Monday 7 September 2009

Surviving a Zero Waste Week: Get a smaller bin


So it's the beginning of National Zero Waste Week, which has been officially launched over at myzerowaste.com.

And what's my top tip for anyone taking part this week?

Get a smaller rubbish bin of course!

At least that's what I discovered when I did my first Zero Waste challenge eighteen months ago. Switching from my 50 litre Brabantia to a very small dustbin helped tremendously.

So for National Zero Waste Week, there's a new bin on the scene. The one you see above.

Of course, the challenge will be to keep it empty and the good news is that at the end of Day One it still is.

Which is a blimmin' good job because when the bin man came to collect today's waste I noticed his refuse truck had shrunk too!

It's amazing what can happen when you have a vision for Zero Waste. Let's hope the rest of the week goes just as swimmingly.



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11 comments:

Maisie said...

love it Karen!!

I switched my 45ltr kitchen swing bin for an old lego container approx 6 months ago, this is never full, so just shows we didn't need the bigger bin anyway.

dandaworld said...

LOL
A very very small bin!!! And very very funny!!!
You're pure genius! With so small dimensions you wouldn't have any temptation to fill the bin! :D
So is it the National Zero Waste Week? I must check it on Myzerowaste... I'm curious to know!
In the meantime, I was engaged in an event in my town where I did announce my very first Zero Waste Week! I'll report it soon on my blog... so see you there! ;D

cartside said...

;)
i wish we had smaller bins. While I welcome our newly delivered brown bin for garden waste (yay, i can now recycle garden waste!) I really don't like three massive bins in my tiny garden. And because we dont' produce a lot of waste, half the size for all three of them would be more than enough. I keep thinking that I should ask our neighbours if they would be interested in sharing bins...

Almost Mrs Average said...

Hi Maisie - glad you like it. I had to hide it from the boys. So far, so good. Nothing in there today either. It really does help having a useful visual target doesn't it :-D

Hi Danda - Hee Hee. Yep, do pop over to Mrs Green's site to find out more. You can join in too if you like. Great going on your local activities too. Ciao for now K x :-D

Hi Cartside - lovely to see you and great news about the extra facilities. I completely understand the extra impact of another bin though. Same happened to me last year. Sharing with neighbours is a great idea if you can make it happen though. Do try and good luck :-D

mrs green said...

OMG, that's hilarious!! I must get me one of those too. Fabulous post, but amongst all the humour a top tip for reducing waste. We are so like goldfish aren't we? Filling any available space with clutter in our homes. It's the same with our bins - a large bin = more room to chuck stuff away.

Excellent post Mrs A ;)

Lisa Nelsen-Woods said...

I love your tiny bin! LOL Actually my kitchen bin (our main trash bin) is a very small slide out number I installed under the kitchen sink. About the size of a paper grocery bag (do they still make those?) The tall kitchen trash bin from our old rental moved to the garage and was promoted to Recycling bin!

Almost Mrs Average said...

Hi Mrs G - LOL. And yes Mr A has often threatened that if I had a bigger house it would still be crammed :-D

Must admit, I've had to hide it from the children this week. So it's a good job we don't have any rubbish so far :-D

Hi Lisa - Yay for small bins. And your old trash bin sounds like it's now got the perfect role. It's most definitely the way to go :-D

Layla said...

LOL!!

Fab bin, and FAB last pic!! :)

Congratulations on a worthy goal & happy Day 1! (Day 1 is the worst, so all should go well from now on?!!:)

Almost Mrs Average said...

Hi Layla - well you should have seen the bin man's face when I took it out today LOL. Was most definitely a picture :-D

John said...

The idea of having a smaller bin when you are into the zero waste management is awesome. When you're up to the challenge, the smaller the bin, the greater challenge you have and if you over come this challenge it would be so fulfilling because in a small way you were able to make a difference and was able to help our environment.

And yes, anything can happen and anything is impossible if you have a vision.

Almost Mrs Average said...

Hi John - it is very true how the size of the bin can affect how much rubbish gets thrown away. Also useful to put your kerbside rubbish bin as far away as possible. The less you have to rely on it, the less rubbish you'll create :-D

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