Rubbish Free Day

This week I took up the Recycling Week challenge and pledged to spend a day of zero waste. As I take my recycling seriously there was only one option open to me – don’t throw anything away.

I thought that it would be easy to do so for just one day but it is surprising how much we casually toss into the bin without thinking.

I started the day by avoiding changing the children as both were in a disposable nappy overnight. I had to let Mr Kat take that one on his rubbish count for the day. Nappies and changing were a challenge and this is how I dealt with them: reusable nappies for both kids, flushable liners for solids and reusable wipes. (A side note – I really need to get some new re-usable wipes as the ones I have are not great but I’ve heard great things about Cheeky Wipes.) This was fine until we went out and I realised I had forgotten to bring some in the changing bag – thank goodness there was no need to change either child.

I had planned ahead with our food and made sure that all purchases were packaging free. At first I thought this would mean going meat or fish free but by taking my own containers to the shops our purchases were appropriately packaged to transport and store. Vegetables were all bought from loose selections at either the farmers market or supermarket. I have gotten into the habit of using Ocado as with a newborn and toddler it really is a life line for my sanity. I quickly realised that this would not work as nearly all fresh produce comes packed in unnecessary cellophane – Ocado sort it out! The only issue with food was unusable toddler leftovers – can’t compost and can’t re-purpose in another meal. The only solution I could think of was a pig (but I don’t have one so they went in the bin – boo!).

The rest of my day passed without incident and I managed an almost blemish free waste free day. Spending time thinking about avoiding landfill waste has opened my eyes to how much we throw away despite being a high-recycling household. We will be thinking twice about where we get our shopping delivery (yes Ocado, I am considering leaving you as a customer) and I will be moving away from the few disposables we use on the children. I have also made a decision to give up bottled water for good. I just can’t justify the environmental cost, back to crap tap water for me.

Head on over to The Rubbish Diet to find out what other bloggers have been doing for Recycle Week.