Reducing plastic

[scullion Profile]

Presumably you have a separate food waste collection?

compost and worm bins?
that's what we use - we have no food waste collection.

[Earthmaiden Profile]

Of course, if you have the room, scully. Round here people are living in HMOs and flats or small terraced houses which make it difficult to compost even if you want to (which many don't). Of course food should not be wasted but sadly, people do still waste a lot of food and put it into the bin. Just a small piece of fish skin or stripped and boiled chicken bones can reek within a week and are hard to dispose of in an urban garden without attracting rats. I realise that if you are vegan, have plenty of land, cook from scratch and plan carefully there should be no waste but generally, the public is a long, long way from that. Our landfill sacks are collected weekly and many really stink by the end of one week. They are rolling out separate food waste collections in the Borough but it'll be a while before they get here.

[scullion Profile]

i meant that i thought dennispc might have them as he has an allotment (or have got that wrong?)

[ZeroCook Profile]

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Essential watching imo:

The Story of Plastic
https://vimeo.com/464987600

Single use plastics and other designed-to-fail and be quickly disposed of plastic goods have increased hugely and very noticeably by truly unbelievable amounts over the past 10 years and have become a perpetual and constant horror for me!

The amount and types of plastic used to package everyday goods and everything else just seems to grow at a crazy pace. A lot of plastics can't or don't get recycled or unrecyclable, toxic when manufactured, toxic/destructive when recycled to make are more plastic, or disposed of by incineration plants. It's a nightmare.

I call customer service numbers and complain. It doesn't change anything immediately but I get to vent. I won't buy plasticked fruit and veg and I've started taking paper bags to put fruit and veg in when I shop. I've asked managers at shops and supermarkets to request corporate higher ups to reintroduce paper. They just say they have no control over anything like that.

Most - almost all - of our everyday rubbish is plastic of one sort or another. Can't stand it.

Much of the plant based chemical industry is similar to the petrochemical industry - part of same pattern/business model/structure and technology.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

On a smaller, more personal scale - I realised when I made my Christmas dessert that if I use the zero waste shop, I win x"

First, I take a jar (or even a small Tupperware pot, most of mine are at least 25 years old, so far form single use) and use no new packaging

Second, if the recipe requires 75g ground almonds I can buy exactly 75g measured into my pot, and I don't end up buying a 100g sachet and leaving a quarter of it to go iffy in the back of a cupboard (or the freezer which is where I keep nuts), cost and waste effective

Today I had a clear plastic tray from the supermarket, clearly marked as code 1, and on the card sleeve it said the tray is code 1, PET, generally recycled,
So that's fine up to a point, but annoying it means 2 or the 3 items I was unsire of last week were almost certainly PET as well so recyclable nearly everywhere in the UK

Here's the Which? guide to recycling codes and how to recycle the palstics in the UK - codes 1, 2 and 5 are recyclable i virtually all recycling collections

https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/shoppin ... wEz4p63Qs6

[ZeroCook Profile]

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That's all very nice and neat in theory, but do you know what happens after it's all collected? Watch the film

[Stokey Sue Profile]

if we don't put it in the recycling there's zero chance of it being recycled

We aren't 2 year olds, we know what the issues are, we've seen a fair few newspaper articles and Attenborough led, and other, documentaries

Obviously we (as a species, as a global community) need to do more than sort our domestic waste

But this is a food board, and it is worth discussing how we deal with plastic on our own kitchens

The old slogan "think globally, act locally" still has merit

[dennispc Profile]

Totally agree.

The non recyclable rubbish bin is collected every three weeks.

Presumably you have a separate food waste collection?

Yes indeed, that’s collected weekly as is everything else, including batteries, electrical wire and small electrical electrical items.

[Earthmaiden Profile]

Sounds a really good service.

[dennispc Profile]

Not everyone thinks so EM, but I think it's made a few people think. One of our neighbours never put out a food bin, now they do.

Having to have supermarket home deliveries have opened our eyes to just how much plastic is being used.

