Something’s up!
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You know something is going on when you check your stats to find your visitors have tripled in one day. There’s clearly something adrift, or Google has suddenly developed a love affair with your site (which is all right with us).
It seems that Mr Green and I have developed the art of transporting our bodies to other lands, because we’ve bin been to Russia in the past 24 hours. And we didn’t even know about it. Or perhaps we’ve been watching too many sci-fi movies and haven’t actually woken up yet.
If you go here, you’ll know what I am talking about (but, unless you speak fluent Russian I doubt you’ll know what they are talking about……..)
You might also remember that Mr green called our local paper to tell them about our momentous New year rubbish collection. We hadn’t put our bin out for six months, and he felt it was a newsworthy item. Well fortunately the press world thought it was indeed, a feel good story worthy of sharing with the masses.
Not only did we end up featured in our local paper, but friends alerted us to an article in the Daily Mail and the 
Telegraph yesterday. Yipee!
The message really is getting out there and now I am beginning to understand why two amazing women in my life – Mrs A and Tracey Smith – keep relentlessly pushing their trashtastic messages. Once it ‘gets somewhere’ and people start to hear it, it really gives you a buzz. All those moments of wondering what on earth you are doing, if anyone actually cares, or whether you can make a difference all fall into place. And you realise that the past six months HAVE been worth it. I love you ladies for all that you do and all that you stand for.
We would like to thank the editor of our local paper and the reporter and photographers who have spent time listening to me waffle on about this issue over the past 24 hours. More importantly, it’s not that they listened and took photos in sub zero temperatures, it that they actually made a difference by publishing our story in such a positive way. So Viv, Julia and Sam – we thank you for making a difference to the world.
I have to admit; we get a bit fed up with the media sometimes; it appears that bad news makes good news and sometimes the positive ‘feel good’ stuff gets pushed to one side. But not this time. The beginning of the year is a great time to make resolutions and many people genuinely want to do their bit for the environment.
Across the pond the message is spreading too. Kristen had a newspaper article published recently and there was great TV interview with Jen and her family from the Clean bin Project. Beth from Fake plastic Fish is continually promoting her vision and there are heaps of other lovely people working hard to promote their rubbishy ideas. Far too many to mention here, but know that we admire and respect every one of you. You are all an inspiration to us. We have a list of 15 other garbloggers in our links section, and I am quite sure there are lots more to add.
I’m way behind with answering comments, but know that I will get there and that we value and appreciate all the feedback and contact us forms we receive through the site. The past day has been hectic but edifying, and we hope that some of our new readers hang around for a while and keep up with our latest news.
You can sign up for our RSS feed if that makes things easier and you can check out our latest discussions at any time. Please tell us what you think about any of our posts and share your own experiences; there will always be either myself or Mr Green on hand to answer your queries and acknowledge your comments. (It might just take us a couple of days 😀 )
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Hey, how does it feel like being a celebrity in Russia? 😉 Anyways, well done, your initiative is a great idea and is definitely something to look at for our country too. So keep up the good job! Greetings from Siberia
Hello Vlad, thanks for your comment! Unfortunately we can not read Russian, so we don’t know how you feel over there. We are very pleased that we have reached so far with this important subject and are happy if it has brought some inspiration to you as well. Greetings to you as well over in Siberia.
Hi just thought i’d say how inspirational, i read about you in the mail. I got bored this evening and went into the mail online as well, thats where i got this link. So just thought, i could just read it online everyday and save paper, i will be back
Hi Sarah, thanks for ‘popping in to say hello’ Good point about reading newspapers online… it does save on paper and of course having to recycle or waste them afterwards.
Hope to hear from you again.
Oooh!! So great to hear about this!!!!
“They associate fun with waste but that’s rubbish.” – so true, great quote!!
It really warms my heart… especially after reading yesterday on wikipedia (!) that 100 new incinerators are planned in UK…?!!
(The 12 planned here in Slovenia don’t sound so bad then… but still!!)
I wonder what pushing the message further and zerowaste blogs getting international could do…?
A movement of families & individuals pledging to go 100 gram or so…?
It’s an inspiring vision…
My Dad said to me, ‘Why are you obsessing about every little tiny plastic bag or packaging?’ He said back when he worked at the chemical plant, they dumped tons of packaging and really bad stuff, chemicals – to ordinary landfills!!
