As I took an over-ripe pepper and nearly full bag of mushrooms out of the fridge and set them aside for the compost bin I thought about the first few pages from Tracey Smith’s Book of Rubbish Ideas. I don’t feel good about wasting this food but at least I know it will decompose in a matter of weeks and will, in the form of home made compost, go towards growing my own next year.

But what about the other things I’ve thrown out today? A plastic bag from the celery, the coffee packet, a chocolate bar wrapper and how many other people in this country, in fact in the world, have thrown away similar waste today? I need to think more creatively around the products that come into my home and how I deal with the waste from them and this is exactly what this book is about.

How we got where we are today
Tracey starts by educating us about how waste was dealt with historically and why some methods of getting rid of our rubbish might, at first, seem sensible but is in fact wasteful in itself. She describes the steps which have led to to the dire situation we’re in today and addresses the serious issues around waste (energy consumption, landfill, pollution and climate change) whilst giving solutions at the same time.

Room-by-room waste
The bulk of the book takes you room by room (and outside) through the home and shows us how to deal with our waste in a very practical way. Its not all about recycling but thinking about how we can reduce waste in the first place. Tracey highlights that its not all down to the individual but that other parties such as manufacturers, sellers and local authorities have a great responsibility too. Throughout the book she provides excellent example letters to help us give supermarkets, local councils and other bodies a nudge in the right direction.

This environmental book is very different from others I’ve read recently which have focused on telling us which green alternative products to buy. This book questions why we have to consume in the first place and guides us in looking after the things we already have. And, in the current economic climate, that’s not only relevant for the environment but for our piggy banks too.

Full of practical ideas
With the ‘Project Box’ sections interspersed throughout Tracey provides creative tips which make you go “Oh that’s a good idea” and get exercising your crafting skills, which gets a big thumbs up from me! For further motivation the case studies give real life waste dilemmas which we all face and shows us how others have dealt with them. We also get insight into the habits and views of a few celebrities in the ‘Star Struck Celebrity Questions and Answers’ section.

GGG readers can buy the book at a discounted price from www.bookofrubbishideas.co.uk. Check out the website too for even more ideas, tips and reasons to cut the rubbish out of your life!

Interview with Tracey

Now I’m an extremely lucky GGG editor because I not only got a sneaky preview of the book but I also have an interview with the lady herself, Tracey Smith…

Q - Tracey, thank you for taking the time to talk to us. The first thing I wanted to ask you is about your inspiration. The book is absolutely jam-packed full of really useful, do-able ideas; Where do you get your inspiration and where did you learn all of these wonderful tips?
Hi Vicky - you’re welcome mate - thanks for asking me and I’m really pleased you’ve enjoyed the book! Moving onto your question, it’s 8.30pm here so I can safely say, my inspirations are all tucked up in their beds asleep! I dedicated the book to my kids and at the front of the book I say, ‘It’s for your children and your grandchildren; they are the leaders of the future’ and I meant every word. They are going to face so many sociological changes and perhaps even further climatic chaos in their lifetime. It’s our duty to help get them into the right, green groove long before they step into adulthood, so they are best prepared to lead themselves into ‘their’ future. The tips have been picked up from friends who know their onions and derived from some good old-fashioned common sense; it’s my mission to make it sexy and funky again and to get everyone leaning towards the green!

