Do all you conscientious folk - who put out or take jars, bottles, tins for recycling - wash them all beforehand?
So what's the cost in hot water & detergent? How much water do you run off before it's hot??
My wife gives them a rinse, using the remaining washing up water ... so no additional water or other resources involved.
i soak mine in the water from the bottom of the kettle - we get really bad limescale so even with a kettle with a filter you end up with griity tea if you don't empty the water totally every 3rd or 4th boil. i try not to over-fill it
then i save them and wash them up in the used washing up water.
tabbycat
I wash them up along with the other washing up, so nothing extra.
Alison
Me too, they get washed when there is something else to be washed too. :)
Ours are washed in the washing up water too.
And we collect the water before it's hot in 4pt milk bottles - can fill three of those before it's piping hot. once it's cool, I use it to water the plants. (my shed is full of bottles waiting for the summer drought!)
One thing I do not like to put in with all else is a mayo jar!
Or sardine & tuna tins.
And olive oil bottles.
To name but a few!
Jars go in the dishwasher. It's more water economical than doing it under the tap and our water is metered. We have very few as we only eat jams when guests come and consume vast quantities of the local croissants etc. I re-use some for marmalade which I then sell at the Xmas fair.
We also recycle aluminium, tin foil, plastic bottles and their caps, tetra paks, paper and cardboard which is collected every other week. Oils, batteries, old medicines etc go to the local recycling centre as do old clothes not suitable for Oxfam. Old electrical goods are disposed of by the supplier when we buy a new one and big stuff such as mattresses, old furniture etc is collected every 3 months on fixed dates - if the scrap scavengers don't get it first.
Kitchen and garden waste goes on the compost but the council will also come and collect big branches and trunks during the main hedge/garden pruning season and also Xmas trees in mid Jan.
That doesn't leave much for the wheelie bin which now only needs emptying once every 4 to 5 weeks.
Breakfast, as a guest, at your house sounds good.
Oh, yes - a dishwasher would certainly help!!
We wash ours along with the pots too. Re a dishwasher, I was given 5 weeks ago - its sitting in my front room still, waiting to be installed!
Hello Pansy
Well get them to hurry up with installing it as once you are use to having it you won't leave home without one ;D I don't know how I washed all those dishes without one!! ::)
I get miffed if I cannot get everything in (and believe me I can pack it) and have to wash up a couple of things by hand. Also I find that Glist 5 is the best - expensive but well worth every penny. The other brands leave runs, etc.
Regards
Jitterbug
I wouldn't be without my dishwasher. On average we fill it up over a day and set it off at 10pm or so when the cheaper electricity is available. If something's likely to be difficult I soak it with a bit of Ariel first then finish by hand or in the machine depending on size. It sorts out eggy, cheesy and roasty messes brilliantly. We have far fewer breakages now and no OH sulking because I've rejected a "clean" dish he's washed and it's a boon when we're entertaining which we do a lot over the year.
We have an excellent bakery in the village - croissants made with butter (not all are), croissants with chocolate glaze, almond croissants, pains au chocolat with two chocolate sticks and optional chocolate glaze or chocolate bits through the pastry, twisted tortillons with raisins or chocolates, Danish pastries.......and the most wonderful dark wholemeal bread with mixed nuts and seeds in it.
We only go when we have guests as it's just too fattening.
Jars go into the dishwasher and are recycled by me when I refil them with jams, chutneys, pickles etc, except may jars which go into the glass bin - always worry about the egg and number one daughter. Tins are rinsed at the end of washing up, then into the green recycler box.
I am going to start saving the water like that Aqui to take to the plot. I figure I could take a few each visit and store them in the shed for use as and when. I always take loads of stuff to the plot, and my great big green trug could hold few bottles! Good thinking batman! ;D
Agreed that a dishwasher is a boon?? We have no room to put one.
And how many drive, especially, to the bins.
Croissants & dishwashers??
Dishwasher became a necessity to stop me wanting a divorce. Sir doesn't do washing up... either I was going to do something drastic or find something else to do his share. So I got a tiny tabletop one; very economical indeed and not much bigger than a large microwave. It lives on top of the washing machine and shares the exit pipe!
Recycling - have large bag (an RHS paper bag!) in kitchen for paper and card: everything we can recycle into it goes in and is collected fortnightly by council (though all printed addresses get torn out and burnt). Glass is monthly. I rinse as little as possible! But if I have to then it's with the remnants of washing up water (dishwasher doesn't do Le Creuset pans...)
A large plastic bag collects plastic bottles (which are currently sporting gaping holes as I keep cutting them up for plant labels!) and they go to the mini-recycling centre, which is conveniently by the main gate of the lotties! Green bin in kitchen, contents removed regularly to allotment. (Garden tiny so nowhere to put heap there!). Everything not falling into these categories eg tins go elsewhere when there's enough of them. The town recycling centre's on my way to/from work so I can often get away without a special journey.
Large green waste eg large lumps of wood I can't shred go to the dump green bins.
Packaging annoys me greatly. We buy from local markets if possible to avoid huge amounts of plastic rubbish.
Reminds me, Beaconsfield Farmers Market tomorrow :)
moonbells
i haven't thrown away a glass jar, loo or kitchen roll inner, polystyrene packing, milk or ginger bottle since i started on here. they all get washed up in the sink with the regular washing up water including the mayo jars which go in last.
the recycling bank (for the glass beer and wine bottles that i haven't found a use for yet) is at the local ASDA so i look like a regular alcoholic having saved about 5 carrier bags full before i take them. oh and i haven't bought a bin liner since the old king died. that's what carrier bags are for.
i'd love a dishwasher but a) havent' got the room in the miniscule only bad thing about the flat kitchen b) there's only two of us so would take all week to fill.
;D
I try and buy stuff without packaging or in bulk to reduce the amount of waste to throw away. I will try and recycle anything and see how long I can go without putting out the bin. I live in a district council which is one of the best for recycling in the country so am quite lucky that next to everything can be recycled. Most of my food scraps (non-cooked) goes into my compost bin.
I wash jars, etc, in the washing up bowl after the dishes. Don't want a dishwasher, yet another expense and use of electricity. I would like to say that the wife does the dishes but no chance....I always seem to end up doing them.
Washing gooey jars is not much of a problem. I save them until I've washed everything else, then half-fill the jar, put the lid on and give it a good shake. I have a double sink, so the resulting goo gets chucked down the sink I'm not using, leaving the washing-up water goo-free!
Thanks for the tips Jitterbug! I will get onto OH to get things sorted ;D
And those croissants sound delicious! :)
The council collect ours fortnightly. Green box for bottles, cans, foil etc, large sack for paper, cardboard seperately, and brown bin for garden waste. The only garden waste that goes into mine are any really chuncky prunings that are no good on the compost heaps.
I must admit I only recyclye 'in house'.
Paper gets shredded and used for either packaging when I send bulbs out, and any spare goes on the compost heap.
Jars get reused as I make jams and marmalades etc.
Plastic bottles (tonic water - we don't do Coke etc) get cut down and used as mini cloches.
Everything else goes in the bin as the council here only collects once a month and I don't have the space to store all those separate bags.