Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

Hey all,

In case you didn’t know, plastic is graded into seven types. However, not all of them are safe for reuse. Remember the motto-reduce, reuse, recycle? Well, here’s another one- 2, 4, 5, keep yourself alive. David Suzuki’s handy guide to reusable plastics can be found here. Essentially, the idea is to reuse plastics that are safe for you, and recycle ones that are not. There is a caveat though; some recycling facilities cannot manage some types of plastic, so you should refer to the local council recycling guide to see what can or cannot be recycled. (If in doubt, I just throw it in the recycling)

Reuse comes before recycle, although reduce comes before both of them. We’ve been trying to reduce our waste, by various methods. We tried to see if we could stop taking out the rubbish for the entire EMF competition, but it’s getting perilously close to the point where we have to sneak off rubbish bags into our neighbour’s bin. 

We have also been shopping at Bin Inn, which is a bulk food/household product shop. Basically, you take your containers there, get them weighed at the counter, fill it up with whatever you need, and then the weight of the container gets subtracted from the total weight when you are ready to pay.

Another way our flat reduces material consumption (is there a pun here?) is by using jars for preserving food. The ones with the pop up lids can be used to store beans (yes, no more beans in a can!) or tomatoes or whatever you like. Hopefully Emma will elucidate everyone on the exact process, because she does all the preserving. The beans (which are all she does and all we need in terms of preserved protein) that she uses come from Bin Inn. Great Idea ™, don’t you think?  

That’s all for now, ladies and gentlemen. Remember, first reduce, then reuse, lastly recycle.

Ning

A new beginning

So begins the journey of the tauawhi (pronounced tau-a-whi) quintet. And our flat this year has enchanting Emma, jazzy Jack, nimble Ning, talanted Tim and wonderful Will comprising the famous 5 ensemble.

Right now, it's 0 degrees outdoors, 9 degrees in my room, and probably 16 degrees in the kitchen (where I'm typing this post).

We choose to hang out in the kitchen, especially after cooking, so all the residual warmth in the kitchen gets put to good use---heating our bodies. There is, of course, the social aspect of being together in the same room at the same time, such as juggling (warms up the body so no additional heaters required), or having interesting discussions on various things (like our hot water cylinder pre-heater or rain water collection system). Or we could do more baking. Also, there’s talk about NOT filling up our red (rubbish) bin for the duration of the competition.

Of course, by choosing to stay in one room, there's less (no) heaters used, and less lights used, blablabla. I'm sure you've heard this all before, but I'll just repeat it, by drip feeding you so no one gets information overload.

Did I mention that our flat has started communal cooking this year? It saves on time, because you don’t need to slave away for ages to come up with a tasty, nutritious, and filling meal for one. When you cook for many people, there usually will be leftovers, so your lunch is probably sorted for the next day. Also, there will be less heating involved, both with cooking and washing up afterwards.

Anyway, many more blogs to go. Remember, heating is cheaper if you do it together.


Ning