Waste? Not!

I really like the idea of recycling. Use something then, rather than discard the leftovers, turn them into something else. It’s the way things should be. Of course with glass, paper and cans, the council are quite happy to take them away for me as long as I separate them into their particular bins. We have alternate collections – this week recycling, next week general refuse – and it works fine for us. Although big families, apparently, have problems with it.

Veg, some fruit and garden waste goes onto the compost heap down the back of the garden to slowly turn into nutrient rich dirt to be used, eventually, on and in the garden. There is also a stick pile down there for things that take too long to break down. While this isn’t really recycling, it does provide a home for small mammals and insects. I’m pretty sure there’s a hedgehog living in the stick pile and perhaps a pixie or two.

Cardboard is a bit of a problem. Our council does not recycle it from the front of the house. They have big bins in car parks dotted around the borough but that’s not particularly easy when you don’t drive. So I burn the cardboard and the ashes are mixed into the compost heap when the bin fills up enough. This adds more nutrients to the mix although I put my hands up to a small amount of carbon being released into the air when burning it.

My problem has been cooked food. What do I do with it? I can’t put it on the compost or it would smell and attract all sorts of creatures including rats. So I have to throw it in the normal rubbish. Not that we have a lot of leftover food! And then I read about the Green Cone. It’s available all over the world (almost) and you can read about it here.

What a marvellous invention. By a very simple process it uses natural bacteria to break down virtually any food stuff into a liquid nutrient which is distributed into the ground which in turn is used by any plants lucky enough to be growing in the vicinity. The Green Cone will take any cooked veg, meat, fish or fruit, bones, animal droppings, the lot. Fantastic! I had to have one.

It took a while but I eventually bought one online this week and it was delivered today. It is MASSIVE. The box it came in was even bigger. I had to build it (not difficult) and now have to dig a very big hole for the basket to sit in but I’m very happy with it. I would have dug the hole today as well but I think I need to confer with Mirinda first.

¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
For our walk today, the poodles and I went right up to the top of the park and cut across, through a small wood and over a burbling stream. It was glorious. The final hill we went up reminded me of the opening sequence to Little House on the Prairie. I took this photo of Carmen at point, where she prefers to be, guiding us on. It was a lovely day.

Carmen as scout, making sure the way ahead is safe