My pledge for National Zero Waste Week decluttering my kitchen the final frontier!

Yes, you heard it here first!

Im going in!

Venturing deep into my kitchen, where for the first time in nine years I am going to attempt to clear out all the cupboards, banish the clutter, get organised and prepare myself for the new school term!

And that is my pledge for National Zero Waste Week, which kicks off on Monday.

The theme this year is to encourage participants to do that "one more thing" to reduce waste.

When I thought about what I could do, I knew that as we already recycle all we can, the only thing left to tackle was food waste. We still have some, not an enormous amount, but some food waste all the same.  And with the wormery still out of action, its the main thing that gets sent to landfill, along sweet wrappers and crisp packets.

I thought if I pledged to use up what we have in the fridge during National Zero Waste Week, and try not to go shopping until wed done that, it would be easy.

Then I thought again.

Thats like putting a sticking plaster on a broken leg.

The truth of the matter is I CANT STAND MY KITCHEN!
 
These days, I spend as little time in there as I can get away with and yet underneath I am a bloody good cook with a sense of adventure for creating good food.

But I need space to create.

I simply dont have it.

And its all got on top of me.

Our kitchen is tiny and as the household has become busier and busier, the space has become more and more cluttered. My previously much-loved gadgets,such as the yoghurt maker in the photo above, have become unused and gather dust, supporting bowls that cant even be squeezed into cupboards for lack of room!

All too often, when Im at my busiest, I take one glance at the kitchen, and sigh, before scooting the family off elsewhere.  Then follows the guilt of trying to rescue perishables in the fridge before they die a certain death. And it is here that I sometimes fail.

So Ive decided that this vicious circle must stop!

I need to clear out the stuff that I will never use again, rehome it or recycle it and find some space in the cupboard so that I can clear the worktop.

I must also decide how much I really need those gadgets and cookbooks.  The breadmaker, juicer and yoghurt maker all sell the idea of such a lovely lifestyle, but if they clutter up the workspace and make me feel too disorganised to use them, is there any point in keeping them?

And as for the sound effects that add to the atmosphere, my washing machine and dishwasher have both started groaning like a poor elephant with a hernia.

It really doesnt create a relaxing environment, so Im going to see if we can get them repaired.

Then maybe, if I make it safely back from my excursion into the unexplored corners of my freezer, I will finally have the quiet, uncluttered, well-organised kitchen I dream of...

... and the creative space I need to avoid food waste!

This National Zero Waste Week pledge may be my toughest challenge yet, but Im rolling up my sleeves and going in and hopefully I will feel better for it. Admittedly, I may need some gin first to avoid the lemons going to waste!

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To keep up with National Zero Waste Week, follow @MyZeroWaste on Twitter.  Now in its fifth year, the awareness campaign is really gathering momentum with a whole host of industry leaders, politicians and celebrities making personal pledges, and even before the week starts, over 800 people have signed up on Facebook. So it would be great if you could join in and do that "one more thing" to help tackle the worlds waste. Just one more thing!  And I doubt it will be as tough as my blimmin kitchen.

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Meet the bin slimmers

Each week, I will be introducing some of the volunteers who have signed up for the Rubbish Diet challenge, so that we can find out more about their rubbish, the issues that arise and their plans for slimming those bins.

For Week 1, Id like to introduce you to two people from Suffolk, Ness and Terry-anna.

Meet Terry-anna

Terry-anna lives with her partner in Ipswich, which falls under the district of Ipswich Borough.

When she first volunteered for the challenge she mentioned that she threw out between 2 -3 bags of rubbish every fortnight. However, already at the start of the challenge this week, shed already slimmed this down to one and a half bags for her first weigh-in. 

This is great. Taking advantage of less waste, Terry-anna has already ordered a new slimmer bin from her council, a 180L, which will take up less room than the average 240L thats issued to most homes.

Some of the key things that her household will be tackling throughout the Rubbish Diet Challenge include some food waste (but not much), aerosol cans and those annoying little things such as tissues.  However, she doesnt want to stop there. When she was offered the opportunity to have a larger recycling bin, she politely declined.  Instead, she hopes to slim down her recycling bin too.

Huge thanks to Terry-anna for joining in and helping to support the launch of the challenge on BBC Radio Suffolk this week.  You can listen in on the link to Mark Murphys show, with my introduction at 1hr 6min and Terry-annas interview at 1hr 25m, where she confesses that she really hopes to get down to zero during Week 8.

*Terry-annas new bin is part of Ipswich Borough Councils 6040 plan where they are aiming for 60% recycling and offer residents the choice of smaller rubbish bins and larger recycling bins. 

For Ipswichs recycling guidelines, click here.



Meet Ness

Ness lives with her husband and three children (aged 6, 8 & 10) plus a dog and two cats, in the rural district of Mid Suffolk.

Currently she has two wheelie bins for rubbish, which are generally full to capacity each fortnight.  However, for her first weigh-in this week, she was already pleased to see that her rubbish was down by one bag since shes been preparing to take on the challenge.

The key challenges for Ness will be organic waste and making sure that her family follows the recycling guidelines.  Its a busy household, which means things that can be recycled often get thrown into the rubbish bin.  Just like Ipswich, Mid Suffolk residents benefit from mixed plastics recycling so most packaging can be put in the recycling bin for kerbside collection. 

However, Mid Suffolk doesnt collect compostables, except for garden waste, and even so, this service is only provided on subscription for residents who need it.  Knowing that organic waste such as peelings and odd pieces of mouldy fruit end up in her rubbish bin, Ness has committed herself to getting to grips with home-composting and has already got a bin on order.

Shes also focusing on how she can organise other materials to drop at the Household Waste Recycling Centre, which admittedly is not always a convenient exercise, but will allow her to recycle textiles, Tetrapaks,  plastic film and hard plastic.  Im hoping that by the end of this challenge, Ness will have cut her rubbish down by at least half and the council will be able to wheel that second bin away.

*For Mid Suffolks recycling guidelines, click here.


Ill be reporting back on how both households have managed later on in the challenge.  In the meantime, for further information about recycling facilities in Suffolk, visit the countys new website.

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My thoughts and hopes for The Rubbish Diet Challenge

Its the eve of the Rubbish Diet Challenge and I realise that part of me feels quite nervous but excited too. Who knows what will happen over the next few weeks as 8 households endeavour to slim their bins in public.

As four of these households are based in Suffolk, I will be officially launching the challenge live on BBC Radio Suffolk just after 10am, quite appropriately in an outside broadcast from our local Household Waste Recycling Centre in Bury St Edmunds. So if you get a chance, do listen into the Mark Murphy show, which is also launching its own Dont be a Tosser anti-litter campaign on the same day.

In the meantime, heres a video I made earlier today about my thoughts on The Rubbish Diet Challenge... warts and all.  See you again tomorrow for the first Monday Meeting, where I will send you away with your first set of mini-challenges.

