Impressive bit of waste reduction

[Oldgreybeard]

From the BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-63516998

An eco-minded woman managed to go 10 months before putting out her black bin for non-recyclable waste.

Somerset exercise teacher Gill Hampson is passionate about reducing the impact she has on the environment and strives to recycle whatever she can.
The 62-year-old, who lives in Somerton, said the "biggest challenge was knowing what to do with tiny bits of rubbish" like plastic sachets.
She is now challenging herself to not put out her black bin at all in 2023.

"I just recycled absolutely everything I could and was careful what I bought.
"It starts when you go shopping - it's not bringing it through your door in the first place. That's the biggest challenge," she said.

Mrs Hampson - who lives with her husband Len, 66 - said she reduced her waste by not buying non-recyclable items and getting her milk delivered.
Reusing plastics, getting refills where possible and taking her soft plastics to supermarket recycling points also helped reduce household waste.

[Moxi]

She should ask for a reduction in her council tax for such sterling efforts - in fact - turn that on its head! the council should incentivise folk by offering a rebate if you don't put out your general waste bins!

We typically recycle around 75% of our household waste here and the local authority is one of the best in the UK (I'm told) with around 79% recycling overall. Our general waste is collected once every three weeks and is generally half full or less. The recycling boxes go out every week and are mixed plastics combined with ferrous and non ferrous, paper and card combined and glass separate. We have very little glass so our glass box has a changed flap (orange for plastics) to double up the plastic recyclate capacity. Any glass we do have goes, baby food jars and jam jars, in the grand parents glass collection.

Our biggest problem is what to do with all the thin film waste which annoyingly is high volume, low density and often contaminated with other debris.

There is a start-up in Anglesey who are pyrolyzing thin film plastics so hopefully our authority will soon start to recycle these also, I looked at this on a "home brew" basis and although it looks feasible it either has to be at a micro scale to ensure routine operation or as a batch process in which case the storage of the feed products becomes problematic and of course there is the issue of what to do with the oil fraction that results, the start-up is planning to ship their product to the refinery at Elsmere Port as a conditioner to the crude oil input but at the small scale you just have a crude Synthoil and I really don't think the efficiency of adding a distillate column is practical - I really did consider it for a time though just for the craic of doing it! A few dirty looks from the MD (wife) put paid to that tho.

Moxi

[Oldgreybeard]

Tesco have a thin plastic film recycling capability: https://www.tescoplc.com/news/2021/shop ... in-the-uk/

Ours gets washed and saved up until we have a worthwhile amount and then gets dropped in the Tesco thin film recycling bin. Makes a big difference to the volume of non-recyclable waste.

[Mr Gus]

if it wasnt for double bagging dog muck (damned hounds) wed be in a similar position, however, wife being a nurse would remind me that those with creeping incontinence problems would decimate that as its bulky waste.

But I get your drift & well done that lady.

Shame law is not inlace for more prominent front of packaging recycling logos & compulsory "non **home** recycling" shop bins for recycling packaging that many simply bung for landfill at home!

(currently have 3 carrier bags of tht waiting to go to the local Morrison's store, it's light but doesn't exactly compress down)

All our hard plastics go in the dishwasher, soft plastics sink wash prior to bagging the bags)

[Oldgreybeard]

One thing I liked about working in North America was that supermarket bags were invariably paper sacks, rather than plastic carriers. Bit more awkward to carry, but it did mean a lot less plastic film waste. That was about 25 years ago though, so whether they still use the strong paper bags or not I don't know.

[Bugtownboy]

May have posted this before, but this is indicative of our weekly ‘black bin’ rubbish - I’m sure we could reduce it more, but I just can’t see it getting to zero.



We’re in Somerset too, so have similar roadside collections as the article, which really support high rates of recycling.

Thin film is taken to Tesco whenever.

Any kitchen waste (no ‘food’) is composted. Bones/Carcasses are put out in the food bin, but only after being made into stock.

[marshman]

One thing I liked about working in North America was that supermarket bags were invariably paper sacks, rather than plastic carriers. Bit more awkward to carry, but it did mean a lot less plastic film waste. That was about 25 years ago though, so whether they still use the strong paper bags or not I don't know.

Depends what you are trying to achieve. Less plastic waste in the environment OR reduction in GHG emissions. Paper bags generally have a higher CO2(e) than equivalent plastic ones, and are often not that reusable and suffer if they get wet. Plastic carriers can be reused multiple times and at end of life can be dealt with if they enter the correct waste stream.

This is from "How Bad are Bananas" by Mike Berners-Lee:

Plastic Carriers:

Very Lightweight: 3g CO2(e)
Heavier Supermarket type: 10g CO2(e)
Supermarket "Bag for Life": 50g CO2(e)

Paper:

Lightweight recycled: 12g CO2(e)
"Fashion Bag" from virgin paper: 80g CO2(e)

CO2(e) = is CO2 + other emissions such as Methane (CH4) & Nitrous Oxide (N2O)

[nowty]

CO2(e) = is CO2 + other emissions such as Methane (CH4) & Nitrous Oxide (N2O)

Its explained in more detail here,
https://ecometrica.com/assets/GHGs-CO2- ... n-v2.1.pdf

[Mr Gus]

Anyone notice amazon using thick paper bags to replace some boxes!?

Good move, about 10% the bulk of cardboard boxes when repurposing / recycling, wifes order of camo cohesive bandages (dog ripped out a claw, was down to the last roll, blood stopper swabs dried up, .. didn't want to use my shaving styptic pencil, ..too harsh on open wound) meant compression for a good hour & waiting for the gusher to clot) ..delivered this morning repurposed as a food scraps / green waste bag in seconds, ..compared to ripping a card box & trying to remove the plastic & paper tape, then tearing to fit box in recyclables / composting bin.

Tank will look dandy in his camo fleece bodywarmer (single fur layer ..so they feel the cold) & choice of 12 camo cohesive bandages on his hind leg.
.. "wounded little soldier"

We need green waste recycling to get up to speed on those cellulose bags asap, improving the rejection rate.

[Oldgreybeard]

One thing I liked about working in North America was that supermarket bags were invariably paper sacks, rather than plastic carriers. Bit more awkward to carry, but it did mean a lot less plastic film waste. That was about 25 years ago though, so whether they still use the strong paper bags or not I don't know.

Depends what you are trying to achieve. Less plastic waste in the environment OR reduction in GHG emissions. Paper bags generally have a higher CO2(e) than equivalent plastic ones, and are often not that reusable and suffer if they get wet. Plastic carriers can be reused multiple times and at end of life can be dealt with if they enter the correct waste stream.

This is from "How Bad are Bananas" by Mike Berners-Lee:

Plastic Carriers:

Very Lightweight: 3g CO2(e)
Heavier Supermarket type: 10g CO2(e)
Supermarket "Bag for Life": 50g CO2(e)

Paper:

Lightweight recycled: 12g CO2(e)
"Fashion Bag" from virgin paper: 80g CO2(e)

CO2(e) = is CO2 + other emissions such as Methane (CH4) & Nitrous Oxide (N2O)

Thanks for that, I'd wrongly assumed that paper would be better than plastic, but had never bothered to look at it in depth. Surprising just how carbon intensive making paper is, I'd never have guessed this, I just felt intuitively that plastic must be bad, paper must be good.