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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Im feeling all decluttered after National Zero Waste Week

What a week!

I must have been absolutely out of my mind to suggest that I decluttered my kitchen for National Zero Waste Week. Nothing like pressure eh!

When I first mentioned my plans to my husband, he threw me one of his looks, accompanied by hands on hips, warning me that surely Id got the wrong idea.  That really, I shouldnt aim to chuck so much out during a week intended to slim our bin.

Having ventured nowhere near the far corners of some of the cupboards for... er... 5 years, he had a point.  I really didnt know what I would be up against!

But look!  The overhaul of the kitchen cupboards didnt impact on our rubbish at all. 

That small bin bag, pictured above, is the sum of our landfill rubbish last week, despite getting rid of a load of stuff!

If I had attempted the declutter five years ago, it would have been a different story.  Not least because I probably wouldnt have gone to the trouble of sorting it.

These bags full of unused baking equipment and storage containers would still have probably gone to charity.

But most of this junk, now destined for the reuse ecycling skips at the Household Waste Recycling Centre would have no doubt ended up in the bin! Thankfully, these days our local facilities include containers for broken hard plastics and small electricals, which helps tremendously when youre in the midst of a blimmin good clear out!

And as for this wonder drawer of mixed tat, my impatient hand would have dumped it all in a bag and got rid of it within minutes.

Instead, I set aside an hour to sort it properly, sending some random bits of plastic off for recycling and organising the rest of the stuff so it can be easily found and used.

Even the freezer, where our leftovers historically suffer a frozen death, received a visit from the decluttering hand, which helped to salvage a sausage casserole, a packet of mince, some fish, a dozen chipolatas and some bacon rashers,  This enabled me to happily avoid the supermarket for a week, using up what we already had.  I am such a lazy defroster and rarely plan ahead, the freezer proved to come up trumps as a right little goldmine during Zero Waste Week.  My aim now is to gradually work through the rest of the contents and relieve more space so that I can use it more efficiently.

But did I really achieve my overall aims last week?

Yes! I believe I did!  Working my way through this.

And creating much needed space in the cupboards to achieve this!

What pleases me most is that I am finally in control of the contents of my kitchen.  It took five days of sorting and clearing and no area has been left untouched. What helped me along were the wise words of a friend who reminded me that unwanted stuff left at the back of cupboards was just as wasteful as if it had been dumped into landfill. I am now confident that everything that I have kept will be put to good use. All the unused clutter has been rehomed and will no longer be wasted.

Of course my key aim was to create much longed-for space, so that I can put my creative culinary skills to good use again and be far better at avoiding food waste.

I can already see the return of the old me and I have been busy cooking up the random contents found lurking in the fridgefreezer. And having rediscovered a whole cupboard of flour to use up, benefiting from that space once more has really proved to be the icing on the cake!

I now wonder which room I should tackle next!

So thank you to everyone who left supportive comments as well as all the Twitter crew who cheered me along during the week. 

As well as having my head firmly in the kitchen cupboards, I have also been busy waving the flag locally in Suffolk for National Zero Waste Week.  Huge thanks to BBC Radio Suffolks Mark Murphy and James Hazell for giving me some much appreciated airtime.  And a major round of applause to Barry Peters, the editor of the Bury Free Press, for taking up the Rubbish Diet Challenge and doing a marvellous job for his own Zero Waste Week.

Well done to MyZeroWaste for an amazing awareness campaign for 2012. I was proud to support it.  For more information about what else was going on around the country, visit www,myzerowaste.com.

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Whats in store for National Zero Waste Week 2011

Ive just realised that the title of this blogpost makes it look like I run a shop.  So apologies to anyone who thought I might be doing a stock-check or reorganising my merchandising cabinets with a special twist for Zero Waste Week.

Sorry, this is more of a talking shop than a retail space, but if there are any stores who are applying innovative ways of reducing the amount of rubbish they stock, then please do share your news here. After all, the theme of National Zero Waste Week 2011 is "Reducing waste away from home", so if youre doing anything to help reduce the amount of trash that you pass on to your customers, then your comments will fit in nicely.

So what is happening at Almost Average HQ for Zero Waste Week?  Well, unlike my very first attempt back in 2008, Ive had diddly-squat planning time.  Not that Im good at planning anyway, but I suppose five minutes preparation would have helped things on the homefront, as would actually being at home, instead of zipping around the country on a secret mission.

