Farewell 2013 and hello 2014 Reflecting backwards and pondering forwards

I hope you had a great Christmas and are are looking forward to the new year.


If you havent done so yet, theres no better time to sign up for the Rubbish Diet Challenge and make it your new years resolution,  Youll be in great company, with 100s of people signing up by the day, thanks to The Rubbish Diet being the Campaign of the Week at Money Saving Expert.

Its been an amazing year and probably one of the most difficult from which to choose a particular highlight!

January kicked off with Wiltshire Wildlife Trust running the Rubbish Diet, which saw great results from their dieters and resulted in meeting the fabulous bloggers who took part, including Sarah (Everyday life on a shoestring) and Jen (Make and Mend Year).

Of course, running all through the year was the enormous team effort to implement the Rubbish Diet in Suffolk, Shropshire and Powys as part of the Nesta Waste Reduction Challenge.  Sadly, we didnt win the £50k but it was brilliant to be one of the finalists and come out of the process with an established team, a purpose built website and a radio production toolkit.  Congratulations to the Gleaning project which won - a worthy project that helps rescue surplus produce from our farmers fields for distribution to charities.

And dotted throughout the various campaigns were great opportunities to visit places such as San Francisco - as part of the Zero Waste International Alliance Dialog - to learn about how the city attains such a high recycling and composting rate at 80% and hear from practitioners from around the world about waste at different levels, not just recycling but from a humanitarian perspective too.

Whilst there, I also had time to finally catch up with Beth Terry, an old blogging friend and author of My Plastic Free Life.  Ive known Beth since 2008, so it was a wonderful chance to meet and hear her stories of how shes now influencing Richard Branson.  Back in the UK, I managed to meet our own plastic-free hero, ironically self-titled Polythene Pam, who has since created a new Plastic-free directory of tips and resources, which you can find at http://theplasticchallenge.com/

There was no rest for the wicked even during the summer.  A call from ITV brought an opportunity to trek to the North West to help the Heap family reduce their waste.   To see their negativity towards recycling turn towards enthusiasm and determination was utterly brilliant.  They soon reduced their landfill by 95%.  When you catch the waste reduction bug and see whats possible, its proof that slimming your bin can really be contagious.

Towards the end of the summer I had the chance to meet Jen and Grant, more blogging pals from the Clean Bin Project in Canada, and send them to several of my favourite zero-waste hotspots for their UK film tour.  They had a great tour and if you havent seen it yet, the Clean Bin movie is one upbeat documentary about reducing rubbish that you really shouldnt miss.

The second half of the year brought even more excitement with Rachelle Strauss 6th National Zero Waste Week building on the successes of last year.  If you took part and thought that was good, just wait until you see whats planned for next September.

The last few months also saw waste professionals taking the Rubbish Diet challenge, which brought an interesting focus on testing whether they could practise what they preach.  A highlight was Viridors Dan Cookes tale of working out what to do with an old wetsuit and CIWM Wales Rebecca Colley-Jones challenge of turning her unexpected offal leftovers into a haggis. I hope theyll blog about them soon, especially as an insiders view offers a fascinating perspective.

The BBC Radio Suffolk Rubbish didnt win the CIWM communications campaign award, but it was great to be in the finals.  Here in Suffolk, presenter Mark Murphys and I had loads of fun talking rubbish and listening to residents stories, united in a single mission to reduce the countys waste.

That was a real highlight, as was interviewing and recruiting our first Bin Doctor for a campaign further afield in Harrow, not to mention joining the Board of Trustees at ReusefulUK.

So whats for next year?

With fantastic partners and a great team in place managing The Rubbish Diet joint venture, I hope for the website and local engagement projects to go from strength-to-strength.  Im already looking forward to Wiltshire Wildlife Trust bringing the challenge to their local projects for the second year running as well as The Rubbish Diet taking to the streets of Harrow this January.   Our Harrow Bin Doctor, Debra, is already in place working closely with our community engagement manager, Ali, and has been talking rubbish with local community groups.  With most Rubbish Dieters having reduced their waste by 50% over the last 12 months, I hope for much more of this in 2014 and I am very excited about where The Rubbish Diet will travel this year, especially as more and more supporters sign up around the UK.

From a local perspective in my part of Suffolk, I want to continue to research and highlight the fantastic solutions that are being put in place by businesses and communities to reduce waste, to empower those who want to follow suit.  Theres lots of potential to connect interested individuals and organisations through a reuse culture alone.

My other focus is on the innovative, motivating and entertaining aspects of waste reduction in a mission to bring a renewed vigour of interest in the topic to our TV screens, showcasing the possibilities and realities of what can be achieved.  There is so much more that our media can do to empower the nation and highlight issues where its needed too.

And as for industry, I want retailers and brands to take an even closer look at the rubbish they sell us and in cases where hard-to-recycle plastic is used for cosmetic rather than protective reasons, redesign it for easier recycling.  Starting with something as simple as the ubiquitous plastic gift card would prove an instant hit.  If iTunes can switch to a card-based alternative, hopefully other gift cards will follow.  There is so much more to tackle than small cards but I also believe that what we might perceive as small things are also worthy of attention.  There is great value to be had in not forgetting that old saying Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves.  Attending to the tiny details can often lead to huge change.

