Back to the future.... (Bins, Waste Management & Recycling)

Member Name: hypno06

Product:	Bins, Waste Management & Recycling
Date:	31/05/09 (77 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Saves money, is easy to do.

Disadvantages: Supermarkets and stores don't actively encourage it!

Recycling.....we've all seen the adverts teaching us to recycle.....informing us that our empty baked bean cans can be made into car parts, or other baked bean cans...but are these ads teaching us anything we didn't already know? Or are they just giving us a gentle reminder to do the things that we have been doing for ever......

**once upon a time, in the olden days......**

Recycling was the norm.....everyone did it!
- milk came in glass bottles that were washed, left out for the milkman to collect, and used again.
- fizzy drinks came in glass bottles that had a 5p deposit on them. Kids used to scour the neighbourhood for discarded bottles to take them back to the shop and earn a bit of pocket money.
- newspapers, once they had been read, were used for eating fish and chips out of, and for toilet paper (not obviously the same newspaper.....!), bundles of newspaper were frequently left tied up with string on doorsteps for the local scout group to collect....they would sell them on for recycling and earn a bit of extra cash for their group.
- old bedsheets, once threadbare, and having been through "sides to middle" repair (ask your granny if you are too young to know this!), would be used as dustsheets, or dusters.....or costumes for halloween!
- old ice cream tubs formed many a packed lunch box.
- biscuit tins - I bet every sideboard has a biscuit tin, containing pens, or paperwork! See, it is being recycled, long after the biscuits have been devoured!
- Eggshells were used in the garden, to keep the slugs away from the precious veggies.
- potato peelings were composted, along with the cabbage leaves and carrot tops. Does anyone still peel potatoes or do we buy them ready scrubbed, with trimmed brocoli florets and ready cut carrot batons, from the supermarket.....?
- everyone had a water butt.......collecting rainwater from the gutters, to then water the garden instead of using a tap, hose and sprinkler.
- toilet roll middles and empty cereal packets kept many a child amused with a bit of poster paint and some tin foil. Robots, rockets, dolls houses......its amazing what we could make!
- if we were lucky enough to get a new big item at home, the cardboard box became a castle, a racing car, a hiding place for the cat....
- cardboard boxes in supermarkets were used instead of carrier bags - there would be a wonderful toppling stack of boxes of various sizes. When you got to the checkout, you would rummage for a sturdy, suitably sized box, load it up with your unwrapped veg, and away you go!
- there was always a collecting point for used stamps, silver foil, etc in aid of a charity cause, somewhere.
- setting up home for the first time, meant being given cast off furniture from all and sundry - sofas, crockery, lawnmower.....all very gratefully received.
- hand me down clothes, second hand school uniform sales, and of course the humble jumble sale.....where queues would form outside the village hall to get a bargain and a cup of tea served by the brownies.
- Blue Peter, that fab children's programme has held an annual appeal for a worth cause......involving bring and buy sales, collecting stamps and coins, old shoes, you name it, it has been the basis of an appeal to buy a new lifeboat, or provide water to a village in Africa.

And of course, in the war, the housewives of Britain became recycling Queens. Nothing went to waste - clothing coupons were in use, so even wedding dresses were passed round and used by many hastily married brides. The saying "waste not, want not" was very much in use at that time, and for the majority of that generation, that saying lives on.

**the here and now**

- Well, we have so much more now than ever before. We have been "treated" to the luxury of being able to replace things when we get bored. We expect to be able to buy new whenever we want it - DFS and those flippin' "take four years to pay for it" ads mean that we are seduced by the "affordability" of new, so why should we have second hand.....or we fancy a change, we can afford it, lets get a new suite!

- Packaging has become the norm - plastic bags for produce, double layers of cardboard for biscuits, which then have a plastic tray too, that awful moulded plastic that covers toys, and no one can get into without risking a limb or two.....

- council tips (if you are lucky enough to have one nearby) often have a policy of "one bag or box" at a time. We have one "generous" tip near us that allows you to take a car full at a time, and one that allows "one kitchen cupboard size item only"........no wonder people are tempted to fly-tip. Although we want to encourage people not to just "throw away" to go into landfill.....these tips usually have clearly marked skips for wood, paper, garden rubbish, glass, etc, to allow all these things to be recycled.

- Green wheely bins are collected every other week, but each council has different ideas about what is suitable for recycling. My mother lives just 10 miles away, but in a different council area. She can put yoghurt pots, plastic packaging, glass bottles, etc in her green bin. We are only allowed plastic bottles (not tubs, or packaging), paper (no envelopes, greetings cards or wrapping paper, though) cardboard and tin cans, in ours.

- Clothing is so cheap, from supermarkets, primark and the like, that the thought of "handing down" for many people just doesn't make sense. Why have cast offs when you can buy new at little cost? So, when clothes are outgrown, they get thrown...

- Children don't need cardboard boxes and loo roll middles to have fun.....they have playstations, and Wiis instead......loo roll middles aren't even allowed at schools anymore because of "health and safety"......says it all really!

**Back to the future**

All we need to do, is just take a little look back at what we used to do, and to do the same again....

- compost those veg peelings
- buy loose fruit and veg where possible to reduce unnecessary packaging. If you wash your cauli before it is cooked, does it REALLY need to be in a plastic bag first?
- use your local dairy for milk, and return the bottles for re-use - or at the very least, put your empty plastic 4-pinters in the recycling bin. Alternatively, clean the milk bottles out, cut the tops off and use the bottom for plant pots, and the tops to protect your seedlings once planted outside...
- hand on clothes once they no longer fit - give them to siblings, friends, charity shops, sell them on ebay.......if they are still in good condition, someone will be very grateful for them. There is no stigma attached to wearing "vintage".....
- donate unwanted or duplicated gifts to the charity shop to sell on, give them to the next Brownies raffle, or sell on ebay to raise some spending money for your next holiday.....
- jumble sales may not be popular nowadays, but the car boot sale is! One man's junk is another man's treasure......get yourself down there on a Sunday morning, sell your unwanted tat, and pick up someone else's unwanted tat!
- Need new furniture, or fancy a change? Head off to the local auction or house clearance place.....you are likely to pick up good quality items at a fraction of the cost of John Lewis Home Department.....
- boil up the bones from the chicken carcass after Sunday dinner, and make a fab stock for soup or gravy.......far better than "bisto instant chicken flavoured granules" any day...!

In addition to the good, old fashioned "waste not want not" way of thinking, we have the internet at our disposal (pardon the pun), sign up to www.freecycle.org, and join the recycling community......as someone upgrades their TV, you may well benefit from their old one. It is amazing what comes up on there.......a few weeks ago, a Bang & Olafson telly was offered......still in good order......but sadly I missed it. Has your washing machine just given up for good? Look on Freecycle first, there may well be someone who has got one lurking in their garage, that they have been meaning to do something with......

Still on the internet theme, investigate Play.com, Amazon, MusicMagpie and of course Ebay to sell your unwanted stuff.......it is amazing what you can sell, and every penny helps!

Recycling is nothing new - it is not even difficult.......we just have to make that extra bit of effort!

Summary: Waste not want not......do your bit, and help yourself and the environment.