The Adventure of the Zero Waste Goal

In which I discuss a new green goal...

Last week I talked about my turning vegetarian. A week on and it seems to be going well. Physically I actually seem to be feeling better than I have for a long time. This may be because I am eating more healthily in general but the most significant change has been cutting out meat and it seems to be doing me wonders. 

Becoming a vegetarian is actually just part of my plans to be more eco-conscious. As I have said, I probably already do a lot more than most people but I'm still being much more wasteful than I could and probably should be. I have therefore set myself the goal of getting as close to producing zero waste as possible. The idea is to get to a point where my rubbish bin is empty and I don't send anything to landfill. In all likelihood there will probably always be some rubbish but I am pretty sure I can reduce it significantly. Since living in my flat I generally fill my wheelie bin about three quarters full by the time it is emptied every fortnight. I am confident that I can reach a point where there are five or less items in there by bin day. 

Where to start then? Well, it would be easy to throw away every unsustainable product I currently use but that would defeat the purpose. The plan is that as things need replacing I'm going to attempt to replace them with a more sustainable alternative. I've gradually begun doing this. For example, my toilet rolls are now coming from Naked Sprout who make them from bamboo and whose packaging involves no plastic whatsoever. I have also found a rather lovely refill shop close to my Mum and Dad's where I can get a whole range of items from cleaning products to food without any packaging. 

Turning sustainable can lead you down a rabbit hole and part of that was cleaning products. Whilst I probably knew this at some level, most things we use around the house are full of harsh chemicals. Looking at the bottles they often say things like "toxic to aquatic life". Yet inevitably these chemicals are leaving the house in the water system and will eventually end up in the wild where said aquatic life lives. Plus generally bleach and other chemicals are probably good for human health. I've still got a good supply of most cleaning products but the plan is to replace them with natural alternatives. Former Bake-Off contestant Nancy Birtwhistle has written a book with all sorts of eco-alternatives which I am hoping to try. I am especially looking forward to my washing tabs running out and then attempting to make detergent with conkers- yes, that is apparently a thing. 

Something I began doing was really analyse what was going into my rubbish bin. It turned out there were several types of plastic container that can actually go in the recycle bin. I hadn't realised that Bournemouth recycle many more things than the New Forest does so there's immediately a load of things that I would throw away when I lived at my Mum and Dad's that can go in the recycling. I am now getting regular bags full of these items from my Dad to put in my own bin. 

There are also many items that have a recycling logo on that can't be recycled in your rubbish bin. A bit of research though and it soon turns out that there are places locally where you can take everything from crisp packets and bread bags to tablet blister packs. Many of these are just local shops that I would be visiting anyway and some involve a local scheme which rotates around libraries and community centres around the area. My cupboard is now full of items that would previously have gone in the bin but now can be taken somewhere to be recycled. 

I also realised that there was often a small amount of food waste in my bin. The local council does collect food waste and I recalled that somewhere in my shed I'd spotted a brown bin for that very purpose that I'd never used. I then realised that the council has a deal with a compost products company (GetComposting) that means you can buy a compost bin for £6 plus delivery (apparently other local authorities have similar arrangements). Two days later I came home to find a shiny new bin waiting for me. Since then all my food waste has gone in the composter as well as various cuttings and weeds from the plants in my yard. Eventually I will have created some of my own compost which I can then use in the garden, meaning no food waste is getting thrown away and I won't need to buy any compost. 

Composting in Action!

The biggest answer to all this is to avoid falling for consumerism. Everyone is trying to encourage you to buy their stuff and it's much better for the environment if we avoid this temptation. After researching this stuff I have found myself bombarded by eco-alternative products which is just consumerism dressed up with green credentials. I was initially concerned that this stuff would be more expensive but actually I'm finding with a bit of research that most stuff is actually cheaper because you are not paying for packaging. It feels like win/win to me. 

It's strangely pleasing to have such an empty kitchen bin and there's something oddly enjoyable about strolling down to the compost bin to add the latest bits of food waste. I can't control what the rest of the world does but I can at least do everything I can to look after it. 

I'm not going to bang on about this stuff too often but probably in a few months I'll do an update on how things are going as I continue to replace things with more environmentally-friendly alternatives. I mean, surely you want to hear about conker detergent! In the meantime it's now back to work after the summer holidays for the biggest year of my life as I try and finally quality as a teacher. See you soon.