Q - Its surprising actually how much you can do to reduce, reuse and recycle in the home and really make a big difference. For those starting out, which 3 areas would you say they could focus on reducing waste first in order to have the most impact?
Well the most obvious room to pick on and have an immediate and positive effect on, would be the kitchen. Food waste still remains an enormous problem, despite the best efforts of organisations like the Love Food Hate Waste campaign. We are far too anal about sell by dates too - it’s ridiculous. The food isn’t going to explode if you go a day or two (or MORE) over that bloomin’ date! Cooking will kill anything dodgy, which is very unlikely to be residing on your newly expired food, so stop worrying about it and shove it in the oven! The BOGOFs are part of the problem though. We cannot resist a bargain and go all ‘hunter, gatherer’ and hog the other pack even if we have no intention of eating it. The best way to get over this is go shopping with a friend or neighbour, share the petrol, enjoy the experience a bit more and share those BOGOFs. You can also buy larger quantites of things and split them too, another great money saver. Of course, an extension of the Kitchen is the Garden and if you are able to make use of a composter/wormery or Bokashi, then do so! You’ll cut your bin down dramatically by doing so and you can also sling in loo roll holders, cereal boxes, hair from your brushes, cut up cotton tee shirts that are too knackered for the charity shop and much more besides. Then if you think about your cleaning materials that lurk under the sink you find another area where you can really make a difference. Ditch the chemical options and go for soda crystals, borax, bicarbonate of soda, lemons, salt, eco balls, soapnuts and essential oils, to name but a few. They are all multi purpose cleaners that will eradicate the need for the cornucopia of squirty guns that all bear the ‘X Caution Irritant’ sign on the back of the bottle…

Q - As well as giving individuals and families the tools and inspiration to reduce their rubbish you recognise the responsibilities of those in charge to make big changes too. If you could pass one law in relation to waste what would it be and why?
Oh, that’s a chunky monkey missus! I don’t know about a law, but I would like to change the constitution somewhat. I’d like to see sustainable living lessons be part (a fully integrated part) of the National Curriculum, from nursery age upwards! Kids should be learning how to cultivate and cook some delicious organic fruit and veg. They should understand and respect the importance of composting and recycling and on a scientific point, they should embrace sustainable forms of energy and be tackling the many other layers and levels to living in harmony with our volatile and beautiful planet. That would be a fantastic achievement.

Q - I really liked the celebrity ‘Q and A’ section because it gave us a little insight into how they deal with the less glamorous part of life, their rubbish. If you could ask any celebrity in the world any question about the environment who would it be and what would you ask them?
I don’t think they come under the remit of celebrities (in fact I’m quite sure they don’t) but I would like to see all our emminent politicians and leaders telling us what ‘they do’ to make a difference and they should also show us how they do it! More to the point, there should be a national telly, radio and written media campaign showing us what they and all the ’stars’ are doing. There’s no doubt about it, the world of the A lister has enormous influence on our more humble existence and it could effect a very positive and almost overnight change on our immediate, local and global environments too.

Q - The book itself is absolutely full of so much useful advice and there is the website too. What is the future for ‘The Book of Rubbish Ideas’ and all that goes with it?
Good question. Well I’ve just started making a few short films for the website and am enjoying doing them very much. I doubt there’s a BBC series on the horizon, but hey, never say never… There will certainly be a daily entry on the website to look forward to and I’m really enjoying doing a few talks and demonstrations extolling the virtues of a bit of simple, green living and rubbish reduction. It’s great when you meet people and you see that penny dropping for them - a whole new world of green opens up which is very exciting and I love being a part of ‘their’ transition.

Tracey, thank you for your detailed and energetic answers. I look forward to seeing your short films and more in the future!

it’s a transparent container. I think it would rock if we could actually see our trash at all times, so it isn’t hidden away somewhere in the supply chain of the world.

I found something similar in a blogpost today which is a rubbish around the busshelter sign

Wouldn’t you think that if we could actually see our waste, we would relate to it more ? I love the idea of transparent trash!…

Since June, they’ve been working on reducing the amount they send to landfill and, in just 2 weeks’ time, they are going for the big fat zero.
They started off throwing away about a kilo a week of rubbish - already quite small, compared to many households. And in an interview today Raechelle shared with me some of her top tips for keeping your rubbish down.

She started by making it clear that she feels fortunate to live just 3 miles from a recycling centre that takes all the usual recyclables, plus tetra-paks and polythene, which helps.

Shopping locally has a massive impact.

Clare


In general over the years I have been going through a slow and steady downsize, from getting rid of unnecessary clothes to getting rid of my TV (as I wanted to stop wasting my life watching other people’s lives).

