Environment

Simple Sustainable SOLUTIONS to Reduce Waste and Plastic

Forestwood

According to the [U.S.] EPA, the average person produces approximately 4.9 pounds of “solid waste” or trash per day. Thankfully, you can recycle many everyday household items to help promote a cleaner, greener environment.

porch.com

It really isn’t that hard to Reduce your waste and Recycle. But rather than focus on the problems, spreading the word about easy solutions is more palatable for me.

Waste Solutions

business Initiatives

No doubt you have heard it all before and you may have already adopted some measures. You don’t need to be a hard-core zero waste advocate. Start with a minor changes and add one more each week.

Get your friends on board. You can set the example for your family, friends and workplace because we need to do better than the following graph indicates.

Simple Waste Solutions

Take Care or Take your Trash Home

• Eliminate your need for bins in forest areas. Birds and animals may spread litter from public trash cans around and it ends up contaminating waterways. When you visit a park or beach, remember to take your trash with you. Keep trash and recyclables in a bag or backpack until you can put them in a proper receptacle.

Public refuse bins in Japan are almost non-existent. You won’t see any trash in Japanese streets either. Japanese citizens take their rubbish home so it can be sorted to Recyclables, compostables and refuse.

• Keep a Litter bag in your car. Be like the Japanese people.

street in Tokyo with umbrella

Choose Re-usable and Compostable Packaging

• Carry your own Re-usable stainless steel straws or decorative re-usable Water Bottle and Travel mug instead of buying bottled water or coffee in polystyrene cups.

www.redbubble.com/mug/

• Avoid one-use plastics – they can’t be refilled unless you are happy to swallow micro-plastic.

• Use Beeswax Wraps instead of Plastic wrap – or make your own Beeswax Wrap

• Polystyrene litter such as disposable coffee cups or packing materials can be eaten by animals who mistake it for food. Polystyrene can poison and/or clog stomachs leading to death by either toxicity or starvation.

Once released into the environment, polystyrene products does not decompose to a non-recognizable form.

Reduce Litter at Home

Keep backyards clean and free of things that can blow into the street and become litter.

Tie up garbage and recycling bags securely so loose papers and other items cannot fall out and become litter.

Avoid overfilling your bins and ensure the lid is properly closed after depositing your trash or recycling inside, preventing accidental spills and overflows contaminating local waterways – endangering wildlife.

Recycling in the Kitchen

• Cloth napkins and kitchen towel, for spills and cleaning, rather than paper disposables. They are much more absorbent and easily washed out for re-use many times over.

• Compost food scraps

Start a Worm Farm for food scraps and cardboard packaging. My worms love devouring cardboard. Break it up and wet it. A cardboard box is a good alternative to buying worm blankets.

• Use your consumer power to influence choice: Avoid buying food or ancillary items with excess packaging when you shop. This will decrease litter from the start.

Plastic shopping bags take between 10-20 years to decompose.

Wildlife such as Turtles mistake plastic bags for jellyfish and eat them causing suffocation, drowning and gut obstruction. Do not accept plastic bags for items you purchase, if you can carry your purchase without them.

Alternatives to Plastic Carry Bags

• Refashion the scrap fabrics into re-usable bags or use natural canvas or fibre bags for your groceries and errands. Keep several reusable bags handy, in your car or handbag/backpack, so that they are always handy whenever you might need them.

Scrap bags – You can never have enough Bags.

Plastic beer can holders or bags can entangle an animal swimming. It may suffocate or drown. Six packs rings causing 6 million sea bird deaths a year and over 100,000 marine mammal deaths.

