UK Parent and Lifestyle Blog – Travel | Kids Tech | Slow Cooking
Please tell me I’m not the only one that does this???
When I go shopping I organise all of the food on the belt into groups, depending on where it goes in the kitchen. This saves me precious time when I’m putting the groceries away, helps keep things cold and the bread and eggs don’t get crushed.
I think its genius but my hubby thinks it’s insane and verging on OCD.
Can someone please pass this onto the powers that be? I hate to do the 1001 comparisons between Canada and the UK but there is one thing in Canada that I really like. This morning my mum put her bins out…she has two; one for rubbish and the other for recycling. In the UK, I have 5 bins; one for rubbish, one for compost, one for glass, one for paper and one for tins. Our drive barely has enough room for a car. Trying to remember which week is which and forever being stuck behind the Lorries drives me mad!
The reason why she only has two bins is because….
Everyone pays a deposit on bottles and tins, approximately 10 cents per can/bottle. It does vary. Some may panic and see it as another tax but in fact if you get off your lazy arse and take the recycling back you get your money back. We always use the money to buy more beer! I think it’s fantastic that people are being rewarded for doing good. I honestly think more people would engage in recycling if we had a similar incentive.
When we were kids it wasn’t uncommon to have bottle drives to fundraise for sports teams etc. You would knock on people’s door and they would gladly part with their empties. Plus, if you’re in town and don’t want to litter you can put your tin beside a bin and a homeless person will take it. It’s a win win for everyone!
I’m not sure how heavily subsidized the program is but I think it’s worth a look into. My hubby is absolutely gob smacked with the program. The first time he took the bottles back he gave them the recycling and walked away. Boy, was he surprised when they called him back and gave him some cash. I think it was the highlight of his trip!
We’ve got some new house guests! With most things at the moment I blame the builders next door. I think they’ve disturbed some Bumblebees and they’ve now taken up residence in our nesting box, right outside our back door. I must admit my original reaction was to seal it up and let them die a slow horrible death or relocate them to the bottom of the garden.
However, I’ve now learned (thanks to Twitter) that Bees in fact are protected and their decline is a worry to conservationists. We need bees to pollinate flowers, fruit and vegetables. No bees = no home-grown food. Apparently, it’s a compliment and I must have a bee friendly garden. Plus, these are bumblebees; they ‘do’ sting but are difficult to provoke and don’t swarm.
For the time being, I’m happy to leave them as they’ll die naturally in the autumn, Madame will love to watch them in the summer and I’m doing a small bit for the environment.
So, maybe I do want to be a Beekeeper…….
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs-tl6GBOBo
If you’re worried about bees I found the British Beekeepers Website Helpful
