I’m working towards zero waste
We are a throwaway society - when I was growing up we kept hold of what we had
Avril
Meet Avril, from Hartcliffe
“We are a throwaway society and that doesn’t sit well with me. When I was growing up we made do with what we had and we kept hold of it. My children used to laugh at me and say “Mum how long have you had this?”, but I think if it still works or if you can fix it, you shouldn’t be throwing it away.”
A passionate activist in her community, Avril has always tried to recycle, but now recognises there is more to be done and is learning new ways of doing things.
Pack it in
Lowering your home’s waste starts at the front door – with what you bring in.
Avril encountered a problem we will all no doubt be familiar with in her attempt to avoid products with lots of packaging – there’s lots of it.
“It’s not until you really try that you realise how difficult it is to buy things not wrapped in plastic – it’s on almost everything!
“Just after Easter I was in a supermarket and I thought I’d treat myself to some chocolate. They had lots of discounted Easter eggs – but so much packaging!”
“I took it all off and I left it behind for the supermarket to dispose of. I felt a bit naughty doing it but I thought if we all started doing things like that, then the people making these products would soon have to make a change and stop putting so much plastic on things. I think to some extent we should all be protesting about it by doing things like that.”
Wriggle me this
Reducing her household’s waste aside, Avril was also drawn to Bristol Waste’s #WasteNothing challenge at the chance of being gifted her own wormery!
“I thought it was a good way to have some fun with my grandson in a way where we can both learn something. Previously I had my own compost bin and it was pretty successful and it somehow got worms in there. But I developed a back problem and the door is low down on the ground so I couldn’t really get to it easily anymore. The wormery was therefore something I could do to get reconnected with that sort of thing.
“Taking part in the challenge really spurred me to go that extra mile. Although I didn’t get right down to zero waste overall, there were lots of weeks where I did reach zero and that was great!”
“I live on my own so I don’t generate a lot , but I’m doing my absolute best not to waste anything now. I’ve recently got myself a worktop composter for my vegetable peelings and scraps too.
“My journey towards zero waste so far has been brilliant. Now I try to recycle everything with whatever option there is – I even take my crisp packets to Tesco. They are the only supermarket that takes them for recycling but I think all the supermarkets should do this.”
I’m working towards zero waste
We are a throwaway society - when I was growing up we kept hold of what we had
Avril
Meet Avril, from Hartcliffe
“We are a throwaway society and that doesn’t sit well with me. When I was growing up we made do with what we had and we kept hold of it. My children used to laugh at me and say “Mum how long have you had this?”, but I think if it still works or if you can fix it, you shouldn’t be throwing it away.”
A passionate activist in her community, Avril has always tried to recycle, but now recognises there is more to be done and is learning new ways of doing things.
Pack it in
Lowering your home’s waste starts at the front door – with what you bring in.
Avril encountered a problem we will all no doubt be familiar with in her attempt to avoid products with lots of packaging – there’s lots of it.
“It’s not until you really try that you realise how difficult it is to buy things not wrapped in plastic – it’s on almost everything!
“Just after Easter I was in a supermarket and I thought I’d treat myself to some chocolate. They had lots of discounted Easter eggs – but so much packaging!”
“I took it all off and I left it behind for the supermarket to dispose of. I felt a bit naughty doing it but I thought if we all started doing things like that, then the people making these products would soon have to make a change and stop putting so much plastic on things. I think to some extent we should all be protesting about it by doing things like that.”
Wriggle me this
Reducing her household’s waste aside, Avril was also drawn to Bristol Waste’s #WasteNothing challenge at the chance of being gifted her own wormery!
“I thought it was a good way to have some fun with my grandson in a way where we can both learn something. Previously I had my own compost bin and it was pretty successful and it somehow got worms in there. But I developed a back problem and the door is low down on the ground so I couldn’t really get to it easily anymore. The wormery was therefore something I could do to get reconnected with that sort of thing.
“Taking part in the challenge really spurred me to go that extra mile. Although I didn’t get right down to zero waste overall, there were lots of weeks where I did reach zero and that was great!”
“I live on my own so I don’t generate a lot , but I’m doing my absolute best not to waste anything now. I’ve recently got myself a worktop composter for my vegetable peelings and scraps too.
“My journey towards zero waste so far has been brilliant. Now I try to recycle everything with whatever option there is – I even take my crisp packets to Tesco. They are the only supermarket that takes them for recycling but I think all the supermarkets should do this.”