• Support companies who promote bio-degradable and compostable packaging. Peanut’s shell was constricted for six years before it was found.

www.customearthpromos.com/eco-blog/eco-six-pack-rings

Eco Six Pack Rings, started in 2017 by three different groups, are made with all-natural ingredients. These include both straw and wheat fiber. While sturdy enough to hold six full-size cans, Eco Six Pack Rings are intended to fall apart if accidentally littered. This prevents them from creating the same environmental damage their plastic forefathers did. According to the company, “the product will degrade in less than 200 days (depending on the ecosystem).”

www.customearthpromos.com/eco-blog/eco-six-pack-ringss
whale choking on plastic

Plastics used in six pack drink rings takes 450 years to decompose!

Re-purpose and Recycle fabric, Towels or Sheets

• Repurpose adult clothing into clothes for children

• Up-cycle a Used Towel into an apron and a hooded towel for bathing baby

• Turn pretty squares of fabric into Beeswax wraps

Sustainable solutions

If you are in USA, and you are into visual learning, here are heaps of solutions. I especially noted the online shipping options: who knew Amazon/online options were so wasteful? Choose slower shipping to save cardboard.

Smoking in the Workplace

Cigarette butts, are made of a form of plastic and can persist in the environment for 10-12 years! 4.5 trillion non-biodegradable cigarette butts are littered worldwide.

• Do you have a “no smoking” policy at your house or workplace? Containing cigarette butt litter is facilitated by requiring smokers to use only designated areas or not smoking at all.

• Do not dump anything toxic down a storm drain.

Marketing Flyers and Advertising Leaflets

• Remove flyers or take-out menus promptly from your post box/front door or windscreen before they are blown away and become litter.

• You can stop litter at the source. Reduce your junk mail by writing to Direct Marketing companies to request no junk mail to be sent to your address.

• Participate and promote local recycling programs such as kerbside cleanup (Australia).

Here are some more ideas on reducing and recycling waste:

Metal: Old forks and spoons, as well as cans, are perfect for making a variety of unique items like a custom keyholder, beautiful jewellery, or a fun mirror. Old cans make excellent cookie cutters, too.

Clothing and bedding: Get creative and use an old pair of jeans to make a funky “jeans chair.” Old bedding can be torn or cut into smaller pieces and used for cleaning rags. Any type of fabric is also great for reupholstering furniture if you’re really feeling crafty.

Coffee grounds and tea bags: You can use coffee grounds as fertiliser or dried coffee grounds or tea bags [plastic free tea bags, of course], in the freezer as a deodoriser, too.

How to recycle

Do it Right – Dispose of rubbish properly


Talk to your family and friends about recycling to reduce the amount of material you throw away. Spread the word, and not the litter.

This is not hard to do at all! Tell your family and friends about recycling and what you are doing to reduce the amount of material you throw away.

This may influence them to adopt more sustainable practices. It is vitally important. Our planet depends on it.

Published by Forestwood

A philosophic Aussie writes here at StPA, one who will readily admit to loving Scandinavia. I'm interested in global politics and what drives us to be who we are. Scratch the surface and you'll find a practical Environmentalist with an egalitarian bent, trying to unleash a little creativity via the written word. Scandinavian culture, literature and traditions are close to my heart, even though I'm Australian. Travel and courteous discussions greatly broaden the mind, so I travel if I can and am always up for a vigorous, respectful discussion. I'm an avid reader, a writer and I enjoy photography and crafts, particularly traditional art forms. I hope you'll find 'Something to Ponder About,' in my WordPress Community.

86 thoughts on “Simple Sustainable SOLUTIONS to Reduce Waste and Plastic”

  1. Your heart’s definitely in the right place; but some of the content here is American and thus irrelevant.
    And “Reduce your junk mail by writing to Direct Marketing companies to request no junk mail to be sent to your address” ?? – I will give you odds of .. whatever you bloody like ! that there is zero success achieved from doing this.
    If I’m being picky, it’s only because this is a topic that really needs 100% accuracy – which is your normal rate. 😀

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Thanks M-R. I am aware that some content is American and I tailored it to the majority of my readers, as western countries consume the most! Australians might be behind some of the rest of the world these days, though!
      As for the junk mail, you can request to be removed from their data base, by telephone or by snail mail request, and they are obliged to comply. It just means that your name is only removed from that one database or names, and no guarantee that your name is removed from future databases…..

