away, small though it was, as it contained the bones from cooking one of my pigs heads. I wouldn't want them hanging around... then thinking.. what did this family do about bones ? (i havn't watched the thing on tv or read about it other than here). I don't know what they did - but I do know that simply buying meat without bones is only making it become someone elses problem. Bones in landfill are not a big problem - they will rot eventually.
Then I was thinking about the plastic... when i buy from my butchers, I walk there, and he wraps my pound of local mincemeat (or whatever) in a thin plastic bag. I let him - and ultimately I throw it in my bin (since it has had raw meat in it). The overall environmental impact is much much lower than say.. recycling a glass jar.

We all have our vices, we all have our desires and wants. Some of us can curb them as much as possible and some of us can find ways to go one step further than our neighbour but in the end, at least we're all trying. It's not a contest about who can recycle more than the other and then, after that, who can avoid recycling entirely.

nope its not a competition, but its good to discuss and consider. Most of us here probably were very different a few years back, we learn, we make changes. One thing I have learnt is there are many different ways to measure our progress. And this is one of the things this subject has brought up. This is ish, and we are none of us pure.. the pure wouldn't be wasting resources on a forum discussion - for example , but as we try and take a step in the right direction, it is a good thing if we stop and consider whether what we are doing is actually right

for example i could feel virtuous for only shopping locally... but when i am in my local shop buy lettuces that were flown in from foreign climes (i dont so this i hasten to add!) . it's always worth thinking it over.

Poor lady is going to think about us every time she buys a curry sauce jar now, too.

probably. But making a stance will come with comments. Good for her for having a go, and I spect she has learnt some things along the way too.

[Green Rosie]

I had a mosey through this lady's (Mrs Green) blog today and a few posts along brought up an issue that again worried me and showed that a one theme crusade such as this is not without it's problems. Mr Green, when shopping, had chosen a screw top bottle of wine over a cork where the outer wrapper could not be recycled/composted. However in a world where nothing is black and white the knock-on effects of this small reduction in landfill could have far greater consequences. Cork is farmed from cork oaks grown in forests in Portugal and Spain and these forests support a diverse ecosystem including the extremely rare Iberian Lynx. Remove the need for the cork to be harvested and the land will be turned over to some other form of farming with disastrous effects on the Lynx population.

One comment after the post did bring this up but Mrs Green merely brushed it aside with the comment, "There doesn’t appear to be any one right answer…". It read to me as though zero waste is her sole goal no matter that her actions may actually be less sustainable.

She's right - there is no one answer but many people who read this blog may be tempted to change to screw top wine without fully realising the implication of their actions.

Newspaper article here

It's like people who insist on always buying organic food and stock up with out of season organic, over packaged and air-freighted veg ....... "because it is organic so it must be better"

I am not saying that recycling is bad. Far from it, but it is not the bee all and end all and sometimes other things must be taken into account.