Now I have had to downsize from a spacious three bed roomed house (which I was living in my own in the end – not good for the environment) to a cosy, compact one bedroom flat which I am sharing with my fiancé.

The downsizing process 

During the downsizing process I had to review all my personal belongings, as they would not be able to fit into my new place. Whilst over the last couple of years I have not exactly been a shopaholic, especially as I pledged at the start of 2008 to not buy any new clothes, somehow I had accumulated many items. Many of which had been kindly given to me as gifts from family and friends (honestly – when I say please don’t buy me anything for birthday / Christmas etc – I really mean it).

How many books?

My large collection of books was the first thing that I reviewed and whilst I sold some at a car boot sale, many of my fiction books went to charity shops to raise money for good causes. Now I only have specific reference books that I refer to on a regular basis, otherwise I am only going to use the library – thus saving space, money and in theory reducing the amount of books that need printing.

Overall I reviewed everything that I owned and I took into consideration of what items I could not live without, such as the essential; clothes, cooking equipment, useful furniture etc. All unnecessary items were either sold via Ebay, car boot sales (my mum’s car as I don’t own one), Realcycle and charity shops. 

So how many material possessions do we need to be happy?

The downsizing process was very cleansing and I felt that my life was less cluttered. Overall I felt  happier getting rid of materialistic items that clever marketing and western values had convinced me (or convinced others to purchase for me) that I should own.

Now don’t get me wrong, my fiancé and I are not living pre-historic style! However we have cut down on electrical items. We no longer have a microwave or freezer. Still no TV and we only have one CD player as we do not need music in every room (in fact the walls are very thin in the flat so you can hear the music quite easily in the next room).

We have basic cooking items, as who actually uses a million cooking gadgets? (ok I admit many years ago I went through a phase of having cooking gadgets such as a breadmaker, steamer etc but sold them awhile ago as they were only collecting dust)

So overall we are currently living fairly clutter free and happy. Note to my family out there “Please, please its very kind of you to buy me presents but don’t or else there will be so space for me to sleep!” 

Big house, little house………….

I have never done compact living before especially in a flat. Now I am not saying I lived in mansions, but living in the East Midlands where property prices were never that ridiculous I managed to grow up in a good sized family home.

When I left the family home I moved about quite a bit and rented a variety of reasonably priced and decent sized houses in Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. So recently when the time came to move down south, I was initially shocked at the rental fees and the only realistic option was a small flat.

My fiancé found a flat for us to rent and I am ashamed to admit that I was very pessimistic when I saw photos’. As whilst being a ‘Green Girl’ and aware of the environmental benefits of not taking too much space – I am also a country girl at heart and always wanted a farmhouse with lots of land. So when I saw photos of the compact flat, I was initially thinking “How can I live there comfortably?

However now that I have been in the flat a few weeks I have grown use to it and also very fond of it. In fact I don’t think I want to live in a house again, as I never have the problem of walking upstairs and thinking “What did I come up here for”. Also the flat, is quicker to clean

How much space do we need to live comfortably?

If everyone in the world lived the typical western lifestyle and for example opted for a three bed roomed semi detached house etc we would require 3 planets to support us. 

In fact I think if everyone in the world lived in properties, which are too big for their actual realistic needs, there would be no natural spaces left. Just house, after house, after house. We would have to extract a lot of the Earths resources to build those houses and the planet would be in a worse state than it already is.

Recently in the UK there was a huge sudden increase in building houses (though the current economic climate in the UK has caused many new developments to not be completed). 

From my understanding the government advised that there was a shortage of housing in the UK, thus encouraged building companies to develop new housing estates including creating eco-towns (which I will talk about in a future post). Whilst some people say immigration created the housing need, I believe that a change in modern lifestyle and the western vision created the need.

As a society can we escape from the western vision of what the perfect life should be, thus improving the environment?

