Showing posts with label BBC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BBC. Show all posts

Wednesday, 22 October 2008

Day 2

Well, after the excitement of Day 1 and the BBC I couldn't face blogging last night...so bright and early here I am...not huge progress yesterday, however, thanks must go to the small army of zero waste supporters popping up all over the country who have been sending in messages of good luck and great idea for recycling tetrapak and polythene (see: http://www.polyprint.co.uk/recycling.html). If you follow the comments on the blog you'll see these great tips.

The family seem to have become minor local celebrities, which although is quite exciting for them, is heaping pressure on us! Every where we go in the village people say 'good on you' which is lovely...let's hope it makes a real difference and rubs off on people. When I agreed to do all this I didn't realise the extra pressure it would bring, its not come at the best of times if I'm perfectly honest...raising a young family is hard enough, but when you're on crutches for 4 weeks and your littlest is potty training it makes things a bit more complex...having said that, there are thousands of families out there really struggling, particularly as the economy worsens, so we're hoping this will prove what is possible and that its relevant to every family, irrespective of circumstances. Hopefully we can prove that it doesn't have to be hard work and that it can save money in the long run too.

As expected, we're not going to be completely waste free this week...various items we have finished this week will have to be disposed of and there's no point trying to hide that. In retrospect we probably should have run things for a month before Zero Waste Week and then actually done Zero Waste Month!! That would have ironed out all the anomalies...I think next week will be better than this week because it will benefit from the careful purchasing of this week.

At the end of the week we are going to photo and list everything that couldn't be recycled or reused and ask for suggestions on how to improve it next time....should be interesting!!

Finally, the great bread idea!! By the end of the week we should have something edible!! Archie calls my bread 'brick toast' and it takes him so much longer to get through it poor fella!!

Friday, 17 October 2008

3 days to go...

The Man form BBC came...we must have looked pretty odd standing in the garden by the composter, as we discussed the merits of degradable packaging into a microphone...what was even odder was the sound effects we had to produce for him for background...toilet flushing, rifling around in recycling boxes...and the best one of all, we tried to get one of the chickens to cluck for the microphone, but Tilly must have been feeling shy!! not even a murmur!!

Despite that, the challenge is well and truly underway...we've committed to getting our rubbish down to half a black bag by the end of Zero waste Week...hopefully with the BBC team coming back on the final day to see us weigh everything...now I know we should be producing Zero, and believe you me, we'll be trying...but there's no point in kidding ourselves and presenting an unrealistic picture to the public.....this is about what everyone can do, realistically in their every day lives, so I think we need to be realistic about our target...if we can achieve half a bag as a family of 4 I think that will be quite an achievement, think what an effect it would make if every family of four in Cornwall followed suit!

Thursday, 16 October 2008

Now it's public....

BBC Radio Cornwall are coming tonight to interview us....ahhh!! The truth will out....oh well, that's what Zero Waste Week is all about isn't it...highlighting the problem and then trying to come up with solutions...the boys are going to be so excited....I'll have to make sure they learn their Bob the Builder script: "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle"!! Listen live on Monday morning, the breakfast show: http://www.bbc.co.uk/cornwall/local_radio/