Don't Bin It - Fran it!

If you were waiting in anticipation of today's news, I am so sorry to have kept you hanging around. It's just that after I cleaned the floors, made some cookies and popped the teapot on the table, my guest of honour arrived and for the rest of the day we both talked rubbish.

T'was a good job Cockney songsters Chas 'n' Dave weren't listening in, otherwise they may have been tempted to change their lyrics.

Yup-yup-rubbish rubbish. Yup-yup-rubbish rubbish

You see, my guest wasn't just anybody. It was my new friend Fran who'd popped over to pick up my booty of unrecyclable odds and single sods as well as a whole stash of broken clutter, that unless rescued by Fran could have easily ended in landfill, including the remnants of my smashed teapot featured at the top of this post.

Here she is pulling out stuff from my special bin-bag...



And here are the contents arranged beautifully on my coffee table...



Look at that gorgeous range of almost useless clutter, a fascinating collection of broken hair clips, netbags, solidified paint, broken scissors, vitamin blister packs, odd slippers, expired marker pens, a bashed phone and all sorts of broken bits of toys. There's even Mrs G's plastic inner from her roll of sellotape in there somewhere.

Now it might seem bizarre to hand over a bag of rubbish to an innocent looking friend and even more peculiar to be handing over Mrs G's rubbish too.

But then Fran is no ordinary friend. She's in fact an artist and no ordinary artist at that. In truth she's a real rubbish artist...hmm - perhaps that would sound better if I said she's an artist who is interested in rubbish. And if you've been following the blog for some time, you might even remember that I interviewed her about her fascinating work, back in July

Anyway, before I get lost in my Ronnie Corbetts or indeed my Harry Hills, meandering on a mile long thread and losing you at the next turning in the road, it's suffice to say that being an artist who is interested in rubbish, my special mission over the last few months has been to collect lots of landfill-destined trash for Fran to put to great use in her next exhibition, which is coming up soon.

Cleverly titled Life Savings: The Art of Recyling, the installation will be on show at New Cut Arts, in Halesworth, Suffolk, running from 10th February to 14th March. If you are in the area do pop along. You can find out more about Fran's fabulous work, which profiles a whole range of major environmental issues at her website www.flyintheface.com.

Fran's visit today really couldn't have come at a better time. By sheer coincidence and great timing, meeting up with her today marks the start of a week-long celebration in my zero waste journey.

It was indeed a year ago today I was pondering the daunting nature of taking part in a Zero Waste Week.

Feeling out of my depth at the task in hand was bad enough not to mention the reality of becoming a community champion in the local council's publications.

So I set up a blog. And after many umms and ahhs over the name, The Rubbish Diet was born along with a whole network of friends to go with it, who came to the rescue to help me keep on track as I stepped up to the challenge of slimming my family's bin.

And blinkey blimey it worked!

I never believed it would.

But it did.

And you know the rest.

And as you know, I feel a whole new person because of it, on a path to living lighter and with more consideration for our planet, its people and our resources. I'd never have guessed so much would have arisen from slimming my bin.

So in celebration, my writing this week will be dedicated to looking at the past, the present and the future, with a few little surprises thrown in.

And I would dearly love you to be part of it, whether you're new to the blog or have accompanied me all along the way.

You see, the journey to zero waste is not just about me. It's about you too, no matter who you are, where you come from or why you find yourself here. It's about us all pulling together to make the small changes that will create the big difference in the long run.

Readers of this blog have inspired me to keep going over the last twelve months, as have my own visits to other blogs or websites where I find like-minded people tackling the same issues in their own way.

So with the actual anniversary of this blog being this Wednesday, 21st January, I would like to celebrate in a very special way, with your participation.

Whether you're a regular commentator or a lurker, I would love you to email your words of wisdom, to inspire others who are just finding their feet in their journey to reduce waste. It would be great if you could send a photo to accompany your message too. But if you're shy, just a name will do.

The messages will be compiled into one huge blogpost on Wednesday to celebrate what has been achieved over the last twelve months.

Go on, I'd love you to participate. Almost everyone's got something to say about rubbish and waste. If you can join in, just email your words of encouragement to karen@therubbishdiet.co.uk. Please note: all material will need to be with me by tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon (6pm GMT).

Well it's been real fun but long day. I really have got no idea what I will write about in the morning. I've just been too busy to think.

I think what I need now is to sit down with a nice glass of wine and have a real good ponder.

Yes that's it. That's a real good plan, especially as you know I'll recycle the bottle.

So night-night all. Sleep tight. And don't let the nightmares about the world's recycling bite.

Sweet dreams. See you tomorrow. x



________________________________________________________