Welcome
Is it possible to go for one whole week without throwing anything away? 9th-15th March 2009 was Rubbish Free Week in Essex and we challenged residents to test this out by producing as little waste as possible for one week.
Sounds difficult? Well actually it wasn’t so hard. Over 700 residents took up the challenge and on average managed to reduce their rubbish by a whopping 55%! Well done to everyone who took part and for sending back your record sheet.
What next?
Keep up the good work! Ok so it might not be practical to always have a rubbish free week but we can all try and continue to do some of the things we did differently to try and reduce the amount of rubbish we have the rest of the time.
What did people find difficult?
It was interesting to see what problems people had – most of you experience similar types of problem materials depending on where you live in the county and what your local council collect. The main materials that people had problems with were cellophane packaging, hard plastic trays, cling film and food. Some helpful tips that people gave in response to these were;
Use reusable boxes for storing food instead of using cling film. If something needs to be wrapped then use foil instead of cling film as this can be reused and then recycled.
Try and buy food from a butcher or deli to avoid the plastic trays that they commonly come in – also buy fruit and veg loose to avoid those plastic punnets and cellophane.
Reduce food waste by storing food correctly, use leftovers to create something new, get the right portion by only cooking what you need and learn your labels. For more information on reducing food waste visit www.lovefoodhatewaste.com
To compost cooked and uncooked food waste including meat, fish and bones you can use a Bokashi Kitchen Composter. To buy them at a reduced price click here.
Did people recycle more?
Yes! People mainly composted more of their rubbish and recycled more paper and plastic.
How can find out more about reducing my rubbish?
There are so many things we can all do to reduce the amount of rubbish we have to throw away. Click here for tips.
