The Final Preparations for Recycle Week

So it's Sunday, the official day of rest, or so it's supposed to be.

But not for me, I'm afraid.

Despite it being Sunday, there were final preparations to support my pledge of helping those in my community to waste less during Recycle Week, which starts tomorrow.

Today this involved a visit to our local church - Christ Church - in Moreton Hall.




Now I must confess that even though I have a spiritual side and believe in God in my own little way, I am not really much of a churchgoer. So not being a member of the local congregation I initially felt shy about getting in touch regarding collecting cartons for Recycle Week.

Indeed I recall the telephone call I made to the church a few weeks ago. It came over a bit like this....all 60 words to the dozen - I do that when I get nervous.

"Uh...I'm a blogger who lives in Moreton Hall ...and I also write for the MHD ... and to cut a long story short I've been invited by the Recycle Now team to make a pledge for this national event called Recycle Week ... and then blog about it during the week itself...My idea is to see if members of the community can join in the pledge... and collect drinks cartons for a temporary bin that will be available in the Community Centre car park".

Phew...pause for breath.

"Do you think the church would be interested in joining in with the pledge?"

At last, the lady on the other end of the phone had the opportunity to talk. She said she'd take my number and speak to the minister, while I hoped I'd made sense and then crossed my fingers that they would think it a worthwhile idea.

I really needn't have been nervous. When the minister, Reverend Jonathan Ford, got back in touch, he said that the church council was very enthusiastic to get involved and were more than happy to support the pledge. So the only thing left to do was create a poster and drop off a bin for members of the community to use during Recycle Week.

And that's what I did this morning.

When I entered the church, the minister was coming out of the office. We'd never met before, but I recognised him from his appearances at our school and his photo in the local magazine. And with my arms wrapped around the bin, I had a sneaking suspicion that he knew who I was too. After all there can't be many people who arrive in church with a 50 Litre Brabantia in their arms.

It was great to receive such a nice welcome - not least to have someone take the bin off me.

But it felt a huge relief in more ways than one especially as I've been getting more and more nervous regarding my pledge.

You see, it's very different to the zero waste week challenge that I took last year. Then it was just a case of my family and our bin. All nice and private, apart from the blog of course.

The Recycle Week pledge is not an individual one, it's more about reaching out to others and promoting the topic of recycling in my local community. Being anonymous and minding my own business was easy but stepping out from behind the blog with the hope of inspiring others has been the hardest thing I've ever done in recent times.

But watching Reverend Ford place the posters up on the noticeboard and take control of the bin for the church lifted my spirits. Knowing how the Church of England and other faith communities are committed to taking action regarding climate change certainly left me feeling that this project is in very good hands.



So huge thanks to Christ Church for joining in and helping to support my pledge this week. I really hope it all goes well and I look forward to catching up with the results next week.

In the meantime, it all kicks off in the morning.

While the council drops off the huge collection bins, I'll be having fun in Ipswich,

I'm booked in for a pre-recorded interview with Town 102 FM at about 10.00, and then popping into BBC Radio Suffolk at 11.30 for a catch up with James Hazell on his morning show. Local Heart FM listeners won't be able to escape either. By all accounts, the Recycle Week story is lined up for both the morning and evening news following another pre-recorded interview I did last week.

So here's to what promises to be a really fun week. Good luck to everyone who's made a pledge. If you haven't managed it yet and you feel suitably inspired, please pop over to www.recyclenow.com to join in and of course keep dropping by through the course of the week to find out how I'm getting on with my own challenge.

Something tells me there will be a few unusual things happening around here this week.

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