2012: The Year of Waste Not Want Not; reducing my family's rubbish

As I am on a quest to find a better way of living, it seems to me that looking after the world around should be on my list of priorities. And so, I am determined to make this year, one where I am kinder to the planet. 

I tend to be quite evangelical and then quite passive in alternate bursts about environmentalism.   It would be great to find an environmental friendly lifestyle that can just become part of my everyday way of living. Being a vegetarian is definitely a big plus, and likewise reducing my consumer urge and not buying so much stuff is definitely a change in the right direction when it comes to looking after the planet; but there is certainly a lot more that I could do. 

So, my first major challenge for 2012 is to reduce the amount of rubbish I send to landfill.  I have been quite inspired by Mr and Mrs Green at The Zero Waste Project , whose website shares their fabulous tips on being landfill waste free. 

At the moment we put our rubbish bin out once a month.  Our wheelie bin is the standard size at 120 litres, and it is always completely full when it goes out monthly.  From this I have a very good estimate, that in the last year we sent 1,440 litres of rubbish to landfill.   

My challenge for 2012 is therefore to reduce our 12 wheelie bins of rubbish down to only one!!

As you all know, landfills are really depressing places, not only do they let harmful greenhouse gases out into the atmosphere, increasing global warming, but here in the UK it is estimated that we will run out of room in our landfills in only 10 years. As the saying goes, I want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem, so I have taken the following steps today:

I put the bin out for (hopefully) the final time for the next 12 months.  As you can see it is stuffed to the brim.

Then I relegated the kitchen and ensuite bathroom bin into the garage.  By not having a handy receptacle to put our rubbish into I figure it will make it easier to recycle than to chuck.  (I left a small bin in the bathroom which guest use when they visit, just so sanitary items don't get flushed down the toilet by mistake instead.)

I then upgraded my home recycling centre by adding additional boxes for envelopes and confidential papers; milk bottle tops; crisp packets; batteries and for recyclable plastic film packaging.  I already had slots for paper, plastic bottles, cardboard, tins and glass.

I set out a small cardboard box by the kitchen sink for food scraps which will then be chucked on the compost heap each week (box and all; much cleaner than those horrible plastic boxes with bags that never rot down properly on the heap).  And finally I set out a 'milk' jug for coffee grounds and egg shells which will get spread on the flower beds each week (this is supposed to deter slugs).

JW and No.1 Son have been consulted and have acquiesced their approval.  Although I fear No.1 Son's eating habits may be my nemesis.  At 16 years old he tends to only eat pre-packed foods, which makes me tear my hair out.  This is a picture of his computer room bin, full of sweetie wrappers as usual.  And a lot of his food comes on those annoying plastic trays.  But we shall see how we get on in the great Year of Waste Not Want Not 2012!  Watch this space...