It's not just how, it's also about why!

"I don't know how you do it." folk often say when they hear my tale about The Rubbish Diet.

So I tell them the story, how it all began with a zero waste challenge and how I looked in my bin and worked out what went in there.

After all, when you know what you throw in the bin, it's easier to find solutions to keep it out. And just like any other slimming plan, The Rubbish Diet has focused on avoiding the things that once made it fat and heavy.

"But what do you do?" they ask.

So I tell them how I try to buy products that are loose or have minimal packaging, supporting local trade where I can. And I mention the refillable items that I have discovered on the way, including cleaning products and cosmetics. Then there are reusable solutions that reduce the need for disposable clutter. And as for food waste, I relate how I shop more regularly, buying little and often and whatever little food waste we have goes in the Bokashi.

So they smile and nod, perhaps laugh at my funny story, then talk about other things, their latest project or their children.


But the one question they never ask is WHY? And I never push it, lecture or preach.

And in truth, it took me a while to understand the relevance of the zero waste challenge myself.

You may remember when I started The Rubbish Diet I was more concerned with the huge inconvenience requiring the strength of Samson to extract the overloaded rubbish bags from the kitchen bin. Dragging the wheelie bin to the kerbside was also a struggle that I wanted to resolve.

And the blog was just a bit of fun that recorded the challenge. We weren't green, or environmental, just your typical average family, looking at the world in the way we had become accustomed and just getting on with life as happy as Larry.

But how things have changed.

Until I set up the blog I never really thought much beyond the bin. My only contribution to the environmental agenda had been to remember my reusable bags.

But gradually I began to realise the effects of rubbish in landfill and the impact of wasted food and other biodegradable matter on global warming.

Now that in itself was a major wake-up call to a housewife trying to slim her bin.

And the more I found out about the impact of rubbish on the environment, the more I thought about how I accumulated the trash in the first place, starting to look carefully at the things I bought and the relationship between that and what I was throwing away.

Whether it was an item of clothing, a luxury treat or food, waste was also being created somewhere along the distribution line. And reducing that waste was out of my control, unless I chose not to buy it.

SoI began to change, reducing the amount of crap that would have once filled my life. I learned how to say no to the kids and began switching my own consumer behaviour buying with longevity in mind, rather than out of boredom or a simple whim.

But today I am aware that The Rubbish Diet is no longer just a funny old story about a much-photographed bin and a bored housewife's challenge. Things are far more serious than that and it's not just about waste, it's also about our dependency on oil to create the things that get thrown away.

I now realise that my experience on the homefront is also a vital piece in the jigsaw for helping society tackle climate change.

But I am not an environmentalist, an eco-warrior or an activist, I am simply an ordinary woman who has woken up to the dangers that lie ahead if we don't play our part now.

And it's not enough for society to expect just governments and manufacturers to show us the way. It's more urgent than ever that consumers also take the lead in redressing the imbalance created by our disposable and consumption-led culture.

So I've stopped burying my head in the sand hoping that the problem will go away on its own and in doing so I believe I've finally grown up.

When I look to the future, I don't know what we will see. The only image I have is a little girl doing her history homework.

The little girl turns towards an older version of me with wrinkles and grey hair and asks

"Granny, so what did you do to help prevent climate change?"

So I tell her the story of how it started with a bin, and how I blogged about my dwindling rubbish. I'll also tell her how folk who read my blog did the same thing too and how I discovered other blogs, all over the world, each and every one telling their own stories along the way. And I'll mention that no longer did I feel on my own and how so many other ordinary people were also doing their bit.

Then finally, I will tell her about the occasion when I attended an important film premiere in Cambridge and met a leading environmentalist.

That film premiere was The Age of Stupid and the well-respected environmentalist I speak of is Tony Juniper, former director of Friends of the Earth and author of How many lightbulbs does it take to change a planet?.

Well if there is anyone who can draw authority on the subject, I believe it is this man, so I am delighted that he accepted my invitation to share a message of encouragement to everyone who is working hard to slim their bins.

And if anyone should ask for the reason behind your actions, here is the definitive answer that you can give them.





_______________________________________________________________________