Society has tried to dictate that in order to be happy and to fit into society, you need a posh house (keep up with the Jones), a car, a great big television (ok so I won’t go into the list like they did in the film Trainspotting)

Also the structure of families has changed, so the housing need has increased. Once upon a time you would live with your parents until you were married. Whilst you lived with your parents the average child would have to share a room or even a bed with a sibling (my mum had to share with her sister). When you got married, most likely you would stay with your parents or in-laws until you saved up money to get a deposit to rent a house (like my grandma did). Or as a married couple you took lodgings and rented just a room from someone.

However now many people leave home young (I did), may rent with friends (I did), get fed up of living with friends (I did) and get their own place, which is probably too big and is really meant for a family (ok embarrassed to admit I did).

Also, families split up and one parent might live with the children, another might live on their own.

Children leave the nest and parents for nostalgic reasons keep the family house, which is big and empty without the children.

Grandparents too for nostalgic reasons keep large houses, their partner may die and then they are living alone in a large house with spare bedrooms, which could be used to house other people.

You get my drift. For many reasons we are all taking up too much space and thus new houses need to be built to accommodate our modern ways.

Changing bad habits

I think that as a society it is time we changed our bad habits, before we completely destroy the planet. Up and coming nations want to live the western lifestyle – which after years of living in poverty who blames them. However the whole world cannot live like we do, so we must now downsize to offset the up and coming lifestyle of other nations.

Believe me downsizing your life will not make you unhappy, so please consider it – and don’t worry about what the Jones think, they will be bankrupt soon as they wont be able to sustain their competitive lifestyle!

It goes into everything from wedding rings to jeans, computer parts to green beans, and it’s a really interesting read as you follow the author on his journey around the world finding the human stories behind our stuff.

One of the bits that particularly caught my attention though was the section on recycling. It feels so virtuous putting the paper in the recycling box rather than chucking it in the bin (I hesitate every time I put something in the bin these days - asking myself if there’s anything else I can do with the item dangling over the waste abyss… or whether the god of recycling is about to strike me down!) but the book reveals (in a measured and sensible tone, not with any sense of anti-green glee) a number of recycling fiascos that had me questioning exactly where my stuff goes…

So I decided to email Worthing Council to find out, thus:

“I would be grateful if you could tell me what happens to the recycling collected in Worthing. We put everything in the same box (card, cans etc.) and it all appears to go into the same hole in the recycling van.

I have been told that if this is the case, it would be too labour intensive to sort it at the other end and all the recycling will simply be crushed up and used for roads or dams, for example, but not to be turned back into usable items (i.e. a bottle becoming another bottle, paper recycled into more paper) – is this correct?”

The response arrived just 2 days later:

“Dear Katie,

Initially all the recycling is taken to a bulking station in Lancing where it is loaded onto bulk transport. It is then taken to a sorting plant in Crayford, South East London where it is separated into constituent parts. I have toured the plant myself and can assure you that all the materials streams are separated fully using a combination of hand and mechanical sorting.

The plant we are using is only a temporary arrangement, as a new West Sussex facility is currently being built at Ford near Littlehampton. When it is operational it will be geared up for public visits so I would encourage you to take a look for yourself at the appropriate time. You won’t be disappointed - I found my trip to Crayford to be extremely interesting (and a little mesmerising!).

In terms of final reprocessing the material streams are sent far and wide:

• Mixed paper is going to a plant in Essex where it is turned into packaging and insulation
• Glass is used in the road building industry to create anti-skid surfacing
• Plastic bottles are sent to China where they are used to manufacture clothing and toys
• Steel is sent to South Wales where it is fed in with other steel scrap and turned into cars, electricity pylons etc
• Aluminium is sent to Warrington where it is used to make new drink cans

I hope this reassures you that you are making a difference!”

I have to say it has reassured me - at least a little - although my concerns about the glass were correct which is disappointing when there are companies such as ‘Green Glass’ crying out to re-use glass bottles. The China trip isn’t ideal either but if that’s where they’re going to use them I guess that’s the way it has to be… for now anyway.

And I’ll have to make sure I take that trip to the new recycling plant once it’s up and running.

