Recycle Week - When you don't know what you don't know

Growing up, my grandparents re-used or re-purposed everything - or so it seemed. To me, they were neither rich nor poor. They were born to working class families in the post First World War era and matured in the time of the Second World War. Waste did not make sense to them. They were far from 'rolling in it', but I never saw them as financially struggling.

My grandad was the man of the impossible and incredulous fix. It was a family joke. My grandmother was the woman who could make the family budget stretch more than a yogic guru. I saw these as parts of their character, not of practical necessity.

It made no sense to me, at that time, that they would make do and mend when so much could be bought ‘so cheaply’ to replace them. Had they been more financially challenged, I think I would have better understood it - effectively I somehow did not realise that the only reason they weren’t as financially challenged as they could have been was because they lived how they did.

I was privileged to work non-stop from leaving education until my daughter was born. I worked part time whilst in education and benefited from student loans and so, whilst money may have been tight in the earlier days of my career, I had never been short of at least some ‘disposable income’.

I was never a ‘big spender’, though. The lessons of my parents and grandparents, were seated in the back of my mind and it never made sense to me to pay money for things I did not need or for brands that were all name and no substance. I quite happily took a hand-me-down from friends and relatives. I spent my money more on experiences and property. Always presentable, but never in the latest designers or labels - or at least that’s my hope.

I would have considered myself partly ecologically aware. I have always ‘recycled’ and in many cases I re-use and re-purpose. I have the boxes set aside in the kitchen for plastics and cardboard and paper. I wash the plastics first and make sure the paper is clean - like a well behaved recycler.

The idea of my having carefully separated items and then have someone throw in something that would make the load no longer recyclable - would practically cause a pain in my side. No one wants that much effort wasted.

Aside from her school uniform, and the basics bought new or as gifts on birthdays and seasonal holidays, my daughter mainly wears the stunningly beautiful clothes that are handed down from a friend whose daughter is two years older. I package her clothes up and pass them on when she has outgrown them. My own wardrobe is a mix of new, vintage, nearly new and, quite honestly, items well loved since my twenties that are just far too comfy to part with. The furniture in the house is a mix of antique, vintage, gifted and new. So are her toys and games. You will regularly hear my daughter use the phrase, “Who’s did this used to be?” She holds no shame in the question. She’s a permission seeking magpie like her momma. I reuse packaging. I make gift tags from old greetings cards. I handed back or ‘sold back’ carrier bags that came with home shopping deliveries, whilst others I re-used as ‘bin bags’ to reduce my purchase of new plastics. We use paper drinking straws rather than plastic and we try, once a year, to grow a few of our own vegetables. Yes, it’s been more about teaching her about where her food comes from but it’s also added a few items to the plate through the year. The usual ‘waste not, want not’ list goes on. I do love an old adage.

By now, the ecologically aware are rolling their eyes, shaking their down-turned heads and dismaying at my lack of knowledge. I’d say some have probably stopped reading and are muttering under their breaths. I get it - or at least I’m just beginning to.

It started with my daughters homework. We had to track every bit of plastic we threw away for a week. I was quietly confident that we recycled or re-used much of our plastic. I was more than a bit shocked by the result. I was more than a bit shocked by the first fifteen minutes, to be honest. Whilst we do recycle a lot, there are so much of the little things I hadn’t seen in our daily life. Too many wasteful practices that I had mentally justified because they served a purpose, and selfishly made our life easier, without questioning whether there were ecologically smarter ways of doing things.

After reading the homework sheet, I started to mentally tally up the items I had tossed in the bin just as I had been tidying round the kitchen.

• The clear packet round the new school shirts;

• The little hanger thing on the new school socks;

• The princess party bag that came back from a classmates party that weekend;

• The black plastic food trays that don’t recycle;

• The wrapper round the pack of 6 apples, round the head of broccoli, round the cucumber, round the bananas - none of which were recyclable like the tub the grapes came in.

• Then the lid for the grapes tub - which isn’t recyclable either.

• Every window on a windowed envelope, as I had worked my way through the ‘less interesting’, but usually most important, mail.

