National zero waste week 2009
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National Zero Waste week - a call for action
Next week (September 7th – 13th) is National Zero Waste Week.
Last year we ran a huge event with over 160 people pledging to increase the amount of reducing, reusing, recycling and composting they did in order to reduce their weekly landfill waste.
We had a great selection of prizes all donated from some very generous companies.
It was a massive success, but very hard work!
This year we’re going to do things differently.
It’s a kind of social experiment too.
My feeling is that incentives are a huge part of encouraging people to make lifestyle changes. I used to think that if the cause was great enough, people would get on board and all would be well.
After a year of running this website, I’ve decided this is not true.
‘Doing something for the environment’ is sadly, not a big enough incentive for many.
Newspaper stories talk about ‘rights’ to weekly bin collections, people get fired up if they are accused of putting things in the wrong recycling bins, many people say that they are too busy to separate their recycling, apathy rules the masses and lots of people are confused about what is expected of them.
This year, we are urging people to take part in National Zero waste week, because they feel it’s the right thing to do.
They are no prizes, no flashing lights, no media coverage, no incentives; other than the ones you perceive yourself. It’s all up to you.
If you feel it’s worth the effort to reduce your household weekly waste, if you understand the implications of landfill space running out, if it concerns you that your plastic waste will be sitting in the earth somewhere long after you have departed, if you have had enough of plastic carrier bags littering our environment, if you’re worried about the increased threat of incinerators polluting our air or if there is something you feel you could be doing to reduce your waste, but haven’t yet done, now is your chance.
I expect this years National Zero waste week will be a quiet affair, with just a few like minded people doing their bit. Not like last years where the lure of a great list of prizes, a relentless marketing campaign and a lot of sweat and tears bought people to the site for a week to share their experiences.
This year National zero waste week will be a gentle call to action and give you the opportunity to be an agent for change. You only need take part because deep within, you know it to be right.
There are no incentives other than following your heart and living in your own truth. You are not ‘just one person who cannot make a difference’; you are powerful and every purchase you make casts a vote for the manufacturer. The ‘prize’ for taking part has become the most precious of all – the health of our environment and the security of a safe planet for our future generations to thrive.
How you would like the future of our planet to look? …
If you can help by promoting National Zero Waste week in any way, we’d be grateful, but that’s up to you too…
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Hi Mrs Green,
Great to see you starting the first National Zero Waste Week a year after that last mega event. Who can forget the impact of that September Week? This year is a lower key event but hopefully many of the 160 will revisit MyZeroWaste, with their experiences since then.
The recession has affected things generally but Zero Waste is still very much alive, and relevant as ever.
This is a great idea. I’ve been helping to promote to my friends.
Thanks Mrs G, I’ve added it to my Facebook and will whizz it around to some email addresses tomorrow.
It’s the incentive we need to ditch some of those confounded bad habbits that have snuck their way back in 😀
@John Costigane: Thanks for your upbeat comment John; we’ll see how things turn out this year. Quiet I think 😉
@Mike Lieberman: Welcome Mike; it’s great to see you here and thank you for promoting the idea; we appreciate it. Let us know if you join in yourself and what you decide to do.
@Poppy: Thanks for the PR Poppy; I knew I could count on you to raly around 🙂 What habits do you think you might work on next week?
Master P has already identified his zero waste goodies! Poppetts!
We also looked at biscuits and decided that I need to do some more baking. Will hopefully get on with some more yoghurt making as well now that the weather has cooled a bit 🙂 Lots of pureed fruit in the freezer waiting to jazz it up a bit.
I know you don’t like them, but the cats are now on one tin a day to subsidise their biscuit diet, so that’ll be better than our previous effort. No cat litter either 😉
Mr P is reluctant, but I’m sure we can drag him along 🙂
@Poppy: Ahhh, Poppetts; good choice! LMG has offered to buy me a deep fat fryer so I can make her crisps. I think not LOL!
It’s great that the cats are doing their bit too – you’ve made huge strides with that.
Enjoy the baking and yogurt making; using up the fruit puree is a brilliant idea.
Yahooooooo – apologies for being late to the party, but this is fantastic news and I am raring (well almost raring) to go. Have at last managed to get on my blog to give it a plug. As you’ll see I’m going to have to keep my wits about me but will look forward to doing another zero waste challenge.
Good luck to everyone who joins in. 😀
@Almost Mrs Average: Hey Mrs A; lovely to see you, I know it’s not comfortable for you being on the computer at the moment, so I appreciate you popping in to rally support. Have a fabby week! xx
I think this is a great idea and I’m going to do it! I wrote a post about it on my blog today and plan on writing about it all week.
@Julia: Hi Julia, lovely to see you taking part; I’m looking forward to reading all about your adventures on your site. I hope your little boy is feeling better 🙁