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My very first relationship with COMPOST!

As were slap bang in the middle of Compost Awareness Week (6-12 May), I thought Id delve into the archives of my memory cells and rustle up a few notes on my long standing relationship with compost.

For me, composting has been a normal part of life since my childhood in the Seventies. I have early memories of accompanying my grandmother on the trek from her kitchen to the compost heap, which was located in the chicken run.

Well it felt like a trek.  I was just five years old, and it was a large garden.

My sister and I spent a lot of time at my grandparents home and as we grew up, one of our little jobs was to take the kitchen waste to the compost heap, dodging the fearsome cockerel when we got there.

We soon realised the value of composting, not least because it was the perfect place to hide the evidence of our sneaky pea snaffling, as we entertained ourselves with many rounds of pea-pod Top Trumps.

And every so often, we would see our uncle standing in the middle of the heap, turning it and shovelling heaps of earth from the bottom, into a wheelbarrow, which hed then dig into the kitchen garden.

Soil from all those peelings! It seemed like magic.

It is clear that my early introduction to composting as an everyday part of life stayed with me.  I may have left the Welsh village where I grew up and spent the next decade hopping from student digs and shared houses, before settling down with my husband, but the minute we bought our first house in 1998, one of the first changes I made to the garden was to install a compost bin - one of those black plastic ones, which we bought through our local council.

When we relocated to our new home in Bury St Edmunds five years later, I discovered that St Edmundsbury Borough Council collected vegetable peelings & garden waste as part of its recycling service. This was 2003 and when registering for our brand spanking new wheelie bins, I suddenly got all defiant.  As I rejected the opportunity of adding a brown wheelie bin to our collection I recall making my stance clear...

"Theres no way the councils getting their hands on my compost!" were the words that fell from my mouth.

I cant help laughing at my over-protection position on my grass clippings and apple cores.  It wasnt as though I was even being particularly frugal.  We simply had an average sized garden that could easily accommodate a compost bin, and it just made more sense to compost at home and bung the finished contents under the odd shrub, instead of a bin lorry carting our peelings around the county to be managed elsewhere.

Nine years on and we now have a collection of three compost bins dotted discreetly around the garden, as well as a wormery, which is great for the odd scraps of cooked waste.  Well, I say discreet.  The plastic ones are tucked away, but the wooden beehive compost bin (pictured above) has become a very attractive feature of the garden and is located just outside the kitchen.

Many people feel discouraged from home composting because of the risk of vermin such as rats. Although this is a possibility in some areas, weve never had a problem.  The worst weve ever experienced was a mouse that decided to take residence, but was solved with a humane mousetrap.  I also had a squeamy squirmish scare with maggots on one occasion, as a result of something going in that shouldnt have, but some boiled water, covering the contents with newspaper and avoiding that compost bin for a week soon resolved the issue and it has never happened again.

As far as creating the right mix is concerned, Im no particular expert.  I just bung in all our scraps and remember to add odd pieces of cardboard, paper and garden clippings now and again.  If the results are sloppier than our efforts, I dont see it as a problem as the compost just gets buried into the existing earth anyway, enhancing it with all its extra nutrients.

Even though our garden is not very large, I still prefer our self-sufficient approach to managing our kitchen scraps. From a sustainability perspective, it seems far more sensible.  However, we have since compromised and added the councils composting service for our garden waste, which is plentiful in the Spring and throughout the Summer.

Although not quite as exciting as my own early memories of composting, I hope my children - currently aged 7 and 10 - will develop the same responsibility and awareness when they are older.  At least they already understand the process and a quick test this evening demonstrated that they know the kind of stuff that goes in the compost bin, even if they dont have that duty very often.

But theyd better look out because Compost Awareness Week has just inspired me to add compost duties to their list of jobs.

Cue evil laughter.

Mwahahahahahahahaha.

Mwahahahahahahahahaha!

Well its about time they made more of an effort.

And I know it wont just be rotten veg well be discussing. Im quite sure they will soon tell me that Im a Rotten Mother for making them do it.

I just hope that when they are my age they will come to thank me, and are just as grateful as I am to my late grandmother.

If youve never composted before and would like to find out more, visit www.homecomposting.org.uk and www.recyclenow.com/home_composting.

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Its reached Hong Kong Tracking my mobile phone with O2Recycle

Back in January, I did something Id never done before.  I recycled my old battered mobile phone, working with O2Recycle to track it through their system.

Now, my phone was in a pretty poor condition when it left the UK.  The screen was scratched, the casing was broken and it needed a rubber band to stop the battery falling out.  And there was also the issue of it randomly rebooting itself.   Yet, after assessment, I still received £24 for it, which illustrates how valuable these devices are.

But I wasnt just interested in the cash, I was also interested in how the mobile phone recycling process worked, as well as keen to find out where it would end up.

Its taken a while due to the Chinese New Year and staff holidays, but finally the latest update came through this week.

My phone, a Nokia N97, was initially sent to O2s appointed recycling company, Redeem, which is based in Scotland.  There, it was assessed and categorised as a grade C, highlighting that it would need refurbishment to bring it up to the standard required to be sold onto a new owner.

Nokia phones are currently popular in the Far East so it was packaged up and despatched to the Hong Kong office.  Pictured above is the shipment that contained my phone, arriving in Hong Kong just a couple of weeks after I had handed it in. Deliveries are made every Monday, and upon arrival the phones are unpacked, checked and sorted into model type and condition.

They are then entered onto the companys inventory and are scanned, using the unique barcodes attached to the back of the phones.

When all phones have been scanned and added to the computer system, they are then laid out in plastic crates ready for auction.

Auctions are held every Wednesday and traders arrive from Hong Kong and mainland China to look for popular models that can be easily sold straight away or refurbished. Once theyve browsed the stock and tested the phones, the traders fill out their bid sheets with the price they are willing to pay.  The process is very similar to a silent auction, where whey leave the sheets with the receptionist as they depart.

The bids are entered onto the computer and those who have placed the winning bid receive a SMS and return to collect their phones the following day.  The process is so streamlined that phones requiring no repair or refurbishment can be placed on the market within just a few weeks of being sent to Redeem.
 
I have now received confirmation that my old Nokia has been bought by a trader in Hong Kong, who specialises in refurbishing old phones before selling them at a small phone shop.  It will receive new housing and possibly other parts replaced before being boxed up with new accessories, such as a charger and earphones. It will then be sold onto a member of the public, which could either be a local resident or a tourist.

It still fascinates me that my useless old phone, which would have most likely ended up sitting in a drawer for years, is actually being put to good use over on the other side of the world.

I hope whoever buys it will get in touch.  However I am doubtful, as the Hong Kong office doesnt get that involved with the individual traders.  And although I included my contact details in an accompanying card, theres no guarantee that my message will be understood or not mislaid.

