Friday 1 January 2010

Packing your Christmas away with the R-Word

Recycle your cards with the Woodland Trust.


It's the 1st of January, the beginning of New Year's Day and and the start of a whole new decade. And if you're anything like me, you'll be packing away all your decorations and other Christmas gubbins before the day is out.

So as you can see, with lots to do today, I won't have much time to spend on this blog, so I'm attempting to deliver this blog post in the style of Gordon Ramsay and The F-Word, fast and at breakneck speed but without the swearing.

So off we go! Let's kick off with the New Year's Day special of The R-Word, helping you get rid of your Christmas stuff without creating much waste. Don't clear up your Christmas without checking these tips.


Christmas Cards:

a) Great for gift-tags and thank you cards . Grab scissors, cut and keep for reuse!

b) Recycle rest in your bin

c) Or go to the shops: WH Smith, T.K. Maxx, or M&S. Find The Woodland Trust recycling box. Drop cards through hole! The charity earns recycling credits for all cards collected.

c) Go to computer. Type www.thewoodlandtrust.org.uk. Vote for where trees should be planted.


Wrapping Paper

a) Good condition? Keep. Store. Reuse.

b) Plain brown paper? Scrunch. Compost.

c) Recycle rest! But check for shiny bits and recycling advice. Some council bins won't like it!

d) In Suffolk? Foiled paper's okay in household recycling bins.



Christmas Trees:

First hug tree

a) Hugs you back? It's real. Bung in car and take it for shredding. HWRC or local collection sites. Alternatively chop, slice and put in garden waste bin.

b) Tree collapses in half or pokes you in the eye with half-naked metal branch? It's fake. Grab scissors, duck tape and mend. Alternatively, bung in car. Drive to HWRC. Find metal recycling in.


Broken Christmas Lights!

a) Get new fuse. Unscrew. Replace.

b) Switch on.

c) No glimmer. Lights. Boogered

Few stores now sell replacement bulbs! Experienced this? Oh yes. Me too!

d) HWRC. Recycle with WEEE!

e) Next Christmas. Shops. Buy LEDs. Or check Freecycle's offered ads.


Broken toys.

Already?

a) It's a new toy? Grab bag. Shops. Return!

b) Old plastic toy? Grab scissors, duck tape & mend.

c) Impossible to mend and too dangerous to use? Bin

d) If it's electronic: Grab screwdriver. Unscrew. Rescue Batteries. HWRC. Recycle old toy with WEEE.


Gift Cards

Let them rest until they're ready to be used. Hit the high street. Use card then keep. Top up with extra cash. Treat a friend!



New Year's Resolutions

Don't recycle old ones. Try something new instead.

Here's a few for you to wrap your head around:

1. Take bin. Look at rubbish. Reduce by 50%. Recycle. Compost.
2. Check fridge. Find old food. Chop. Cook. Eat.
3. Need ideas. Check www.lovefoodhatewaste.com.
4. Recycle bottles. But wait. Check hangover first. If head's too heavy. Let it rest until tomorrow. Then do it!
5. Grab a carton. Rinse with water. Jump. Flatten. Find carton recycling bin. Drop it in!
6. Grab an old bag. Go shopping. Buy loose!
7. Want kitchen towel? Give it up. Look for cleaning cloths. Buy instead!
8. Forget old habits. Consider alternatives. Think resuable.
9 . Become a groupie. A recycling groupie. Get computer. Visit www.recylenow.com. Type in your postcode. Then recycle. Live in Suffolk? Go to www.suffolkrecycling.org.uk too!
10. Live elsewhere? Ring your council!

And that's it! Job Done! Relax.

Grab bottle, pour drink and celebrate.



Well I hope you've enjoyed the posts this week. They have been put together to support the daily recycling slot at BBC Radio Suffolk, where I've been discussing festive rubbish with Rob Dunger each morning.

If you've missed them and want to catch up. Here's a summary, with relevant links.

28th December: There are more ways than one to avoid food waste
: Top tips about using up leftovers and other ways of reducing the waste that you throw in the bins.

29th December: Making the most of that unwanted present: How to pass things on in a guilt-free way.

30th December: Avoiding Rubbish at the Sales...and using the sales to avoid rubbish.

31st December: Happy New Year
- It's party time: Celebrating recycling with ideas for coping with the aftermath of the party.

And if you want to find out what celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay actually does with his leftovers then check out this old article from the Noughties archives.

So Happy New Year everyone and happy bin slimming too!

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Latest News: Thanks to a great idea by the lovely blogger Nixdminx, I will be publishing a carnival on the 7th January highlighting actions that other people have taken to reduce their waste this Christmas. So if you've got a blogpost about anything to do withChristmas recycling, using up leftovers or ideas that you've had for next year, then send me the link as I would love to promote your post. Drop an email to karen(at)therubbishdiet(dot)co(dot)uk or send a direct message to @therubbishdiet on Twitter.

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13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Happy New Year Mrs A!

I need to clear up from last night first, then I'll be tackling the decs. And of course packing them away in a more efficient way than last Christmas.....That's the aim, anyway!
I also start making next years (this years?) cards and envelopes (out of Christmassy pages of magazines and bits of wrapping paper) whilst I still feel festive and have a bit more time than I do in November/December!

