Disposable cups, fruit salad containers

18 Jan 07: I solve the disposable cup problem but what about the fruit salad containers? I have finally got round to using an old Evian bottle instead of numerous disposable cups for my frequent trips to the water cooler. It's not always easy to fill something that large, but I get satisfaction from knowing I'm doing my bit in this regard. Another dilemma - how much water should I put in the communal kettle? Pure environmentalism says as little as I am going to use, but this doesn't take into account the other workers who might want a hot drink. Wouldn't it be selfish just to fill for myself? But to completely fill the kettle would be horrendously wasteful of energy. Fortunately I have found a happy medium at around two cups - one for me, one for 'someone' else. We're still not flushing the loo at home when it's only wee. I don't care if the hose pipe ban is over in many parts of the country, it'll soon be down to sludge again if we keep on flushing down those litres. The moulded clear plastic boxes the fruit salad apparently has to come in are starting to mount up on my desk, and I don't know what to do with them. The fruit salad comes in an 07 type of plastic, whatever that is. If I remember rightly, the recyclers are only really bothering with 01 and o2, so even though technically it can be recycled, it probably isn't going to be. Beloved has rebuked me for leaving lights on around the house. When I mentioned they were only low-energy bulbs that didn't cut much ice, so I'm going to have to mend my ways. I've also made a mental note to refrain from moaning about the lack of youth involvement in groups when I couldn't find a good reason why I shouldn't become a scout leader, since there was a shortage and the kids were unable to join the Scouts even if they wanted to.

17 Jan 07: What to do with used polystyrene boxes?

17 Jan 07: What can I do with my used polystyrene boxes ? These things are getting to be a bit of a liability. It's the same with plastic cups, and the expensive looking insulated paper cups you get with hot drinks. It's so easy to 'forget' to recycle them, or not even bother. After all, the feeling of getting a brand new one with every drink is kind of 'mothering'. The cup gets a little grotty after the first few refills. So what? This is a health hazard? Even worse is when the drinks machine won't accept your cups, and you are forced to get a new cup with every drink. Lunch presented another dilemma: should I go for the brocolli in the plastic wrapper? I mean, why does a vegetable need a wrapper? It's a bit like those dogs you see with cotton jackets on - you wonder what's wrong with their own fur?? The plastic bottle from the strictly vegetarian multivitimins is still on my desk, staring at me, challenging me to do something about it. What can I do? I look underneath it to find the triangle that tells me it's recyclable and the number in the middle that tells me no one's actually set up to recycle it. Am I wrong? Something I'll have to find out.

10/01/07 Struggling with my plastic food wrappers

As I look out over the discarded packaging of an eaten fruit salad (freshly prepared). What sort of plastic is it? Will it remain in a landfill for about a thousand years while it slowly decomposes? But even if it has a ‘recyclable’ sign on it (it does) where on Earth am I going to dispose of it? Must get a plastic crusher so I can take it to the council recycling some time. Is there such a thing? Lunch was a choice between poached salmon and vegetarian quiche. I love salmon, but only the organic sort. Salmon farming in Scotland seemed such a good idea to begin with, great way to expand the economy as well as supplying more people with what was previously a bit of a luxury, but now? Then there was the Coca-Cola dilemma. Coke comes in two basic forms: diet and non-diet. I had been drinking rather too much of the diet variety recently, as I like to watch the calories, but feeling increasingly guilty because of the Monsanto link. Study the ingredients of just about any diet drink – including sugar-free squash – and you’ll find a component called Aspartame. This is marketed by a company called Monsanto, which has – well, not a very good name – with environmental campaigners.