A couple have just put their bin out for collection – for the first time in 14 months – thanks to their skill at recycling. Richard and Louise Arnold have now got into such a good routine that their wheelie bin only gets to the side of the street once a year. Louise said making small monthly changes to her life led to her family, including a young baby, producing very little waste. “We started with soap which was our first change. We changed from shower gels and other chemical solutions to natural soap with no packaging. I think people are concerned that soap doesn’t last very long but these bars are big enough that we cut them in half and have one for the sink and the other half for the shower. They only become a problem when they’re left in a puddle. It’s cost-effective and great for the environment.
“Then we thought: ‘This is quite good. Let’s try and do one thing a month and see how we go.’ So the following month we switched to a reusable bottle rather than using plastic bottles of water. People think plastic bottles get recycled but mainly they just get down cycled into something else like carpets or fleeces and stay on the planet. Then we switched to using a reusable coffee cup which I’ve now had for five or six years.
“So it’s really easy – it isn’t all or nothing. Don’t just immediately think you have to chuck everything out of the house that is plastic and start again because it’s not going to work. Just go around your house and think of little things you can do at a time and slowly you will begin to notice the difference.”