      Like

  2. One very good way of reducing waste is to stop consuming as much as possible. Don’t go and buy stuff. Stop it.
    I f you need food, buy without wrapping or if wrapped, do it in paper bags. Liquid food, just plain water from the tap.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Plain water from the tap might not taste as good as other drinks, but it has zero calories. When you haven’t had the sugary drinks for a while, they seem to lose their appeal.
      I do agree, Gerard, we eat far too much here in Australia. I was watching a go pro video of walking around the streets of Stockholm recently and I only saw one overweight person in the 40 minute video. I doubt you could say the same from Australia.

      Like

  3. The pictures with dead animals full of plastic always hurts my heart. I remember watching a short documentary on an island filled with birds and when the birds die and start decaying, piles of trash are found inside them. There’s no need for our oceans to be filled with garbage.

    Like

    1. That is an awful mental image, Ang. Decaying bodies with plastic that doesn’t decay! It must be stuck in their guts and can’t get out! I think if for no other reason, this should galvanise people into action. Rid your house of non -essential plastic

      Liked by 1 person

  4. A really nice post. I live in India and do a little bit of composting (one day each month) in our balcony – which is more a small flower bed area than an open space. I also try to shop local at the shop outside my building so I carry my containers for grain and we carry our own cloth bags. I carry a plastic bag in my purse with rubber bands in case I do unplanned shopping.

    Am now trying to cook my own tea time snacks and reduce the packaged stuff we buy because snacks are a lot of plastic.

    Mindful living and minimal living reduce a lot of consumption and this too is important. Caring for the environment needs a slower pace of living and also is about the things we do to relax – a walk instead of a drive. Or takeout food packed in our own reusable containers so we’ve looked for restaurants who operate on a smaller scale and are comfortable with this. We’ve been trying to make small changes over the years.

    Yes, amazon and other online retailers use a lot of packaging. We try to use the amazon day as amazon is and has been a lifeline for many years, as local shops don’t stock many things we need. A few retailers are really disorganized and break up orders, using lots of plastic bags. Ikea seems to be more ecofriendly but others have a lot of catching up to do.

    This is such an important topic, thank you for this post!

    Like

    1. Thank you Anita Elise for such a lovely, lengthy answer. It is great to hear how things are situated in other countries. It sounds like you are doing a lot of good things over your way to minimize packaging. If we all try to do our bit as you have, the world would be a better place. It is a bit like when you take your dog for a walk and he poops. Some folks are diligent and pick it up, some intend to help but forget to bring a bag and some don’t do it at all.
      Ikea seems to be better with their packaging, saving on space, but furniture is still shipped vast distances. Other Swedish companies like H&M are trying to improve the situation too. By talking about the issue and exercising our consumer choice, we can have a powerful influence on future business decisions!

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you. I think a reminder is always good, or if it is new information, it might benefit the environment by disseminating tips and tricks.

      Like

  7. *We all know how to manage plastic waste ! But unfortunately no body follows.☹️!!

    Like

      1. Yeah ! To be honest I do ! And I also try to tell my parents about these things . The first thing that I myself started is to use paper or jute bags instead of plastics .
        I think that these small steps can make big differences.😉 . Well nice post .!

        Liked by 1 person

  10. Another one if you see it pick it up where it can cause problems. This post from a trip to the beach might help people toohttps://bushboy.blog/2020/01/26/plastic/

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Amanda, well done, my friend. I love your idea of adding one more thing per week. That will allow us to do a little more each week. May I add two for the kitchen that will save money, as well? Know what is in your cupboards and refrigerator. We throw away so much food, so…

    1) Be leftover hounds making meals that you know can be used later for two or three more meals or lunches (or breakfasts). Do not be restricted by what should be eaten for breakfast – pizza, lasagna, macaroni and cheese are all fair game. Plus, you should eat your carbs earlier in the day.

