Recycling
In 1999, I first looked at what we threw away, there was no kerb side recycling then. West Lothian has no landfill site of it's own so over and above the costs of collection, transportation and tax of the landfill waste the council advised me we also paid £80 per tonne to put it in the neighbouring council's landfill site. Though this was costly at the time, it made real financial sense for the council even then to look at kerbside recyling.
On a personal level, if we buy something then we need to dispose of it in some way. Some things are relatively clear, food is eaten, well most food is eaten but in the UK up to 25% isn't. Everything else we buy including the packaging we pay for we need to dispose of. So what do we do with our rubbish?
First we organised our recycling inside so it is easier to recycle than to put to landfill. We then looked at what we threw away. Yes, we actually wrote down for a whole month everything we threw away. It made interesting reading, mostly plastic packaging and from that changed the way we shop. Now we don't have a kitchen landfill bin, what we throw away goes into a small bin or straight into the outside bin. If we miss the fortnightly landfill bin collection it doesn't matter as it is rarely half full.
On a personal level, if we buy something then we need to dispose of it in some way. Some things are relatively clear, food is eaten, well most food is eaten but in the UK up to 25% isn't. Everything else we buy including the packaging we pay for we need to dispose of. So what do we do with our rubbish?
First we organised our recycling inside so it is easier to recycle than to put to landfill. We then looked at what we threw away. Yes, we actually wrote down for a whole month everything we threw away. It made interesting reading, mostly plastic packaging and from that changed the way we shop. Now we don't have a kitchen landfill bin, what we throw away goes into a small bin or straight into the outside bin. If we miss the fortnightly landfill bin collection it doesn't matter as it is rarely half full.
Composting
All non-cooked vegetable waste goes in the compost heaps along with garden waste and bedding from the vegetarian animals - chickens and rabbits. Avoid things that might attract vermin such as cooked food.
There is a lot written about composting. The basics are a compost heap needs soft green stuff - grass and veg leaves - and thicker brown stuff - twigs, newspaper and straw. Then you can either pile it all in and leave it for a year or so or you can mix it or turn it in to a completely new compost bin which speeds things up, if you work hard enough at it to about 3 months. We do something in between, mixing it with the fork with every addition keeping the top layer warm.
The heap also needs to be big enough to build up heat, the recommendation is 1 m cubed. Ours are 1.2m cubed as the board we used came in 2.4m lengths. It needs to be kept moist but not water logged, generally we get enough rain to do this though in dry periods I will add water from buckets or the water butts if needed.
There is a lot written about composting. The basics are a compost heap needs soft green stuff - grass and veg leaves - and thicker brown stuff - twigs, newspaper and straw. Then you can either pile it all in and leave it for a year or so or you can mix it or turn it in to a completely new compost bin which speeds things up, if you work hard enough at it to about 3 months. We do something in between, mixing it with the fork with every addition keeping the top layer warm.
The heap also needs to be big enough to build up heat, the recommendation is 1 m cubed. Ours are 1.2m cubed as the board we used came in 2.4m lengths. It needs to be kept moist but not water logged, generally we get enough rain to do this though in dry periods I will add water from buckets or the water butts if needed.
Dogs
Our dogs would willingly try anything off our plates, and their palates are pretty broad. However, this doesn't make for a balanced diet and could make them fat. It would also encourage them to "mooch" from the table.
So they get an odd treat in their bowls but most goes to the bokashi or composting bins. Interestingly, the Bernese can't tolerate much variation in diet otherwise it affects his guts!
So they get an odd treat in their bowls but most goes to the bokashi or composting bins. Interestingly, the Bernese can't tolerate much variation in diet otherwise it affects his guts!
Bokashi
This is a new departure for 2010, it is a "pre-composting" where you brew the cooked meat and veg waste with a bran with microoganisims in it, prior to putting it into the compost heap . It seems to work and is that simple. The most complex bit is buying the bins, finding a space for them and organising regular deliveries - 6 times per year - of the bran.
Kerbside Recycling
We are incredibly lucky in West Lothian in having an efficient kerbside pick up of garden waste, some plastics, paper, card, cloth and tin cans. The garden waste is composted and then can be collected from the recycling sites with tokens provided to every household, - free of charge. Fantastic and very useful.
Glass Recycling
Many people would like glass collected from the kerbside and in some places it is. However, for us, we already have glass recycling in most towns and supermarkets there seems little need to add another bin round with all the added fossil fuel use, never mind cost.
