E,w,a&f #greenLiving Earth 1; resources

Aside from our travel and heat, the main resources we consume as humans are through packaging. Mainly food. I now know more about the wrapping food and my ideas have shifted towards increased packets.

Supermarkets are not ‘bad boys’, sustainability is demonstrated through food gifting and charitable donations. Did you know they give free food to their staff to combat poverty?

There is a three way division of waste: biodegradable, recyclable and waste. I generate very little of the latter.

We are fortunate that biodegradable matter is collected from the doorstep in Dorset although I compost all of mine, including toilet paper – more elsewhere. I also wash my eggs shells, saving these to add a calcium layer to the outdoors compost bin.

Recycled material is collected fortnightly: iron [tins], paper and hard plastics mainly. Dorset initiated the use of light technology to sort hard plastics at their recycling centre in the late nineties leading the field at that time.

My waste is minimal. I sub-divide the soft plastics into a bread bag, up-cycling the remainder, which is often zero. If I was to add the bread bags to my black bin they would need to be collected once a year. Instead I recycle them at a large supermarket where they enter the recycle chain quickly as polythene plastic. This is used as covers, over cardboard for cases of bottles and packets. One of the most efficient recycle loops in the UK, with stripped plastic returning on the delivery lorries, alongside out-dated food and the bio digested methane utilised to break-down the polythene, and power the trucks.

I scratched my head about soft plastic on hard trays but the injected nitrogen lengthens food decay times, reducing waste further. I save the trays, lifting veg in my fridge drawer above the naturally transpired moisture and further extending decay times.

Fridge drawer with containers inspired by the research that Tupperware have completed recently

So how much waste do I actually create?

Very close to zero with my reuse, upcycling and donations; unwanted coat hangers went to the charity shop recently. My clothes are cotton, wool or silk so could be bio digested.

Wood is difficult but I tend to take to the pub fire, along with confidential documents.

It is not difficult to divide waste and reach zero, it should be all of our’s ultimate aim.

Bin collections are fortnightly and I am lucky if my green bin is full bi-monthly. Forgetting to put the bins out, or remembering to bring it in is no longer a problem. Glass goes with it but is mostly upcycled, more later.

Think global; act local.