Saturday 30 June 2007

All good things must come to an end

Here is the sin bin...a month of waste from a family of four. I like the symbolism of the smashed globe...
Did we cheat? I don't think so. We didn't include the wind-blown litter that accumulates in the front garden. We did give some hard plastic pots to Dr. Claire Barlow for a research project. And we are going to put all our plastic food bags into the recycling at Waitrose (who accept bags made from LDPE and HDPE, or codes 2 and 4).

What sacrifices did we have to make? No bags of crisps. No dairy desserts. No snack bars. No doubt my husband can think of a few more.

And what are we going to do now? I like not having a waste bin in the kitchen: it feels like we are living light. Maybe we can make do with a little bag under the sink. The crisps will come back (the children like them too much). We will continue buying food on the market and from small shops. And I think we have been seriously sensitised to waste: how long that lasts is anyone's guess.

The messages I want to make? Buy local, use the market. And we seriously need to address the plastics problem, both by tackling the supermarkets and by increasing our recycling capability in the City.

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