Recycling Centre

I decided to write this as Mrs Green gave my new recycling centre a mention.

We had a major clearout last week which resulted in lots of "rubbish" but also lots of recycling. Two car journeys one with the recycling another with a combination of landfill and more recycling. David just had room each time to sit one one seat in the back with the other half dropped to make the boot bigger.

All items were taken to our HWRC, and then I made a dedicated area in one of our sheds as a recycling collection centre.

The items we can take to HWRC which is run by Lincolnshire County Council and are on their list are:

Books and CDs
Textiles
Shoes
Green Garden Waste ( although we do have a fortnightly doorstep collection of this)
Glass Bottles etc
Paper (doorstep collection)
Cardboard (doorstep collection)
Scrap Metals
Tins and Cans (doorstep collection)
Flourecent tubes including Eco bulbs for Mercury recycling
Fridges and Freezers
Tvs and Computer Monitors
Household Batteries
Small Electrical Appliances
Plastic Bottles ( doorstep collection)
Plastic Bags (type 4)
Hard plastics (types 5,6, & 7)
Tetrapak Cartons
Used Engine Oil
Lead Acid Batteries
Car tyres
Wood
Soil & Rubble
Gas Bottles
Household Chemicals

I also saw a collection point for used cooking oil.

The only thing on the list which my HWRC (Louth) doesn't accept is Printer Cartridges, but the school collects these and receives a payment for doing so. But alot of shops now collect these or you can get envelopes from Tesco etc to send them off.

Water Filter Cartridges can be taken to alot of shops or sent direct to Brita.

Brita Recycling
FREEPOST
NAT 17876
Bicester
OX26 4BR

Although our clearout day created 7 bags of landfill rubbish it was very theraputic in that I now know that all my recycling efforts can be acted upon alot easier with my recycling centre.

Weekly Weigh In 7

This week our bag weighs in at 292g.

This is under my 300g target.

Although during the week we have had a major clearout of 2 sheds resulting in 2 car loads to be taken to the "tip" HWRC.

One was all recyclable items which can only go to HWRC, including some old pots of paint that had set and congealed.

The other load was all RUBBISH, bagged up into 7 bin liners, it is totally surprising how much "stuff" can be accumulated and put out of sight until you need to use the space.

Now both sheds are fully functional with a dedicated area for me for the recyclable items which can't go in the doorstep collection but can be taken to HWRC.

This also means I don't now have a box of the above mentioned recycling permanently in the corner of the kitchen.

So although we have added the 7 bin bags to the landfill our own little space is more clean and alot less cluttered.

Weekly Weigh In 6

This weeks bag weighed in at a hefty 675g.

This is over double what my ideal is.

The main things I noticed in there were some type 6 yogurt pots which I bought for the boys whilst waiting for my Easiyo delivery.

Otherwise it consisted of plastic meat wrappers, butter wrappers, more cheese wrappers, plastic bags which couldn't be reused and were again the degradable type, I had been storing things in the freezer in them and a couple of light bulbs which have blown during the last week.

Not very good but the light bulbs were 77g each, so although I can in theory knock 144g off the total it is still way too much at 531g.

Back to the drawing board.

Weekly Weigh In 5

This weeks bag weighed in at 430g

it consisted of

waxed cheese wrapper ( need to source a better option for this)

5 crisp packets (David still hasn't eaten any since New Year)

a butter wrapper (foil backed paper - supporting the doorstep milkman)

a few non-recyclable plastic bags - all twisted and knotted

there was also a few bits and pieces of undescribable origin from sorting out a couple of drawers in the kitchen.

So still not too bad considering.

Postage Stamps

Whilst not a major issue in terms of rubbish and they can go into paper recycling; postage stamps can be donated to charity where they can then sell them on to raise funds.

I have always saved any postage stamps which came into the house and used to donate to a collection on the mobile library van, but that ceased.

I have just recently found the address for a RNLI collection point, and am happy to say received an email at the weekend confirming they are still collecting these and will accept any quantity.

For anyone interested in collecting as well the address is:

RNLI STAMPS
c/o 7 Speddwell
Brixham
Devon
TQ5 9MJ

Weekly Weigh In 4

This weeks bag weighed in at 290g

It consisted of :

1 pearl barley bag

4 crisp packets

2 waxed cheese wrappers

2 plastic wrappers which can't be recycled

4 carrier bags which had gone past reuse

a few bits which dave had put in which I couldn't be bothered to pick back out including the yogurt from his lunch box on Friday.

The recycling bin was also only half empty and that is after 2 weeks, so a big reduction there this time.

Food Waste

Following on with the ideas to not have any waste I have been looking at how to eliminate food waste.

As a family we do pretty well anyway not to have food waste, any that would normally go in the bin is given to the dogs at Dave's work.

But things can still be improved.

I had a couple of things in the veg box from last week which were getting past their best and needed using as the new box is delivered each Wednesday, these would have ended up in the compost bin.

There was half a cabbage, a small cauliflower and a small leek.

I had some chicken stock from boiling up the carcass from Sunday's lunch, so all veggies were shredded/diced fried off in a bit of butter, then added to the stock, simmer until nearly cooked, whizz up to a chunky puree, add in a handful of pearl barley(last bit in packet) and a handful of orange lentils, and some leftover mashed potato for thickner.

Serve with hm bread and a sprinkling of grated mature cheddar.

Lovely lunch for me for the next couple of days and a couple of portions for the freezer as well.

Weekly Weigh In 3

This weeks landfill rubbish weighed in at 270g

This consisted of:
the usual twisted and knotted crisp packets (14), (David is still not eating crisps);
a waxed cheese wrapper,
a butter foil paper,
a sliced ham packet (boys wanted wraps for snacks this last week),
3 plastic bags which can't be recycled,
3 meat wrapper from the PO butchers which again can't be recycled.
a bag from the basmati rice ( I do bulk buy this but do have a bag every so often)
a spagetti wrapper
a yeast wrapper (dove farm - can't give me full info for recycling this)

The compostable bin was approx half full, and the recycling bin is also half full .

Happy Birthday Almost Mrs Average

Today is the 1st birthday of The Rubbish Diet Almost Mrs Average has been blogging about her exploits and championing the rest of us to follow suit.

Please go and have a wander around the blog, it is full of inspirational posts and important links and information.

Well Done Karen!!

Weekly Weigh In 2

Todays weigh in is 240g

This consists of some twisted and knotted crisp packets, a couple of plastic bags which can't be recycled even at the HWRC, and a waxed cheese wrapper.