If anyone has been in my presence for at least 5 minutes, they will know that I have become obsessed with waste.

On the 21 July I got rid of the bin in our kitchen and replaced it with a glass jar. If something can’t be reused, recycled or composted, it goes into our waste jar, and stares at you, a strong reminder of shopping choices.  We had a weekend away where we slipped up a bit, but otherwise I can honestly say thing have been pretty strict, just ask my poor husband.  Shame.

This is the system in our house at the moment.  It gets tweaked and improved as we go along …

So this is our new kitchen bin, anything in here would have ended up in landfill. Below is our Waste Jar with our waste from 21 July to 21 August.

Our recycling bin, with a reusable maize sack which we take to the SPCA. They raise funds by collecting recyclables, and this pays 2 salaries a month!

Tubs to collect coffee grinds, tea bags and food for the composter and wormerie. Used teabags infuse water to water seedlings.

Vegetable & fruit scraps go to our bran worms, which we feed to the birds in our garden. I know, I know ”It’s murder!?” I hear you scream.  Whatever, they love it and we love watching them love it.

Cooked food and bones go into the Bokashi Indoor Composter and vegetable peels go into the red wriggler wormerie.

Avocado and egg shells get dried and crunched as mulch. I just chuck them whole into pot plant or garden bed, then when they dry I crush them.

After tea bags have been reused they get placed in pot plants, hopefully help retain moisture.

Olive pips in the base of pot plants on the kitchen window sill, hopefully retain moisture. We eat a lot of olives.

I rescue the lint from my friends tumble drier, and I make fire lighters with it and old wax.

Recycling is not the answer, we need to think about reducing our purchases, refusing packaging where possible and avoid single use items like the plague!

As Bea Johnson of Zero Waste Home puts it – Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rot – only in that order.

Once you get into it – it is just obvious and you don’t even notice you are doing it.  I very seldom go far without a cotton shopping bag, plastic ziploc bag, spoon, stainless straw and takeaway mug/jar in my handbag. I try remember to take my own tub for takeaway too. Real conversation starters at the takeaway counters and I don’t have to hunt around for a bin, if I have something recyclable, I just fold it up, put it in my bag and take it home.  Easy Smeasy.

Just ask your self, when you throw it away, where are you throwing it away to?