How to reduce Waste?

[TeeDee]

I'm interested in how members have a strategy for reducing 'waste' - whatever that is - that could be simply reducing the amount of plastic used , to using the milk vending machines popping up and taking glass containers ,bags for life , to turning something that passes through your household on a regular basis into something else of use?

So what do you consciously do to eliminate or attempt to reduce waste that seems prevalent in our society?

Big things , small things , things you take with you.

 

[Chris]

My main two:

Compost as much as possible.

Avoid buying cheap plastic rubbish from Amazon and the other various Chinese marketplaces where poor quality goods made of cheap plastics are churned out at mind boggling scale.

 

[Pattree]

A tiny step:-
We wash up using metal scourers. Dunno how much plastic we aren’t buying but it also isn’t going directly into the water system. (Also use a bamboo brush for some washing up)

It’s hypocritical but I’m buying cotton clothes since just pre Covid but I already have a lifetime supply of plastic fleece.

This might be symbolic rather than useful but I switch of my automatic kettle just before it boils. Left on its own it would thunder for three seconds at a full boil before switching off. 2KW for three seconds - it’s only 6KWh in a year but it might mitigate the carbon footprint of my metal scourers.

I’m fortunate enough to be able to choose cardboard or paper packaging if it’s an available option, as part of my purchasing choice. I recognise that not everyone is. Such a pity that bulk dry food didn’t take off. We never had a shop anywhere near here.

 

[TeeDee]

My main two:

Compost as much as possible.

Avoid buying cheap plastic rubbish from Amazon and the other various Chinese marketplaces where poor quality goods made of cheap plastics are churned out at mind boggling scale.

So how many compost bins do you have ? How quickly/slowly do you fill them ?

 

[TeeDee]

A tiny step:-
We wash up using metal scourers. Dunno how much plastic we aren’t buying but it also isn’t going directly into the water system. (Also use a bamboo brush for some washing up)

Have you considered getting yourself a Chainmail scourer? I've seen a few people make them so maybe worth thinking about.

 

[Pattree]

Worth thinking about. The scourers last much longer than plastic ones. I do put a kettle of boiling water through them from time to time.

 

[Chris]

So how many compost bins do you have ? How quickly/slowly do you fill them ?

Just the one. For just two people we don’t have loads of waste, but it also breaks down so quickly that it can be full one day and then 2 days later it’s down to about 1/4 full.

 

[Paul_B]

I thought washing up by hand uses too much water, efficient, modern dishwashers are better for energy used and water use. We have a new one from Bosch that's high energy and water efficency. We fill it up and either use off peak electricity or daytime using our solar power.

I think the biggest thing is to not buy anything unless you really need it. My approach is one out, one in. By that I mean if an item if clothing has reached the end of its life and cannot be repaired then I throw it out and get a direct replacement if I still want it at all. My work pants have lasted 5 or 6 years with repairs. Before repairs I threw away after 1 year if that. I don't buy clothes for buying stake. Apart from clothes I've been bought as a present I only have a few normal use clothes that are on rotation. Once I went too lean with work clothes and that resulted in wearing slightly damp clothes to work, to dry on me. I got another polo shirt and dug out some old trousers and repaired them.

These things originally stemmed from not wanting to waste money but now it's half reducing my footprint too. I think we as a species own too much and produce too much.

 

[Pattree]

As I see it there are three interlinked issues with our ecological problems.

Waste and over-production.
Pollution
Climate change and carbon release.

There are no simple answers. I’m not arguing the dishwasher case, circumstances are as important s other considerations - but how much does it have to be used to recover its carbon footprint from extraction of raw materials to delivery to the user?

Should I prefer a shirt made by British artisans from UK grown flax and for which I pay a fair price and which will probably outlast me
to
A polymer textile tee shirt made in a sweat shop in Mumbai that might last three years in wear and indefinitely in landfill?
but
If we all switched to the former there would be food riots and starvation in Asia.
Such changes are essential but they’re going to have to be very carefully managed.

 

[Jared]

Always used a milk man, so glass bottles get picked up.

My brother has been getting into Gu desserts. They come in glass ramekins, that are too nice to throw away. Only discovered recently there are companies making making (or marketing) lids specifically for them, in bamboo or silicone. And the plastic lid on a pringles also makes a loose fitting lid.

 

[slowworm]

I think, round here at least, it's getting harder to recycle. The local council doesn't collect our recycling for example and many recycling points in places like supermarket car parks have been removed.

We also have noticed that things are moving in a one size fits all direction when they don't. For example we have plenty of free water so would rather use less detergent and more water in our washing machine but the trend is to use less water and more/harsher detergents.

We also live a bit differently to many, for example we have 8 compost bins as we need the compost so no green waste goes to landfill. And this year more than any other we've found our garden compost to be far better than any multipurpose compost you can buy.

 

[Stew]

That’s pretty strange of your council! Mine is the opposite - recycle, recycle, recycle!

I need to work out what shredder to get to deal with the woody green waste!

 

[Pattree]

We don’t exactly compost. As a forest horticultural apprentice we made compost with bushels of hardwood leaves, (piled since autumn) horse muck, loam and turves plus raw green food waste. To this was added sand and lime. I had to check that it was warming but not hot enough to kill the bacteria and fungi that were doing the work. Then we had to remove the side boards of the bin periodically and turn the outside to the centre and top to bottom. It was a skill on its own.

