Food waste Friday and weekly weigh in year 1, week 2
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landfill weigh in for this week - a bit on the heavy side!
I must admit, I’ve not been paying much attention to our landfill waste this week, so it’s going to be a total surprise for me to take a peek.
I’ve been on a mission. I decided to do a rather late spring clean of the house. Kinda like ten years late. The garage bug has bitten and since we did our clearout for WRAPS Recycle week, I’ve decided to do the house as well.
I am, however, not giving myself a week to do it, but the rest of the year! Yes, it’s that bad
It will be a thorough declutter and deep clean so that I can get some order at zero waste towers. My theory is that then I will have freed up more time to do the things that bring me value and meaning, rather than chasing my tail with tidying and housework. I feel like I move piles of stuff from one room to another rather than actually getting rid of what I no longer need and having a place for everything.
So food has been a bit of ‘dive in and get your own’ this week and heaven knows what that means for the state of our landfill waste.
Thankfully, the rule of ‘check what needs using up before opening new’ is still going strong and there is no food waste to report – yipee!
So onto the bin; we have:
- unidentified plastic packaging from decluttering
- 8 cellophane oatcakes bag (I need to tell Mr Green that; I think he’ll be shocked – this week he told me that he didn’t know where the oatcakes kept going to. Erm !!)
- foil laminate pasty wrapper (the butcher had ran out and I had promised Little Miss green a cornish pasty)
- 7 dried fruit bags (Little Miss Green has been decluttering her bedroom and apparently has been hiving off dried blackcurrants to eat in bed at night while she reads!)
- 1 rubber gloves bag – the first time I have bought rubber gloves in years, but my deep clean involved cleaning the oven thoroughly and in places I have never dared put my hand in the bathroom. Ewwwwww)
- foil laminate pack from new printer cartridge
- 1 large crisps bag
- 1 small crisps bag
- dvd spindle (plastic top has been used as a container for storage)
- foil laminate top from bag of cat biscuits (I usually buy in a cardboard box, but pussus Green was looking a bit under the weather, so I decided to go for a premium complete food brand)
- lots of thick clingfilm type wrapping which came in the post and I’m really annoyed about
All in all it weighs a burgeoning 104 gms – above our weekly target of less than 100gms per week and way too much if our dustbin is going to last us a year.
I’m a bit dispondant to be honest. We set a firm goal as a family a couple of weeks ago, because it doesn’t look like we will be able to go a full year without putting out our bin. But when I’m onvolved in a project, I just can’t keep up with the minimal landfill waste as well. To be honest, I don’t have the energy for it.
Sometimes I find this whole zero waste lifestyle really easy, at other times it is just too much when there are other things going on. Those are the danger time when convenience rears its head.
My project to declutter Chez Green is a long term one requiring a lot of energy and commitment from me and I just don’t know how I can juggle that as well as being a domestic goddess. Truth is, I can’t.
So I’m not sure what the answer is; something has to give and this week it’s my zero waste committment.
Sigh.
How did you get on this week? Better than me I hope!
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Hi Mrs Green,
An honest approach to Zero Waste is commendable. After all, we expect others to join the trend so all aspects need to be covered. Home cleaning (spring cleaning) is a necessary task which people generally do each year. The reality of the process is some waste production which should not be a recurring, but reducing amount with time. The recurring aspect of waste is the real problem and breaking that habit is essential for Zero Waste.
The announcement of near 50% plastic bag reduction in supermarket trading, over 3 years, is a positive but again is merely tinkering at the edges. I am hopeful that refillable/reusable systems will emerge to transform much of the packaging situation. That would be real change to sustainable practice.
You’ve still done amazingly well considering you weren’t even trying!!
I think I’m going to have to doa major declutter as well over the summer hols as I seem to move stuff from place to box box to another room to another room etc.
I’m not promising though its an idea!!
I’m about to tidy my large desk…. Wish me luck, I may be some time….
@John Costigane: Hi John; I read the story too. I’m still pro a ban, but let’s see what happens over the next couple of years with that trend.
@maisie dalziel: Thank you Maisie; I guess, objectively it’s still good – easy to beat yourself up though, eh?
See how you get on with a declutter. I must admit, once I get started I do get into it as I love seeing the rewards
@Sarah: Oh goodness; how did it go, Sarah. Did you find any treasures on there?
Yeah that is the big problem – in order to tidy up one place, you need to put stuff somewhere else, and what if there is no somewhere else because all those places have stuff in too ? added to that aiming for zerowaste and you have a big headache, and lots of time spent scratching the aching head going, er what ???
You don’t have to be a domestic goddess ( mythical creature at best I think and not even on a par with dragons and unicorns, although sometimes I think a mix of the two ^_^ ) Whilst I appreciate that some of the best times of action come out of impulse, I think perhaps a small bit of non goddess like and totally human and achievable advance planning might lessen the waste impact when you are having a blitz on for some project or other – just something as simple as cooking a couple of batches of things to bung in the freezer in portions to make quick meals later on, or even getting in a stock of specific tins to make meals in a hurry. And remember your post from a few weeks back, it doesnt have to be a full blown ” dinner ” to be, er, dinner – its perfectly ok to have beans on toast and fruit for afters, or cheesey jacket spud and salad etc !
I have to admit its when I feel poorly rather than just purely busy that zerowasting efforts take a back seat – I don’t feel like trotting out to the shops and I also do not feel like hot or cooked ( by me ) food, so that’s where me principles have to relax a bit !
So this American had to do a little conversion to understand exactly how “bad” you are doing. Because 104 of anything sounds like a lot, but then I realized that converted to 3.67 ounces! Even on a “bad” week you are completely amazing!
@Greenlady: Hi Greenlady; I always love your comments; they are so balanced and calming! I think you’re right; it’s ok to let go in one area while we give our attention to another. That’s certainly what is happening around here at the moment. I’m starting to decorate LMG’s room today just to add to everything else I am trying to achieve!
Never mind; the landfill bin is looking quite good this week, so far. I’ll have to see how it turns out.,
@Alea: Thank you Alea! It’s all relative isn’t it?! our aim is to get through the year by only filling our dustbin once. That is about 100 litres of waste. But we’re just over half way through the year and about 3/4 full. So something needs to change!