Last night we had a meal with friends, and to spread the preparation had a (don't laugh!) oil fondue. It was a huge success, and as well as being dead easy to prep for (just a bit of chopping really), it had also cut down on waste. People eat slowly, so they take what they can manage- no food left on plates- and the veg and meat unused is not cooked or messed about with, so it went straight back in the fridge :o)
Well, off to the bottle bank!
Hazel

Strawberry Jam Anne said...

Loved this Karen. I usually make next year's gift cards out of our Christmas cards but seem to have accumulated quite a supply now. So. I'll keep the best and then recycle the rest in the bins at the stores you mentioned. A x

John Costigane said...

Happy New Year Mrs A.

2010 should see some further improvements in our trend. Anaerobic Digestion for food waste will soon be up and running in Cumbernauld. After all the pro and anti comments the actuality of performance will be the best promotion for this answer to food waste, which forms a large part of landfill/EfW Incineration material.

Anonymous said...

Get a real job and wipe that smug grin off your hubby's face?

Almost Mrs Average said...

Hi Hazel - I wish I was as organised as you. I got distracted today and after dropping into the radio studio today, we headed off to Sutton Hoo for the afternoon, so I didn't get anything done. Great idea about doing the cards now though. It's always quieter after Christmas than before :-D

Hi Anne - The Woodland Trust is such a great cause, it really is worth supporting. Mine will be coming down this week end and be dropped off next week :-)

Hi John - that's great news. And the sooner the food waste is repurposed the better. I hope you've had a lovely Christmas by the way and that the new year serves you well. :-)

Hello Anonymous - what a wonderful suggestion. Thank you for taking the time to mention it.

That's it folks. I'm going back to the big smoke to earn my crust, but not before I've taken a wipe to Mr A's expression and arranged childcare

It's been nice knowing you all and thanks for dropping by over these last few years, but I'm off to write up my CV. Bye xxxx

Almost Mrs Average said...

On second thoughts - I don't think I could handle the commute. Bad memories of the rush hour to London are still welded to my brain and have I mentioned my multi-tasking abilities? I struggle with the laundry as it is.

Oh well. Looks like I'm here for a while longer. Oh hum :)

easternsparkle said...

How brave of anonymous and how tempered is your reply! Happy New Year

Unknown said...

Happy New Year! Just been having a read through the rest of your festive posts. I always think I'm doing enough, then read your blog and realise I'm not!! I'm bad at reusing. Wrapping paper goes in the blue bin and cards do too, unless my Mum or stepdaughter want them for card making. There is NO food waste in our hungry household!!
Oooh and get you being on the radio! You'll soon be famous! xx

Layla said...

Oh gosh, Mrs A, what a fabulous comment and what a ladylike response!! I admire you even more!

If that's all that they can blame on you - that you have a fabulous grin, well, some people are pathetic! :)

Oops, the hubby has the grin - must be something worth grinning about! Of course, since you are so awesome!! (Maybe that person is miserable with her husband and wants him to cry all the time? Or the husband is miserable with them, hmm?? Overworking, no time for hubby??)

Also, you could always bring laptop to train? (Overpoluters seem to fail to see you could also 'get a job' as an official green/zero trash PR representative, and be paid with tax payers money - to do exactly what you're doing! - Imagine the terror!! Of course, I strongly urge you to indeed consider this! :)

I was greatly depressed by the Christmas waste (forgot to plan 'buy food for guests' in advance!) Well, at least we'll plan it for next year, I hope!

About recycling greeting cards - remember the shiny glossy ones are more difficult to recycle and offer them for reuse first (bookmarks can be made out of them too!) and buy non-glossy and non-glittery if possible!!

John at Cell Phone Recycling said...

Happy New Year everyone!

Time flies so fast, I was just so excited decorating my Christmas tree last year and this morning I am removing them, I have a hard time dealing with goodbyes but this is life, door close but another one will open. SO think on the brighter side. What i did is I sorted all my decors, wrappers and cards, those that can be use were kept in a safe place and will be use again next year (That's what I am excited about, Christmas will be here again soon)

I am also proud to say that, most of my decorations this year are recycled and reuse and I am proud again to say that I can still use them next holiday.

Happy New Year everyone.

Rev. Peter Doodes said...

'Anonymous said' is obviously jealous of the reason for the "smug grin"....

Almost Mrs Average said...

Hello Eastern Sparkle - thanks so much for dropping by with your lovely words of support. Happy New Year to you too :-D

Hi Clareybabble - It sounds as though you're doing brilliantly and far further down the whole food waste route than I was, when I first touched on this subject a couple of years ago. And as for being famous, I think that might be infamous, LOL. You know that saying....infamy, infamy... I won't go on...it could be considered too rude. Happy New Year :-D

LOL, hi Layla. And thank you for raising a grin (not a smug grin I hasten to add). Just imagine being paide with taxpayers money to do this. LOL, that would be the icing on the cake. Good tips about the cards re recycling. I used to buy those manufactured "handmade" cards with lots of bits on until I realised how poor they'd be for recycling. Shame about all the rubbish this Christmas, but I hope you had a lovely time. Best wishes for the ew Year :-D

Hi John - yep, you can guarantee that before too long you'll be putting up those decorations again. I'm always amazed how quickly time flies when you're having fun. I hope you have a great new year :-D

LOL Peter. Thank you. You always know the right things to say. Hope you have a great 2010 :-D

Karin said...

Robert Dyas sell replacement bulbs for tree lights, but only for some types, not ours, so we had a few less bulbs in our lights this year.

Going by the comments I need to have a more thorough read after lunch.

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