Of course it would have also been useful to have reminded my husband and kids last week, particularly to avoid the surprise of arriving home this weekend to much excitement that theyd treated themselves to a huge multipack of crisps and 20 blimmin Capri-Suns.  Someone must be having a laugh!  We never normally have such things in the house, not necessarily due to being pedantic about packaging, but weve got no room in our cupboards for starters, and besides I dont trust my willpower!  But great timing eh!  Bought just in time for Zero Waste Week.

So things on the homefront will be more of a challenge than usual then!  Thats why the kids have gone into battle against my husband to see who can create the least rubbish this week!  Personally,  I think Ill leave them to it.

But of course the focus of this years NZWW  is reducing waste away from home, so whilst head-to-head challenges are taking place behind closed doors, Im more interested in opportunities to reduce waste while out-and-about and will be keeping my eyes peeled for good practice as well as being on a personal mission to avoid superfluous bits of plastic that commonly pop up in the catering trade.

Im travelling again at the end of the week, so will make sure Im appropriately kitted out to avoid all the rubbish that typically gets thrown at you when on the road.  Having read that sentence again, it sounds like Ill be wearing protective shields and defending myself with some form of waste-busting laser gun.  Im sorry if that makes the reality of a refillable coffee cup and water bottle sound far less exciting.

This week Im also on a mission to get more recycling bins on the streets of my local town.  I know were pretty lucky to have two, but for the size of the town thats pretty pants, especially as theres not even a single recycling bin in the town centres Abbey Gardens.   So this week, Im taking the attitude of  "if you dont ask, you dont get" and proverbially speaking, getting off my backside to wing over an email to some local authority officers and councillors.  Ill also email my MP, asking him to look at the wider picture at a national level.

And on the subject of bins, Im still on the hunt for photos for the 1000 Bin Challenge.  Its the final week, so Im going to have to do a tally soon of the number of photos that Ive collected over the summer.  Ive got a sneaking suspicion that I am nowhere even near the 1K target, so Im going to need your help more than ever.  To find out how you can help, pop over to www.1000bins.com and send in photos of any recycling litter bins that you spot in your town.  You may even be in with a chance of winning a georgeous ring pull clutch bag by Bottletop or a fabulous Waste-busting kit from Onya.

So I think its safe to say National Zero Waste Week 2011 is officially launched at Almost Average HQ.  Huge thanks to Mrs Green at My Zero Waste for organising it.  To find out more about how you can get involved, visit www.myzerowaste.com, where youll get more tips than you can shake a stick at.  And if you want to get up-to-date with what you can recycle in your area, pop over to www.recyclenow.com for the official lowdown.

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Guess wholl be hanging out with Saints for National Zero Waste Week

Ive taken my husband there, my children, my mother and most of my friends in Bury and friends who visit from further afield, not to mention an eco-friendly fireman and an incognito waste campaigner.  So I thought its about time I introduced you to my favourite café to hit Bury St Edmunds too, where I hope you will join me next week to help celebrate an exciting week thats about to hit the blogosphere.

Yes, Monday sees the start of National Zero Waste Week, an annual social media campaign that promotes ideas for waste reduction. Developed and managed by the grassroots website www.MyZeroWaste.com, it is now in its third year, and for the first time is sponsored by Tetra Pak.

This year’s theme, ‘Cooking for Victory’, is supported by celebrity chef Brian Turner CBE, who will share how he views food as an asset on the MyZeroWaste website and will demonstrate “a compost while you cook” approach during National Zero Waste Week. The topics are a response to research by WRAP that reveals households throw away 8.3 million tonnes of food and drink every year, costing the average family in Britain £50 per month.

Enthused by the celebrity chef’s commitment to the national awareness campaign, I asked Saints Café if they would also be prepared to help inspire people at a more local level, serving me a daily “pot luck lunch” to showcase how delicious meals can be made from even small amounts of usable healthy ingredients that busy households might otherwise throw away.  Can you imagine my excitement when they said yes!

Saints Café owners, Engin Aga and Bernadette McAleer, said: "since launching earlier in the year, we have always placed a high emphasis on minimising food waste, sourcing seasonal and local produce where we can, cooking in small batches and fresh to order, along with running a careful stock control system to ensure that the ‘Zero Waste’ model is never far from being achieved.

“We are very excited about the project and are pleased to have the opportunity to demonstrate that efficient use of ingredients can reduce household food waste and save families hundreds of pounds a year too”.

Rachelle Strauss, aka Mrs Green, from MyZeroWaste adds "Im thrilled that Karen has teamed up with Saints Café to promote National Zero Waste Week locally. It would be great if other eateries across Bury and Suffolk join in too, inspiring their own customers with ideas to try ‘pot luck recipes’ at home in a bid to reduce the nation’s waste.”