Here at home sixty years on, we just dump food waste into the plastic composter. There are mostly just two of us and it could easily take two years to fill a three foot high by the foot diameter base cone. We have two composters - one filling, the other maturing/being used. I allow myself to dump one hopper of cut grass from each (infrequent) lawn mowing. The rest goes into the green garden refuse bin.

We get an excellent refuse service. Recycle, garden waste and landfill wheelies fortnightly, paper and cardboard bag fortnightly and food waste (which we rarely use) weekly. When we started to overflow the garden waste they happily provided a second one. Thus far it’s all free (on the Council Tax)

 

[Toddy]

Worth thinking about. The scourers last much longer than plastic ones. I do put a kettle of boiling water through them from time to time.

Grow a loofah !

Seriously, an ordinary loofah makes three dishscrubbers. Can't get much more ecologically safer than the loofah. It works well too

I compost everything I can, and I recycle what rubbish we do create carefully, so that it goes into the right bins, etc.,
My compost bins are worm worked, slow and sure and the most beautiful soil at the end of it.

I try to avoid plastic when I can, but when I can't, I recycle properly, and hope it ends up being used again, or I use bits like the trays the mushrooms come in as seed trays in my greenhouse. Lidded pots such as the ones the humous comes in are washed out, dried and passed along to a neighbour who batch cooks and mashes her veggies for the fortnight and then freezes the portions. Big yoghurt tubs make good sized pots to start peas and sweetpeas which have long roots.

Son2's old polo shirts become four cloths for cleaning, and the rest of the cotton pieces go into a bag for recycling (charity shops make a fair bit of money from cotton waste).

A looooong time ago I did a thread on recycling a shrunken wool pullover, I'm still inclined to make something else from stuff if it's not fit to go the charity shop for someone else to use.

 

[Paul_B]

Carbon footprint of things isn't as obvious as big object equals big carbon footprint. It can be lower than you'd think.

Take my dishwasher as an example. Bosch make dishwashers in Poland, Asia and Germany. The better ones are made closest to us in Germany. The German factory manufactures in a low carbon or carbon neutral way. I think there's a move for big German manufacturing plants to put solar panels on their roofs and using green electricity sources.

Still not completely carbon neutral but better than expected. However, to counter the issues with dishwasher what do you use to heat your water? Gas no doubt. How much water do you use? More than my dishwasher when adjusted for place settings. In our house we had to fill at least 2 bowls of hot water to get the dishes done. A lot more than the dishwasher.

But tbh we got the dishwasher because it suited our needs and lifestyle better not for green issues. We chose the make and model to minimise operational impact on environment through low electricity use, low water use, country of manufacture, etc. However, its still a thing that got made.

That's the thing isn't it, manufacture vs use. Where is the balancing act and do you choose solely on that?

Then again, it's the reliable information available to make the best decision? Take cotton that's got good and bad practises within its production. Is it better or worse than synthetic clothing made using 100% recycled source material? Longevity might be poor on synthetics but if it becomes more of a circular lifetime then does that make longevity less of an issue? Who knows? I just think I try to consume less and hope that's good enough.

BTW I don't agree with synthetics having a worse longevity. My helly Hansen base layer is about 35 years old, another one 25 years or more. I've had cotton t-shirts lasting a year. My merino base layers usually last me a year. I'm possibly not typical in that.

 

[Paul_B]

There was a TV documentary about recycled clothes given m to charities that end up dumped in Africa. Charities complaining about getting absolute rubbish that's not even good enough for rags!

There used to be a waste plant on the industrial estate I work on until it went bust. They had council recycling collection contracts. Let's just say recycling isn't exactly what you think. As the rules tightened around Europe the company lost the destination country for "recycled " materials. Eastern European landfill despite being recycling.

Where I live now I've just found out that our grey bins (non recyclable material) gets shredded and goes to be burnt for heat and power. Nobody knew about that but it's been the case for 10 or 12 years according to a friend who's the council recycling and waste reduction expert. Not much goes into landfill but most is recycled or efficiently burnt for heat and power. Not sure how that works out for the environment but non recyclable plastics aren't being put in landfill but is contributing to carbon emissions. An environmental mixed bag.

All I know is that I don't know enough to make the best decision I only try to make the best I think I know to do and can do. I hope that's enough and hope others do the same.

 

[TeeDee]

Can we try to where possible show some personal restraint to NOT go on a quasi political rant regarding issues relating to topic in hand.

Personal accountability is what we should focus on - what can./do each of us do limit waste.

 

[Pattree]

I’ve tried the “Just one more” exercise.
1 degree down on the heating.
1 mph slower.
1 fewer journeys a week.
1 more season’s use.
1 less plastic container in the weekly shop
Etc.
Mixed results but I’m trying.

 

[slowworm]

Can we try to where possible show some personal restraint to NOT go on a quasi political rant regarding issues relating to topic in hand.

I don't think I was being political and I was some way off a rant - I was making the point that there is only so much one can do when frankly the government (both local and national) doesn't seem to care.

But you want positives rather than negatives? I'd say our main one is furnishing our house with 2nd hand furniture. Better made than modern stuff, unfashionable so cheap, and just a.bit more interesting.

 

[TeeDee]

I don't think I was being political and I was some way off a rant - I was making the point that there is only so much one can do when frankly the government (both local and national) doesn't seem to care.

But you want positives rather than negatives? I'd say our main one is furnishing our house with 2nd hand furniture. Better made than modern stuff, unfashionable so cheap, and just a.bit more interesting.

TBF Slowworm I wasn't thinking of you at all...