I’d be really interested to get your thoughts on this though - am I being naive in trusting them?! Do you work in the industry? Do you have more insider information? What should we do to get bottles recycled into new bottles? Recycle your responses here!

Take care,

Katie
Ethical Weddings

And yes, I did ask for them!

When they finally arrived in January, I ripped open the package, full of excitement, to find two black bins, some bits of plastic and a large bag of bran. Somehow all this was supposed to turn our cooked kitchen scraps into something that would feed the garden.

The place we were renting wouldn’t allow a compost bin (short term rental and who wants someone else’s potato peelings when they move out?!!), so bokashi seemed the perfect solution.

In case you’re not familiar with bokashi composting, you basically get an indoor composting bin (the specially designed ones have a reservoir for draining of the liquid which you can use to clear blocked drains. I never knew last month’s porridge could do that! Scary thought) and the bran stuff.

The bran is a mixture of bran, molasses and these special micro-organisms called “ems”. “Bokashi” is allegedly Japanese for “fermented organic matter”.

The idea is that raw vegetables can go straight on the compost pile in your garden, but cooked food shouldn’t because it will attract rats and doesn’t degrade in the same way as the rest of your compost. By putting the cooked stuff in the bokashi bin and sprinkling a layer of bran on top each day, over the course of a month it becomes highly fertile composting material.

I have to say that, over the first few months, I was quite impressed. The food seemed to break down well, the bins were inoffensive in the corner of my kitchen, even after a month, and my drains were beautifully clean (according to the smell, I didn’t actually get in there and look). I had two buckets - the old “use one while the other ferments” idea. And then, one day, both bins were full.

What to do with the contents?

Chuck them under a convenient bush and fertilise away, I thought.

But no, it would appear it’s not quite so simple. On studying the instructions, I discovered that it either has to go in a compost bin, which I didn’t have and wasn’t allowed, or had to be buried in a long, shallow trench and then covered with a predetermined thickness of soil. Not an option either. Yet after all that effort (and expense), I certainly wasn’t going to send my mulched-down leftovers to landfill.

So what did I do? I took both bins with me the next time I visited my parents and donated them to their compost bin!

Now I’ve moved and am the proud owner of a shiny, new, huge compost bin, I don’t have any problems with what to do with my bokashi mix in 3 weeks’ time.

But I was wondering whether it’s all really worth the effort? The bran itself isn’t cheap and the start-up kit is up to £90, depending where you buy.

While I love the idea of all those friendly little micro-organisms munching away at my kitchen waste, it does seem a fairly extravagant way of doing it.

I would love to hear from any GGG visitors out there who have thoughts or opinions on the bokashi subject - and is there a cheaper way of recycling kitchen waste?

Clare x

I first started wearing contacts aged 11 as I competed in lots of sport and eyeglasses were not suitable – especially for gymnastics.  As I got older (and unfortunately less sporty) I mainly wore contact lenses for vanity reasons, however I am past vanity these days and I now feel good and attractive when wearing my eyeglasses.

(Images above: Glasses can be cool just look at Johnny Depp and Lisa Loeb)

As I stopped using my contact lenses I started to think about all of those lens cases that I had used over the years, the large bottles of solution and the general production waste and energy used to create contact lenses.  It then occurred to me:

“Are contact lenses bad for the environment?”

Whilst I have been thinking about this for awhile I never researched into it, until now! However whilst searching the oracle (the internet) I struggled to find relevant information other than a few people raising concerns about whether they could recycle their contact lens solution bottles and lens holders (no answer discovered).

For those of you who have never worn contact lenses, then let me tell you there are quite a few different types these days, ranging from lenses that you can sleep in, to daily disposables (throw away each day), to monthly lenses and to contact lenses that can last a year.

How much waste do they create?

Now you may think that the daily disposables will create more waste as each day you throw them and their packaging away. However with daily disposables you tend not to use cleaning solution so the waste material may be lower compared to monthly lenses where you will have a new pair of lenses each month, a lenses case and then bottles of cleaning solution. But then the energy put into creating the daily lenses could require further energy consumption? Hhmmm like my vision, it’s not all perfectly clear!

