It’s get off your arse Thursday!
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After my little outburst a couple of weeks ago about procrastination and overwhelm I’ve decided the Thursdays will never be the same again.
As from today, all Thursday’s will be ‘Get off your arse Thursday‘ and I’m inviting you to join in! Thursday (or you can choose another day if it doesn’t fit in with your schedule, but please come along on the Thursday and tell us your news) will be all about doing those jobs you’ve been putting off doing. Anything goes as long as it is loosely related to reducing your landfill waste.
It might be sorting out your recycling, scheduling a definite date when you can dump your wares responsibly, putting an item on Freecycle or Snaffle Up, starting a compost heap, making a phonecall to the council about something, writing a letter to a manufacturer, removing some packaging at the checkout, giving up a ‘landfill sin’, sorting out your personal recycling area at home, making a card from scraps, packing up some plastic to send off to GHS or Polyprint …
You’re only limited by your imagination!
So have a think, write a list and circle Get off your arse Thursday in your diaries from now on.
Today my collection of carefully opened envelopes is threatening to create an avalanche in my office, so I’m going to sort them out.
What are you going to do today to help you reduce waste?
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Yay Mrs G – you carry on whipping us into action. LOL…right so what am I going to do today. I know…I’m going to at last empty last month’s Bokashi bin into the compost. LOL. 😀 x
so toady I will post my yogurt pots to GHS, lovely people
and thanks to you, do they also take yorurt drink bottles ?
Have a listen to the Afternoon Play on Radio 4, ‘Getting To Zero’, or go to ‘Listen Again’ in a day or so…
We bought some zero waste easter eggs :O)
@MrsJ: where from ? please
@MrsJ:
I bought some from Sainsburys. I got Smarties. The other ones that I could see were Milky Bar and Kit Kat.
I’ll be getting some more of those this weekend too…long live Zero Waste!
Right then! Today I’m going to set my mini-greenhouse up – yay!!! It’s been sat in the box oustside all week after young master J carried it through town and I really need to get on and get it ready for planting some seeds.
I’ve also given the Wii box the second coat of varnish that it’s been waiting for and cleared a stack of dumped items from the side just inside the back door!
A cushion cover that is going to have a new life guarding the sides of the chairs has also been unpicked and is ready to be stitched in place.
Might just manage a dog walk then and I’ll drop off some leaflets to some of my neighbours that asked about them (honest!!).
@Almost Mrs Average: well done Mrs A; it’s the tiny jobs that can build up and then get overwhelming.
Do you have a compost bin for the bokashi or another cunning trick up your sleeve for disposal?
@sandy humphreys: Hi sandy – I’m not sure about the yogurt drinks bottles. I would imagine they do, if they are the right sort of plastic.
maybe a call to them would be a good idea.
Did you have a lot to post to them?
@Joe K: Hi Joe; I’m going to tune in later and have a listen. Did you enjoy it?
@MrsJ: Yay! that’s one less thing to organise; well done Mrs J 🙂
@Carole Blake: well done Carole, I remember you mentioning you had bought some last week or so. It sounds like you have quite a lot to buy!
@Poppy: Wowee Poppy; the award of this week must go to you. You got through loads of jobs! How is the mini greenhouse?
Thank you Mrs G 🙂
All done apart from the leaflets, but poochy did get an extra long walk to avoid getting the car through race traffic.
The greenhouse is up and waiting to be filled. Next weeks task maybe if I don’t get it sorted over the weekend 😀
@sandy humphreys: I got mine from Asda – they were originally £1 but now 3 for £5. Rolos, Aero, Smarties & creme egg
I posted £4 in postage, so a lot, my husband gets through 6 yorurts and 7 bottles a week, I am vegan so dont get through any (thats apart from the fact I dont like yogurt any way, buy the way the drinks bottles have a 5 on the bottom
ta
@Mrs Green:
Re: ‘Getting To Zero’. It wasn’t good, even with the ubiquitous Janice Acquah in it. Did you watch it?
to joe k
listenered to getting to zero, they could have explained a few things a bit clearer, I am a member of CAT, so know what they are talking about, but lots of people don’t,
@Joe K: Hi Joe, I settled down in bed to listen to it the other night and was really disappointed! The last part about taking a holiday to Brittany, I found particularly frustrating. How that dropped their last 2 tonnes of CO2 to nothing was beyond me. And some of the things they asked an ‘average family’ to do were unrealistic.
It was interesting, but too far fetched and not helpful to the average person (imo)
Hi Mrs Green,
Now Easter is near with all its foil wrapped Easter Eggs (Cadbury did so well with their Zero Waste contribution) what better time to promote the Tinfoil Ball.
To make a ball. Take a Cadbury Creme Egg wrapper and squeeze into a tight lump. The other 5 wrappers from the 6 pack are smoothed flat then individually wrapped around the started bit to form a ball. You can repeat this with any number of Creme Egg packs but building on the small ball.
Eventually, when the ball is a bit bigger, take a No Box Less Waste Cadbury Dairy Milk Egg wrapper, which is a larger piece of foil and wrap around the foil ball, tightly.
Obviously, you can add other sizes, thicknesses of foil from chocolate (eg Schogetten), cakes, cooking (cleaned until spotless) and medicine packs.
Any shape can be chosen, the ball is easiest. The quantity of aluminium saved from landfill could be measured in tons so there is a serious point to it. It could possibly be something for children to do with a prize for biggest or best design. My effort, 2.25oz so far, is just for fun.
@John Costigane: That sounds far too organised for me John!
All our foil goes into a foil dish which is replaced when a new one becaomes available. The old one and contents are then squished up together and usually stamped on a bit to flatten them as much as possible before being put into my odds and sods bag to await a trip to the HWRC. 🙂
@Poppy: Poppy, I have mentioned it on SkyNews forum as a competition running until September. The idea is to encourage children and others to collect the foil and gradually build into a ball or other shape.
Most foil needs minimal cleaning but the difficult stuff (roasting) could be washed when you had some spare time. It just means collecting it and putting in a small container. You can do the “ball” at your own pace. It is about the biggest but also about the best shape.
If you like you could mention it to youngsters to see if they like the idea. It will be something for the summer break, as well. Think of the saving in landfill/incineration for those who cannot recycle it.
@John Costigane:
The heavier weight stuff usually gets dealt with by our dog first, before being left in soak to remove any bits she couldn’t get!! 😉
@Poppy: Poppy, Once it is cleaned/washed it is perfectly fine. It gets melted down anyway.
Zero Waste, to me, includes everyone. Even if I do not need a recycling service, I think generally because everyone’s landfill is an issue. This new idea is to attack a recycling failure, present in some fashion countrywide, by stimulating consumer action. There are bound to be other examples we can try.
The beauty is that it could sell more Cadbury Eggs, raise the Zero Waste profile and keep idle weans busy in the summer.
I think it’s fair to say John, that you are simply after us ladies admiring your huge shiny balls …
Hi Mrs Green,
They can be shaped any way. I would not say no to a female representation, tastefully done of course.
Hopefully, it will be one huge ball, size of a bouncing ball and weighing 20kg. We can see how the response is on SkyNews.
With the September Week, it would be great to have events finishing about that time to generate more interest. I will keep plugging it and in any responses I will encourage increasing the numbers. A successful consumer led event would show the potential of consumer activity.
There must be tons dumped in landfill with the imperfect recycling and householder indifference. To end that would be a worthy goal.