Cutting the glut

"Where can I take my recyclables?" Unfortunately the enthusiasm of first-time recyclers all too frequently wears thin after struggling to find information. Well help is on its way - we've compiled some simple examples from our own experience and have included updated information which will hopefully be of assistance...

From our experience the best approach to dealing with all the "waste" in our homes/schools/workplaces is to turn the problem upside down and to start thinking differently. If you start to re-think the way in which you do things and reduce the amount of waste you create - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Repurpose, Repair and Regift - then you will soon experience less clutter in the home which contributes to greater peace of mind and, as a bonus, you'll discover ways to unleash your inner creativity!

Here are 5 thoughts and pointers based on our experience:

1) Before rushing out to buy more things - stop and ask yourself - do I really need more things?

We have found this topic to be the most important one of all. Think ahead before you go shopping and consider whether you really need that new product before you buy it.

Our general approach is first to look at what we've already got lying around in our home - it takes a bit of practice but after a while you can

really start to see things with a new and creative eye - envisaging its repurposing potential. Often you have just the thing you need without even realising it.

Take for example this brilliant braai which the previous owners of our home installed - instead of buying a new braai they made use of a truck and a car wheel set into each other and topped it off with a grid. How's that for creative - and it works like a dream - take our word for it!

Another example is our repurposed fondue set. We didn't have a fondue pot and loved having fondues so instead of buying a fondue pot we decided to make use of a small black potjie instead. Now when we're not making a potjie, we're have fondues with a lovely African touch.

And how about a creative soap-dish? After moving to our new home we realised that we needed a soap-dish but didn't think it was worth buying a dedicated soap-dish so we looked through our things and found this lovely decorative shell which we now use in the bathroom. We also make use of a shell to hold our cotton buds

As a final simple example - we didn't have anywhere to put all our large outdoor tools and gardening things and didn't have hundreds of rands to invest in a garden storage facility, so we simply took a piece of green plastics netting, wrapped it two times around in a cylinder, cut a few slits near the base, folded the pieces back and tied them together with garden ties.

As you can see it isn't exactly rocket-science but it sure can be fun :) By adopting this simple habit you'll soon come to realise just how abundantly oversupplied our homes already are and, like us, you'll most likely start to relish the opportunity to use your imagination and simultaneously become very reluctant to add to the glut. More things just pollute the earth, take up more space and clutter up your home. As it is, we already feel we have too many things - the more things you have, the more you have to take care of and life is way too short to waste it worrying about "things".

2) If you need to buy something - try to buy fresh, unprocessed local products

Not only are fresh, unprocessed foods better for you since they have fewer additives and preservatives, but fewer resources (e.g. water and energy) have generally been expended during the product lifecycle. The fresher the product, the more likely that you'll also be supporting a local producer which is not only better for the environment, but it's also good for the local economy.

3) Before buying things - stop and consider how you will deal with its associated waste issues

Rather buy goods in bulk, as refills, as concentrates or in reusable containers and avoid over-packaged products. A note on bulk products, however, this is only woth doing if you are able to use the larger amount up prior to the expiry date and if the bulk amount has less packaging. Why buy something with excess packaging and make your own life difficult? As a practical example rather buy "loose" tomatoes using the rolls of plastic baglets which you can then use again for freezing things, as a bin liner or a myriad of other uses, rather than buying tomatoes on a styrafoam/plastic tray with a cling-film wrap. Although even these items can also be reused as you can see in the photo to the right illustrating one of the numerous little ex-strawberry styrafoam watering-stations dotted all over our house for Tigger's convenience. Similar trays can also be used to give gift cookies and other items to friends.

Once you get used to this way of thinking you'll soon be seeing the hidden potential of packaging.

Glass jars, for example, are great for storing home-made biscuits, jams, chutneys, juices and other experimental concotions. To illustrate, here (left) we've bottled home-made chutney, strawberry jam and peach juice in reused bottles.