If anyone has researched into this and has any quanitative data about the impact of contact lenses and the environment I would be very interested.  However as mentioned I am now back to wearing my eyeglasses and I doubt that I will wear contact lenses again due to the sensitivity of my eyes. My question now is:

“How eco friendly are eyeglasses?”

What I do know is that since only wearing my eyeglasses I have not produced as much waste in the form of solution bottles etc. But what about the material and production used to create eyeglasses? Are they eco friendly? Again I consulted the oracle and really struggled to find information on any eco friendly glasses with the exception of a post titled “Gold & Wood Spectacles, the Green Option for Eyewear?” written by Petz Scholtus at Treehugger.

They featured a pair of eyeglasses by Gold & Wood which were made out of precious and exotic woods, taken from authorised and supervised plantations from different African countries, Brazil and Canada. I am a little sceptical as was Petz as to whether taking exotic wood from such countries is very sustainable. The company also make eyeglasses from buffalo horn which is a definite NO for me.

So now I am going to ask the same as what Petz asked:

“What material has the lowest environmental impact when it comes to making eyeglasses?”

Petz suggested frameless glasses, however they are not suitable for everyone for many reasons, including if like me you have a strong pescription then the frameless glasses lend up looking like jam jars.

I personally think that recycled waste would be the best material for the frames of eyeglasses; however I could not find any companies which do this.

So all of you budding entrepreneurs, it looks like there is a niche in the market for eco eyeglasses. I challenge someone to research this and set up an ethical, eco friendly eyeglasses range.

I promise that whoever sets up such a company that I will buy at least one pair from you – though they better last as I probably will not change the frames (though I have to change lenses as my eyes get worse) for a long long time! Next question…

“Can you recycle your eyeglasses?”

Yes you certainly can, as Arcadia has previously pointed out in America (and Australia and the UK) you can recycle your old eyeglasses through local Lion Clubs. In the UK there are a few other places that you can recycle your eyeglasses too including Vision Aid Overseas and the Second Site Project.

There is another interesting way to recycle the lenses from your eyeglasses and that is by turning into a chandelier (pictured below) as did Salvage pioneer Stuart Haygarth.

Junkk.com has some great features including an online JunkkYard, Forum and an inspirational Ideas section which provides details of how to make items such as plant irrigation systems to dumbbells using junk material

So as my daily tip from FOW said “before you bin anything, stop! Find out if there is another use for your junk, and save money, time and the planet.”

I would love to hear what junk that you have managed to turn into treasure.

They are inviting everyone (well, it’s first come, first seated!) to a a free screening of ‘message in the waves’ at Brighton’s lovely arthouse cinema, the Duke of York’s Picturehouse.

The film, by the BBC Natural History Unit, takes a look at some of the environmental challenges facing the people and wildlife of the Hawaiian Islands and shows the impact our day-to-day activities have on ocean systems and wildlife.

Excitingly, this is the film that Rebecca Hosking helped to make which inspired her to make her home town of Modbury in Devon a plastic-bag free town. The Brighton campaign is hoping it will inspire us to help make Brighton & Hove the first plastic-bag free city!

And that’s not all… after ‘Message in the Waves’ there will be:

• two short films made by children at Balfour Juniors School, ‘The exciting adventures of the plastic bag’ and ‘Revenge of the rubbish’
• a talk by artist Lou McCurdy who spent a year collecting plastic from a Brighton beach to create the installation ‘More Plastic than Plankton’
• a short discussion with guest speakers (tba) and a Q&A session
• giveaways for all attending courtesy of their sponsors

The event is free to attend and will work on a first come, first seated basis. Donations will be collected for the Duke of York’s roof renovation fund, by way of thanks for their generosity in hosting the event at no cost.

If you’re in Brighton on Sunday 3 Feb, come along! 1.30pm Duke Of York’s Picturehouse, Preston Circus, Brighton BN1 4NA

Katie
ethicalweddings.com