Recycling & Avoiding Rubbish

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Rubbish Free Year Challenge Details

Matthew and Waveney, live with their dog and two chickens in Christchurch, New Zealand. "The challenge is for household to create no rubbish for the landfill from 1st February 2008 to 1st February 2009. However it is very likely that, despite our best efforts, some rubbish will be unavoidable. We challenge ourselves to keep this in no more than one official council rubbish bag."

While you may not sign up for the Rubbish Free Year Challenge,
how can you cut back so future generations aren't living in
your leftovers and filth?

. . . our easy addiction to plastic bags is destroying our environment, killing our marine life and birds, and is so pervasive and persistent that it is entering the food chain.

How can those who assess plastic bags simply on their economic merits ignore the impacts of the waste left behind? How can any of us afford not to?

In the half dozen decades since plastic became a regular part of our lives and plastic bags a common sight, the natural environment has become full to bursting with plastic rubbish.

Plastic doesn't go away - it breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces but it never actually dissolves or disappears completely. Much of it ends up in our oceans.

In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, near Hawaii, lies a floating garbage patch twice the size of Britain. It is a place where the water is filled with six times as much plastic as plankton. This plastic-plankton soup is entering the food chain and heading for our dinner plates.

Plastic bags are mistaken as food and consumed by a wide range of marine species, especially those that consume jellyfish or squid, which resemble plastic bags when floating in the water column. Toxic Legacy of Plastic Bags

Recycling tips from Reduce Your Rubbish NZ

There are lots of innovative things you can do to help reduce your rubbish – check out some of the tips below to get started.

Making use of your mountain of plastic bags:

  • Use them as bin liners.
  • Place them in the bottom of plant pots and hanging baskets - they act as great drainage systems.
  • Children can use them for carrying PE gear to school.
  • Scrunch them up to surround items when you're packaging as an alternative to bubble wrap.
  • Use them in the garden to hold your grass cuttings and hedge trimmings before transfer to a compost bin.
  • Use them when packing for a holiday to keep dirty/wet clothes and shoes away from dry clothing.
  • Use them as 'doggy doo bags' when out walking your dog!
  • Some supermarkets recycle plastic bags, so you can return plastic bags to them.
  • Re-use washed zip lock bags for sandwiches and snacks rather than using plastic wrap.

Ideas for recycling paper:

  • After children's drawings and paintings have been displayed for a while they can be used to wrap presents - this also makes the present special.
  • Discarded A4-sized paper can be cut and stapled together to make notepads. Alternatively, if you save five reams, it will cost you about $5 to get a print company to convert this paper into 'proper' notepads.
  • 'Use the envelopes you receive in the mail a second time by placing a new address label over the last address. I call this the OMT System ("One more time system"). Old envelopes can also be used for scribbling down shopping lists, to-do lists, and notes.'
  • Resealable envelopes can be reused many times: 'My daughter takes one to school when she orders her lunch. The envelope has all details written in felt on the front and the money sealed inside. She brings the envelope home and we use it again until it gets too shabby.'
  • Old calendars, colourful pictures, etc. can be used to make your own envelopes. You can unstick a used envelope and use it as a template for making envelopes.
  • Old rolls of wallpaper can be used for childrens' drawings.
  • Junk mail can be used as scrap paper, or as bedding for pets.
  • Cardboard cartons can be used to collect paper for recycling, instead of plastic bags (even breakfast cereal cartons are good).
  • SPCA and pet shops appreciate old newspapers.
  • Toilet roll centres can be recycled - they're made of cardboard.
  • To fill in a rainy day get a paper recycling kit and get the kids to rip up old used paper to make recycled paper, it can be great fun.
  • Old magazines are appreciated by: Doctor and dentists' surgeries, Motels, Friends

Ideas for recycling household waste in the garden:

