Zero Waste Report #4: What was I thinking??!! Going BANANAS! lol

Well, I think there is 'no way' that we can pull off the 'real zero waste week' so I definitely won't be telling the media about this, lol!!

It will be just an experimental week 'just for us' & hopefully we'll come out wiser...

Dad & Sis just 'don't find any sense in it' - especially 'since other people are polluting so much. They both told me to tell other people to make less waste first.. ugh.. (which I intend to, but 'small steps'..)

At least I did TELL them both about the zero waste week - they didn't take it so well, lol. But then again Mum didn't take it so well at first either!!

Sis also bought some non-eco bananas AGAIN & really drove me BANANAS!!
(found here)

I was soo proud after we had an almost 14-days of (clean! not-smelling!) trash in the bin, & then first Mum had a baking day & some butter-remains landed in there, then Sis put in the banana peels, so the trash had to go outside...!!
I admit I lost some enthusiasm after that!!

Ideally we'd have 1x/a month bin (or less), but will we ever get there?

Some dry fruits in TINY packages and in cellophane were bought again, ugh!! :(
And some pumpkinseeds in non-recyclable plastics! ugh!! /they don't even taste that good!/
I really hate shopping (where others see YUMMINESS, I see TRASH!!) seems I won't be able to leave 'em alone to shop!! ugh

Grandma hasn't found zero waste butter yet, hopefully Mom & I are going to the organic farmers' market on Saturday! (I ate some coconut butter on bread instead - it tasted.. odd!!:) might be okay with a hazelnut spread or so..)

On a happier note (after I had ALMOST given up!), last Saturday Sis *did* ask if her tiny 100g coffee bags are recyclable & even googled up the recyclability(!) (alas, it's #7 plastics, so I was dubious) - of course she found nothing useful, so still someone would need to be called, most likely..
We talked and she said maybe she could buy in bulk (to make less waste)..

(found here)

I am still afraid to call any authorities or the companies dealing with this.. I did contact a local semi-journalist & talked about maybe-writing for a local newspaper, but haven't actually called them yet..

(found here)
I actually talked to my waste-ful neighbour the other day, & asked her 'How come they make so much waste?!' lol
She said, 'well, there's 4 of us' - and they're in the attic, with kitchen and living room all-in-one, so having a compost bin proved too smelly.. (They at least take out bigger piles of eg potato peels on Sunday to the compost heap)
And they do recycle tetrapaks, kiddies got containers at school..
We were distracted by kiddies running around half naked in the cold, so we couldn't fully discuss it all..

I at least asked her to call my Mom if she has any still-good toys or such, so she could give it to the charity NGO.. (Mom also picked some good-enough kiddie shoes out of their 'big garbage' pile..)

I've researched some GOOD stuff about no nappies, zero waste hair, & some other things.. Mum FINALLY tried the soap nuts - & they wash REALLY well!! YAY!! :)

(pic found here - ours look a tiny bit different, are in halves - was told they must be without seeds to wash well!)

Cheese is still being bought with a reusable container :) YAY!! we made some yoghurt again too! :) - & Sis BOUGHT some too! :( (In TETRAPAKS, of course!! ugh!)

...it still feels like 'too little'...


We got attacked by ANTS & I did find some great stuff online, befuddled them temporarily with cinnamon, & they returned.. :(
not sure what to finally use - as natural as possible!!
It seems best to find their entry ways & close them - but how? (there seem many, they seem to find new ones) & what with?


(pic unrelated & found here)
My cousin from the farm (yes, that one!) asked Mom to research a machine for throwing artificial fertilizer around.. and it's SUCH a shame, cause they live in such beautiful nature, & they could have an eco farm, & they're looking into fertilizer dispensers and buying milk in tetrapaks!! OoO (& disposable nappies!!)

I was ranting whole day today & Dad told me to rant at coz - I said it would be better if he did, a man with more authority, but Dad wanted none of it! although he keeps going there to help & COULD wield some influence!! Grr!!

Saw this great documentary A Farm For the Future (cca 50 min) & it did make me think - I wish I could show & present it to my coz & his wife too!


Also, the nuke firm is selling energy cheap to households, & all a TV show focused on was how advertised 10% reduced price isn't really 10% & consumers might be thus misled, & how they might have monopoly & iffy gov/non-gov position (with money landing who-knows-where).. not a word was said on how bad nuke power is!! grr!! - I want to kick someone's tushie!!

Still don't know what to eat - my tummy isn't happy.. :(
Been reading romance books out of desperation - at least they are zero waste - my neighbour's!! :D

On the other hand, as a winner of the FABULOUS Eurovision blog award

on Mrs A's The Rubbish Diet together with the awesome Danda from Italy & Esther from France (who I hope will post more!) - is it really time to despair? Or RE-THINK?! Hmm!!

So happy to be in the company of other totally wonderful bloggers (some of whom I definitely wanna research more!) - and hopefully I will be inspired by the Muse/s of blogging (or Muse/s of rubbish, if there exist any?) re: what to do?

No, you CAN'T eat the bonbon!! ;) - & an Evil Plan!! :)

Okay, so today Little-Miss-not-so-Green was over again.

Mum has her over every week so she can help her study. I think she's starting to outsmart Mum though, a bit. (Mum was deeply puzzled by one of her math homeworks, done completely correctly. 1st grade, I must add.)

Also, my neighbour's two sons were over, & we had a lovely afternoon. Puppets & games included. Oh, and guitar, a full orchestra! (with cookie-box-drums and a pencil-conductor!)

But first, Little-Miss-not-so-Green wanted to eat a BONBON!

Hm, bonbons are sort of forbidden in our house. Especially for LMnsG, who tends to be hyperkinetic already! So imagine what an extra dose of sugar would do! /plus, there's the terrible wrapping, which is not zero waste at all!/

To make things worse, the bonbon was in a Christmas sock on a Christmas card, sent to me by a very lovely friend whose daughter is not allowed to eat any sugar! :) /I am wondering if that was zero-waste disposal of any unwanted gifts? hm!)
- & LMnsG has been eying it from Christmas, I hear! (with Mum replying it's not hers to give - smart answer, hmm!! & easy way out!)

So how does one deal with a temper tantrum: 'Oh can I eat the bonbon?!!' followed closely by 'Oh why oh why not?!!'

First of all, one does not cave in. lol!!
'Bonbons are not eaten in our house. I don't eat bonbons.'
'Oh but I do.' (whine) 'Can I eat it?'
'No.'
'Why not?' (I was flabbergasted for a moment, what to say-?!)
Then I decided to tell the truth. As odd as it sounded.
'Because bonbons aren't healthy. They're toxic' (okay, I exaggerated a bit) 'and I want you to be healthy and happy and have healthy teeth!' (she did have teeth problems a while ago, so she might remember how 'fun' that was!)

/still some sulking ensued, but she was given bread and cheese by sis, and a bit of cooked fruit juice - the only 'sweets' still sort of allowed in da house, though I'd prefer to not have even that when she's here, but Oh Mom can't be persuaded-
& the girlie was then distracted by a carefully planned educational game/magazine & then by the neighbours' kiddies.. - I think she has a bit of a crush on the older Little-Mr-not-Green-At-All!/

So, now I have an evil plan. I will try to green my Terrible Neighbour's (green-wise, otherwise they're an awesome family!!) little sons!! :)

I wonder if it will work-??!!

/I think one of the first steps could be to show them this awesome video of Little Miss Green and her Mom - and maybe try to do something similar with OUR rubbish?! - Oh Mum will be so glad! lol!/

We'll see how this goes!!