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2014 Zero Waste Week in a van

by Posted in 4.3 My Projects Tagged 1 Comment

From the 1-7th of September I took part in zerowaste week. The general aim of this week is to send nothing to landfill however I am nothing if not pedantic. Zerowaste means just that! So I sent nothing to be recycled either!

What is Zero Waste Week

Zero Waste Week is an opportunity to reduce landfill waste & save money.

It is in its seventh year and runs from the 1st to the 7th of September

here’s a link to the zero waste website

My pledge

This year the theme is “One More Thing” My “one more thing” is the recycle bin! I will only create compostable rubbish.

Which means I will put put nothing in my black bin or my green bin. I will send nothing to landfill AND nothing to be recycled. That means no plastic, no tins, no glass and no paper.

I only want to make waste that I can dispose of myself. The two methods of waste manageent available to me are composting and burning.

But I will not compost or burn anything that could be recycled.

The rubbish I will create will be  compostable  and food related- potato peelings and the like and that’s not waste but plant food!

The Others 

Of course its not just me  doing it- there are loads of bloggers doing all kinds of stuff. You can find them herded together in one easy to access place here: http://www.netvibes.com/myzerowaste#Ambassadors

and listen to them wittering – sorry twittering – on on the twitter hashtag #zerowasteweek
If you want to join in you can make a pledge here on the zero waste website. If you decide to blog about it you can decorate your blog or  post with various buttons, if you don’t you can print off posters for your living walls (easy tiger!) with these links posters and pdfs http://www.zerowasteweek.co.uk/tools/

2014

My goal was to create only compostable waste. I DID IT!

For one week, I didn’t put any rubbish in the landfill bin NOR in the recycling bin.

The only waste created was vegetable peelings. We used one ready packaged item, flour for the chapattis. All other food we bought loose in reusable packaging – either plastic tubs or cloths produce bags.

It wasn’t a week of bread and water either. We had everything from smoked salmon to bacon, chocolate to fresh ground coffee.

You can see our daily menu here and our packaging free food options here

We went without milk, cheese and yogurt. If we had been at home we could have had milk in a glass bottle from out milk man, made our own yoghurt and bought cheese unwrapped from the market. You can check out our Dairy options here.

Because we are traveling in a van we have been unable to do this.

Tins were out so we had to cook without tinned tomatos. I didnt actually think this was possible but it is.

We also went without glass jars and bottles. No mayo, mustard, ketchup or honey. We had some van made van jam which was easy to do. I think my next challenge will be to learn how to make sauce.

We also went without wine – bottles of that is. There are some wine refill places in the UK but none where we were – sigh!

We have bought most of the stuff from small local shops so we don’t even have many till receipts! And we managed to avoid the horrid stickers on fruit but I admit we choose carefully and picked off the  unmarked bananas. Which leads me to ask – is it only supermarkets that sticker up fruit?

As for toothpaste, suntan lotion, moisturizer and the like, we make our own. You can find out how we stay so pretty plastic free here.

Ahhh the delights of Ullapool. Stocked up with lovely food all bought loose and in reusable packaging. Check out the treats…..

Day 3
Start the day with black tea with or without powdered milk – which we continue to drink throughout.

Zerowaste breakfast

  • Croissants and melon from Tesco
  • Coffee

Lunch

Smoked salmon and avocado sandwiches  served with cucumber followed by flap jack pudding

Dinner

  • bangers and mash

You might be wondering what I do for toothpaste and the like? Well I make my own and have stocked up for the holiday. I store it in reusable jars.

Day $

Start the day with black tea with or without powdered milk – which we continue to drink throughout.

Zerowaste breakfast

  • Omlette – very egg based diet this is turning out to be
  • Coffee

Got  lucky today bought a lovely cauliflower naked and unwrapped, an avocado and that rarest of veges, an unwrapped cucumber. Plus a decent loaf of bread.
Lunch

  • Cucumber and tomato salad with lemon juice
  • Mashed avacado salad

Open sandwiches

Dinner

  • Vege sauce (from day 1) with mashed spuds

You can a recipe for zero waste salad dressing here

Start the day with black tea with or without powdered milk – which we continue to drink throughout.

Zerowaste breakfast

  • Eggy bread – eggs from the roadside bread rolls bought loose from the Spar.
  • Coffee

Lunch

  • Van soup made from a medly of veg – carrots leeks parsnips potatoes thickened with lentils.

Dinner

  • Vege stew

I managed to get all of the above loose and unpackaged and I used in my reusable bags when I bought them.

Landfill/ Recyclable Waste Created  None

A Zero Waste Week

by Posted in 4.3 My Projects Tagged

Start the day with black tea with or without powdered milk – which we continue to drink throughout.

Zerowaste breakfast

  • porridge
  • coffee
  • Chocolate beans

Lunch

van soup – anything that is looking a bit sad and needs eating up thickened with lentils and bulked up with potatoes.

