Tuesday 19th January - Recycling day

Today's task is to get the recycling sorted out as it has attained a life of its own in the pantry.

We have been recycling for some years now, and were lucky enough in the UK to live in one of the first regions to have kerb side recycling schemes for our glass, tins, paper and garden waste.

Now we recycle even more and have reduced our landfill waste to one 40 litre bin liner a month - or as Bren would have it - I have just taken to hoarding more stuff.

I only throw out what I really cannot use, so our bin mostly has unrecyclable plastic in it.

All of our food waste goes to the animals or as a last resort to the compost bin - which the chickens like to raid anyway.
No material gets wasted - what can be reused goes for the dog's bed or the draught excluders, zips and buttons are kept, and the rest goes for rags.
With wood burners every little bit of paper is zealously guarded for fire lighters.
Glass bottles with screw tops and jars are all reused for my pickles, oils and sauces.
Yoghurt pots are either used for freezer pots or for seedlings in the garden, and clear plastic tubs make good propagators for spring too.
I wash and reuse the plastic bags that you buy your fruit in here in France and those little net bags that the clementines and oranges come in too.

I could say that I am being really green - but Brendan just believes it is because I am really really tight - Thanks Bren.