The recycling pro’s amongst you may be thinking I’ve got muddled up with the ‘three R’s’ message, however, this is the learning curve I’m on at the moment.

We’ve gone from recycling nothing. Nothing. We literally chucked everything into (non-recycled) bin liners and heaved several loads down the four flights of stairs several times a week. Aaaah how things have changed!

We arrived at our new home to find bins strewn all over the garden in brown, green and grey. Inside, on the kitchen counter was the recycling timetable, with a colour co-ordinated calendar advising which bins would be emptied when. At first glance it seemed like a mish mash of lines and colours but it soon became clear that it basically goes blue, grey, blue, grey on alternate weeks until the summer months when the brown one is emptied every 2-3 weeks.

The blue one is for recyclables - paper, plastic (not bags), cardboard and packaging. The grey one is for other waste, the brown one is reserved for garden cuttings. There’s also an optional extra in the way of a composting bin.

I launched myself into the recycling with gusto, alloting and advising the family on the different refuse areas (a basic bin/bag system, I’m planning to purchase a three tiered refuse system very soon!) The first week was fine, this week it’s clear that we need to heavily reduce our packaging, the blue bin was full by Sunday and is not due to be emptied until Wednesday, we’re simply having to stockpile rubbish until then, when the bin will likely be filled straight away!

Time to look at reducing our packaging, here’s what I have planned, further suggestions would be greatly appreciated…

Buy in bulk - go to Costco and buy dishwasher/laundry tablets, liquid soap, shampoo etc.. in bulk.

Use our own containers - buy liquid soap, shampoo etc and decant into our own reusable containers.

Cook from scratch - pre-packaged meals are just that - packaged, and it’s taking up valuable bin space, bye bye ready meals.

Grow our own - growing our own herbs, vegetables and fruit would mean no packaging at all for a portion of our weekly food.

Buy from farm shop - purchase unpackaged ingredients from a local farm.