Our Waste

After a trip to the supermarket, with my reusable bags, I returned home to read the Dominion Post and came across an interesting article about a couple moving from Wellington to Kaikoura; where they can recycle nearly everything. I was shocked to discover that in Wellington only two of the seven plastics are recycled (so all those yogurt pots I’d been diligently washing and putting in the recycling bin were a wasted effort!).

I’ve been inspired to make more of a concerted effort with my waste having read about a couple in Christchurch who are trying to go a whole year without contributing any rubbish to the landfill. They’ve set up a blog called ‘Rubbish Free Year‘. They provide tons of ideas for all of us and really highlight how thoughtful you need to be to live rubbish free in today’s age of over-wrapped consumables.

I’ve spent a good hour or so browsing over the above blog in awe. It’s such an inspiring read. I walk round the supermarket aghast at all the packaging and am thinking twice about many of the quick, ‘convenient’ purchases I often make. I’m now refraining from putting all my vegetables in individual bags and putting them all in one basket and then loading them on the conveyor belt in groups. I’ve invested in more baking ingredients in an effort to make more of my own biscuits. Of course in my Grandmother’s day she’d make her own and there weren’t the plethora of plastic wrapped goods. It’s definitely time to start visiting the local bakers and taking my own containers to the deli or asking for produce to be wrapped in paper not plastic. Little steps. And time to think about a worm farm for the food scraps – now that’s sure to be a favourite with the girls!