Too scared to give up clingfilm?

Filed in Blog by on January 21, 2009 12 Comments
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the rubbish dietWe’re celebrating a very special day today. Over in the East of the country, the lovely Mrs A is celebrating her first blogaversary. Yes, that’s right; a year ago today, the good lady herself put pen to paper, finger to keyboard and started blogging her rubbish life to the world.

Her challenge, should she choose to accept it, was to slim her bin to a size zero. Her first thoughts were clingfilm! How was she going to manage without it? But like a true warrior, she put her fears to one side and examining her options, she soon started ditching the clingfilm, the yogurt pots and the non recyclable drinks cartons in favour of reusable or recyclable options.

And look how far she has come! During her own zero waste week during March of last year, this remarkable, way more than average lady, produced just ONE PLASTER!

Her blog inspired us and, along with some other things that were happening in our life, launched us kicking and screaming into our own zero waste challenge. Under her watchful eye we rummaged through our rubbish, tossed out our trashy purchases and gasped at our garbage. As we’re all geared up with over a thousand households in the county for our own Gloucestershire zero waste week, it couldn’t come at a better time to be clinking glasses with the wonderful Mrs A and sharing a slice or ten of zero waste cake with her.

Mrs A – we are proud to be celebrating this wonderful occassion with you. May we enjoy many more years of rubbish talk together sharing our dirty secrets in public, and may your bin be forever a svelte size zero.

About the Author ()

I am a long time supporter of the Green and Sustainable lifestyle. After being caught in the Boscastle floods in 2004, our family begun a journey to respect and promote the importance of Earth's fragile ecosystem, that focussed on reducing waste. Inspired by the beauty and resourcefulness of this wonderful planet, I have published numerous magazine articles on green issues and the author of four books.

Comments (12)

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  1. russell says:

    Amen to that! Mrs A has been an inspiration to many.

  2. maisie says:

    You have also been an inspiration to many, and there is no reason why you shouldn’t have a “zero waste week”.

  3. Fr. Peter says:

    “Mrs A – we are proud to be celebrating this wonderful occassion with you.” Quite so Mrs.G, although personally I think you are both amazing!

  4. Oh my word, blinky blimey, blimmin’ ‘eck. My fingers are positively shaking Mrs G. I’d just finished today’s celebratory blog post and thought I’d visit. What a surprise to pop over and see my face looking at me as feature of the day. Thank you so much and in particular for sharing the challenge side-by-side. You’ve added more wisdom and inspiration and indeed have had a harder job to tackle with fewer recycling facilities close by. But it’s been truly fab and an experience I will cherish forever. 😀 x

    Thanks too to Russell, Maisie and Peter and all your readers who put up with my bletherings. Is that a word? Well it sounds good anyway…. Keep reducing that rubbish folks…as some well known companies say…

    “Every Little Helps” and “You’re worth it”….oooh, I feel another blogpost coming on. 😀 x

  5. Layla says:

    Very inspiring indeed!! 🙂

    will be interested to learn more about clingfilm! (my Mom is addicted!)

    & lol looking forward to those new blog posts!! (ever since I started the ‘no shampoo’ challenge more than a year ago, I roll my eyes at every ’cause I’m worth it’ commercial! :))

    off to Mrs A’s journal now… 🙂

  6. what an inspiring tale of success..happy birthday dear lady.
    a new self to you and you and all of your readers.
    i certainly have enjoyed the subject. and a great english smile you offer.
    now what discoveries are you to share with us? expand expand on the shrinking waste pile of human footprints.

  7. Sarah says:

    I haven’t used cling film in years, I don’t think I ever really did. My downfall is making the effort to take my plastic recycling to the bring sites we have round here.

    You are both inspirational! Huge congrats on a whole year Mrs Av.

  8. Layla says:

    Yes, you are both totally inspirational!!

    After perusing the blogs & reading about the zero waste week and all… Ta da!! Finally dared & bought cheese with a Tupperware-style container!! in a supermarket-style big shop!!
    (I honestly wouldn’t do it without thinking of you lovely ladies and the incentive from these blogs… I was too mortified to even think about it!! But the lady there was totally sweet & Mom was there to back me up & yup! no clingfilm!! – there’s still the original plastic packaging, but no clingfilm and no extra paper/plastic!! )

  9. Wow everyone – thank you soooo much for your fantastic comments. It really is a privilege to be part of this and I have every faith that the message will keep flowing far and wide and have the impact that we and the world need.

    Nadine, there is always more to tell and there has been so much that has happened in the last year, but I’ll keep sharing my own perspective and hope that it continues to help folk who are just starting out. 😀

    Hi Sarah – yay, every time I use a reusable container, I celebrate in a small way that I got around to ditching the clingfilm 😀

    Hi Layla – go girl (and your mom too)….keep it up. You’re doing great 😀

    Well that’s me now off with some wine to celebrate. Thanks to you all for your lovely comments and again to Mrs G for hosting the mini party 😀 xxx

  10. Marie Phillips says:

    Just spent a happy half hour on Almost Mrs Average site and am fired up and ready to cut my waste a bit more. Both yours and Almost Mrs A’s sites are inspirational. Thanks. And happy new year.

  11. Karen says:

    I rarely use cling film or buy freezer bags. I have been reusing cereal bags instead. They can be washed out many times over.

  12. Mrs Green says:

    @Marie Phillips: marie – I can’t believe I missed your comment from over a year ago – I’m so sorry!

    @Karen: That’s a great idea, Karen – we use things like that too; they are so much stronger than clingfilm 🙂

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