Last year our family accumulated just one carrier bag of landfill waste for the entire year, so as you might have guessed, this is a topic of passion for me!
The first thing to remember is the order of the 3 Rs – we all know they mean Reduce, Reuse, Recycle but few of us realise they are in that order for a reason: Recycling is bottom of the list in terms of sustainability.
The million dollar question
If you need something look for the best option – before you buy it ask yourself ” What will I do with this product or packaging after I have finished using it?” If it can be composted, reused or recycled go henceforth to the checkout and part with your hard-earned cash, but if it has to be landfilled leave it on the shelf and look for an alternative – it’s time to vote with your money folks and realize how powerful and influential you are!
The danger with not wanting to put things in landfill is that you become a hoarder. Petunia has already shared that she has enough toilet paper roll binoculars to host a classroom safari, so you have to learn to let go. Sometimes it means throwing something in the bin with the pact that you will do better next time, but for goodness sake don’t hoard stuff because you’ll soon give up in desperation and throw it all away; then you’ll be beating yourself up for failure and there are no failures here…
Recycling system
Separate, labeled containers for everything we could recycle locally at Bring banks – nothing fancy, just a few boxes that we already had at Chez Green in order to keep everything neat and tidy. Have one for paper, one for aluminium, one for plastic bottles – it’s not rocket science here.
Our Recycling Area
Kitchen bin
Removing the kitchen bin – we realised we were still throwing things away through habit. We removed the bin to make us stop and think “What shall I do with this?”
Away!
The mantra ‘There’s no such place as away!’. We all throw things away, but where is “Away?” It’s not some magical place; it’s a landfill site, an incinerator, a ship to China or the bottom of the ocean. When you can’t be bothered to rinse another tin, that image should help keep you on track.
What about you – do you have any tips for Petunia?
Read the complete article at The Little Green Blog…
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