Despite having reduced my waste by 95% since I started The Rubbish Diet in 2008, I know I’ve got lax over the summer and so it will be great to pick up some new ideas and inspiration from one of my favourite cafés in Suffolk. There is a real buzz in the UK at the moment, where professionals are even being signed up by production companies to share their knowledge with prime-time audiences on national TV.   It’s an exciting time for raising awareness locally.

Professional chefs are extremely talented in managing food as a resource and minimising waste and even Brian Turner believes there is a role for local chefs to promote their food efficiency skills amongst their own customer community in a way that is fun and accessible. He says “To all chefs - make the world a better place, buy well, waste nout and make a bit more profit at the same time, itd be daft not to.”

So if you fancy joining me next week at Saints for a coffee or even some lunch yourself, do pop in.  Ill be there enjoying good food and blogging from 1pm every day.  If you do, and can share a top tip or two, Ill even feature you on the blog!   But if you live too far away to come along, dont worry, Ill be sharing their top tips and recipes on the blog throughout National Zero Waste Week, before I pack up and attempt to use up everything from my fridge at home.

So how excited am I to have a legitimate excuse to be a lady who lunches!   Well the answer is very, so do keep coming back for all the updates and if youve got a blog, why not blog about it too.

National Zero Waste Week takes place from 6th-12th September. Anyone can pledge to join in at www.myzerowaste.com, where there will be prizes for the most inspirational stories and opportunities to share news on Facebook and Twitter. For further information about Saints Café, check out their website at www.saintscafe.co.uk.

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National Zero Waste Week 2011 Just one week to go

Just like the kids starting a new school year, I cant believe that Zero Waste Week has come around so quickly or indeed that its in its fourth year.  It doesnt seem that long since Mrs Green at myzerowaste.com held the very first National Zero Waste Week back in 2008.

Back then, it felt like a huge challenge and I thought Id take a walk down memory lane to the preparations that Mrs Green was making for her very first ZWW three years ago.  I remember packaging being one of the key problems, as it still is for many people whod want to have a go today.  However, undeterred, Mrs Greens Zero Waste Week saw over 160 people pledge to increase their commitment to reducing waste, reusing, recycling or composting, providing a great platform for her Myzerowaste site to host its second National Zero Waste Week in 2009, encouraging supporters this time to tackle their food waste.

Last years Zero Waste Week returned with an even greater emphasis on food waste, with Mrs Greens campaign week gaining official support from celebrity chef Brian Turner CBE, who shared tips on how he uses up ingredients and how he composts while he cooks.   For me it was a great excuse to find my own local chef and hang out at one of my favourite eateries, picking up tips on how good food can go a lot further with some extra imagination and fabulous recipes.

And so to this year.  As ever, National Zero Waste Week 2011 comes with another waste-busting topic, with this years challenge "Reducing waste while away from home".   This theme holds a special significance for me as it was the same unexpected twist that came with the local councils ZWW challenge back in March 2008, where any waste that I created "on-the-go" had to be brought home and added to my rubbish bins booty, which would be declared later that week.   With such a personal challenge back then, is it any wonder that I get excited about the "recycle-on-the-go bins" that feature in the 1000 bins campaign.

So, what are we asking you to do this year?

Thats simple. Whilst getting on with reducing waste on the home front, Mrs Green and I would love you to become more aware of the rubbish that can be created whilst youre out and about and take measures to reduce such waste that would ordinarily end up in landfill.

From tackling disposable cutlery to recycling drinks containers, there are loads of tips over at the National Zero Waste Week 2011 information page, where you can also share your own ideas in the comments section.  If youre on Facebook and want to receive further news, theres also an event page, which already has 190 people attending.

Dont forget, National Zero Waste Week is also the finale of the 1000 bins photovideo challenge.  Thanks to all who have submitted photos and videos this far.  There are now only two weeks to go to submit your entries and be in with a chance of winning a gorgeous Luciana clutch bag from Bottletop.org, or a fabulous waste-busting goodie bag from Onya Bags, which includes an Onya Back, Onya Bag, Onya Lunch, Onya Weigh, H2O Bottle and a People Towel.

So please send in your entries by Midnight (GMT) 11 September, either at www.facebook.com/1000bins or email me directly at standup@therubbishdiet.co.uk.  Mrs Green and I will then get cracking on voting for the most interesting bin photo as well as the one that made us smile the most and will announce the winners as soon as weve stopped laughing.

Heres one of my own photos taken whilst out and about at a festival in Staffordshire....go on, surely you can do better...............

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Shedwyn gets her skates on for the end of National Zero Waste Week 2011

To celebrate the last day of National Zero Waste Week, I sent the 1000 Bins mascot Shedwyn, into Suffolks  rollerskating venue CurveMotion, to check out their recycling.

