Non - Recyclable Packaging & Rubbish in General

I have decided to post the packaging I have from goods I buy from the supermarkets which is their own label back to their Head Offices for them to deal with.

I have hopefully persuaded a few of my online "greenies" to also join in with this.

So today will see me sorting through the packaging I had saved from the landfill bin as I thought it could either be posted to GHS or I would take some of it to the HRF.

It will be sorted into 3 different categories:

a) that which can be sent back to supermarkets Head Office with a covering letter asking them to change their packaging
b) things that can be taken to the HRF to be recycled by the council
c) things that I can still send to GHS to be recycled.

Although some of what I am sending back to the supermarkets could be taken to the HRF, I want to get the message to the supermarkets that non-recyclable/not easily recyclable packaging is not acceptible.

With having children I accept that some items such as crisps, chocolate and sweets are part of the rubbish we will get as a family, but with buying mostly own label I can return the majority of this back to the supermarket Head Office.

The Landfill Bin and Recycled Waste

Following on from the last 2 weeks I have decided to not put out the Landfill Wheelie Bin for collection until it is full.

So I will be monitoring this now as an ongoing project to see just how long it takes us to fill it; based on the last 2 weeks I would hazard a guess at 3 months (12 weeks); but we will see.

Whilst taking DS2 to school this morning we were discussing how well we have done over the last 2 weeks and then discussed that the next step would be to reduce packaging coming into the house at source, so that even though we can recycle it; it is still waste/rubbish which has to be dealt with.

Alot of things which we use do not come in an alternative form so we will have to continue to put this packaging into the recyling bin.
A typical example of this is Dh's beer cans or my wine bottle, as well as the tins that certain products come in like baked beans.

The Zero Waste Challenge

Things have gone very well doing this challenge, and I have kept a log over on www.rubbishlog.blogspot.com for anyone who cares to look.

We have reduced the amount of waste going into our landfill bin from a black bin liner down to a 325g carrier bag each week.

I have now set up a mini recycling centre with pigeon hole boxes to sort the different types of recyclong until there is sufficient to deal with it.

I will now be looking at other ideas which I will post in later.