Other items such as icecream tubs make wonderful storage containers. Here, for example, are some of our reused icecream tubs used to store hair accessories (left), onions and cat food (centre left and right) and seeds (right - the seeds themselves are also stored in reused labelled envelopes).

As you may be suspecting, we used to buy quite a lot of icecream :) before we started making our own home-made preservative-free icecream and have collected many of these wonderful containers over the years. Icecream containers can also be used, together with yoghurt tubs, old seed trays, egg cartons and boxes, (2 left-most photos below), toilet rolls (left-most photo), tins (third from left) and even old newspapers, as trays for starting seedlings for a veggie patch or even for starting a little plant which can, with an added bow, be given as a charming little live gift to a friend.

We've also found that old wooden icecream sticks (left-most and right-most photos above) make excellent plant-markers - simply write the plant number/name on the stick using a waterproof pen and away you go - no mess, no fuss. When it evenually rots you can simply add it to your compost bin. On the topic of plants - when next you feel the urge to buy veggie seeds why not stop and have a look in your kitchen? We have hundreds of seeds in the form of shop-bought fruits and veggies in our homes every day!

4) Be prepared before you go shopping

Plan ahead to either reuse plastic bags when you go shopping or better still - take a more durable non-plastic bag, tub or basket (hint: return them to your bag or car straight after emptying the contents - that way they'll always be at hand and you'll also save money).

5) Develop a strategy for dealing with your waste at home

Waste in the home is inevitable so the best idea is to develop some sort of strategy for dealing with it. Aside from the ideas already mentioned, our suggestions are to:

• Compost your kitchen scraps and/or start a worm farm. Actually it's surprisingly easy to adjust to separating your organic waste into a different bin/bins, and once you discover just how easy it is to transform this "waste" into a valuable resource, then you'll wish you'd started sooner! You can find out more about the fascinating world of worms by exploring the Green Lifesyle: Composting section of the Going Green Links or by searching the Composting category of the Going Green Directory where you will find the contact details of businesses who sell worm farming kits.
• If the item isn't compostable, then first have a bash at repairing it. Repairing an old pair of shoes for example, is often much more affordable than buying a new pair.
• If you can't fix it, try using it for a different purpose or consider giving it to a charity shop or directly to someone in need who may have further use for it (one person's waste is indeed another person's treasure - you will be surprised). In fact, often an additonal way of dealing with all this glut is something called "re-gifting". Often we have item we don't really like or need but others would love them. Often we have to get over our own personal prejudices about items and realise that just because we don't appreciate something doesn't mean nobody wants or needs it. If your "waste" is actually still in good condition, there may be people who are looking for exactly what you consider "waste" - keep an open mind and regift it by posting a free ad in the Going Green Exchange. The Going Green Exchange is a FREE recycling advertising platform to offer or request free items and meet people all over Africa. Join us, free yourself and "cut the glut" OR "unleash your inner creativity"! Start today and participate in an exchange - make a new friend and discover Africa's greatest treasure.
  
  
• If you're not interested in giving the item away, then consider selling or swapping it through the smalls (online or in the paper) or online auction sites.
• Before getting someone else to help, you can still find links to general information about recycling, as well as links to websites with lists of recycling companies and drop-off centres for recyclables including cans, electronic waste and metals, glass, hazardous waste, paper, plastics and tyres on the next page of this article or in the Green home and Office: Waste section of the Going Green Links. You can also find out about upcoming recycling campaigns by consulting our African Green Events Notice Board or by visiting Clean-Up South Africa.
• If you still can't find what you're looking for and you're looking for assistance (e.g. a collection service), then you can find various recycling businesses in the Waste & Recycling category of the Going Green Directory. There may well be somebody collecting right there in your area. If not, then please contact your municipality or chamber of business to find out what recycling options are available locally. Even if there is little or nothing available, it will at least have the added benefit of making them aware of a rising demand for recycling - a small step in the right direction.
• If all else fails, then make use of the information in the rest of this article to locate your nearest recycling and/or refuse site.