Day 6: Just imagine what could have happened

Yesterday now seems a long way away. I am left with aches and pains that leave me unable to get up again if I've had a long sit down. But it was worth it!

And after the antics of Friday's bin round, I came home to a copy of our local paper the Bury Free Press. And there it was, a huge write-up about The Rubbish Diet on page 4, with a photo of me and the little ones posing with our empty black bin.




It was Wednesday that the photographer visited.

"Could we take a photo of you dangling a plaster over your wheelie bin?" she asked, as soon as she arrived at the door.

I agreed but warned her it was around the back.

"That's okay" she said.

But it wasn't just around the back of the house. That would have been too easy.

It was up the garden, along the back path, fighting against the garden foliage, through the back gate, across the communal drive and finally in front of the garage stood the bin!

As soon as we got there, the kids grabbed the wheelie bin in excitement and pulled it into position.

After a few shots, the deed was done and we could return to the garden, across the drive, through the back gate, along the short path, beating down the foliage and then through the garden to the house.

And that's what it's like every time I need to put out the rubbish bin. I can't believe it's been almost a year since I moved it. I figured that we were hardly putting out any rubbish, so we moved it from the side of the house, where it was in the way, to the garage where it was nicely out of sight.

It's a good job I hardly have to do it eh as it's certainly a disincentive keeping the wheelie bin that far away from the house, especially when it's raining.

Because at times like that, the journey can feel like a re-enactment of that book "We're going on a bear hunt" especially the bit that goes

"Uh oh mud, thick oozy mud

We can't go over it,
We can't go under it
Oh no we have to go through it!

Squelch squerch
Squelch squerch
Squelch squerch
Squelch squerch!"


So thankfully it was a lovely sunny day when the photographer came to visit, otherwise she would have needed a pair of wellie boots and calves that could defeat quick sand.

But I am even more thankful that Mr A hadn't lived up to his reputation.

On showing him the article and the photo of the nice black empty bin, he piped up...

"So you were lucky I hadn't emptied out the garage then!"

Emptied out the garage!!!!

Could you imagine the shock that would have given me.

You can just picture the headline, can't you!

"Zero Waste Woman hits Maximum Waste."

With the plaster dangling over a binload!

But don't forget, the other big news is that this week is supposed to be our Maximum Waste challenge, to see if we can go back to our old habits and chuck an enormous amount of stuff into landfill.

And Mr A has been given free rein to do what he wants, without me standing over him telling him what goes where. This bin - that bin - t'other!

But I think he's actually forgotten. Either that or he is now a true convert!

I hope so.

Because I don't think I could really let him fill up the black bin, not like how he used to.

Especially when we have a local Freecycle where things that he would have once thrown away could be put to good use.

And aside from my worries about waste, could you imagine how embarrassing it would be if we had any other visitors from the press.

"Let me introduce you to our almost empty bin" I'd say.

"Think you've got the wrong one there love" They'd answer, thinking they'd got a scoop!

Then there'd be the cost of therapy!

Hmm. I think I've got to keep a close eye on that Mr A, especially as there is just one more day to go in this mad challenge.

And tomorrow is a Sunday, always a dangerous day for throwing out clutter.

I know it would mean he'd pass the Maximum Waste challenge, but I think I might just have to keep him tied-up.

And I don't mean busy either.

I prefer the literal alternative.

With a ball of string and a post!

Ah that should do it.

[Cue evil laughter]

Mwahahahahah.

Mwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!

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Huge thanks to the Bury Free Press for the article, and to the East Anglian Daily Times, Heart FM and James Hazell at Radio Suffolk for the other media coverage this week as well as to Suffolk CC and St Edmundsbury for sharing the good news. Thanks also to Radio Suffolk's Lesley Dolphin for yesterday's update on my Red Nose Day sponsored Bin Round. The Rubbish Diet reader community has donated almost £200 for Comic Relief, which is absolutely fabulous.
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My Trashy Update!

What a couple of jewels I've discovered this weekend. Having spent the last few weeks indoors at my computer, it was a true delight to go out and play. And look what I've found.

My first discovery was Raspberry Rascals, a fantastic children's shop that's just opened in Langton Place, Bury St Edmunds. Here's Heather, the founder, sorting out a few clothes that I decided to buy for the children.



Now this shop might look expensive, but Raspberry Rascals isn't just any old new shop if you get my drift. It's a gorgeous nearly new store aimed at children under 5. With clothes, toys, books and nursery equipment, Raspberry Rascals stocks a wonderful range of items in such excellent condition, you'd hardly know they were pre-loved.

It's a real gem of a shop and a perfect addition to the town centre. I can see it will be a regular hang-out for a fussy bargain-hunter like me.

Talking of real gems, on Sunday I popped over to one of Bury St Edmunds' other treasures, the wonderful craft fair at Blackthorpe Barn, a major event in Suffolk's Christmas calendar.

