Revealed – the Green’s WRAP Recycle week pledge

Filed in Blog, Videos by on June 16, 2009 11 Comments
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The Green's WRAP Recycle week pledge revealed

The Green's WRAP Recycle week pledge revealed

Yesterday, we asked you if you had made your pledge for WRAP’s Recycle week and promised we would reveal ours today. I gave you a couple of clues, namely that it involved some old glass jars and some paint.

Hopefully, most of you have joined in with your own pledges and forfeits and are ready to make the world a little green during Recycle week, next week. If we all join forces, we’ll be able to create real lasting change and reduce, reuse, recycle and compost our way to a zero waste future.

We need your help though; this is a family project, so it’s up to you to choose our forfeit. After your watched our video, leave a comment to let us know what you think our forfeit should be if we don’t manage to complete our Recycle week pledge!

So without further ado; sit back, relax and find out what we’re going to be up to during Recycle Week.

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3VI62Cusng

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 (11)

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  1. Blimmin ‘eck. That’s some hoard. Well, seeing as it’s Mr G who’s been hoarding it, I think it should be HIS forfeit. If I were cruel I’d suggest running through the village naked whilst gargling salt, but perhaps it would be better to forbid him any more gadgets for a whole two years. You can tell I’m getting into practice for tackling Mr A can’t you 😀

    Good luck and I’m really looking forward to seeing the end of that clutter x

  2. John Costigane says:

    Hi Mrs Green,

    A truly mega recycle, and very worthwhile, as other people will have garages, lofts, garden sheds, kitchen cupboards, basements or below stairs locations to clear out. Can it be done in a week? That is a challenge.

    The forfeit could be to continue until the task is completed, within a reasonable timeframe, eg a month. This would allow some time to relax in what is a demanding exercise.

  3. Kira says:

    That is such a big and nasty job that I agree with John – it’s enough of a forfeit (and it should spur you on to finish it quickly) knowing that if you don’t finish in the designated week you’ve got to continue working on it for another week, or even until the job is completed.

    Maybe I should tackle my garage too. It’s not as bad as that because I have been pushing my husband to do a bit of work on it recently but I’m sure there are plenty of things lurking that could be recycled/re-purposed or even just stored better.

    Very good challenge you’ve set yourselves!

  4. Deb from Boston says:

    I believe in positive reinforcement – so instead of a forfiet – I think you should have a special reward, day out, or day off to look forward to when it is done. Best of luck!!!!

  5. Nick Palmer says:

    Your garage is much “worse” than my shed! Mrs NP is nowhere near as green as me so it was funny to hear you use much of the same sarcasm about what I see as the EXTREME VALUE of having loads of stuff lying around that might come in handy one day. I suppose it’s a bloke thing…

    Nick

  6. John Costigane says:

    Hi Mrs Green,

    The difficulty of the challenge for Mr Green is well understood for the normal male attitude of keeping things, and being happy with the status quo. I am exactly the same in that perspective.

    The end result of the clear out will provide a useful space for any number of activities, even Zero Waste or self-sufficientish pursuits. The different end-points for the various items will enable others to do the task more quickly. Another good reason for the Recycle Week’s challenge.

  7. That is alot of recyling for you as a family to do.

    I would suggest discussing between the three of you what would be a good treat for the family once the whole garage is tackled.
    As this will be more than a weeks work.

  8. brenda says:

    OMG you have really set yourself up for a HUGE pledge!! Good luck, I agree with others I think that is a forfeit in itself and instead you should treat yourself to a day out to celebrate the end of it. May spur you on to complete it quicker.

  9. Layla says:

    Oh gosh, this is really a big & amazing challenge!!

    Will be interested to hear more, as we have a bit of a hampster-problem (hoarding stuff) in the attic!! – I hate to admit but actually in our family the women are worse, Dad has no qualms about throwing things away! mostly that is – he’d still object to one or two of his things, I guess!!

    getting rid of all that responsibly – WOW!!
    will be really looking forward to it!!

    as for ‘punishment’ if you don’t? hmm… no ice cream for a month? 😉
    /or maybe just homemade one? though this would be more punishment to Mrs Green personally than to others, I suppose – or not?!!/

    as for positive reinforcement – celebration of the new & repurposed shed – a picknick or something? or a trip to somewhere nice? (or selling stuff 2nd hand & getting loads of money?? $$ 🙂 )

    wishing LMG to discover lots of treasures!! 🙂

  10. Sarah says:

    Punishment? Forfeit? I don’t know what to suggest….. I’d go for the positive reward instead. I think it’ll be forfeit enough to have to come and tell us that you failed, don’t you?

    How about you have to volunteer, as a family, to work on a community project near you? Clean up the local park or something?

  11. Mrs Green says:

    @Almost Mrs Average: Thanks Mrs A. I’m feeling totally overwhelmed by the whole thing, but we were talking last night and Mr G is looking forward to it as a ‘purge’. Let’s see how he feels when Monday morning arrives 😉

    @John Costigane: Hi John; we chose it because we hope it will be helpful to others. It will involve more challenging items to recycle, so hopefully we can build up a valuable resource for others to use, such as how to recycle paint, large quantities of wood etc.

    @Kira: Thanks Kira; There is no doubt we need to continue until it is finished. Mr G is adamant it will only take a week! It’s going to be a long week! I hope you manage to get your garage sorted too.

    @Deb from Boston: Thank you Deb – positive reinforcement works well for us as parents, so perhaps you’re right – something to look forward to at the end of the task would be a good motivator!

    @Nick Palmer: 😀 Hi NIck! The most annoying thing about Mr G’s hoard of ‘come in useful one day’ stuff is that it DOES; frequently! So I don’t actually have a leg to stand on. We rarely argue, but I think this might well be the week that we do …

    @maisie dalziel: Hi Maisie, it seems lots of you favour a treat rather than a forfeit .I might just take my two away for a couple of days, for a bit of sea and sun 🙂

    @brenda: Hi Brenda; It’s huge! The video doesn’t quite show the enormity of the place; I’ve never seen such a big garage., You are doing so well with your clothes decluttering; I’ll be over to your site later to see what you did with that remaining pile of clothes.

    @Layla: Interesting that the women are hoarders in your house, Layla. No ice cream would be a great forfeit for me as I never eat the stuff LOL! I don’t like any cold food or drink. Phew!

    @Sarah: Hi Sarah; you’re right, claiming failure, publicly, would be pretty horrific. I like the sound of a community project a a ‘penalty’ – that’s a really good idea.

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