  • Aluminium trays from pies and cakes make ideal 'drip saucers' to put under pot plants.
  • Old tyres can be used outside for plant pots - especially good for plants that like warm soils as they trap the heat.
  • The following waste items can be modified and used for planting seedlings:
    • Egg cartons
    • Tetra-pak cartons
    • Plastic bottles
    • Plastic containers for cherry tomatoes
    • Old boots and shoes
    • Plastic containers for takeaways
    • The cardboard centres from toilet rolls
    • Plastic icecream containers.
  • Lawn clippings can be used to cover weeds and keep from growing in the garden through winter.
  • Broken crockery can be used as drainage at the bottom of pot plants.
  • Tin cans can be used as:
    • Water reservoirs for new plants and trees. Tape a piece of hose pipe in a can and fill the can with scoria or pumice. Then, when you plant a new tree or plant, bury the can below the root level and leave enough hose poking out of the ground. You can water the plant in summer by pouring the water into hose pipe. If the hose is short enough it can be mowed over on a lawn and does not look obtrusive.
    • Pot plant holders. Decorate the outside of the can to your liking, put some soil in it and plant away. (Make sure you put some drainage holes in the bottom of the tin before you start potting the plants.)
  • Old newspapers (including those gathered from your friends) can be used to mulch and weed control the garden. Wet newspaper and place thickly on the garden. Cover with bark or stones.
  • Plastic milk bottles can be used to hold snail bait and are pet proof.
  • Old stockings can be used to tie up plants in the garden.
  • Plastic icecream containers can be cut into strips for seed labels.

Ideas for recycling organic/garden waste:

  • Local pig farmers often appreciate any kitchen scraps that you can offer them. If you know of any in your area, get in touch with them and find out if they are interested in your kitchen scraps.
  • If you've done any trimming of trees and hedges, contact the local Zoo to see if they can use these for their animals, either as food or environment improvement.
  • Avoid using kitchen waste disposers and compost food scraps instead. This reduces the load on sewage treatment plants and local government can concentrate on the treatment of real sewage.
  • If you need leaf mulch for your garden approach a local school and ask what they do with the leaf litter. Some schools throw theirs away.
  • Get a couple of hens for the household. They eat all the kitchen scraps and provide fresh eggs as a bonus.

Ideas for recycling other items:

  • Old or broken household goods such as toasters, transistor radios can be used by others for parts. Sell them cheaply at a garage sale.
  • Carry a supermarket bag with you when you go walking so that you can pick up glass, litter or other plastic bags.
  • Creches, schools and kindergartens often need boxes, plastic bags, old buttons, used wrapping paper, greeting cards, ribbons, tiles, crockery and other materials for art resources. They may also want old phones, keyboards, etc as learning toys. The DonateNZ website provides a way to put donors and recipients in touch with each other.
  • Wrapping paper, bows, ribbons, and boxes can be used to wrap someone else's presents.
  • Recycle jars by using them for home preserves.
  • In Auckland, batteries from toys and other electrical items can be saved and taken to the hazmobile once a year for recycling.
  • Ice cream containers can be reused around the home in a number of ways:
    • Storing food in the freezer
    • As a container for toys, crayons, clothes pegs
    • Biscuit container
  • Meat trays, yoghurt containers, egg cartons, and film canisters can be kept and used by the kids to 'create stuff'. This is a great way to keep the kids amused and even make gifts for family and friends.
  • An upside down bottle with small holes in the top can be used to provide water for your pets while you are on holiday.
  • Materials left over from home sewing can be used by schools for collages. Larger pieces can also be used for patchwork and crafts by people in rest homes. In Wellington (and possibly other centres as well), there is a group in the women's prison who choose to do patchwork as part of their rehabilitation.
  • After you have finished a ’family-size’ yoghurt pot (and since they aren’t recyclable), rinse it out and use it as a lunch box or cookie jar.
  • Use ice cream and other plastic containers to put kids toys in. Also good for nuts and bolts and taking away camping, or clothes peg containers.
  • The black meat trays from the Supermarket make great paint trays for both adults and kids.
  • Stronger plastic bottles can be used to hold tools and nails etc in the shed. Simply cut three sides and leave one side longer and nail to the wall in the shed.
  • Old furniture, clothes, kitchen gear, and bedding are always wanted by organisations like Drug Arm, and the Salvation Army.

General tips for recycling and avoiding rubbish:

  • Buy a smaller rubbish container for the kitchen. This makes you to remember to recycle.
  • Make sure bottles and tins are clean before putting in the recycling bin. This prevents flies both at home and the recycling station.
  • Reorganise the kitchen so it has an efficient recycling area with good sized bins to help with sorting and holding. This will encourage other members of the household to contribute and help share the work instead of it being reliant on one person.
  • Cutting both the tops and the bottoms off tin cans (and placing them inside) and squashing them makes them smaller to fit into the recycling bin.
  • Put a 'no junk mail' sticker on your letter box. You'll be amazed at how much this reduces your rubbish.
  • Spread the word. By telling other people and helping them to get started, we increase the savings that can be made. Also get your children involved – if we can educate them early, they will grow up and appreciate waste reduction and will be able to apply these skills in later life.
Read more about the swirling plastic soup twice the size of the continental USA. Independent.co.uk

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