Zero Waste - take the pledge

Well I have finally got my A into G and taken the pledge!

A lady I know from the GP Forum has been working at reducing her waste to zero, see My Zero Waste, and has a pledge & win page - lots of goodies up for grabs aswell as helping this planet we all live on. I have been really inspired by this and some other fine ladies are also doing this, see A Smile a Day blog and Where there's a Wills ... there's a way.

I was the one who introduced the bottle banks to my mum and dad whilst still at school and have been recycling what I can since then so we are already doing quite a lot of the actions. Since having children my interest in it has increased and we've made lots of positive changes to the amount of waste we produce and to our exposure to toxic chemicals. Since I've read through the full pledge list I can see that we are doing quite well, although there's always room for improvement. It's funny but when things become part of your every day life you stop noticing them anymore so this was a great exercise for me to re-iterate what we do.

I've taken 7 pledges which I have listed below. To begin with I thought I'd tick all the ones that we didn't currently do - do you see an obsessive nature turning up there?! I then realised that I didn't need the stress trying to do everyone of them would entail so I've signed up for a more modest 7 and can revisit when these are ticked off!

1 I will take active steps to stop junk mail being delivered to my home

2 I will offer one unwanted item on freecycle or take to a charity shop

3 I will cancel my telephone directory/Yellow Pages

4 I will use a refill scheme for one product

5 I will plan a weekly menu and shop accordingly

6 I will make one meal from leftovers

7 I will make something like bread instead of buying in plastic wrap