What is the problem with our waste?

In nature, there is no waste, as what isn’t useful to one creature will be useful to another. However we humans have created waste which can’t be used up naturally and causes imbalances in nature. Plus we are producing it in great quantities, at every stage along the production process of any item.

Our waste pollutes land, air and sea along the way to our homes. Then after disposal it continues to pollute. In landfill rubbish gives off methane a very potent greenhouse gas. When rubbish is incinerated it gives off CO2, which is another greenhouse gas. Watch the Story of Stuff video below, to find out more about the problems with waste

How can taking part in Zero Waste Week help to solve the waste problem in our homes?

Every year there is a different theme outlining positive actions that we can take to reduce waste in our homes.

Themes have included doing one more thing (2014) i.e. take one zero waste action, swapping disposables for reusables (2015) and keeping a food waste diary (2016) and tackling climate change (2019) .

I have taken part for years and have found that it totally changed my attitude towards my rubbish habit. We send a lot less to landfill these days. We are a family of 4 and we only need to put our bins out every few weeks.

Who founded Zero Waste Week?

Zero Waste Week was founded by Rachelle Strauss back in September 2008. She took on a challenge to send zero waste to landfill for a week and shared the challenge on a blog with her readers.

Her green journey started before that though. She was inspired to go green when she was pregnant and after being caught in a scary situation in flash floods with her daughter. To find out more read my interview with Rachelle here: Interview with Rachelle Strauss

When is zero waste week?

Zero waste week always takes place in the first full week of September. This year it runs from the 7th to 11th September 2020.

How can you take part?

• Sign up to the campaign here: Zero Waste Week Sign up. Once you sign up, you will receive all the information you need to take part each year.
• Join the Facebook Group: Zero Waste Week Heroes
• Check out the Ambassador page to discover bloggers who write on Zero Waste related themes (spot me at the bottom!)

Is taking part in Zero Waste Week enough to solve our rubbish problem?

The waste we produce at our end, in our homes is significant. We need to cut out waste in every area and it does make sense to start with what we have control over. No-one else can do it for us!

That said, there are areas where it is difficult to reduce waste. Plus as I mentioned earlier that the rubbish problem starts well before a product reaches our homes, so changing our own habits enough?

The theory of boycotting wasteful products and seeking out ones that come with less waste, was that companies would change to meet demand. That is happening, companies are changing and new zero waste businesses are springing up all over the place. There are now hundreds of zero waste shops in the UK, stocking all kinds of locally and ethically made zero waste products!

Change has to start somewhere. Let’s start it in the areas we can control!

Find out about more eco awareness campaigns here: Environmental awareness days, weeks and months

The post Zero Waste Week – a beginners guide appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.

Yesterday the 3rd Shomo Conference and Award ceremony took place in London and I won an award! Woo hoo – thanks judges. I also won a bottle of champagne in a lucky draw. It was obviously my lucky day!

I didn’t go to the conference expecting to win anything (although it was a definite bonus). I went because I wanted to meet up with other money minded bloggers and to learn stuff. Andy Webb, the guy who runs the Shomo’s has done an amazing job of building a community of money bloggers and of running a brilliant conference and awards ceremony. Andy doesn’t do it alone, there are lots of people helping him including his wife and various money bloggers and I want to say thank you to all of them for all the hard work they put into it!

During the day I went to two break out sessions. One was about self publishing and the other was about running online courses. Thank you for all the great tips Di Coke of Super Lucky and Emma Drew of EmmaDrew.info in your sessions.

I went to those sessions because recently I have had loads of bright ideas and have started out doing something and then gone off on a tangent. The problem is that I don’t feel like I am actually getting anywhere with anything. I decided that I wanted to write a book (in fact, I’ve had that idea for a long time) and got quite a way through it. Then I decided that I really should set up a Facebook group helping people reduce their food waste, which I love, but can take up quite a bit of my time. Next I decided that I was going to develop a course and got part way through that. Before finishing that though, I decided that actually I was going to set up an Etsy shop and a new blog selling my artwork. Not content with that I then went wondering around Brighton to find out how I could sell my art in the town and came back with a load of ideas and work to do, if that was the route I wanted to go down. On top of that I have quite a few other ideas that I am currently holding myself back on because I already have too many things going on as it is

The problem is that I don’t feel like I am actually getting anywhere with anything. It’s pretty obvious to me and I’m guessing glaringly obvious to you, that I need to stick with one thing, get it done and then move on to the next thing. My problem is that I have been torn between which thing I should start with and where I should focus my time.