So maybe this is the end of the road as far as my curiosity is concerned.

If I ever get a random text message or email from its new owner I will let you know.

In the meantime, I am very much heartened by the tale that I read at the Little Green Blog, where Mrs Green was able to track her phone all the way to its new owner.  Do pop over and have a read, it really is heart-warming.

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If youre interested in recycling your old phone for cash, there are many ways in which you can do it, but it you wish to use O2s service, you can recycle by post and fill your details online, or pop into a store near you.  You dont even need to be a customer.  More information is available at www.o2recycle.co.uk.  O2 dont make any profit from this service.  All proceeds from their sales go to their charity Think Big, which supports community projects that help young people.   Other gadgets such as iPods, cameras and even routers can also be recycled, although these are not processed on a cash-back basis.

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Climate Week 12 18 March and my Twitter interview CWCuisine

 Climate Week on Twitter

Next week is Climate Week, Britains biggest climate change campaign, which is raising awareness of the small changes we can make in working towards a more sustainable future.  Im proud that Week 8, the finale week of The Rubbish Diet challenge will be running alongside it.

Reducing waste is a key step to living more sustainably, bringing benefits from energy saved through recycling as well as preventing embedded resources being wasted across the whole of the production and supply chain.  That especially applies to food and this will be something close to the hearts of those who are attempting the Zero Waste challenge for next weeks Rubbish Diet finale.

Its great that one of the initiatives organised by this years Climate Week campaign is Eat Low Carbon, encouraging consumers to reduce food waste, by shopping more carefully and using up leftovers, as well as other more sustainable options such as eating less meat & dairy and choosing local and season food.

I was invited by Climate Week to participate in a Twitter interview, ahead of their campaign, about my thoughts on food waste.  Heres a copy of the interview from this morning.  #CWCuisine is the hashtag used to help track discussions about Climate Week Cuisine.

Climate_Week: @KarenCannard How did the Rubbish Diet project begin? #CWCuisine

In 2008 I took the @stedsbc Zero Waste challenge.I was shocked how much food waste & other resources I’d junked #CWCuisine

Climate_Week: @KarenCannard I see... So what made u get interested in campaigning abt #FoodWaste? Why is it important to reduce our food waste? #CWCuisine

Firstly, reducing food waste lowers the impact of methane, a GHG released from food left rotting in landfill. #CWCuisine

Reducing food waste also reduces the embedded water & energy from farming, production, packaging & transport. #CWCuisine

For example, according to @WRAP_UK, 2,400 litres of water are needed to produce just one burger. #CWCuisine

Climate_Week: @KarenCannard Wow "2400 ltrs of water for 1 burger!" Those are some powerful stats! What easy tips do u have for reducing waste? #CWCuisine

Keep a food waste diary.Don’t buy things that regularly get thrown away & freeze unused food before use-by date #CWCuisine

Avoid plate waste by reducing portions. Let ppl help themselves & follow @toogood_towaste’s doggy bag campaign #CWCuisine

Climate_Week: @KarenCannard Those are some powerful & EASY tips. What do u think the government can do to encourage ppl to cut back on waste? #CWCuisine

Local government is doing a great job with the #lovefoodhatewaste campaign but more could be done via schools. #CWCuisine  

The @schoolfoodtrust is leading a Food Waste Heroes campaign & this should be adopted by every UK school. #CWCuisine 

Climate_Week: @KarenCannard So motivate & mobilise the public much as possible then. Does reducing your food waste have any economic benefits? #CWCuisine

Absolutely, the story about my accidental ornamental melons shows how I saved £300 alone. http://bit.ly/wd3WGe #CWCuisine 

And on average, households could save around £50 a month by reducing food waste #CWCuisine 

Climate_Week: @KarenCannard So we can all save a pretty penny then! What’s ur favourite #CWCuisine recipe from the #ClimateWeek website & why? #CWCuisine

Oooh it has to be the Turkish Roasted Veg from @itvthismorning’s Phil Vickery. Great for spicing up British veg #CWCuisine 

Climate_Week: @KarenCannard @Foodcycle has given our EatLowCarbon action some great recipes for using up leftovers.Do u know of any other such rec sites?

My favourite sites are @turquoiselemons’s monthly #foodwaste challenge, @myzerowaste and http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com #CWCuisine

I hope you enjoyed the interview and the challenge of me trying to squeeze my usual verbosity into 140 character answers.  It was fun.

 

More information about Climate Week can be found at www.climateweek.com. There are some great recipes in the Eat Low Carbon section, including a competition to register your own.  Live updates about the week can also be found by following @Climate_Week.

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My informal announcement of my very EXCITING news

Be warned, this is not an official press release. This is more of a "Flippin eck, how did we go from a bashful young me not wanting to even air my dirty rubbish in public five years ago, to OMG, The Rubbish Diet has just made it to the finals of a major national waste reduction challenge, so come on people, join me and lets rock this thing!" kind of statement.

In other words, The Rubbish Diet bin-slimming project, which was submitted to the Nesta Waste Reduction Challenge in September, has made it to the next stage of of the competition, along with 5 other finalists. Working with our small team, (including Katy, my project manager below), we will now have until the end of September to develop and trial our approach in Suffolk and Shropshire.  If we win, we will receive £50k to invest in rolling out the Rubbish Diet nationally.

Scared much?  Oh indeed, yes!  This is probably the most nerve-wracking thing Ive ever done since agreeing to put my own rubbish in the spotlight in 2008 and then coming out from behind my bin to admit to caring so passionately about something that many people still might consider as mundane as the washing-up.

For me the challenge isnt just about helping people to recycle more, its about bringing the topic so alive that they really want to do it, talk about it, share their expertise, help create waste-busting opportunities in their own communities and most importantly have a lot of fun in doing so.

Our challenge officially launches in Suffolk and Shropshire in April, where we will be asking people to take The Rubbish Diet together, setting up mini slimming-clubs either at work, as part of an existing social group or setting up a local project just to focus on rubbish. So if you live in either county and want to get involved then please get in touch now! We havent got long to reach the target trial of 100 households in each county, but I have a few exciting surprises up my sleeve which will hopefully be announced soon. 

We hope that our eight week Rubbish Diet challenge will give participants plenty of time to try different things and share their experiences. With peer-to-peer support, anticipated early successes and the goal of a personal zero waste week we also hope that bin-slimmers will achieve more than they might first expect.

So while its going to be a scary ride for me, its going to be very exciting really, especially as we will also be working with MyZeroWaste to run this years National Zero Waste Week as our September project finale.

You can find out more about our vision in the video below, which we submitted at the semi-finalist stage.




The Rubbish Diet - Coming To A Bin Near You from Katy Anderson on Vimeo.