I had barely started on her week long challenge and this was not looking good. If I wrote everything down as they asked then, ironically, it was going to be a waste of a hell of a lot of paper. This is the point where I should mention she is a stickler for the rules. I looked at the pile of goodies that had been freed from the party bag whilst I had been performing the mental tally. Do they do ecologically friendly kids party packs anywhere or should I start myself up in business?

• The plastic card the bobbles and hair clips came on.

• The crafting shapes, foam stickers and glitter.

• That plastic boingy thing that no longer boings the minute a 5 year old touches it.

• A tiny disposable plastic pen with glitter ink that runs out in no time at all because there's barely any ink in there to begin with and every 5 year old just draws and writes for the pure joy of it.

• A balloon pre-blow.

Then life took over and I started tallying up more...

• The stickers I use to label new school clothes.

• The plasters she absolutely needs (because ouch), but not so long after discards (because uncomfortable).

We hadn’t hit the half hour mark and I was feeling a tad nauseous. It was a bit of a wake up call - as the older girls in school, who had set the challenge, had likely intended.

As you do in modern society, I started my learning journey pressing the follow button on eco-friendly Instagram accounts. That made me feel worse, because I hadn’t even considered the ‘hidden plastics’. The wet wipes, face wipes, surface wipes, sanitary products, cotton buds and Teflon coated fabrics (every school uniform staple). This list was looking a whole heap bigger in the blink of an eye. I did not know that the paper coffee cups from high street chains have plastic in them.

I went back to the washing up and rolled my eyes at myself. I remember being quite revolted as a teenager that my grandma would re-use her ‘granny knickers’ as dishcloths when they'd ‘seen better days’. “They’ve been bleached first, Madam.” The memory of her fake offended voice still rings comfortingly in my ears, all these years later. Here I was, working my way through pack after pack of plastic sponges and discarding them at the first sign of dishevelment. I had an urge to rifle through my material scraps bag and start ripping.

Post breakfast? Teeth cleaning ready for school. The rate my daughter chews her way through plastic toothbrushes? I didn’t want to do this homework anymore (this homework I was completing with a plastic, single use, pen). You don’t want to know how many felt tip pens we get through. We are a felt tip pen graveyard. The guilt built.

I knew this would not be a sudden overnight change for us. We have so much to learn, re-learn and unlearn - but we’re giving it a go one item at a time.

• Instead of buying new storage jars and tubs, we’re re-using the spread tubs, glass pasta sauce and jam jars I would previously have cleaned and put into the recycling.

• I’ve ordered a re-usable sanitary pad to test out. I’m not sure how it will deal with the heavy days, but I’m hoping it will work for lighter ones in an attempt to reduce, if not remove.

• I dragged out my old re-fillable fountain pen from the bottom of a drawer.

• I use the re-sealable plastic bags that sandwich wraps come in as a quick lunch-bag if I need a packed lunch or on the go snack.

• I eventually made those dish-clothes from a ragged old tea towel.

• We no longer own ‘cling film'.

• We own enough sticker books to keep her going 'til she’s grown, she gets so many as gifts, but the idea will be to cut up magazines in future and avoid stickers where we can

• When I reach the end of my shampoo, I’m going to try the bar style hair soap.

• I’m going to try bamboo toothbrushes on my next purchase.

• I’m searching for a makeup / tinted moisturiser reusable applicator cloth. I have always used the disposable cotton wool type makeup pads, when I ‘make an effort’ and apparently they hold plastic also. I’m tempted to make my own but might have to see how that goes...

• I’m going to try home made cleaning spray with washable cloths for the kitchen, to reduce the use of cleaning wipes. I’ve watched a vlogger on YouTube. Yes, I'm fully aware that it could go very wrong and my kitchen could end up smelling like rotten apples. Just wish me luck....

There’s a lot of ‘going to’ going on. I know.

I am making no claims about a sudden change in lifestyle - in some cases, simply because there is no point in throwing out what we already have.

I do want to make a lasting change, though. A sustainable one. For us it will be changing how we move forward and continually learning. If you need me, I’ll be googling eco-friendly bin bags.

#highcroftwriting #words #recycleweek2018 #recycleweek #recycle #ecofriendly