Dinner

Finally got to use my cauliflower. With some trepidation I made a curry. I was nervous because I had very few spices – fresh garlic ginger and chilies and some powdered turmeric. Still I bunged them all in and actually it wasn’t half bad. We had it with homemade chapatis

The flour for the chapattis was the only product we bought ready packed in a paper bag.

I managed to get all of the above loose and unpackaged and I used  my reusable bags when I bought them.

Landfill/ Recyclable Waste Created  None

Getting close to the end now – good job as we are running out of powdered milk!

Start the day with black tea with or without powdered milk – which we continue to drink throughout.

Zerowaste breakfast

  •  bread, butter and van jam
  • Coffee

Normally I spread honey on my bread but I have given up glass jars with metal (plastic lined lids) for plastic-free July. So now what? Van jam!

Travelling through the verdant countryside we have come across many PYO fruit farms. We have had a surfeit of strawberries a brace of black currants and more raspberries than you can shake a stick at.

However it seems soft fruit doesn’t last well in the clammy warmth of the van ( our current home)  and by day three it is going mushy. Can’t bear waste, can’t bear mushy fruit, got no honey – time to start preserving.

 

 

I bought some jam sugar and a lemon.

Added equal weight of jam to fruit. Boiled it up in an enamel bowl (DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME it was rather scary and next time I will make more and use the pan.)

Waited till it went thick.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Put it in a kilner jar. Ta da!

Was so impressed with myself I made peach jam the next day.

Lunch

  • melon and tangerines

Dinner

  • Pork, apple sauce and mash.

I buy my butter in what I hope is greaseproof paper. The jam we made in the van.

Day 5

Zerowaste breakfast

Lunch

  • Omlette
  • Croissant with melon

Dinner

  • Bolognaise sauce from yesterday transformed into chile and served with rice

I bought my rice loose but if you can’t to that you can buy white rice from Lidles in a cardboard box.

Back in the hills but well stocked with food from Ullapool!

Day 4

Start the day with black tea with or without powdered milk – which we continue to drink throughout.

Zerowaste breakfast

Lunch

Smoked fish and avocado

Dinner

Spaghetti bolonaise

I bought the oats loose from Wholefood Market but if you don’t have one near you, you can buy them in cardboard or paper packaging.

Day 3

Ahhh the delights of Ullapool. Stocked up with lovely food all bought loose and in reusable packaging. Check out the treats…..

Start the day with black tea with or without powdered milk – which we continue to drink throughout.

Zerowaste breakfast

  • Croissants and melon from Tesco
  • Coffee

Lunch

Smoked salmon and avocado sandwiches  served with cucumber followed by flap jack pudding

Dinner

  • bangers and mash

You might be wondering what I do for toothpaste and the like? Well I make my own and have stocked up for the holiday. I store it in reusable jars.

Day $

Start the day with black tea with or without powdered milk – which we continue to drink throughout.

Zerowaste breakfast

  • Omlette – very egg based diet this is turning out to be
  • Coffee

Got  lucky today bought a lovely cauliflower naked and unwrapped, an avocado and that rarest of veges, an unwrapped cucumber. Plus a decent loaf of bread.
Lunch

  • Cucumber and tomato salad with lemon juice
  • Mashed avacado salad

Open sandwiches

Dinner

  • Vege sauce (from day 1) with mashed spuds

You can a recipe for zero waste salad dressing here

Start the day with black tea with or without powdered milk – which we continue to drink throughout.

Zerowaste breakfast

  • Eggy bread – eggs from the roadside bread rolls bought loose from the Spar.
  • Coffee

Lunch

  • Van soup made from a medly of veg – carrots leeks parsnips potatoes thickened with lentils.

Dinner

  • Vege stew

I managed to get all of the above loose and unpackaged and I used in my reusable bags when I bought them.

Landfill/ Recyclable Waste Created  None

Zero Waste Week

by Posted in 3.5 Plastic Free People, Projects & Campaigns Tagged , 1 Comment

For a number of years now I have been a zero waste ambassador. Here are some quick zero waste week facts!

  • Zero waste week is organized by Rae Strauss
  • It has been since 2008.
  • This year runs the first full week in September.
  • The aim is to cut the trash going to landfill.
  • Each year there’s a theme

Visit the website here.
Click here for Zero Waste week

Of course its not just me  doing it- there are loads of bloggers doing all kinds of stuff. You can find them herded together in one easy to access place on the Zero Waste website and listen to them wittering – sorry twittering – on on the twitter hashtag #zerowasteweek

If you want to join in you can make a pledge here on the zero waste website. If you decide to blog about it you can decorate your blog or  post with various buttons, if you don’t you can print off posters for your living walls (easy tiger!) with these links posters and pdfs

See how I did in …

2016
My zero waste week has been a celebration of loose and unwrapped food. As bought from supermarkets! Is that even possible? There followed a week of eating-plastic-free -but- only-buying- from – supermarkets. It can be done. You can read about it here

2015

Think you can’t be Zero waste  when backpacking? I did it in China – see how here

2014
1-7th of September The aim this week wass to send nothing to landfill however I am nothing if not pedantic. Zerowaste means just that! So I sent nothing to be recycled either! You can see how I did here.