Reducing Landfill - Doing my bit!!

[Novice Gardener]

Yaaaaaaay, I'm almost there!!!! I've started composting, am making a real effort not to buy pre-packaged stuff where I can and have used Freecycle to get rid of loads of stuff that still had a bit of life left in it as well as re-using stuff like yoghurt pots in the garden, and for the first time ever when I put my bin bags out this week....... where there used to be 5 or more bags....... there'll only be one!!!!! Not bad for a family of 5!!

[Capsid]

That's excellent! Our council collect fortnightly and alternate with a garden waste collection. The normal bin is usually only half full and the garden waste bin is used for cardboard mostly as I try and compost everthing else.

[Two_Sheds]

Brilliant. People will say you make no difference on your own, but you do: you have reduced your own waste by what, 80% ? (no good at mental maths, me) and you've probably inspired others to do so too. You could also write to companies and retailers asking them to reduce the amount of packaging they use.

[Novice Gardener]

Well I did make a point in Asda of taking the strawberries out of the punnet at the till and popping them in a plastic bag, but the girl on the checkout made such a big deal of it, that I haven't bothered since

[ClayGarden]

Well I did make a point in Asda of taking the strawberries out of the punnet at the till and popping them in a plastic bag, but the girl on the checkout made such a big deal of it, that I haven't bothered since

I dont think i'd have had the guts to do that. It would be ace though to cut meat out its packaging and stuff. Imagine their reaction then

[Gazza]

recycling

Another good recycling/reusing website is Virtual skips from vSkips - the ORIGINAL virtual skip site.

When I do my big food shop I use the paper mushroom bags to put my small fruit/veg items in. They dont like it, but no-one has said I cant do it - yet! As the year goes on hopefully I'll only have to carry stuff from the veg plot.

[Rocketron]

So that's where all the mushroom bags have gone !
Good idea, I'll try it in Tesco.

[Tori]

Well done you! (reducing rubbish) Imagine how many binbags less that will be in a year!

[SlugLobber]

I used all paper bags for my fruit and veg today. Then it can all go on the heap. People can't believe I only produce one small carrier bag of waste per fortnight, even though it's just me and the cat! I see bins outside small houses overflowing and it makes me mad. A friend of mine had to get a second bin because theirs was too full all the time. Two adults and a toddler! Gaggghh!!

[Alison]

You can buy some handy little reuseable bags for weighing out veg (was talking to somebody selling them the other day) Plastic bag alternatives - Onya Weigh quite expensive to buy initially but am guessing that they'd last forever and then you wouldn't have the energy costs associated with making the mushroom bags either.

[hamsterqueen]

when I buy veg at the supermarket I just put it into the trolley without a bag and grab it quick off the checkout before they can shove it in a plastic bag for me.

I tip all the unnecessary fliers and adverts out of any magazines too, havent tipped anything out of punnets yet.................

[lainey lou]

You can buy some handy little reuseable bags for weighing out veg (was talking to somebody selling them the other day) Plastic bag alternatives - Onya Weigh quite expensive to buy initially but am guessing that they'd last forever and then you wouldn't have the energy costs associated with making the mushroom bags either.

They're brilliant Alison, thanks for sharing that.

[sharonr]

We have:-
1 black wheelie bin, empted fortnightly.
2 green for cardboard/garden waste wheelie bins, empted fortnightly(oposite to black bin).
1 box for papers.
1 box for tins/bottles.
Plastic bottles are taken into village to collection skips.
2 compost bins.
There are 2 adults, 1 13 year old, 2 big dogs, 1 cat, 2 gerbils.
And we hardly ever fill the black bin, but I could do with 2 more green bins.
The green bin waste is taken to the local tip and made into compost which we can buy.
I am now thinking of getting one or two of the kitchen waste bins.

[Alison]

If you've got the room, SharonR then you would be as well getting yourself a couple of compost bins so that you could get the benefits yourself - always like making something for free!

[sharonr]

If you've got the room, SharonR then you would be as well getting yourself a couple of compost bins so that you could get the benefits yourself - always like making something for free!

I`ve got 2 compost bins at the moment, there the plastic ones which were only £6.00 each and free P&P from the council. When the veg plot gets bigger I`m going to get some more.