Slightly off my usual topic of gardening, but related to the eco-theme:
Bin bags and household bins.
How many of you think you are recycling plastic bags when you use them once as a rubbish bag to contain waste from your kitchen (Or other household bins) to the actual bin?

Unless your council is forcing you to put out bin bags still, you don’t need to wrap your rubbish in plastic to put it inside another bin.
Think about how many carrier bags you use a week to line bins? Assume you empty bins once a week and you have three bins then that’s 150 carrier bags you are sending to the tip.

If you have a wicker bin then you might not want to put anything wet or food waste into it – but I’d recommend you don’t put nasty stuff straight into the bin anyway. Rinse out meat trays and leave them to drain before throwing them away. If you have food waste then harass your local council until you have a food waste collection.
Your kitchen bin is probably a sturdy plastic container that has no holes in the bottom. This is perfectly suitable for using as a bin without the addition of a liner.

Stop wasting plastic bags – put your rubbish straight into a bin and then empty this in to your wheely bin without wasting hundreds of plastic bags a year.

Reuse plastic bags by using them as bags for carrying things back from the shop.
Don’t be afraid of asking people to not give you a bag – take your own and pack your own stuff into a bag you’re reusing.
Always carry a couple of bags for life with you. Keep a few in the car in case you end up out shopping

Please don’t waste carrier bags and bin liners by sending them to landfill. If we all stop doing this then we will be massively reducing the amount of landfill waste we have.

If you end up with a huge bag of carriers at home then you need to start taking some back out with you when you’re shopping.

If I don’t have enough bags out with me when I am shopping then I ask for a cardboard box. These have plenty of uses in my house – for collecting up items for sending to the local jumble sale, for storage of items and for using on my allotment as weed suppressant.
Fold up bags neatly and put some in your everyday bag or coat.
Once you get into the habit you’ll realise just how many bags you’ve been wasting over the years.
Our local supermarket has a proper carrier bag recycling container too – this means they get turned into something useful rather than ending up in landfill.

Please share this blog post with your friends and on facebook to spread the word about not wasting plastic bags!

Diane