Monday 22 June 2009

Recycling

June 22 - 28th is National Recycling week in the UK, and I've been tagged by the amazing Mummy Do That (how much do I wish I could knit as well as she does - sigh) to participate by pledging to do something that reduces my waste or increases my recycling. Recycle Now has suggested a number of pledges (more of which later) with penalties for those not managing to make it, which is linked in together with a blogging meme started by Almost Mrs. Average at the Rubbish Diet.

This kind of neatly teams together with a post that I had been thinking of writing about recycling in Bosnia, so I couldn't resist.

Ah, recycling and Bosnia. Where to start. Well, there isn't any. At least that we have found, although I do hear the odd rumour about a bottle bank in town somewhere and we have been to hunt it down, but to no avail.

However, and there is a big however here, the Bosnians are much much much better at reusing what they have. Most people shop in local markets so the amount of packaging is minimised. We can buy beer in bottles more cheaply if we return the bottles to the brewery down the road later. Everyone fixes everything, no throwing away of old phones, shoes, clothes or anything that might possibly have more life in it. When money is tight, a throw-away culture does not make sense.

That said, I still have to make a pledge.

- I could promise to recycle more, but there isn't anywhere to recycle so I can't.

- I could promise to use my leftovers for lunch the next day, but we already do that so that would be cheating.

- I could promise to go waste free for a day but have a suspicion that would mean saving up all my waste for the following day which isn't really in the spirit of the thing.

- I could promise to compost more, which is a possiblity here and one which I will look into but it isn't the pledge that I have gone for.

So, I've gone for reusing all my plastic bags for a week. And if I fail to do so then I will forgo my Sunday morning lie-in and let Dave have it instead (but let it be known, if he sabotages my efforts all bets are off!).

I also need to tag a few people for this, and thought to take it international (environmental problems are a global issue after all) but would stick to the Britishers amongst us as it is a British initiative. What is it like trying to recycle, reuse and reduce waste in other countries?

Soooooo,

We Do Adventure: Can you do any better in the Bosnian context? I think I'll struggle with the free availability of kesa at every store. Is Mostar any better on the recycling front?
Califlorna: How are the Californians doing?
Life In Italy: The Italians?
MissBehaving: In Japan?
Real Motherhood: and how about Turkey?

Your mission (should you choose to accept it) is to follow the rules below:
1. Visit Recycle Now and make a pledge
2. Write a post sharing the details of your pledge on your own blog
3. Tag some other bloggers who might also be up for the challenge
4. Come back to this post at The Rubbish Diet and share your pledge with others by placing a link to your pledge in the comment field.

I'm off to the bakers, plastic bag in hand and have stuffed a few plastic bag into every other bag that I carry with me. This is doable, but I must organise myself.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's a great idea and I will happily accept the tag if I can figure out all the techno parts of it.

Unknown said...

you can do it honey! i'm currently on a mission to get all the waste bins out of the office in HK. hmmm... or just to use my starbucks mugs regularly (has gone MUCH better of late). Indeed I could kill 2 birds with one stone if I ever get my intention to reduce caffeine use under control...

Almost Mrs Average said...

I love that this is going international. I love how you'd described life in Bosnia. Don't we take things for granted a lot over here by replacing instead of fixing. I'm now feeling guilty of replacing my broken mobile phone.

I can't wait to see how you get on and good luck to all else who join in too. Thank you so much for putting your link over on my blog. It'll make a great reference and you're welcome to submit your progress post to the carnival too, which gets published on 29 June.

:-D

siobhan said...

Great tag, thanks. I'll definitely take it up. May take me a while to get around to it though (hubby away on business so on my own with kids), but I will get round to it.

Anonymous said...

sounds so amazing! your blog is so nice! & by the way, I'm sorry I didn't come back last time, I enjoyed doing the 8's memo, it was so amazing! Thak you girl, I'll drop in soon....

Dorset Dispatches said...

MB - I'm struggling with that too!

GP - you're back. Are you proud of me?

AMA - will do

Siobhan - I'll look forward to it

MR - glad you enjoyed the 8s

Anonymous said...

Just found your blog through British Mummy Bloggers Carnival - really enjoying it. x

A Modern Mother said...

Great pledge. It's actually much harder than it seems, especially when you have mush for brains like me.

Calif Lorna said...

My pledge is to swap to natural cleaning products. I've been meaning to do it for ages and I feel somewhat ashamed that it's taken your tag to get me to do it.

Better late than never I suppose.

Thanks for tagging me. Love that your tagging was very international!

Anonymous said...

Gosh, it's a very different situation over in Bosnia when it comes to recycling. It sounds unusual that there are so few recycling opportunities. Fasinating. Good luck with your pledge.

Maria said...

The thing I love about recycling is that it can go on forever...

Dorset Dispatches said...

whatshappening - welcome, glad you like it.

MM - I'm also pretty mushy in the brain department!

Lorna - loved your post, glad you took up the tag

RS - as I've been discovering it is that there are few formal recycling activities, the informal ones are going strong!

Gaelikka - and on and on!