It really is great to have reached the Waste Reduction Challenge final and I owe so much of this to my fabulous project team who forged ahead with the application while my own attention was on my mother when she fell ill in November. At the time, none of us knew that she would only have just one month to live.  She passed away suddenly at the beginning of December and I miss her very much.  If she were still here to share the news, she would now be ringing her friends, rolling her eyes, and saying youll never guess what that Karen is up to now.

I guess the answer to that is that Im rolling up my sleeves, beavering away in the background, preparing resources and smiling sweetly at people in such a way that they cant fail to want to get on board. As is my partner-in-grime, Ali, whos doing exactly the very same thing over in Shropshire.

So do watch this space for more news soon.  One things for sure, its all going to evolve at a very rapid pace.

Meanwhile, Id better put a stop to this soppy blogging and get on with writing the press release.  So, its time to grab a coffee, sit up straight at my desk and start looking all official.

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More information and details of the other fabulous finalists can be found in Nestas recent announcement.

Nesta is the UKs innovation foundation, helping people and organisations bring great ideas to life. It does this by providing investments and grants and mobilising research, networks and skills. The organisation is an independent charity and its work is enabled by an endowment from the National Lottery.

The Giving Challenges - Waste Reduction and Ageing Well - have been set to encourage community innovation in the giving of time, skills and resources for social good. The challenges are run by Nestas Centre for Challenge Prizes and funded by the Cabinet Office and will see one idea from each of the challenges awarded £50,000.

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Two fine chaps aid my path to EV

                                                                            
I think Im getting restless and I certainly confess to a huge element of eco envy, having recently spent time with a couple of chaps who are passionate about their electric cars....and...wait for it.....can also charge them up from energy that has been harnessed by their solar panels.

Yes, no longer satisfied with reducing my rubbish and fighting the good fight to keep our energy usage down, my mind has been wandering in the direction of other ways in which we can reduce our carbon emissions.

And with petrol prices going up and strikes being threatened, I cant help but think about the future of my car.  And herein lies my quandary.

I have a six year old 1.4 VW, which only does 2,500 miles per year.  Its now costing me over £60 in petrol to fill up the tank and for that I get around 300 miles.  I am not a heavy user.  I try to restrict my journeys, walk when I have time and use my bike much more in the summer.  So this car of mine should last me for another ten years at least.  However, thats a decade of higher fuel costs and constant carbon emissions.

But the cost of switching now seems too much of a barrier, so it was interesting to have the opportunity to pick the brains of broadcaster Mark Goodier, who has been driving electric cars since 2003 when he first leased a Ford Think. I caught up with him at the British Gas stand at this years Ideal Home Show.

Marks own switch to EV was very much prompted by the congestion charge in London and leasing the Think meant that not only did he save on the urban driving charge, but also insurance and service costs went down. With no road tax to pay and running on electric power, annual motoring costs became much cheaper still.  

Mark now drives a Nissan Leaf and a year ago he also upgraded his home with Solar PV. Thanks to the feed-in tariff he can now effectively run his car from free energy sources. This is backed up by his subscription to British Gas green Energyshare tariff, which uses alternative energy, so either way he ensures his car runs 100% free of emissions.

I have to confess, he was doing a really good job of convincing me and we soon started to estimate projected savings if I made the switch.

Without exact data its tricky but even with estimated petrol costs at £2,500 per year, Mark calculated that the equivalent cost in terms of electricity would be around £500.  So over just five years, that could mean a saving of £10,000 alone. Extrapolate that to 10 years and were looking at £20,000.

Now, I am starting to get excited.  Throw in free Road Tax, cheaper insurance and service costs and we could notch that figure up by a couple of thousand pounds.  Suddenly, it does make the switch to an EV more attractive.

And then theres the thought of never having to visit a petrol station ever again.

Now thats heaven!

Seriously, if I had the cash, Id be going on a test-drive and would be choosing the right car for me right now!

But I dont have that money and realistically Ive got more pressing issues on the domestic front, such as how we can turn our 3 bedroom semi into a TARDIS to accommodate our everyday living requirements.  Thats where we need to spend our cash for the foreseeable future.

However, I am not going to take my sights of making the switch and if I am honest, its trading in my husbands car that would bring us most benefits, both financially and from a carbon saving perspective. Swiftly approaching 100,000 miles on the clock, in a car that is also just six years old, it illustrates how his mileage easily exceeds mine.

So I reckon well sit tight for a couple of years whilst the next phase of the market settles and wait for the right car to come along.  Mark Goodier predicts that we will see more accessible options by 2013/14, which really isnt that far away.  

By then, he also forecasts that we will see faster charging points that achieve full charge within just 25 minutes.  Private charging points, such as those provided by British Gas, will be bolstered by a wider network of public charging facilities, including supermarkets and motorway stations.  Chains such as Little Chef are already committing to installing facilities for its customers.

We will also see inductive chargers being installed in parking bays, which will make charging electric vehicles even more streamlined.  And as for the cars themselves, he suggests that as well as prices moving in line with petrol vehicles, there will be options that will enable the customer to purchase the car but lease the battery.  Meanwhile he predicts that petrol models will become more efficient too.

It really feels that the electric vehicle market is starting to pick up pace, and for the first time I am beginning to feel that the next time we trade in one of our cars, we will be looking at an electric alternative. The only thing that isnt clear is which car that will be or whether by then, we will have become a one-car family.

So, can you see why Im getting restless?

Having had the chance to talk to Mark Goodier, I am now convinced that EV is the way to go. But the observant ones among you will have spotted my mention of two chaps. Yes, its true, I also had the delightful opportunity of finding out more about the actorpresenter Robert Llewellyns experiences too, another strong advocate who I met at a campaign launch party.

But dont take my word for it. If, like me, you are keen to find out more, check out the video below, which is the first in the Fully Charged series that he has recorded as for British Gas.

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Blogger disclaimer: This is not part of the sponsored post series that I have written for British Gas. However a complimentary ticket was included to gain acess to the Ideal Home Show. 

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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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Im fat and want to lose weight does my provincial health care system or employer care that Im trying to get healthy

Image via Wikipedia

When I started Dr. Bernstein, I knew the cost of the program. If youve read my other posts, I have no problem rationalizing why I support paying the $150 per week for the program (since I was paying the same amount per week ingesting fatty foods and imbibing in sugar-laden booze and pop.)

When you register, the clinic tells you that your private employer health insurance, or your province, might cover your costs.

All excited, I checked with my plan. Unfortunately, in 2006, my health plan decided cancel covering supplementary injections, though it had provided for it previously.

Shoot - three years too late...

This poses a theoretical debate in my mind.

As we Canadians and Americans expand our girth exponentially every year, and head to our graves in highest numbers due to heart disease (caused in large part by our horrid diets) we are implored by health officials, government promotional campaigns, education systems and a multi-billion dollar consumer industry, to lead lives of good health and practice prevention.