And look who I bumped into! The fabulous Steve Weeks, who'd travelled all the way up from Wiltshire to promote her stunning collection of handcrafted bags



And they really are beautiful, but as you can jolly well guess, I wouldn't just rave about any old bags, apart from my gorgeous Radley of course.

You see, each handbag is made from rescued materials that are sourced locally, which means every item is unique and a real eco-friendly find. Steve's work is really worth a blog post of its own, so I'll be coming back to that in the new year. In the meantime, take a look for yourself at www.beaubags.co.uk.

And if the weekend wasn't exciting enough, Just Gai over at Zero Waist has published December's Carnival of Trash today, so do hop over and have a read of all the fabulous posts. Then when that's done, tune into BBC Radio Suffolk's James Hazell Show on Tuesday morning when I'll be popping up at around 11.10 to chat about minimising waste this Christmas.

At last I'm beginning to feel some festive vibes. It's about time too. After all, I've done nothing but polish off mince pies since Friday. So before my Christmas spirit takes another nosedive, I'm off to decorate the Christmas Tree and wrap some presents.

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Blogging on the Radio: The Full Story Recycled

How truth can be stranger than fiction.


10.50 am... Bury St Edmunds train station...

Ruby and I sat quietly on a bench, as quietly as two chattering friends could. We were waiting patiently for a train to Ipswich, as excited as two little schoolgirls who hadn't seen each other all summer. It was the start of a very exciting day.

Suffering from a terrible headache, I put my hand into my jacket pocket and retrieved the paracetamol tablets that I'd bought at the local garage that morning. I was thankful that they were in a plastic container and not those terrible blister packs made from inseparable foil and plastic, which infuriates many of my acquaintances.

Ruby also decided to take her own dose of medication that she'd collected from the pharmacy only 10 minutes earlier.

The scene was developing into a vision of the future, morphing into two elderly ladies nursing our respective ailments.


11:26am.....Ipswich Train Station.

Ruby and I stepped off the train, giggling over the events of the previous evening. We'd been out to a trendy bar in town to celebrate my book deal and to commiserate over her leaving Bury St Edmunds for good. There had been much laughter, political discussion and gossip. There was even rumour that Amy Whitehouse was moving to Bury. An interesting choice we thought.

We put all this behind us, as we got down to the real business of the day. We were off to the county's radio station BBC Radio Suffolk, as sofa guests on Lesley Dolphin's lunchtime show, where we'd been invited to talk about blogging.


12.25pm... BBC Radio Suffolk.

Sat on Lesley's Sofa in the radio studio, Ruby and I waited nervously to be introduced.

I thought back to my last visit to the studio. It was in March, when I'd been invited to the James Hazell show to recount the successes of the Zero Waste challenge.

This time was more relaxing. The sofa most definitely helped and to be sat on it with a friend was even more helpful.

The opportunity to talk about Bury, Bins and Blogging, all in one go. And our friendship too. Such a delight.

Then came the quick-fire questions, with different answers to reveal our true selves.

Ruby: CDs; Trousers; Brown Wheelie Bin
Me: iPod: Dresses; Compost Bin

How different we were but how close we've become. I will miss Ruby when she leaves on Sunday.

Lesley played Ruby Tuesday, in honour of her leaving.

Ruby talked about her blog, her 100,000 visitors and leaving behind both the primness and grimness of the town that she's lived in for 11 years.

I revealed the news about my book deal.

Then we both talked about blogging.

We couldn't agree more that Lesley had been the most wonderful host and took some photos to add to our respective albums.

The fun, the memories. I think we've even inspired Lesley to blog too.

And of course, I couldn't resist a photo of Lesley with the studio bin....
and it had to be a recycling one at that.


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Ruby's story can be found over on her blog, by clicking here.

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Litter picking in Suffolk

(Photo: Copyright Flickr's hey mr glen)

I'd like to give a big thumbs up to Radio Suffolk's Mark Murphy for highlighting the issue of litter louts in Suffolk, with his Don't be a Tosser campaign. He's even put his money where his mouth is and has been out picking up litter that has been tossed around the county.

Now I really don't like the word "tosser", but I find it very appropriate in the context of all those people who drop bags of litter out from their cars whilst travelling around our beautiful county, or indeed whilst walking around our streets.

A report in today's East Anglian Daily Times revealed that an estimated 25 million tonnes of rubbish a year is dropped on UK roads. Apparently that's the size of 62,500 jumbo jets. With the amount of litter having increased by 500% since the 1960s, councils across the UK are now spending £500 million a year on cleaning up our trunk roads.

In Suffolk, operators are having to deal with anything from plastic waste and food remnants through to discarded underwear and bottles of urine. How horrible.