BUT I said, that was the past & I can’t change the past, but I can do something about NOW!! 🙂
I’m so happy you guyz are doing it too, & making international news!! 🙂
/hmm.. maybe I should write an article about you in Slovenian, before someone else snatches it…? ;))
Are pics free to use with your link added? 🙂
Hi guys – I’d just like to say WELL DONE on getting this story into some real key newspapers and deservedly so. As you know Mrs G, I’ve been frustrated with the media for so long in that every time waste is mentioned it’s normally in the negative context of overflowing bins, fines or mismanagement of recyclates. Well done to the reporters who have recognised that your example is one that should be congratulated and that this is real trend that is going to take the country by storm. Thanks so much for the link. K x
>>Layla:
Thanks for your comments and enthusiasm and yes, you are welcome to write report you like in Slovenian. The images here are just screen shots from the websites, so they are not copyrighted. Likwise the images of us with our waste bin are our photos, so you can use them. It’s true what you say about the incinerators … they are greatest threat in our effort towards personal responsibility for waste. Incinerators need waste to justify their exixtence.
Thanks Mrs.A, as ever, for your solid support and encouragement. We are always mindful that our efforts and success have been fuelled and inspired by so many people, many of which regularly post on our website here. One family is not enough, but together we can make a difference. We hope that there is still time to change the tide of public opinion and attitudes before Governments resort to incinerators as the only course of action.
I had a phone call from a friend of LMG’s to tell me that your story was in yesterday’s Daily Mirror as well. They printed a very shortened comment, headline approximating to ‘We’ve bin so green’ but the content was correct, even down to Mr Green’s age!!
I’m now basking in being on the fringe of fame!
YAY! Well done the Greens! What a spectacular achievement to have got all that fabulous publicity.
Thank you everyone; it’s been an incredible few days. But you know we couldn’t do it without you. (well, we COULD, but it would be a lot less fun and we might cheat without you lot watching us 😀 )
It’s been lovely to be able to welcome some new visitors to the site and to read all the lovely comments and contact Us forms.
Here’s to a great year, when hopefully, Layla’s 100 incinerators do not feature at all because everyone reduces their rubbish so much there would be nothing to feed them 😉
Wow! You’re famous!
😀
so comforted by a glow the your fame…warms the anxious cold spot about the future. the message is seeping through the near empty garbage bags.
all developed countries need to heed…
no reply needed. garba-love good folks.
Oh, wow!!! That’s so wonderful, you guys! Congratulations!
Well done, and well deserved. Congratulations and thank you for constantly inspiring me to try harder.
Aww, thank you ladies for your kind comments. Everyone of you is making a difference and I admire and respect you for all that you do in your own lives. It is a real blessing to meet so many people through this site who care and who make conscious decisions throughout their day to day activities.
Thank you for the ‘thumbs up’! I’m still figuring out what to say – is it better to just present you guys (in a peaceful manner:) or to also speak up about trash & incinerators in our pretty little Slovenia & worldwide… (?)
Still figuring out exactly who to send it to as well.. 🙂
In a way it would be great to start a zero waste campaign with a zero waste week etc here too..
There are some blogs & some possibly interested people, but very scattered.. I’d love to make a website like myzerowaste, with tips how to start etc. Still figuring out the best way to do it… Are you guys using WordPress, Dreamweaver or…? (you have my mail, so if you’re not comfortable talk about it publicly I’d REALLY appreciate an e-mail!:)
Again, thank you so much again for inspiration & everything!!
Hi Layla, we’d be happy to email you as it’s probably not the sort of stuff other people want to read. I’ll get Mr G to email you tomorrow and you can fire any questions at him and have a think about what you might like to do. I’m very excited about this!
Hey! Thank you so much!! Really looking forward to this!
Btw I managed to decipher the Russian article a bit (Russian is a bit similar to Slovenian, but my knowledge of their writing is very basic!)
Mostly it says the same as the other article/s, also mentions Britain in general in 1st & last paragraph (how much waste is made & that British authorities launched a campaign against waste & that supermarkets were asked to stop ‘3 for 2’ actions.. if I understood it correctly!!lol)
Hi layla – DH sent you an email the other day – did you receive it? Thanks for the translation; I ran it through GOogle translation and it basically came up with the Telegraph article which had been put into Russian 🙂
Oh gosh, thanks for telling me!!
I kept checking my inbox, and just thought he was incredibly busy!! /the e-mail somehow ended up in the spam box, grr!!/
Just sent him a long e-mail, hope I didn’t ask too many questions!!
re: Russian article, yeah, that’s what I thought, pretty much!! 🙂 /would it be terribly wrong if a Slovenian article ended up similar…?;)) or maybe more tips on what you guys do would be better? hmm.. What do you guys think? maybe you can tell in the e-mail..?
Anyway, was just so happy to have found the note!! Sorry I didn’t write sooner!!