Saturday 18 October 2008

2 days to go...

getting nervous now...have we set ourselves up for a fall!



Following the radio interview on Thursday, BBC News are now interested and coming to see us on Monday morning as we have our first weigh in...this is when we'll be taking the black bag waste from the week before Zero Waste Week and seeing what we normally throw out...a week later we'll see what difference we've made!



So the pressures mounting...I'm really worried that we wont get the right message across...the whole point of doing this is to show that an average family of 4 can make a real difference to their waste by doing some simple things...OK, so as the boss of an environmental organisation you could say that we're not a normal family and that we should be leading the way already...but reality is that we do our best, but it could be better. Yes we recycle, compost, reuse and try and buy products that are recycled and recyclable...but if you see our black bag today you'll notice that there's a lot we can do to improve...hidden nasty's like the odd pull up for our son can really make the difference...although we've been avid users of washable nappies throughout their childhoods, its getting more and more difficult as they potty train and as our lives become more hectic...but that's no excuse and during ZWW (Zero Waste Week) we'll be ditching the disposable completely...a new government report was published yesterday, under the cover of darkness because it highlights the errors in a previous report conducted by the government that slated washable nappies....this new report is much more positive and shows parents that if you use washables sensibly, you can lower their carbon footprint by over 40%, that makes them significantly better than disposables...and as a user of them, you have a choice over what impact they have on the environment...with a disposable nappy you don't because the impact is largely in its creation...see www.crnp.org.uk for more on washable nappies.

I've just bought some new worms for our wormery as well...our food digester (http://www.greencone.com/home.asp?lang=1) has started to slow down over the winter so I figured a new injection of 500 worms (http://www.wigglywigglers.co.uk/) would help us get rid of all our kitchen waste, and that's meat and dairy as well....food waste can be up to 60% of your waste to landfill so composting and using wormeries makes a huge difference, and the kids love it! Right, dinner beckons, meat from the butcher (no packaging), vegetables from the farm shop (no packaging) and smoothies made from real fruit this afternoon...no packaging but lots of mess!!

3 comments:

Almost Mrs Average said...

Hi Jon - I've just stumbled across your blog today and just wanted to send my very best wishes and ask whether you'd be happy for me to feature you on my blog, which promotes Zero Waste participants and initiatives. Good luck with your Zero Waste Challenge. Nothing like pressure eh :-D

Jon Rolls said...

Hi D, any publicity is good publicity!! Thanks for showing an interest...I'll try and link to yours as well.

Regards

Jon

Almost Mrs Average said...

Thanks Jon - I must admit, I'm a bit of a Zero Waste groupie now...and the great news is there are a growing band of us who will be happy to cheer you along. If you are able to send me a photo (either of you, the bin or both) I would love to promote your blog and your challenge on tomorrow morning's post. Would you also be interested in doing a guest feature about your company's Zero Waste challenge. If so drop me a line at karen@therubbishdiet.co.uk - many thanks :-D