I'd like to reassure you that Suffolk is much more pleasant than this image portrays, but it is a problem that needs addressing in our local county and elsewhere in the UK. Not only does it make for an unpleasant sight, but it is a waste of resource both in manpower and in recycling opportunities, all of which leads to higher taxes.

The great news is that the organisation Suffolk:Creating the greenest county is raising awareness of the issue through its SUFFOLK SPRING CLEAN campaign, where it is inviting individuals and local organisations to organise a litter pick during the fortnight 31st March - 13 April 2008.

To get involved all you need to do is ring up your local council officers, who will be happy to help and will loan out relevant safety equipment. A list of officers can be found here. If you're taking part, remember that Mark Murphy at Radio Suffolk would like to hear from you. So drop him a line at mark.murphy@bbc.co.uk.

I'm up for a litter picking session in Bury St Edmunds, especially in Moreton Hall. So if you're up for joining me, just drop me a line at enquiries@therubbishdiet.co.uk. The more the merrier!
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Zero Waste Week: Thinking about the Young and Old

Life has become really crazy this week.

It's been very strange getting used to the daily "appearance" on Woman's Hour and juggling the various interviews that have been arranged for various radio stations and newspapers. It's almost as though I've stepped into someone else's life.

When I first started The Rubbish Diet, I hadn't quite expected the attention that the blog would receive. I'm now beginning to think that I've really gone and opened a can of worms, but have been glad to have raised the issue about how much waste we generate as a society.

What really brought this home to me was the front page story in yesterday's Daily Express, highlighting that people are paying as much as £200 each year to private companies to take away their rubbish. Apparently, households across the country are creating too much waste to cope with the fortnightly waste collection routine that many councils are now adopting.

Does that sound like Britain's gone mad? I'm beginning to think so. But who's really to blame? It would be so easy to blame the households, wouldn't it, or even have another pop at your local council? However before the fingers are pointed in either direction, we need to take a good look at our culture and how this situation has arisen.

I am still trying to get a handle on how our country and indeed how Western Society has reached a point that we are locked into this long-term relationship with this big ugly monster called waste. It's like an impossible divorce. We don't want to live with it, but we find it difficult to separate our lives from it. While humans have existed and consumed products, waste has been a by-product of society. It's nothing new and you can see for yourself. Wasteonline has some excellent information about the Chronology of Waste. But what's worrying is why do we have so much today?

When I was a child in the 1970s, we had just one bin, which contained the ashes from the fire and all the household rubbish. Of course, we didn't have to deal with so much packaging back then, so all the empty tins and other similar offenders all went in together. But even then, we didn't really throw much away.

However, fast-forwarding to modern life in the 21st century, I now feel part of a generation that has somehow lost its way and which now needs to get back on track. I suppose, all I have been doing over the last few months is revisiting some of the skills of our forebears, who were more sustainable than we are today, mainly because they had to. There was no other choice. However in what appears to be today's land of plenty, sustainability has dropped off the agenda of mainstream everyday life, and only makes a guest appearance on the latest wave of green initiatives. Just like food was organic back in the old days, people were also "greener", even if they didn't quite know it back then.

It is interesting to see that writer and broadcaster Tracey Smith, of what is now International Downshifting Week. is petitioning the government to bring sustainable living lessons into schools. This would be a great way of introducing the much needed skills that our future generations will need to help us create a more balanced sustainable society in the 21st Century. I wish her well.

On a separate note, I touched on the conveniences of the 21st Century very briefly during yesterday's interview with James Hazell at Radio Suffolk, when we talked about how we should be able to enjoy many of the conveniences of contemporary life, while adopting "best practice" from decades gone by, for example being able to buy things that aren't so heavily packaged.

We also chatted about the general problems of waste and how The Rubbish Diet can be adapted to many situations, where even if people are able to make just one small change, it would be something to be proud of.


It was great to have the opportunity to visit the studio for the live interview yesterday. The subject of No Smoking Day was the main topic on the show and with that in mind I couldn't help but mention the fact that it can take up to 15 years for cigarette butts to decay down to what becomes a plastic powder (thanks to St Edmundsbury staff for that info). What this has made me aware of is how difficult the Zero Waste thing must be for smokers, unless they've got a fire into which they can throw the cigarette ends. I now wonder if anyone has gone as far as giving up smoking as part of their Zero Waste challenge. That would be one hell of a commitment.

Anyway, I am amazed that at the end of Day 3 of Zero Waste Week, we still only had one plaster in our bin and that's even after I had been out for the whole day (don't forget the rules are, that any rubbish I create I have to bring home for disposal)!

So... what excitement is coming up today?

Well there's a photo session lined up with a regional paper and I've also been invited to do a telephone podcast for Wiggly Wigglers.

However the big event of the day is the Zero Waste Lunch at our local primary school, where all the children at Abbots Green are going to attempt to be Zero Heroes, by eating all their lunch and making sure that their lunch-boxes contain no packaging.

Now that will be amazing!

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