    2) Do cupboard and freezer dives for “whatever you have meals.” Frozen fish patties, tater tots and a bag of mixed vegetables in the freezer – done, dinner. Also, due dates on packages vary in what they mean. Is that a “best by date” or an “expiration date.” It also depends on what it is. Use your nose, mouth and eyes. I have a strong inclination with goal to make money, most of them are “best by dates.”

    And, for those folks who like bottled water, please note it is just filtered water done elsewhere. Buy a pitcher with a filter – you will save a lot of plastic waste and money.

    Well done my friend. Keith

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Excellent points, Keith and I love your idea of Freezer dives and leftover meals. When I lived on my own, one lasagne dish would last me for several days, so I learnt to make one and change it to something else with the leftovers. Eg: Burger patties/rissoles can be added to a pasta sauce to make Italian meatballs over pasta. Leftover Spaghetti bolognaise can be turned into Shepherd’s Pie with the addition of mashed potato and cheese sprinkled on top.
      This stretches the pantry and saves more grocery trips. These days if the family do not want to eat leftovers, I freeze them and bring them out at a later date!
      Freezer meals are a great fill-in and I have delayed shopping trips by a number of days or even up to a week by running down my pantry/fridge. Most of the Western World over purchases what they need. I think Gerard alluded to this. There is also less wastage this way, unless you live remotely of course. Eat fresh fruit and vege for their health benefits when you can, otherwise use some existing supplies!
      Bottled water is on my absolute hate list! I wish it was never invented. The amount of washed up plastic bottles on the streams and water’s edge after rain is shocking. Australia is renowned for drinking it, unfortunately.
      Keep up the great ideas.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Amanda, great ideas. We also dress up leftovers to make them a little different, as well. The comment about the western world over-purchasing is dead on accurate. We are guilty of this as well. When we wander off a shopping list, we get in trouble. Keith

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Online shopping can help and hinder the over-purchasing dilemma. Wandering through shops means you will most likely see and buy something you wouldn’t have if you stayed home. Online shopping has made it both easier to impulse buy and harder to make those purchases you might have as a walk by customer.

        Like

  12. We are pretty careful and conscious about littering and materialism. We buy what we need and what we eat and recycle where possible. I do like the plastic grocery bags, however, as we use these as garbage bags in our small trash cans. It prevents buying them. Not having litter bins in parks or parking lots would be tough for us, as we live on the road and that’s our home. Of course, we take our trash home when hiking and such, but we do need a public dumpster at some point.

    I recently returned from Belgium and it was mind-blowing how much more they care about the environment and how many more rules and solutions are in place for recycling and waste reduction – whether it’s litter or resources like water and electricity. Such a difference with the US!!

    It all starts with ourselves and doing our best to save the planet and spread the lessons learned and actions taken.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Firstly, I love that Europeans and Belgians are so environmentally conscious. I suppose they had to deal with intense air pollution before the Soviet Union broke up and this made many citizens painfully aware of the environment. Whatever the reason, I love their awareness, and I suppose Greta Thunberg’s messages sink in there?
      I can see the problem with your lifestyle and disposing of refuse. Do they have public dumps and recycyling/waste transfer stations that you can access?

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Not so much public dumps, but we have seen dumpsters in grocery parking lots. Garbage cans are well-presented, especially in parks, rest areas, shopping malls. We only fill small (grocery) bags with garbage, so we can usually dispose of them easily.

        Recycling is trickier. The only places we have seen separate recycle bins is in National Parks and in progressive states/cities, like Washington DC, towns in California, and some bigger cities nationwide. Because we often stay on public land in the desert, the forest, and nature in general, and beaches in Mexico, we sometimes collect a few bags at a time before we make it back to civilization. It can get smelly!

