Weekly weigh in number six
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Well here’s a conundrum. Much less waste this week to look at, but when I popped it all on the scales, it weighed slightly MORE than last week by a couple of grams.
<gasp>
Can this possibly be our first week of weight gain? You might remember I was a little concerned about how we were going to maintain our superb slim waste from last week, but I wasn’t expecting this.
I’d even eaten less shop bought yogurt this week, so to say I was a bit miffed, was an understatement of gastronomic proportions.
There was something afoot.
I’m sure I remember that last week’s yogurt pots weighed about 108 grams. And there were eight of them.
This week, just five pots weighed the same.
Have the manufacturers changed their flimsy pots for a more manly version? I flip over a pot and carefully investigate its bottom.
It all looks and feels the same to me. Am I the only woman in Britain who can fondle a yogurt pot’s bottom and know it to be the same?
<scratches chin and mutters to self a bit>
On further investigation I realise I’ve not cleaned out the pots properly. There are bits of yogurt stuck to a couple of them, some beans in another (I use the empty pots during the week for storing things) and, wait for it, the major culprit; I’ve contributed to FOOD WASTE this week with some moudly-thank-goodness-this-isn’t-a-scratch-and-sniff-computer apricots.
Ewww. Last night, when weighing things up I decided to live with my shame. Stick it up on the graph, confess all and throw it in the landfill.
<boo, hiss>
But I awoke this morning after dreams of the earth’s destruction where giant apricots took over the world like the dinosaurs of long ago, to sun streaming through the window and thought of everyone reading this. I thought of children everywhere who have the right to a safe and healthy planet and want summers of paddling in clear streams to look forward to.
You’ll be delighted to hear I decided that I was not going to let the world end because of my laziness.
So with a hop and a skip and a good dose of guilty conscience, I headed off down the garden to empty my sinful apricots into the compost bin and feed the cat some old yogurt. I grabbed a clothes peg from the line on my way down, and with a deep inhale scraped the offenders away and rinsed the pots.
Now back on the scales, the pots have lost weight for sure. And the cat has gained a few grams.
Our total rubbish consists of
5 yogurt pots and lids
1 plastic curry tray (even though it’s PET1 – the same as milk bottles – it’s black and, according to our local council, must not go into the recycling)
1 foil backed pack of pistachios
2 foil backed rice bags
1 cellophane stickers bag
1 plastic seal from the top of a honey pot
1 cellophane rice cakes bag
1 dried fruit bag
2 French hens and a partridge in a pear tree
(Just checking to see if you actually read this stuff)
After all my disgusting efforts at the crack of dawn, I’m pleased to say it WAS worth it.
This week’s weigh in, brings us to a very satisfactory Junior Middleweight status of just 175 grams.
The moral of the story; rinse out your empties well because all those crusty bits of food weigh heavy on the landfill. And moudly apricots weigh even more.
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Hi Mrs G – Wow, you’re doing brilliantly. That’s brilliant progress. 😀 x
Thanking you, Mrs A. But as you will now be aware there is more to this tale than meet the eye.
Mr Green is busy typing it up as I comment to you. Watch this space 😉
I know you know about making your own yogurt, but I heard you mention you were stalling on that front, as was I because I could never seem to find an easy enough recipe.
This is the one that was the magic easy one:
http://www.organicpicks.com/blog/?s=making+yogurt&searchbutton=go%21
Thank you Lauren for sharing that recipe. I was interested to read that adding MORE of the original starter could sharpen the flavour. I’ll have a try of that. I was worried that adding more culture would make it thicker and mine already needs slicing with a knife 😉
Is this the recipe that you now use with success? How much do you make per week?
Hi Mrs Green,
My Zero Waste is a great effort. I particularly like your weekly waste details for a family. This must surely encourage other families to take charge of their situation. I recently looked at Google for a Zero Waste check. There were over 10 million entries. The message is spreading worldwide. Competitions, with sponsors, will certainly add to the impact.
Hope you and family are enjoying the summer weather.
Regards,
John.
Hi John,
Always good to see you. How is your own challenge coming along?
We have a great competition week coming up in September; we’re really looking forward to it and, as ever, we hope to share information readily to inspire other people to join in with their own waste challenges.