Do you ever have a little green nag that sits on your shoulder poking you in the ear, telling you that you should reduce your waste and recycle more?  If soThe Rubbish Diet Challenge could be just what you need to give it a good old boot and stop the nagging once and for all.  Although I didn’t realise it at the time, that’s what happened to me when I signed up to my local councils’ bin-slimming challenge in January 2008.

I’d seen an advert asking for local residents to have a go at a Zero Waste Week.  Not feeling entirely confident that we could go for one whole week without creating any rubbish, I set up my blog to chart our progress and to seek help from friends in the blogosphere along the way.   And after just eight weeks, with the zero waste challenge as the finale, all we threw away during the last seven days was just one first-aid plaster.  Since then, our contribution to landfill has been as little as one carrier bag’s worth of rubbish per month.  Before the zero waste challenge it used to be six huge bin bags!

When I first started to reduce our rubbish, I actually thought I was a pretty good recycler.  However, I was surprised at what I’d learnt, not just about how little I actually knew about my local recycling facilities, but also about the impact of food waste on the environment.  So when Zero Waste Week finished, I knew I couldn’t turn my back on the issue. I wanted to keep finding out more and share it on my blog.  The real turning point came when I visited a disposal site on the day that landfill taxes were about to go up and saw the resources that were just being buried in the ground and wasted.  It was then that I really knew that I had to overcome my natural shyness and help put the issue of waste firmly on the consumer map and find a novel way of inspiring others to join in.

So the blog, which was only intended to last up to Zero Waste Week, is still live-and-kicking two years later, and for 2010, The Rubbish Diet Challenge has been launched with an online guide to help those who also want to tackle their waste head-on!   

What makes The Rubbish Diet Challenge different to other waste reduction ideas?

Most campaigns ask us to reduce this, recycle that or reuse the other and that is great as it encourages consumers and those in the manufacturing chain to consider ways in which they can tackle waste.  However, with so many messages hitting us on a daily basis, it’s tempting to think “that’s a good idea, I’ll tackle it later” then get back to our very busy lives, forgetting about our good intentions.  The Rubbish Diet Challenge helps those who are serious about reducing waste to grab the bull by the horns with a slimming plan that tackles their rubbish in a very short time period.  It’s a bit like Weightwatchers, but for your bin, with regular weigh-ins to measure progress and help maintain the momentum for trying new ideas each week.

How would it work for you?

As with any diet plan, you begin with a weigh-in to establish a starting point.  It’s also a good time to establish some realistic goals and a time-frame as a focus for your project and find out if any friends or family want to take part too.  The slimming plan then takes you through an audit of your bin, to create a hit list of things that regularly get thrown away.  Ideas for eliminating this list are shared over eight separate weekly sections, which motivate readers to think about everyday activities with waste in mind.  There are top tips on how to avoid packaging and how to reduce waste at source as well as bags of information about what recycling labels mean and how to make best use of your local facilities.  Each week, readers are encouraged to weigh-in as well as keep tabs on their expenditure, which helps to measure the financial benefits of reducing waste. The challenge ends with a Zero Waste Week, with advice on how to avoid rubbish when you are out-and-about and how to reduce the amount of waste created at events such as Christmas and birthdays.  There are even tips on how to put your challenge into the media spotlight and get others involved, should you want to raise awareness of the issue within your community.  There are also lots of personal anecdotes to keep you entertained and to provide reassurance and further inspiration where needed.

Here are some top tips for “beginners” ...

1. Firstly, become best friends with your recycling officer and visit the website www.recyclenow.com, which has lots of information about what can be recycled in your area and has advice on composting too.
    
2. When shopping, look for products that you can buy loose as well as alternative products with packaging that can be recycled easily. 
    
3. Remember a reusable bag isn’t just for groceries. Use a smart one for other shopping too.
    
4. If food waste is an issue in your household, then check out www.lovefoodhatewaste.com, which is packed with tips on how to reuse leftovers and includes recipes from top celebrity chefs as well as advice from householders across the UK.
    
5. Focus on ditching your disposable items for reusable alternatives, such as swapping kitchen towel for washable cloths and remember to seek out refillable products where possible. 

And one final word?

Enjoy that special moment when you hear the drone of the bin lorry in the full knowledge that you don’t have to scarper to put out your bin.  If you play your cards right it could last for months, and for some, it may even be years!  And who knows, as well as doing your bit to conserve resources and help tackle climate change, it could even save you some money too.