        Liked by 1 person

      2. I see your problem, Liesbet. Are there any portable composting solutions available? I feel like I have seen some new technology in this area, but can’t remember where?

        Liked by 1 person

      3. The only compostable system I’m aware of is toilets and we are looking to incorporate one of those in a future camper set-up. Normal trash, like I said, is not really a problem. It’s the lack of recycling options in certain areas od the continent/world that I have an issue with. Even glass. I HATE throwing that stuff in the household trash!

        Liked by 1 person

      4. I was thinking of something along these lines – https://www.amazon.com.au/Breville-the-FoodCycler-Grey-LWR550GRY2JAN1/dp/B08VCRN8VK/ref=asc_df_B08VCRN8VK/?tag=googleshopdsk-22&linkCode=df0&hvadid=500703188112&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9567376577605541256&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9069077&hvtargid=pla-1188902164031&psc=1#customerReviews
        which apparently can work off solar panels. There are others too that can handle pet waste or meat as well as vege scraps but the main recycling items are, unless you mean glass? Glass, tin and plastic can be washed out with your leftover detergent solution after washing up your dishes, and then stored until you find a recycling facility. We have them in most larger cities. I suppose accessing them is harder for you in parks and remote areas. Storage until you get to those places must be difficult?

        Liked by 1 person

      5. Thanks for the link and other great suggestions, Amanda. But… space, weight, and water are issues in a small camper. There is no way we would have an extra spot to carry such a large appliance. Space is at a premium and we already have to be very limited in what we have/own/store to cook and eat in.

        More than a grocery bag of recyclables, which I used to put in the wheel well or on the foot mat of my car seat, we couldn’t store either. When I do the dishes, it’s not in a conventional way. It is with a soapy sponge and little water. Then, just enough water to rinse things. I assume I could collect that water to rinse out recyclables so they don’t smell. Food for thought, for sure.

        Liked by 1 person

  13. In the UK they introduced a charge for plastic carrier bags in shops (it was 5 pence, recently increased to 10). It’s made a significant difference to how many bags are used – according to a government source (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/single-use-plastic-carrier-bags-why-were-introducing-the-charge/carrier-bags-why-theres-a-5p-charge):
    ‘The major supermarkets supplied just 564 million single-use carrier bags in 2019-20, a reduction of over 7.4 billion bags compared to 2014. Since we introduced the scheme, the number of bags used has gone down by more than 95% in England. A total of nearly £180m has also been raised for good causes from the revenue collected.’

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I am so heartened to hear that the revenue saved from the plastic bag has gone to charity! Excellent! The ban on single use plastics carrier bag ( they still have single use for containing fruit and vege), came into effect in 2019, I think. It reduced plastic use considerably here. I am unsure of the statistic but I know that we adopted it fairly quickly and everyone could be seen walking into the supermarket with their various incarnations of re-usuable bags. It must be a bit tricky for Checkout operators, who have to wield all different shapes and sizes. Mind you, we prefer to pack our own groceries.
      If we can adopt such a radical change so fast, perhaps we can accommodate many more changes.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. It’s the norm for people to pack their own groceries over here so that’s not been an issue 🙂 And many supermarkets are changing from the small plastic bags for loose fruit and veg to paper ones. But there are still too many things that are over-wrapped – why on earth must they wrap a whole cucumber in plastic?!!

        Like

  14. I found the ‘Americanization’ of some of these ideas quite funny… because the entire idea of taking personal responsibility is an American corporate sale’s job meant to transfer responsibility for waste from the manufacturers to the consumers. It’s like making, say, really filthy vehicles that produce toxic emissions and then telling people to drive less to make a REAL impact or, from the ‘environmental’ side of things, to be told to not drive at all! This Americanized messaging is that it belongs to the end user to exercise responsible ‘choice’.