Eat our balanced meals from the Canadian Food Guide they say - the good balance of foods. Just dont look too intently at the rest of the contents such as MSG, preservatives, sugar, sodium and fat levels...

Here I am, for the benefit of my health, investing a sizeable sum in active weight loss and future health prevention activities and education.

Doesnt my provincial government and employer care?

Will I be able to deduct my expenditures in my annual tax return as a medical expense? I dont know yet, but Ill certainly be including it for my accountant to scrutinize.

Can I be reimbursed from my employers health plan? No - not anymore. Not for a plan that over the course of my 12 years with the same employer, and all the premiums I have paid, would have easily paid for the total cost of the program a few times over.

And would I support our public health care plan to cover these costs? Youre darn right I would. To support mine, my neighbours, my familys and my colleagues efforts to get healthier and lead more productive lives.

You cant tell me that by investing in weight loss programs and medically supervised supplements, that the productivity of our provincial and Canadian workforce isnt a good investment!

I guess for employers they dont care that I may have missed work and taken sick leave or extended medical leave for, upon reflection, what were certainly weight-induced illnesses such as:

• back pain
• gastrointestinal flare-ups
• totally lethargic and lack of energy
• a leave of absence for 3 months due to depression

Dr. Bernstein, a Canadian physician, supports government monitoring of weight loss programs - even his own.

Like him, I agree that like provincial and territorial governments in Canada should focus less on the debate to scrutinize programs, but support the public who are taking an active step forward in reaching health targets that are advocated in public policy, espoused in public outreach campaigns, and envisioned in long-term strategic health objectives.

For those of us taking an active step to improve our current and future health, and paying the hefty provincial and private premiums for the health insurance and medical plans, I expect this to be covered!

I was incensed to learn that I could receive a variety of other medical services and prosthetics that, in all likelihood, I will never need to access. However, for a service that has obvious immediate and long-term benefits, I cannot get any relief.

Now heres an issue that Ill be taking up with my union.

Better yet - heres the basis for a good public policy and program. I could easily draft up a logic model, policy framework, grant and contribution program guideline and results-based accountability framework on this one....

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Im on my way!

What a thrill to see on Friday that Im back to a solid 142 - yahoo!  I was quite perturbed last week with the plateau of 146...I just wasnt budging.

Ive found for me, that Im fine with protein in the morning and lunch, but I cant have it at night.  If I do, it seems to slow progress down.

So, I have my Proti Vanilla shake with 5 oz strawberries in the morning; sometimes have a Bon Matin slice of NoFat/No Sugar whole wheat bread (very similar to my husbands Bon Matin 14 grain bread) which is half the calories of my husbands brand.  My full slice ties me over - or

Ill save it for lunch with my 100gr PC honey maple turkey.

For supper, Ill load up on the veggies - a nice 16oz heap of zuccini, bean sprouts, mushrooms (enoki are my current fav), celery, broccoli and cauliflower with soya sauce, fresh garlic and ginger.  Yum!!  A heaping flavourful plate of goodness.

I must say, on Tune Up, and having been on the program before, Im not too worried about the processed foods/salt factor as much this time.  Though I know its definitely slowing down the rate of loss, I am wanting the flavour.  However, its also "that" time of the month too, so it could just be my biological craving for the menstrual salt lick...

I have 135 as my two week goal.  Doctors appointment is Monday, and measurements on Wednesday. 

Heres to Week 3 on Tune Up!

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Thighs are my favourite Wait a minute let me explain !

Image via Wikipedia

THE NEEDLES

Theyll start the first week with the injections in the butt. They do it to see if there will be a reaction. Likely not, but that is standard.

They then give the option of the belly or thigh.

I highly recommend the thigh. They say it circulates the most throughout the body. The belly works on the belly/butt in the butt, but they do not reach all areas.

I only do the thigh now and its amazing. It really does seem to hit everything.

However, they dont inject in the inner thigh - the flabbiest part. Darn...I really could use some help there....

The nurses will say - ooh, youre so brave because it hurts. Thats bull - it stings (pinprick for 2 seconds) the same as the butt or belly, and by the time you walk out of the clinic, you dont feel anything.

I recommend the thigh - well worth the overall fat breakdown.

There - have I clarified my appreciation of thighs? ;-)

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My 5 year phone challenge eeek!

Im not sure whether this latest confession will demonstrate my inner lunacy or permanent state of wishful thinking, but eh oh, Ill show and tell and see what comes.  Id be interested in the debate.

The thing is, Ive just got a brand new spanking smartphone, an all singing and dancing top model iPhone.  Its been on my geeky-gadget list for the last 18 months and as my old phone began to fall apart / regularly freeze / randomly self-boot .... along with many other tedious failures, the seduction of the iPhone became more and more tempting, so much so that it looked as though finally it would make it to my Christmas list for 2011.

And hooray, it actually did arrive, but not quite as Id expected (therell be more on that later).  However, with such a frivolous addition to my gadgetry, it arrived with a new personal goal that will definitely challenge the way I think about about new technology, especially mobile technology.

You see, I am a bit of a gadget girl and since the introduction of smartphones that dont just keep you connected to the whole social-media universe out there, but come packed with video functionality and access to multimedia entertainment, I have found it harder to step back to the days when a phone was simply a phone.  I have wanted to keep pace with all the shininess that such a mini-computer in ones pocket can bring. 

My new iPhone will be the third smartphone Ive owned in five years - although admittedly the first one only gave up the ghost as a result of it being in my jeans pocket, when I saved my youngest son from a potential drowning incident a few years ago.

The second phone, its replacement, has been causing me nothing but bother for the last 15 months, mainly though collateral damage, but has also developed a very clunky feel about it compared to other touch screen technology.  Consequently, my shiny new acquisition already offers much hope of a more streamlined and much more enjoyable experience in keeping me connected to the outside world of work, rest and play.

But the challenge Ive set myself is to try and keep hold of this phone and keep it functioning for FIVE WHOLE YEARS!

I know Ive not set myself a very good track record so far.

But aside from my accident-prone ways and technological desire, I hope this self-imposed challenge will not only encourage me to focus on the longevity of possessions, but will also bring into focus the challenges we, as consumers, have in a constantly fast-moving technological world.  And this challenge is not new. For decades, built-in obsolence has been a key consumer issue as have opportunities for exciting applications only being realised as a result of hardware innovations becoming available.

And lets face it, I am grateful for such advances in technological science.  After all, watching movies on our smartphones would not be so gratifying if we had to plug in a portable DVD player to do so.

Of course, opinions vary.  There are many friends who have told me that Ive got no chance, mainly thanks to Apples proprietary systems as well as the companys speed of innovation and all round creator of consumer desire.

But then, there are others who say that this iPhone, with all its latest technology and mod cons should see me through the five year period quite easily. 

