I will post later with a photo of our black bin for the last fortnight. I have been amazed at how much, as a family, we have been able to reduce landfill waste. My children are now hesitant to put anything in the black bin and leave me little presents by the side to sort out (usually it can all be recycled). My partner last night was ripping metal off some cardboard, so both could be recycled. My brother in law took back tins from the cinema to recycle at home rather than put in waste. None of this would have happened before starting the challenge!
Things we have not been able to recycle: empty toothpaste tubes (after thinking maybe you could, seems like you can’t) – apparently the pump action ones are better and can go in plastic recycling; sanitary products – these have made up quite a proportion of our waste (3/5 of our house are female) – there are re-useable/washable alternatives which my partner is looking into getting – my daughters not so keen at the moment; those little packets you get in stuff you buy that stops it getting damp or something.
I meant to look through one of the School of Education bins last week but forgot, I want to do this on Wednesday.
Another thing I wanted to research is what happens to my recycling. A search on that led me to this (Bath) council web page, which seemed quite convincing about what they do with the things they recycle: https://www.bathnes.gov.uk/services/bins-rubbish-and-recycling/recycling-and-rubbish-collections/what-happens-materials-we
If we can sustain low levels going to landfill, reducing what we put in recycling seems like our next challenge …