    Although this is certainly appropriate – to be an informed consumer – to make what few ‘better’ choices there are available, the solutions from the manufacturing end dwarf these feeble attempts by consumers. What works are what’s always worked: cost/benefit. When manufacturers are responsible for the waste (especially packaging) they produce – miracles upon miracles! – all of a sudden industry wide changes that reduce the problem at source are implemented. This can only be done by regulation, so THIS is where consumers can make the largest and long-lasting changes: by supporting industry regulation to be financially responsible for the waste they produce. The key here is to then use this money to fund various kinds of centralized waste management… not least of which is urban recycling programs. (I’m a huge fan of mobile plasma burners which can reduce toxic electronic waste to negligible emissions while collecting all the various kinds of rare element metals used and then resold at market value back to the manufacturers.

    Anyway, the point I’m raising is that long term meaningful and highly impactful changes to fundamentally change waste management cannot occur at the consumer’s end no matter how much good will there may be (and no matter how much willingness there might be to go along with whatever minor changes might arise). That is the same lie used behind the ‘carbon footprint’ con job paid for and distributed by the oil and gas industry to allow ‘business-as-usual’ while getting consumers to feel responsible for the impact. The entire system is gamed. The same is true for waste management: as long as consumers can be made to feel responsible, waste will continue to be produced as part and parcel of business-as-usual.

    In the same way real change comes about at source – from fossil fuels to renewables – real change in waste comes about at source, too. That is where individuals can truly make the difference, by offering to support concentrated efforts of regulation and punitive taxation.

    Sorry for the length.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Hey Tildeb, Firstly no need to apologize for the length of your comment. I love long informative comments and I do like hearing another perspective. It is one of the reasons why I blog!
      Yes Americanization – corporate or shareholder driven profits are the bane of the western world, not just America. America starts a model and other western economies follow like sheep, at least they do this in Australia. Our economy is so small and fragile – it is based on building new homes and holes (ie mining natural resources), so it is hard to make headway with challenging manufacturing. All our manufacturing companyies moved offshore to SE Asia or China, when there was a shift to increase regulation and wages. Funny though, we have not had any real wage growth now for almost ten years!
      Re: Centralized waste management – this is great as long as the product can be made into something else usable and the demand is there. One of the links I posted was a company making road surface out of recycling old car tyres, something that previously is hard to recycle. However, some years ago, plastic milk bottles were recycled into bench seats in parks and gardens by municipalities. They turned out not to be so durable, and the market fell apart. Now they ship certain plastics and waste materials to be recycled to Indonesia and the Asian countries, ie. they pay them to take our rubbish as there is too much recycled product here flooding the market! Work to be done there!
      How do we change the mindset of business when it runs on a flawed, environmentally damaging business model?
      When I studied environmental problems at Uni back in the 80’s taxation was seen as one solution. Unfortunately, new taxes have become a death sentence for incumbent leaders and are seen as unpalatable politically by the public. Such taxes then get repealed by the incoming opposition when the voters who are corrupted by a monopolized media, vote the party who introduced the tax out at the next election. That is frustrating. Because of this, I would place more hope in regulation and forward looking leaders.
      I love the idea of making the companies responsible at the source. Can you give me a real world example of “industry wide changes that reduce the problem at source?”

      Like

      2. I like that they are working on a marine degradable six pack holder! I do hope there are more initiatives like this. Thank you for the link. I like to have access to more information sources.

        Like

  15. This is one of those subject wherein every little step forward counts. Around here there was an initiative to end plastic carry bags at the grocery BUT the pandemic came along and we weren’t permitted to use our canvas bags. Now we’re back to where we started generating so much plastic bag waste. It makes me sad.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I am sorry to hear that the pandemic has reversed the ban on plastic bags, Ally. We too had a ban come into place, but we have not recinded that ban. Everyone still takes their own bags. Mind you, we have not had the level of community transmission of Covid that you guys have had to deal with. Add to the return of the plastic, there must also be mask pollution? If I could call it that.