So I guess the proof will definitely be in the pudding -or rather the apple pie -  and Ill just have to wait and see.  But I am going to try damn hard, against a world of high-speed technological change, to remain satisfied and keep hold of this phone for five years.  And I will be delighted if I can do it.

But for those who know better than me, or indeed know me better than myself,  Id love to hear what you think.

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Disclaimer.  In the spirit of blogger openness, I feel it right to declare that my lovely new phone was a surprise thank you gift that came out of the blue from the folks at O2, as a token of appreciation for the free-time I dedicated a few months ago to brainstorming a whole host of campaign ideas for a phone recycling project thats coming up soon.  There will be more on that next week, when along with other bloggers who have now signed up for the campaign, I will be relinquishing my old phone for recycling and tracking to see where it goes.  And would you believe, for many reasons, I have never recycled a phone before.  So watch out for all that comes with that next week!

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My 11 week diet health weight program

Is there anyone out there that has registered about 10x  to get onto Dr Ozs diet plan and have still received no reply?

Out of desperation I have decided to start my own 11 week program with or with out him so here goes.....

The reason I have started this whole thing is because about 2 months ago I suffered a  heart attack and it made me realize that this was a warning sign and that if I dont start looking after myself next time I wont be so lucky....so that is my motivation....

Thoughts for the day

Im feeling pretty pumped about getting this thing started. I am going to confess something that not even my doc knows... but for me to take this thing seriously I am going to mention my weight.

Starting weight 204 pounds, height 5 4" and I am 51 years old.
I am wanting to get down to 150 pounds, although I realize that I cannot do this in 11 weeks I feel that to give myself a deadline will help me stick to it.

I am going to keep track of what I eat and how much exercise I do on my good days and bad days. I am doing this publicly so that others in the same boat may be motivated to do the same... maybe we can get a support group going.

I decided I needed a bit of motivation so I went out and splashed out on new workout gear. Then I invested in a pair of Nike walking shoes that have a place to put in a Nike receiver. Great investment!! It is used with your Ipod. It measures, distance, time, calories burnt, and speed.

Daily Food Taken

Breakfast

1 small bowl All Bran Flakes/with raisins
1 medium sized Orange
1 cup coffee with 2 tsp Coffee Creamer

Lunch

Large apple
Handful raw baby carrots
4 dill pickles
1 long raw celery stick
Handful raw cauliflower

Snack

1 cup of chamomile tea with a bit of lemon and a tsp of honey.

Dinner

Going to Panda Express tonight....dont feel like cooking. I looked online and see the PE menu and they have the nutritional value of the foods that they have so it is easy to see what you can eat without going over your daily calorie intake.

Mixed Veggies   70 Calories
Mushroom Chicken  220 Calories

Daily Liquid Intake

2 Litres

Exercise

Brisk walk

Took:                   49 mins 38 sec
Pace:                    10.30 mins/km
Calories Burnt:      330
Distance:               4.2 Km

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Ideas as I make my NY Resolution List for 2011

Im so inspired by the people around me lately! Surrounded by some great friends doing great things. So, as I get my head wrapped around my 2011 New Years Resolutions....Im going to keep these two things in mind as I make out my list....its always really long. Im definitely a list person. LOVE to write down a goal and then cross it off. Kinda the only way I really get things done. So...Im thinking these two will make the list this year.

#1: The 3 day Susan G. Komen Walk! I tagged along with one of my absolute best girlfriends, Jamie, a while back, in October when our husbands were camping with our boys. She did this walk a couple years ago and this year she had some friends doing the 3 day walk and wanted to go cheer them on. So, I went with her and I was so super inspired by all those women walking in pink, men walking in bras strapped to their chests, all coming together to walk to celebration, in honor and in memory of friends, family and complete strangers who have battled breast cancer. I want to be part of it this year....very cool! So, whos doing it with me??? Thats the next thing I have to figure out :) http://www.the3day.org/site/PageServer




#2: Help to Make A Wish come true for a little boy or girl! My friend Corrie and her 3 siblings have recently decided to get involved with Make A Wish Foundation. They are currently working on organizing wishes for 2 different children. Everyone knows about Make a Wish Foundation. But, I didnt realize how easy it is to help make those wishes come true for a little boy or girl who is sick in the hospital. She goes to meet them, gets to know them, and with the resources that Make a Wish has and the finances already set in place they help you organize this exciting day for a child. I cant wait to hear how these wishes turn out that she is working on! Those kids soooo deserve it! http://www.wish.org/

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My unexpected Zero Waste Week harvest

Proper gardeners & allotmenteers wont particularly be that impressed by the produce to the left, but I am absolutely surprised by the results, in a good way.

For this is yesterdays haul from my garden and for a non-committed and fair-weather gardener like me, the results have been encouraging...

... with the exception of that bowl of potatoes, the only harvest that came from three abandoned potato plants.  However,  I am surprised we had any at all and as Id forgotten to buy extra spuds yesterday, these were a welcome and unexpected addition to todays lunch.

The blackberries are a real surprise this year, especially after I deliberately hacked back the bramble to clear some space.  I hadnt quite expected nature to love my brutality so much and as a result weve picked several bowlfuls of blackberries over late summer.   After such great results, Im now planning to take the loppers to it again and see if we can create the same harvest next year.

And as for those tomatoes, having only planted 6 cherry tomato plants in late spring/early summer, since the first one ripened about 10 days ago, Im delighted to have collected a small bowl of ripe tomatoes every other day.   We normally have to ripen any tomatoes that we grow using the banana in a bag trick, which can be dispiriting, so this has been a fantastic surprise ~ especially for a tomato fiend like me.

But the greatest unexpected treat of all has been that bucket of apples.  Having planted the tree seven years ago, each year it has disappointed with small offerings that are populated with unwelcome creatures that eat the apples from within.

For the very first year ever,  this summer has provided a bucketful of apples that are a decent size and the majority of which are bug free.  As it happens, the tree was pruned last year too and with great weather, finally it seems to have worked.

But of course, as Zero Waste Week comes to an end, the issue at the forefront of my mind is storage and preservation so that we can make the most of our apple harvest. I would hate for any of it to go to waste.  So, having followed Love Food Hate Wastes advice for years, it was a no brainer to store as many as I could in the fridge for future inspiration. A Twitter conversation on the topic also brought tips from @melaniebbikes whose advice led to stewing some to add to the freezer.  I also liked this tip too, which Im going to try another day.

@KarenCannard apple is also a great base for herb jellies, great way to preserve those too! (River Cottage Preserves handbook is my bible)
— Melanie B (@melaniebbikes) September 7, 2013

Collecting so much produce from our small garden this week has made me much more aware of the rewards in growing even just a few things that save food miles and packaging ~ and for very little effort too.  It would have been such a wasted opportunity not to have planted those tomatoes. Pot luck was definitely on our side.

