weekly weigh in 49
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Mr Green’s comment when he saw me writing the title was ‘Oh my Goodness; nearly a full year!’ Yes, come the first week in June, it will be a year since we put our rubbish bin on a size zero diet.
Well just to throw a spanner in the works, we really have supersized her this week. She is verging on the obese thanks to my decluttering binge, and I’m sure I’ve only just scraped the tip of the iceberg here at zero waste towers.
In the bin this week we have:
- plastic waste from office drawer
- The following from the kitchen declutter:
oatcake cellophane
2 ryvita packs
soy sauce lids
2 packs from old cake cases – thankfully I’ve now had silicone implants
2 ground almond bags
couple of plastic bags with bits of food in them
plastic mouldings from shop bought apple pies
1 cocoa container and lid
Pringles Tub
salad cream container
plastic mustard bottle
herbs and spices plastic lids
3. Waste from this week’s ‘normal living’
1 focaccia wrapping (shame on me, I make a great foccacia)
1 rice cakes bag
inner pack from sea salt
fishing net plastic – video to follow on this gem
cheese wrapping
3 crisp packets
coffee container lid
seal from jar of honey
plastic ice cream lid
ham wrapping (given to us by a friend)
Phew! All in all it weighs a shocking 413grams. That’s muchly over our weekly target of 100 gms, but it’s not without surprise.
As I said in previous posts this week; it’s virtually impossible to declutter old sins without producing some landfill waste. And yes, I still dream of having a skip on the drive for a week; having it carted off to that mysterious place called away and starting with a clean slate …
How about you? What landfill sins did you produce this week?
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Ah but you still do so well and each declutter means less to deal with next time, right?
Hi Mrs Green,
A hefty total this week, by comparison, but Zero Waste will require as little waste as possible within the home, and environs. The next year should be closer to perfect than the first.
My 5 year effort is purely to attack the waste going to landfill/incinerator. Sustainable waste amounts is a contribution to full sustainability. When achieved at home we can then focus elsewhere to best effect.
Even though this total is over your normal; just think how it compares to what you were putting into landfill this time last year before you started.
Yeah, I agree – I thought it would be much worse!! 🙂
Also, maybe you can sum up all the weeks with ‘less than 100g’ (how much ‘extra’ you saved) & see if you still wind up ‘in the positive’.. 🙂
/something I might do, lol../
maybe old cake cases could be freecycled? some boxes there seem pretty too..? (I wuv the brown box!) possible kiddie treasures/artsy stuff?
& what is that about silicone implants?! lol!!
Does Pamela Anderson now have competition?!! OoO
I agree next year would ideally be easier!! 🙂
@Layla: Hi Layla, That is a good idea to count the total year’s amount for comparison with past and future years.
Your blog is fascinating to follow as most of us are responsible for running households ourselves. Living with your own family, including grown-ups, is a different challenge. What are the plusses and minusses?
@Sarah: Thank you Sarah, and that’s right; less to deal with in the future 🙂
@John Costigane: It’s an interesting journey, and as I prowl about my cupboards I see lots of things that i won’t be buying in the future… You’re doing really well with your total 🙂
@maisie dalziel: Goodness me, Maisie; I don’t like to think about what we were putting out before we started this! There are so many things I would have thrown away.
@Layla: I can only handle so much reuse for kiddies boxes Layla LOL! LMG already has her pickings of ‘treasures’ dotted about the house. Ho hum …
John’s question is great – I’d love you to write a guest post on that topic for us 😉
@Mrs Green: Hi Mrs Green, The total is easier for the single-minded, with no doubters to put a spanner in the works!
When the 5 year are up, I intend to do a mega clear-out to fill the bin. Of course, in 5 years things might be totally changed to sustainable practices.
Layla,
Thanks for that. I am glad to see you like the idea. Your topic will certainly chime with similar youngsters following the website.
I don’t want to seem to be teaching my grandmothermoon to suck eggs, but can’t you just trim the platic/metal tops and bottoms off the Pringles and cocoa tins, and recycle the cardboard? That’s what I do.
@DIz: Hi Diz, I recently recycled 2 cocoa “tins”. There are layers of plastic and tinfoil to remove from the inside, to leave recyclable card.
Tinfoil can be separated from the plastic film but that is difficult to do. Plastic film is landfill bound and tinfoil kept for future recycling.
@DIz: I probably could Diz; I just don’t think about it, tbh. I wonder why not, as what you say makes sense. I could definitely use the tin for recycling, but, as John says the ‘cardboard’ is actually bonded onto plastic and foil, like a tetrapak and virtually imposable to separate
**sigh**
A very late comment, but just this week I used to pringles cans to make banks with children, decoupaging the outside and cutting a slot in the top. We have also used pringles cans to make rocket banks.
@Bonnie: Hi Bonnie, thanks for sharing all your experiences with the Pringles cans; it sounds like you’ve been having a lot of fun and educating children about recycling at the same time 🙂