[dennispc Profile]

Here's our new system though materials like timber and metal are only taken at the tip. There's an arrangement for garden waste at about £50 a year, a friend takes ours to the tip.

recycle.jpg (152.96 KiB) Viewed 3775 times

[Earthmaiden Profile]

Impressive, Dennis. We can't put out tetra packs, batteries or electricals. Food waste goes into our plastic landfill sacks but they are slowly rolling out a collection. We present plastic in white plastic sacks which we have to provide ourselves (charity bags turned inside out are acceptable if we have any). An awful lot of plastic sack usage there .

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Living in a flat not part of an estate with communal facilities I get a black bag collection, for landfill and a green bag collection for mixed recycling and that's my lot

However, living in the city there are collection sites for film, batteries and small electrical appliance within easy walking distance

I still don't understand why there are no proper textile recycling facilities, if you ask
Q Where can I recycle textiles, mainly for ragging?
A You can donate clothing....

Does nobody ever listen to a question before they reply on autopilot? I'm not sure recycling a useless answer is very helpful

[Badger's Mate Profile]

Yes, by the time I've finished with clothing nobody else would want it! A proportion goes on the compost heap but obviously synthetics can't. I did manage to get my previous birding coat recycled by the manufacturer who gave a discount on the replacement, but that sort of thing is the exception.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

It's not just clothing - towels, bed linen etc, most of which is in fact recyclable

I have seen (outside London) charities have collection drives for household textiles, and people were really turning out their cupboards to contribute, they were so pleased to have an opportunity to declutter

Think the Scouts may have done it locally pre Covid

[Earthmaiden Profile]

Scouts are the best ones here. They have collections where the bags of textiles are sold by weight. I think they go to a place where the items are sorted according to quality but at least you get rid of the stuff, know it will be recycled somehow and help the Scouts. Local charity shops have become very picky but I suppose only want what customers will buy.

[PatsyMFagan Profile]

The Dogs Trust, just down the road from here takes towels, pillow and duvets as long as the latter 2 are made from fibre rather than feathers.

We have a very organised waste collection scheme in the LB Hillingon - we are supplied with clear bags for recycling, clearly labelled with what can go in them; Large white bags for garden waste; green caddies for food waste and anything else is landfill waste, for which we use our own bags (usually black ones) ... collection is on Wednesday mornings ...

I have just noticed from my window that my landfill waste has been left behind

By a process of elimination, it isn't the white garden sack (left by the front gate) or the green caddy (left alongside the garden bag) or the recycling bag that is left the other side of the front gate.

This is a DHL plastic delivery bag, turned inside out and it was left in the same place I always leave my solitary waste bag....but it's grey

I am trying to re-use up all the bags that everything comes delivered in these days, but obviously the bin men, can't work this out ..

[Earthmaiden Profile]

We are only allowed to put landfill into the blue sacks provided by the council. They won't take it in any other sacks (their rules, not blindness on the collector's part!).

[Stokey Sue Profile]

The Dogs Trust, just down the road from here takes towels, pillow and duvets as long as the latter 2 are made from fibre rather than feathers.

Not just down the road from me! And this is another of my red rags, so much recycling require you to drive your recyclable material

I would actually take a couple of shopping trolleys on the bus to get rid of it (probably only feasible for those of us retired, so having a bus pass and time to use it) but I’ve been unable to identify a destination

Less than 30% of households round her have access to a vehicle, the infrastructure is totally inadequate

[PatsyMFagan Profile]

The Dogs Trust, just down the road from here takes towels, pillow and duvets as long as the latter 2 are made from fibre rather than feathers.

Not just down the road from me! And this is another of my red rags, so much recycling require you to drive your recyclable material

I would actually take a couple of shopping trolleys on the bus to get rid of it (probably only feasible for those of us retired, so having a bus pass and time to use it) but I’ve been unable to identify a destination

Less than 30% of households round her have access to a vehicle, the infrastructure is totally inadequate

I only mention the Dogs Trust as it IS close to me. I was directed to an address on FB who's residents collect all kinds of stuff for recycling ... crisp packets, sweet wrappers, toothpaste tubes ... almost anything. However this address is in Amersham, so not on my doorstep either