Meanwhile, to prove that sweet things pictured above arent just for dessert, I cooked up some of yesterdays blackberries, added some chopped apples, a few veteran spring onions, a handful of mint from the garden and pepper seasoning, creating a great sauce to accompany todays lamb. 

Now that was another unexpected Zero Waste Week result!

So with Zero Waste Week 2013 almost over,  I hope youve had a great week yourself.   If youve missed it and want to catch up with all the news, visit www.zerowasteweek.co.uk, where there are lots of tips.  Those of you who are particularly enthused may even want to sign up for The Rubbish Diet and see how much further you can reduce your waste over the next eight weeks.  If you havent tried it yet,  do sign up at www.therubbishdiet.org.uk. 

But before I sign off, perhaps I should confess to our own food waste tally.  We didnt quite get to zero, but we didnt do badly.  I have no qualms in blaming most of it on the kids, with the abandoned Toasthenge, a few dregs of bottom-of-the-bowl-moist-cereal, a tiny bitesize piece of bagel, a small amount of pasta that competed with an unusual lack of appetite and some unappealing leftover fries from an emergency fast food pitstop this evening.  Sadly my own contribution was some very burnt stewed plums which Id forgotten that Id left on the hob during school pick-up on and my two slices of bread with mouldy measels.  All the above, of course, have been fed to the worms, so nothing has gone to landfill.

Huge thanks to Rachelle Strauss of MyZeroWaste for all of her hard work and inspiration in running another successful and well supported campaign.  Such a great start to September!

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Where will it end up Tracking my mobile with O2 Recycle

Look! Thats my scared face, which says, "I dont really want to let go of this phone, but now Im here and I promised Id do it, I suppose Im going to have to let you take it."

Have you ever recycled a mobile phone? 

I hadnt until today, despite having owned six of the things ever since I got my very first phone in 1998.  Look, it was such a momentous occasion back then, we even captured it on camera!  It was so big, I almost needed two hands to hold it up my ear!

Christmas morning, 1998. Id never wear that dressing gown with FaceTime!

Its sad to think that phone is still packed away somewhere in my loft.  When recovered, it will be like an historic artefact from the days when phones were phones, not the mini computer devices that they are now.  Even though I have no use for it, it will probably be very hard to give up.  You see, I really do get attached to my phones for all sorts of odd reasons, whether they remind me of a time when I had a cool job, or contained the recording of my toddler telling me he loved me, or even symbolise the day I jumped into a swimming pool to rescue my drowning four-year old, with my phone in my back pocket.

There is one phone that Ive not particularly been attached to though and thats my Nokia N97.  It might have been great at getting me onto Twitter and Facebook and juggling my multi-media usage, but I havent half given it a good battering these last few years. Its time was definitely up twelve months ago, not least because the back-end would fall off at impromptu moments, Its also developed several other features that are noteworthy of its early demise, including the semi-detatchment of its silver fascia as a result of recent contact with the floor.  Then theres the way it would suddenly reboot while I was surfing the mobile net.

However, if it hadnt been for a discussion with some friendly folk from O2, this phone would be sitting in the drawer thats now dedicated to out-of-date gadgets and electronic leads, while I enjoy my more up-to-date technology.

Id explained to O2 that given my bizarre attachment to old devices, I would only ever recycle one of my phones if I could be convinced that it was worthwhile.  After all, Id much rather keep it in a drawer than go to the trouble of stripping off the data, just for it to be taken apart.

They then reassured me that just because my phone looked like it was due for the scrapyard, that wasnt necessarily the case and that it would most likely be refurbished and sold on as a reconditioned device, probably in an overseas market.

Suddenly I was interested in finding out more.

I wanted to know exactly where my phone would end up.

And I wanted to know the story of who would be using it.

I asked O2 whether we could do that, and after some phone calls around head office and to their recycling company Redeem, they said yes.  We could certainly track my old Nokia to its end market and depending on the privacy wishes and language capabilities of the new owner, it may be possible to discover the other information too.

And that got me very excited.

So, with all my photos copied, contacts deleted and messages stripped, I skipped off to our local O2 store this morning to do the deed.  Well, I say I skipped.  Actually, for some reason, I was very nervous.  I wanted reassurance that no sensitive data, or remote access to my emails or online accounts could be retrieved from my old phone, once I handed it over. 

Glendon, the Store Leader, reassured me.  In fact, one of the first steps was to restore the phone to its factory settings and ensure that everything had been deleted off.

The rest of the process was very straight forward, confirming that I should hopefully get around £32 for my old phone, which will soon be credited to my bank account, without me having to lift a finger.

It was really that simple, Im now wondering what the fuss was about!  Look, Im now looking much happier about letting go of that dodgy old phone and setting it free for refurbishment and onto pastures new.

By tomorrow, the phone will be somewhere in Scotland, being refurbished by O2s recycling partner Redeem, and once its passed quality control, it will be despatched onto its journey, where it will be tracked all the way.

Apparently it should only take two weeks until it reaches its end destination.  Hopefully then it will quickly find its way to its new owner and I then hope they will get in touch.  Its risky I know, but Ive sent them a message with my email and phone number.

Oh gawd, I could be opening up a whole new can of worms, but it would be exciting to find out with whom it ends up and to discover what really happens when a phone gets recycled.

_________________________________________________________

If youre interested in recycling your old phone for cash, there are many ways in which you can do it, but it you wish to use O2s service, you can recycle by post and fill your details online, or pop into a store near you.  You dont even need to be a customer.  More information is available at www.o2recycle.co.uk.  O2 dont make any profit from this service.  All proceeds from their sales go to their charity Think Big, which supports community projects that help young people.   Other gadgets such as iPods, cameras and even routers can also be recycled, although these are not processed on a cash-back basis.

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Zero Waste Europe my top 10 favourite blogposts

So, did you know its the European Week for Waste Reduction?  I guess its not the most snappy of names to roll off the tongue, but I love the fact there is one week in the year thats dedicated towards bringing our diverse continent together in the fight against waste.

It also makes me feel that my dusty old degree in Modern European Studies from (cough) the 1980s, still has some relevance to my life today.  The concluding motto in 1989 was that Europe is a unity through its diversity.  I cant remember what I made of that back then, but when it comes to tackling our mountain of waste, its certainly relevant to todays range of initiatives - diverse yet united towards the same goal, that of waste minimisation.

So for EWWR, (a much snappier title), I thought Id kick off with an introduction to one of my favourite Zero Waste blogs, Zero Waste Europe, and my top ten favourite blogposts, revealing some of the great ideas that are taking place on the continent as well as inspiration from further afield.

The association of Italian Zero Waste towns has been created

Little Museum of Bad Industrial Design

Kretsloppsarken. Recycling or amusement park?

A Zero Waste month in Sweden: 4 people = less than 1kg of waste!