During the Shomo conference there was a discussion about saving and investing and the theoretical question was asked – would you prefer £50 now or £55 in a years time? Most people would prefer that £50 now and prioritise the present over the future. If you took the £55 in a years time though that would actually be a really good deal because it would include 10% interest on the £50 which under current interest rates it is unlikely you would be able to get anywhere else. It kind of hit me that, I have also been focusing on the present more than the future . I’ve been thinking about what will have the biggest impact now and then jumping on the next bandwagon that I think will make that happen. Each and every time I have realised that actually none of the ideas I have had will turn into successes over night. They all need time and effort put into them with the results being far off into the future. So if I want to have any hope of success I need to work on something now for future and not present gain.

I’ve decided to go back to the beginning. I’m going to focus on writing the book and keep my mind on that future goal of having a finished book. This may mean that I take a bit of time out from all the other things. Don’t worry I will be around still though and I will be back, but if you don’t read a blog post in a while and if you don’t see me on social media much, that is the reason why. Also if you do see loads of blog posts and social media posts, then please don’t judge, that will just be me procrastinating

On a slightly different note, I turned up to the conference with my reusable coffee cup (although I only drink herbal teas, but calling it a herbal tea cup doesn’t quite work for some reason :)) and topped it up all day with hot drinks. It was a real talking point and various people noticed it, asked about it and wondered why they hadn’t brought their own one with – which I thought was great. Especially as it hadn’t even occurred to me not to take it and I wasn’t particularly trying to make a statement :). Even more excitingly Andy’s wife asked me if next year they could consult with me about how to reduce waste at the event next year, which is brilliant and I am really looking forward to doing. If you have any tips and ideas for reducing waste at events that you think would be helpful please let me know!

I think September is a good month for goal setting because it feels like a new beginning and my resolution is that by next September I will have written the book and developed the course and maybe even done some of the other things I would like to do. I will do one thing at a time though and will work on it to the exclusion of all other projects until it is done (or at least I will try my best). I really want to be able to say by the next Zero Waste Week and Shomos that I have done these things, so wish me luck! Thanks!

Is there anything you want to get done by next September? Tell me about it in the comments below!

The post A win at the Shomos and some September resolutions! appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.

Hi lovely readers,

So I’m asking you to please take a few moments to vote here for Eco Thrifty Living in the UK Blog Awards. There is only a short window to vote in these awards – the vote closes on the 19th December at 10.00am, so don’t wait, vote now! Thank you so much for your support – I really appreciate it.

The post Why should you vote for me in the UK Blog Awards? appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.

The program was packed with useful info for bloggers with some fantastic speakers including Faith Archer from Much More With Less, Naomi Willis from Skint Dad, Miss Thrifty and Deepak Tailor from Latest Free Stuff talking about his experiences on Dragons Den!

The day and awards were set in the lovely St. Katherines Docks – as you can see it was a bit of a grey and rainy day, but we didn’t care – we were too busy learning about Pinterest and how to pitch articles to newspapers and that kind of thing

The post The Shomazing Shomos! appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.

Voting will close at midnight on Friday 27 May, 2016, so please make sure you get your vote in before then!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, to vote for me and for all your support!

The post Please vote for me to win best thrifty Blog in the MAD Blog Awards 2016! appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.

Dear lovely readers of this blog,

There are lots of categories you can vote under so if you want to you can also nominate your other favourite blogs while you are at it!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and to nominate me!

Wishing you all wonderful things,

Zoe x

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Some of the highlights of the summer included:

Meeting up with the lovely Emma of the Mommy Emu blog at the Eden Project, which my kids remember only as dinosaur land! I was struck by this WEEE man which was made up of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment we will each throw away in our lifetime.

The post Summer highlights and back to Zero Waste! appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.

The post Last night at the Observer Ethical Awards! appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.

There are loads of great blogs out there and if you do regularly read a blog written by a parent, then nominating them for an award would be a great way to recognise all their hard work over the last year!

Personally I would really appreciate it if you nominated Eco Thrifty Living under the Best Thrifty Blog category.  It won’t take long and would really make my day!  To nominate please click here!

If you are going to nominate me please can you do it by the 14th March after which the nominations will be closed.

The post MADS – Please nominate me for best thrifty blog! appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.