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.