I hope that that 2014 will bring more exciting stories and innovations that will inspire more change. Against the tide of government cuts and news that recycling rates that are flat-lining, both individual action and community support is going to be more important than ever.

I know my ambitions for next year are high as is my level of confidence in peoples abilities to make a significant reduction in our countrys waste.

But I also know that by thinking big and with the right support in place, many things are possible.

So thank you to everyone who has made 2013 such a whirlwind of amazing waste-busting adventures.  Heres to whatever 2014 will bring.


Happy New Year!

 

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Farewell my lovely hens The end of a chapter!

Speckledy, Snowflake & Chickie meeting their new pals

While everythings been busy on rubbish front, theres been a lot happening in the background too.

A few weeks ago, I took the really difficult decision to rehome our chickens, our three lovely hens which we introduced to the family around two and a half years ago, and which had become well-loved pets.   However, since the spring, coinciding with a lot more bird activity in our garden, the hens had become very lively and loud and I have spent much time trying to calm them down and living on tenterhooks that wed get compaints from the neighbours.

Then one day we did.  An apologetic appeal from a neighbour asking if we could quieten them, particular at dawn.  Dont get me wrong, shes a lovely lady.  She didnt want to complain, but I understood what she meant. We live in a tightly packed modern housing development.  They probably werent making any excessive noise for chickens and if the houses were more dispersed I may have felt less conscious, but and that day marked the turning point for a very difficult decision which was to find a better home for them.  Id been spending months feeling tense, darting into the garden whenever the clucking got louder than normal.

But, geez did I feel that Id failed.  Im a person that believes in commitment.  These chickens were our pets and even at the beginning of the year, my expectations were that we would have them until they passed away.  They were good layers, were full of character and brought something special to our lives.  The day I decided to rehome them, I knew Id miss them, but I also knew that I couldnt continue with neighbourly disturbances either. 

Moving Day came two weeks ago.   A good friend of mine, who lives in the countryside, said that she could take them.  Shes kept hens for a long time and had plenty of room for more. So with floods of tears to accompany the dismantling of the coop, we set about moving the threesome to their new home....to a chicken run, which was the size of our entire garden, with the opportunity to spend their days foraging in a neighbouring field.  Once the new pecking order would be established, I just knew their new home would be more suited to their needs. However, that didnt stop the tears during the drive back home.

Its certainly quieter around this way since theyve left.  The garden still feels empty and my routines havent quite got used to their absence.  The first time we had leftover scraps, I automatically reached for the kitchen door to take them down to the chicken run.  I know our youngest misses them too, even though the run has since been turned into a den with its own jungle camp and shelter,

In different circumstances we will most definitely return to hen-keeping.  Should we ever move into a house with a bigger garden in a more spacious neighbourhood, we would gladly welcome more feathered characters into our lives.

In the meantime, Ive got plenty of opportunity to visit our three lovely girls and cant thank my friend enough for having them and making this possible.

And as for the food scraps, for us, its back to the art of worm-keeping.  Not quite as much fun, but certainly quieter.  Thank goodness weve got a seven year old who also loves worms!

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Farewell old blog

There comes a time when you know youre ready to close door for the last time and move on.  To turn the key and drive off to pastures new.

And Ive come to realise that such a time has come for this blog.

Theres part of me that doesnt want to let go.  After all, this space has been my home and the place where my family and I have grown up, working out how we manage my ever-increasing enthusiasm to reduce waste. 

Its also been the meeting point for many new friends.  Strangers, who have since become good friends.  Weve laughed together, dined together, attended events together and naturally talked rubbish.

But Ive been increasingly conscious that I dont spend much time here these days.  Not since the team and I have built a much bigger house, the Rubbish Diet website, which has become a worthy home to the online challenge and HQ for community support.   Thats where youll find all the latest updates about my exciting rubbish adventures, all thats happening in West London plus lots of tips and advice shared by our fantastic team.  For me, it no longer makes sense to have a blog and a website that share the same name.  It feels a real milestone to abandon this old thing.   It shows just how much The Rubbish Diet has grown up.

And I hope as I wave goodbye here, that youll continue to follow me and the team over at www.therubbishdiet.org.uk. Weve got lots of exciting new things to announce in the autumn, so please do watch that space. 

But, I have some other news too.  This space grew out of my passion for blogging and my curiosity to learn. explore and document stuff that matters to me, whether it was family, the world around us or simply as an excuse for everyday self-expression and a chance to get something off your chest.   I am still a random blogger at heart, so Ive built myself a new personal space.  It would be lovely to see you there. Its all fresh and free from my old clutter.  You can find it at www.karencannard.wordpress.com.

Its been six and half amazing years. To think that I thought this rubbish stuff would only last eight weeks.  Ha!  What did I know!  Thats the thing with rubbish, it has that capacity to fire up a troubleshooters imagination so bloody easily and never let go. 

I want to say a massive thank you to everyone whos dropped by and supported me and my rubbish ideas over all this time.  Youve been wonderful and have helped make some great things happen and create some fantastic memories.

Theres still lots to do, so I hope this isnt really goodbye and that Ill see you in either Rubbish Diet HQ or my imaginary writing studio very soon. 

Let the rubbish adventures in those bins continue.


Karen x

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