Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Pennyfarthing]

I plan to use up what shower gel we have and then buy no more. I have a whole drawer full of beautiful soaps so I will use those.

I buy eggs from a farm and return the boxes to be refilled.

I buy most of my veg loose but if I do ever have to buy something in a plastic bag I use it to put peelings in which I take to my friends chickens and goats.  She keeps the bags and we reuse them over and over.

[Salad]

We won one in a raffle in 1986  .  But didn't use it much.  Locally any plastic bottles are re-cycled and I don't feel guilty.  Do you add cordial to the water, I found that made a difference.

Ahhh good old 1986! I also had one about the same time but must have thrown it out years ago.

I guess I'm seeing too many wildlife programmes featuring animals entangled or feeding on plastic that doesn't seem to biodegrade 

I do like a splash of lime cordial in water 

[CLKD]

In that circumstance I would keep recycling to one side or take it myself to our Collection Point, 4 miles away.  We go there 2-3 times a week anyway so it wouldn't be any extra mileage.

[CLKD]

    watched Inside Out for our region and Anglian Water were dragging out yards of what looked like rope.  But it wasn't.  It was WET WIPES    ....... they were sawing it with knives  with thin gloves on    but no face masks  so had anything splashed ....... no Risk Assessment there then!

However: I haven't used wet wipes for months.  Due to becoming aware of how they clog up our water treatment systems.  Even those that suggest on the packets that they are flushable.  Add to that the packets themselves go into Landfill ..........

Watching Inside Out - Birmingham bin people on strike again ........ I would be double wrapping and sorting B4 confining to the bin. 

[katsclaws]

I've started using cellulose and cotton kitchen cloths from a Swedish company. They should last ages and when finished with can go on our compost heap. I'm using much less kitchen paper and the cloths are better than microfibre ones which I don't like. I did look online for organic cotton cloths but they were very expensive and couldn't be washed at 60 degrees.
Apparently some people throw lots of different things down the toilet including food, items of clothing etc

[CLKD]

Hi!  Why can't organic cotton be washed at 60 - surely that's what cotton does  .  I don't like the feel of that material: micro-fibre : which is supposed to soak up ......... seems to be everywhere: dog towels, hand wipes ........ makes me go all funny 

Well, funnier ........

I use 'jay' cloths or kitchen roll, both go into our home made composting system.  We turn it over twice a year and it is ready after 18-20 months for sieving.  Which is hard work but cheaper than the gym  . 

[ariadne]

I'm still happily washing my used wet wipes along with my whites at either 60 or 90 degrees and they come out fine. I then put them in a plastic sandwich tub with some miscellar water and reuse them to take off my make up. I'm really pleased with this method.

I've also washed the better quality blue checked dishcloths and they too come out fine. I didn't know you could wash them until Hurdity mentioned it.

Ariadne xx

[katsclaws]

Hello CLKD, I hate the feel of microfibre cloths too.  If I hold a plastic milk carton for more than a few seconds the skin on my hand itches a lot. This also happens with other types of plastic. The organic cotton washcloths I looked at online said to wash at 40 degrees. They were expensive to buy (£6.00 - £7.50 each ) so I didn't want to risk washing at 60 degrees. Compostable cloths are definitely the best option.
I hadn't thought about putting kitchen paper into our compost bins. I will start doing this.

[littleminnie]

Did you know you can now recycle other plastic bags (besides carrier bags) at Morrison's and Waitrose.  So toilet roll bags, fruit bags etc (anything with the recycle ♻️ sign on the bag).  Very happy about that. 

[CLKD]

Your local Council web-site is accountable and should tell you exactly what happens to your kerb-side collections. I keep meaning to make a visit to the local recycling system, when we drive by it I remember  : by the time I get home 

I have always put used kitchen roll on the compost bin, as I do most paper and cardboard.  Media companies are now wrapping magazines in rottable plastics ....... I have a small corner in our home composting heap to see what does rot after a couple of years  by which time plastics will be improved.

Toilet roll and kitchen roll inners
Letters
Soft boxes
Peelings
Tea/coffee
Stopped buying tea-bags when we discovered that the bags don't rot



Newspapers go into the kerbside collection. 
Thick cardboard
Weekend magazines

[katsclaws]

Our Council has one of the worst recycling records in the UK, about 27% of rubbish. Rubbish goes to an incinerator but it's not an EFW (Energy from Waste)  incinerator. When we go to the tip it says 47% waste is recycled. We have to take garden waste (waste that can't go in the compost bins) to the tip as it is not collected by our Council although people who can't get to the tip can arrange a special collection.

[CLKD]

At a cost probably - so another Council that didn't comply with EU Regulations then!

Anyone remember paper knickers 

[Krystal]

I was surprised to see in Waitrose that the plastic bags provided by them on the self service fresh fruit and veg counter has the words HOME COMPOSTABLE BAG written on them in large green lettering. When I got my shopping home I sat down to read blurb on the bags. It said that the bags could be used for fruit and vegetables, food waste caddy liner and compost bin. Also noted were the words 'Do not place this bag into a recycling bin.' I have also read in the Waitrose newspaper free to all customers, that their egg boxes and labels will soon be totally compostable. The Waitrose plastic bags have the logo TUV Austria on them but I am no plastics expert. I do get a lot of my fresh vegetables from the local farm shop where the only bags used are old fashioned brown paper bags. Lets hope this is the way forward for all supermarkets.

[littleminnie]

Yes Waitrose advertised that they were introducing this a while back.
You can also recycle ordinary plastic if they have one of those large black recycling bins at their entrance.

[CLKD]

........ which are always full!  Morning, I bought bread rolls from there this week and after years of my asking, the bags are paper through and through - they also encourage shoppers to take back plastic containers for deli items too.  I remember the carriers, what more do they want