      Like

      1. Oh No. If people are followsing basic hygiene, they can still use alternatives. Are they frightened to use them? And the stores instill confidence by reverting to former practices?

        Liked by 1 person

  16. You have lots of good suggestions.

    We live out from town where there is no garbage pickup, so we are careful about the things we bring home. Having to tote everything to a recycling center makes us aware of junky packaging.

    Like

    1. You have an original perspective, Anne, and can relate to the feeling of being responsible for the rubbish you dispose of. You say it makes you aware of junky packaging. Does that mean you will avoid certain products entirely?

      Like

  17. Every little step counts, they add up and they make a difference. Every single voice also counts, and when we contact our legislators about meaningful legislation, that adds ups too. Take small actions, take big actions. Make small or big noises. It all contributes to the end.

    Like

    1. I like your philosophy, Dorothy. Contacting our legislators is one way of getting through to the leaders who are in a position to change. The more that speak up, the harder it is to ignore the public’s wishes

      Liked by 1 person

  18. Governments could play a significant part towards controlling and even eliminating wasteful products. Do we really need one time use plastic cutlery, bags, water bottles and many other such items? If these items were not available to the consumer, Individual citizens wouldn’t be asked to save the planet. Why not stop the production of these harmful plastics?

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I do agree, Kevin. If business cannot regulate themselves and find ethical sustainable alternatives, ethically minded governments should. That is what we vote them in for, to care for our country and the earth on which we live.

      Like

  19. Good post Amanda. Oh that turtle photo! I’ve seen too many cases of animals captured by plastic rings & garbage like this. Now, whenever I have plastic rings I make sure to cut it up even if I’ve putting it into the recycle box.

    Like

  20. Thank you very much for reminding us how to reduce waste. Although we know it we have to be reminded again and again – until we do it.
    Thanks for sharing
    The Fab Four of Cley
    🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Exactly, Klaus and the Fab Four. These are simple things that we do intrinsically know, but might forget. Reminders help cement those concepts into our consciousness. How are you doing over your way?

      Liked by 1 person

      1. We agree, you are absolutely right.
        We are fine but not that happy that most of the Corona restrictions are canceled. Nevertheless we live in a area (North Norfolk Coast) where the incident rate is zero for about 6 weeks now. We suppose that’s because everybody has had their second jab months ago.
        Wishing you a wonderful week to come
        The Fab Four of Cley
        🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Great to hear that you have been able to access vaccinations, as that is a big problem here in Australia. I am a bit shocked that they have lifted restrictions and we wish you the best and safest time ahead. Thinking of you all.

        Liked by 1 person

  22. Ouch – guilty, guilty, guilty! One day I’ll take re-cycling seriously but currently have issues with it that turn into excuses. It’s well acknowledged that our re-cycling bins generally go into normal land fill, so a bit of a waste of time. And then there’s the issue of having to wash clean recyclables and the water that uses. I wish they’d introduce a green recycling bin here for organic material.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. A green recycling bin for organic material is something we had in our previous location where we were always trimming trees – I think we paid around $60 a year for the privilege, but did find it was worth it. I am unsure if it is an option in our new location but in any case, there aren’t many trees to trim!
      The Moth uses the same excuse as you for not recycling. It certainly does happen, but not all the time, and why not recycle so that if they are recycling properly and some of it is – then they can capitalize on more items.
      I keep a plastic bucket under my sink for recyclables, and use the end of the washing up water to rinse them out. That way I am not wasting water! If they are really hard to clean or really smelly, like salmon tins, I have to admit defeat if the washing up water isn’t available at that moment. Start out small, Chris, rinsing the cleaner items after your washing up. Every little bit helps. Do you have containers for cash over your way? I don’t bother to cash them myself, but give them to others who do. I rinse them out in the leftover detergent suds too!

      Like

Comments are closed.