Karen Carnard’s Zero Waste WeekHer Story
ZWIA 2009: Manila
Maxine Narburgh, Bright Green, UK
The Beginning
I HATE MY BIN!It’s too heavy, too smelly And too FULL!
New Year’s Resolution
JAN 2008
Must reduce our waste
Recycled EVERYTHINGBut still had 1 ½ bags per week
I really SHOULD do something about it!
Extracts of Karen Cannard presentation of The Rubbish Diet: http://therubbishdiet.blogspot.com/
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Zero Waste Week Challenge
• No landfill rubbish for one whole week• Could Recycle and Compost• Seven weeks to prepare• Request from council to become a Community Champion
• Featured on Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour• A very daunting challenge in moreways than one!
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Thinking about rubbish
• Where does it come from?• Where does it go?• What is its impact on the environment?
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Where does rubbish come from?
What we buy or get for free!
Carrier bags, Packaging, Receipts, Disposable items, Magazines, Leaflets, Junk Mail, Telephone Directories.
Things that break/become obsolete!
Toys, accessories, electronic gadgets, CDs, DVDs.
Food that’s wasted!
Leftovers; out‐of‐date food; gone‐off food. In the UK we throw away 6.7 million tonnes of wasted food per year.
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Where does it go in Suffolk?
Landfill tax: £40 per tonne
Fine: £150 per tonne over allowance
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• Biodegradable waste, e.g. food, dirty nappies, paper: creates Methane Gas ‐ A GHG ‐ 23 x (72x) as powerful as CO2
• Leachate: toxins running into water table, diminishes bio‐diversity.
• Waste blown away from the landfill, impacts wildlife.
The Environment?
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1. Analyse my own rubbish.
2. Find out what could be recycled. Check with the council/Recycle Now & check packaging.
3. Set up a convenient recycling system at home as well as a routine to visit the HWRC.
4. REDUCE what could NOT be recycled or REUSEthings wherever possible.
What could I do?
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The Motivation
• The goal of an empty bin.
• Imagining burying our rubbish in our own garden.
The Motivation
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• SHOPPING: Reusable bags & containers; Ditched clingfilm; Chose loose produce; discovered unpackaged products.
• CLEANING: Reusable cloths instead of kitchen roll; reduced range of products; switched to refillable products; washing balls.
How I slimmed my bin
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Including the stuff I never used to recycle before:
• Plastic meat trays: In blue bin• Tetra Pak Cartons: At the HWRC• Yoghurt Pots: In blue bin• Plastic bags: Supermarkets \ HWRC• Food bags, e.g. Pasta bags: HWRC• Aerosol cans, e.g. deodorants: HWRC• Plastic plant pots: Wyevale garden centre
Recycled EVERYTHING
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• Bought fewer perishable items during each shop.• Avoided the things I would regularly waste, e.g. melons and pineapples.
• Cooked more of what the children liked.• Reduced portion sizes.• Used up leftovers.• Fed more scraps to the cats and the birds.• Bought a wormery and a Bokashi bin.
Reduced Food Waste
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• Bokashi food waste.• Floor sweepings.• Vacuum cleaner contents.• Cotton wool.
Composted more
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• Fewer packaged snacks: i.e. snack bars, crisps. More Fruit.
• Changed products: cooked less pasta and rice in favour of more potatoes.
• Cooked more homemade cakes.• Switched to products with less packaging; from teabags to shampoos.
Reduced packaging
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Personal Care
• Switched from liquid soap to soap bars.• Made own liquid soap.• Shampoo bars.• Washable sanitary products.• Cotton buds with paper sticks.• Wooden toothbrushes.
Personal Care
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Progress over 7 weeks
3rd Feb 2008 17th Feb 2008 2nd March 2008 9th March 2008
Orange bag: plastic bags separated from other rubbish
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Zero Waste WeekThe results of Zero Waste Week
Just one plaster!
17th March 2008
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Zero Waste WeekAfter the Zero Waste Week
To be continued...
• Worked with WRAP on Zero Waste pledges• Involved with national recycling campaigns• Supported a village community to go Zero Waste for a week (Wenhaston)
• Provided a model for Suffolk County Council to secure funding as a Zero Waste place.
• Zero Waste blog, the www.rubbishdiet.co.uk
http://www.rubbishdiet.co.uk/
Karen Carnard’s Zero Waste Week�Her StoryThe BeginningZero Waste Week ChallengeThinking about rubbishWhere does rubbish come from?Where does it go in Suffolk?The Environment?What could I do?The MotivationHow I slimmed my binRecycled EVERYTHINGReduced Food WasteComposted moreReduced packagingPersonal CareProgress over 7 weeksZero Waste WeekZero Waste Week