The first European university to ban bottled water?

Retorna – When waste has a value it stops being waste

Repair café – a project to make friends, not waste

The art of Zero Waste!

David Andersen Copenhagen; designing waste out of fashion
 
On the Road to Zero Waste: Lessons from around the world


But seriously, dont stop there.  There are plenty of other great posts, including some wonderful examples of waste reduction activities in the UK too, such as Nappy Ever After and Unpackaged.

For anyone who wants to explore the wider approach to Zero Waste, Zero Waste Europe really is a great place to start.

And on that note, as you travel virtually from country to country, perhaps all thats left to say, is Bon Voyage!



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European Week for Waste Reduction runs from 17-25 November.  More information can be found at www.ewwr.eu.  To follow events and discussion on Twitter, use the hashtag #ewwr.

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My appeal video for Hexham River Hydro energyshare

Last week I had the unique opportunity to visit Hexham and meet the community with whom I have partnered in the bid to win funding from energyshare.

I received the most amazing welcome from so many people in the community, including the project partners, volunteers, Transition Town members, the local Abbey, councillors and the Mayor.  However it was the visits I made to the potential beneficiaries of the funding that inspired me the most, including a local community centre in regeneration area and the fabulous kids who really need their local youth initiative.

Armed with just my very old smartphone, I managed to take some footage while I was there, to ask for your support in voting for a community project that will not just create renewable energy but will help provide some much-needed social projects too.  So please, take a look and then I urge you to join in the EnergyShare vote. The deadline is 5pm 3 December, so Hexham River Hydro needs your support urgently.

To vote, you will need to register your email address at www.energyshare.com, but it doesnt take long and you will be in with a chance of winning one of five River Cottage books that are being given away each day.  It will only take 5 minutes, and if you vote for Hexham River Hydro and their public vote is successful, you will be making a real difference to a communitys heritage and social well-being as well as helping to create an amazing renewable energy project that will be a valuable resource for the rest of the UK.

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This is a sponsored opportunity on behalf of British Gas. However, all the authors views and research are her own.

Photos of the visit are now also publicly available on Facebook.

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Dont let food waste be next years shock headline my two penneth

Well Happy New Year everyone.  I can see its kicked off in fine style!

Having just got used to my back-to-school routine and having my first day at the laptop, this morning I found my Twitter stream awash with the topic of food waste and the medias shock that statistics published by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers reveal that 30%-50% of the worlds food never gets eaten.

These are huge figures to contemplate, whichever way you look at it, with growers, manufacturers, retailers and consumers all playing a key part or being affected.

But this isnt the first time that the headlines have been full to the brim with the horror of food waste.  Heres a random sample, taking us back to 2007, when I first became aware of the issue.

2012 - Unilever calls on companies to tackle food waste mountain

2011 - UK families are wasting less food but are told to do more

2010 - UK Restaurants waste 600,000 tons of food a year

2009 - Elimination of food waste could lift 1billion out of hunger, say campaigners

2008 - Brown urges Britons to cut food waste

2007 - Call to use leftovers and food waste

Despite making inroads into the waste mountain, I am very much concerned that each spell of outrage even when followed by best intentions, dwindles back towards stunted action, as we move on - for whatever reason - to other competing issues in our lives and organisations.

However, with austerity biting at politics, retailers as well as the householder, 2013 could very well be the year that we look back on as being a watershed period in all our efforts to tackle this huge issue.  There is certainly enough expertise around us to help, with WRAP offering a bank of resources for the hospitality and retail sectors as well as its Love Food Hate Waste website for consumers.  And saving money is a bloody good carrot to wave in front of our noses.

But even so, it can be very easy to slip into old routines when hit by everyday pressures, and that, especially for the householder, is one of the greatest problems in tackling food waste.

If that sounds like you, there are simple steps to help you grab the problem by the balls, and which will help to ensure that youre not contributing to next years food waste horror story.


1. Make yourself accountable.   Tell your family, friends, Facebook pals, Tweeters or blog readers that you are determined to tackle food waste.  If you think itll help to keep you motivated, get them to sponsor you for a good cause.

2. Set a deadline to help give you a focus.   For example, trying to reduce it over the next couple of months.  It takes a while for new habits to form, so commit to going the distance rather than the novelty of a short sprint.

3. Start a food waste diary, to identify what type of food goes to waste and why.  This will help uncover regular waste habits.  And remember, throwing that mouldy fruit into the compost bin is still a waste, even if you think youre going to get some free compost out of it.

4. Use a separate bin to monitor your food waste.   Then rejoice when you see it reduce.

5. Stop buying things that you regularly throw away.  If you reduce the problem at source, youll have pounds in your pocket and less food in the landfill heap.  Check out my ornamental melons story as a very good example.  If you have regular leftovers when buying takeaways, just buy less next time.

6. Freeze it!  Food labels now advise that you can freeze certain products up until the use-by date.

7. Visiting www.lovefoodhatewaste.com is a must!  Youll get top advice on portions, recipes for leftovers and food storage.


Of course, if youve got fire in your belly and want to do more to either understand or tackle the wider issues of food waste, there are various avenues available, including

• Join food waste campaigner Tristram Stuart and his Feeding the 5000 campaign to help bring an end to food waste in the retail and supply chain.

• Follow Kerry McCarthy MP and her work commitment to drive change through parliament.  See last years blogpost about her Food Waste Bill.  And of course, you can always lobby your local MP to get behind the issue.

• Contribute to the WI Great Food Debate, the NFWIs series of debates about Food Security, which reaches at the very heart of the organisation.

And last but not least, if you live in Wiltshire, Shropshire or Suffolk and want to get involved in slimming your waste-line either on your own or as part of a community project, keep your eyes peeled for some fantastic Rubbish Diet initiatives coming up.

For instance Wiltshire Wildlife Trust is kicking off the new year with a county-wide Rubbish Diet, which will mentor householders through slimming their bins over a period of 8 weeks. If we get through to the next round of the Nesta Waste Reduction Challenge competition, Rubbish Diet Shropshire will be hot on their heels in the springtime, with a choir, school and football club all joining in with the bin slimming antics.  And in Suffolk, my own neck of the woods, therell be a lot of fun and games involving local well-known personalities who will be leading the way too.   Tackling waste will be a key topic for each of these projects.

Even if youre not a resident of any of these counties, hopefully youll be inspired to take action from a distance and come together in National Zero Waste Week, which will be held in September, where therell be another chance to work together to focus on reducing the amount of food waste, and other superfluous stuff that ends up in our bins.

Hopefully, this should all make for a great 2013, especially if we can pull together to ensure there are no shock food waste headlines this time next year.

And on that note... Im off to have another word with my 8 year old, whos busy listening to BBC Newsround about this very topic.  Time to remind him about his bad habit of abandoning bread crusts!

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