I will use our new bin to take to our livestock. The hens and ducks and pigs and donkeys, pony... Al love the vegetable peelings and the dogs and cats get any leftover meat or fat. We give the wild birds food waste too especially in winter.
My self sufficiency guru and hero John Seymour said the dustbin man should never visit the smallholding.
I think he wrote that when everything was natural or organic unlike the plastics world we live in today. I knew what he meant though. Anything natural will decompose and can be used for fertilisers in the fields or on the allotment or veg plot. Even wood ash makes great potash which onions adore.
My favourite rant seems to be why do we have so much packaging on food and drink and most importantly how much do we pay for it?
Oh to go back to string shopping bags and food like sausages and beef wrapped in paper and tied up with string. At least living in the countryside next to the sea you can burn some paper in the stove.
Do you recycle your food waste or does it go into the wheelie bin and ends up in landfill?
If it's edible, it goes to the cat or onto the bird table. If it's veg trimmings, onto the compost heap, ditto coffee grounds, egg shells etc. The only thing that goes into our 'food waste' bin is chicken bones. Easier with just myself (and mrvegartist if he's here) to cook for, I only cook what we will eat, so no leftovers going off. If I cook batches, it goes into the freezer in single portions.
ReplyDeleteCompared to my neighbours, we seem to have very little packaging waste as well. Our council supplies containers for glass, for cardboard, for paper, for tins and rigid plastics and plastic bags for anything else. Soft plastics, like food wrapping, goes into a re-cycling container at the supermarket.
You sound very organised the veg artist. Everything seems to be wrapped in plastic much of it unnecessary. I even see in the supermarkets Organic vegetables flown in from Israel wrapped in plastic In Portugal there are litter bins and even bins for plastic even on the beaches. I have trench compost peelings in the veg plot and they feed the ground very efficiently. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteCompost, recycling bin or wild cats. Most of our scraps go to these but somehow we still seem to have a load of rubbish to throw out. I put old oil from frying or from a baking dish onto the garden. Water used for washing fruit or veges goes for watering....mostly.
ReplyDeleteSo what goes out in our rubbish? I'm scratching my head . There's quite a lot. I'll have to keep a check
Well done for your recycling
Thanks for that Linda. You sound very organised about your recycling. Anything natural doesn't create a problem. Plastic is trouble big time.
ReplyDeleteWe recycle or compost nearly all of our food waste. Being frugal and using things up is not meanness - it's about being as kind to this ailing planet as possible.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, on your brown bin it should say "waist.ie" and not "waste.ie". They are aimed at chubby people carrying too many pounds. These porkers are meant to chuck half their dinner in the bin every night to assist weight loss.
I think your first paragraph sums it up perfectly YP.
ReplyDeleteWhen I worked in a timber yard many moons ago. People would walk into the office and say: "Is it all right if I look round?" After nodding our approval. We would wait until they walked back outside and some wit would say: "You look round enough to me fatty!"
We don't have leftover food to dispose of as we eat it all. Veg peelings etc go into our garden compost bin and tins, cardboard and paper are recycled. Soft plastics can go into the supermarket 's recycling bin so it is just the non recyclable plastics that have to go into the wheelie bin.
ReplyDeleteOur wheelie bin is never even a third full when collection day comes around.
Sounds like you are on the recycling ball JayCee. Our bins were privatised and we take any rubbish that can't be recycled to a waste transfer station near town. This is weighed and you pay by the KG. The recycling like dog food and beer tins are put in a big polythene bag and you pay 2 Euros to get rid of your recycling. "Where's your wheelie bin?" "I've wheelie bin here!"😊
ReplyDeleteAs we rarely eat meat or fish - and if so, the man eats the lot without leftovers - everything goes on to the compost where it rots nicely between lawn cuttings (for nitrogen) and any other garden waste. When I cut the man's hair and beard, guess where the cut off hair goes? Over the years, we have only found mice and one lonely rat when we had dumped meat leftovers there. Other than that, we have three different bins, yellow, blue and black for plastics, paper and other.
ReplyDeleteSome years ago I took a picture of our local supermarket's (big chain) organic fruit and veg display where literally everything incl. bananas was wrapped in plastic. I posted the picture on their fb page and asked "what's wrong with this picture?" only to receive 1st a lengthy explanation about some dubious study that plastic protects organic fruit and veg from getting intoxicated by non-organic stuff and 2nd a slightly threatening letter asking me to remove the picture or else. I didn't and there was nothing else. That was years ago. Nowadays, no plastic anywhere near fresh fruit and veg, some stuff comes in clever cloth netting and free reusable cloth bags.
Thanks for that Sabine. I believe the Organic movement began in Germany. Good to read there is no plastic near the fresh fruit and veg. A lot of packaging is unnecessary and costs us money to wash it and transport it to be recycled or placed in landfill.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame so much plastic ends up in our bin. I try to keep it to a minimum but there is always plenty. Even junk mail and other bits that drop through the door seem so wasteful.
ReplyDeleteYou are right Kev. Even in the construction industry everything comes wrapped in plastic. It's a plastic tide that seems to be everywhere.
ReplyDeleteDave you have struck a nerve and I have had to send F out for a walk...I'm a good typust no? She HATES food packaging. She even takes her own bags, boxes and tubs which has worked in Greece, but she is unhappy about our return to what will inevitably be supermarket shopping in UK. The supermarkets have driven out every possible alternative in our town. And that means bins full of wasteful food packaging.... I'll stop here or I will start to sound like F. Xxx Mr T
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you Tigger. Plastic packaging is wasteful and no doubt we are eating it too. The fuel costs used to produce the packaging will inevitably make food and drink much more expensive now that energy bills are soaring.
ReplyDeleteTransportation of goods on pallets depends on plastic to hold it together on the pallet. It isn't an overnight job to change this custom of ease and safe transport but I believe it is being worked on in the Logistics industry. I agree about things like individual cucumbers and cabbages etc being cling wrapped. This also will change but like all things it is a big change for the industry as a whole and cannot happen overnight. The EU used to send us directives on many things, one of which was wooden boxes for fruit was not allowed and all had to be discarded and had to be changed to plastic for hygiene purposes because plastic was seen as more efficiently washable.
ReplyDeleteThanks Rachel. Obviously you are knowledgeable about this subject from your family road haulage business. Fork lifts must save on physical labour but increases the need for pallets and plastic wrapping. Like I said to Tigger above we are no doubt ingesting the plastic when we eat food that's been plastic wrapped. I suppose the answer is to grow your own or buy direct from the farmer.
ReplyDeleteLeftovers are eaten the next day or frozen.
ReplyDeleteVery small amounts (rice, pasta, lettuce leaves, etc.) are gladly taken by a neighbour for her chickens. Apart from potato and orange peelings, everything organic ends up in the compost; regularly also crushed eggshells and coffee- / espresso-ground.
And when the residual waste in our street is collected every fortnight, most neighbours put four to ten bags in front of their properties - we put one bag ... every four weeks.
You are very resourceful and organised with food waste and domestic rubbish Sean. I am sureyour neighbours chickens love your presents. A mixed diet of vegetables improves the taste of the meat and eggs and gives them added vitamins.
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