They have great recycling facilities behind the scenes, but dont have any specific recycling bins in the public zones.  Consequently customers end up throwing their empty bottles and cans into the general rubbish bin.

Even if there were public recycling bins, there is a real issue that the number of unemptied containers that are often thrown away by the customers, would quickly contaminate any efforts to recycle properly. So Shedwyn was on a mission to think of ways that could improve recycling without having to rely on expensive and sticky recycling bins.

After a spell of whizziness with the laptop and a touch of lamination, a simple methodology was born.  A  sign advising customers to leave their containers at the servery counter instead of shoving them in the bin!

Whether its an effective solution, only time will tell, but it is an idea thats worth trying and if response is low its well worth testing out new wording or different poster designs.

So with the job done, Shedwyn was ready to do a few laps around the roller rink before scooting off home to put her feet up for the rest of the day, but the bonkers old bird got so inspired by CurveMotions Charity Skateathon that she challenged herself to 50 laps, "Anything for charity", she said, knowing it would be a struggle to keep on her feet for even 25.

However, fifty laps later she was still going strong.

After a wobbly start, taking a tumble over a fallen-down child at lap 75, and peforming a spectacular forward-slide-and-knee-bounce herself during the 200th lap, our recycling bin champion knocked us off our chairs as she made it to 211 laps, the equivalent distance of a half-marathon!

The poor old girl couldnt walk for ages after shed come off the rink and was soon caught napping when she should have been on binwatch.

211 laps eh!  Whod have guessed that would happen this Sunday, rounding off National Zero Waste Week  with bruised knees.

So, could the moral of the story be that no matter what your goals, assumptions or expectations, Shedwyn has shown that its possible to exceed these, even if obstacles and setbacks get in the way?  We just need to to keep setting our sights much higher and pushing ourselves just that little bit more whether thats about recycling, reducing waste or other ambitions (government and industry are you listening?)

Then again, as a friend suggested after Shedwyns super-impressive tumble, perhaps the moral of the story is that she really should have worn kneepads! 

So, while the bespectacled roving reporter nurses her knees, I wish you a happy end to National Zero Waste Week. I hope its been a great week for you.   Of course, if like me, youve enjoyed Shedwyns expoits with the 1000 Bins Challenge, it would be fab if you could sponsor her for her charity skateathon today.  It would help her knees get better much more quickly and its for a a brilliant cause too:  St Nicholas Hospice in Bury St Edmunds, which needs as much money as it can get to continue its great work.  You can find all you need at my Justgiving page or click the blue fundraiser badge at the top of the page.

So thank you all for your support this week and during the last three monthss 1000 bins challenge.  Its been spectacular.  Heres to National Zero Waste Week 2011.  Special thanks go to Mrs Green at MyZeroWaste for organising it.  With another successful week over, who knows what will happen next year! Whatever happens, I bet your bottom dollar it will be exciting.

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This post has been written in support of National Zero Waste Week 2011, which is hosted and organised by www.myzerowaste.com. This years theme is reducing waste away from home.  The photo competition for the 1000 Bins project, promoting "recycling on the go", ends at midnight today (11/9/2011).  See www.1000bins.com for details.  Huge thanks to CurveMotion for extending a very warm welcome to Shedwyn today.  More information about their Charity Skateathon and other events can be found at www.curvemotion.com.

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National Zero Waste Week 2012 Coming soon!

Coming soon to a household near you - PREFERABLY YOURS - National Zero Waste Week is back!

And this year, it is encouraging you to recycle ONE MORE THING!  Its so easy to get involved, either on your own, at home, or at your place of work!  You can find out much more information over at My Zero Waste, where the fabulous Mrs Green is leading the way once more.

As ever I will be supporting National Zero Waste Week from my corner of Suffolk and will be back soon with more exciting news on whats happening locally. 

In the meantime, for a trip down memory lane, heres what happened on the Rubbish Diet last year, along with a glimpse at 2010, a retro peek at 2009 and a real delve into the archives of 2008 when My Zero Waste launched their very first Zero Waste Week! 

So which one more thing are you going to recycle this year? 

Have you decided yet?

For inspiration, visit www,myzerowaste.com, pop along to www.recyclenow.com, and if you happen to live in Suffolk, you really should take a look at the fantastic resource for Suffolk Recycling!

So remember, National Zero Waste Week takes place on 3-9 September!  But please dont contain your excitement until then.  Check out the NZWW 2012 page on the My Zero Waste website and please help spread the news on Twitter and Facebook.

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