Hello and welcome to The Compost Bin. I'm Compostwoman and I live with my family in rural Herefordshire. We have nearly four acres of garden and woodland, all managed organically and to Permaculture principles, which we share with Chickens, Cats and assorted wildlife. We also grow a lot of our own food, run courses in all sorts of things and make a lot of compost!

I am a Master Composter and have spent more than a decade as a volunteer Community Compost adviser with Garden Organic and my local Council.
I'm a self employed Environmental Educator so I run workshops and events where I talk about compost, veg growing, chicken keeping, cooking, preserving and sustainable living. I also run crafts workshops and Forest School/outdoor play sessions in our wood.

We try to live a more self sufficient lifestyle here, as best we can, while still having a comfortable life and lots of fun.


To learn more about us click on the About Compostwoman tab and remember to click on the photos to make them full size!


Showing posts with label recycling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recycling. Show all posts

Monday, 18 November 2013

Playing with the layout :)

Hmm this?


or this?

this one?

or this one?

I like the last one best - what do you all think?

Thursday, 5 September 2013

Decluttering and selling stuff


 
Last month, as part of my mission to declutter the place, I went through my wardrobe. I realised I hadn't worn most of the clothes in it for at least 2 years, if not longer. And the rest got worn all the time, in rotation.

 A lot of the (now) unworn clothes either
  1. no longer fit me or
  2. no longer appeal to me or
  3. no longer are suitable to my lifestyle (a number of smart suits - I only need one or two for funerals and smart meetings - not more!)
  4. are in materials which I can no longer wear (mainly poly/cotton mixes and some all wool tops)
or a combination of all the above!

I used to attend lots of balls and award dinners every year but have not done so for 15 years - so lots of posh frocks have been taking up space since then, beautiful, but unworn. To be truthful I can't remember the last time I wore a dress - 8 years ago? I just don't ever dress up like that any more.

So - I had a ruthless clear out and lots of the items in my wardrobe have now gone to be sold or to the charity shop.

And as we have now moved into the new bedroom I have had to transfer a lot of stuff into there which gave me the chance to declutter some more.

Four bags later!  I have a lot more space and a set of clothes which I can wear for tidy trips out and all my garden/hen clothes ( ie everyday wear) are in two drawers rather than scattered in several places.

Much easier to work out what I want to wear, now!


Thursday, 7 March 2013

Message in our bottle

No, not the Police hit single!

I was lucky enough to be invited to London yesterday by Ecover to the launch of their new campaign ‘Message in our Bottle’ - but sadly I could not attend ( my back is not yet up to a 3  hour each way train journey yet)

As I was sent the press release, though, I thought I would share it with you all as it sounds really interesting. and is a positive step forward in both reducing packaging waste AND reducing marine pollution.

From the Ecover press release... 
Ecological innovator, Ecover, today unveiled plans to launch a world-first in packaging in 2014 - an entirely new form of fully sustainable and recyclable plastic incorporating post-consumer recyclables (PCR), Plantastic – plastic made from 100% sugarcane and plastic fished from the sea, along with an influential art project designed to attract mass attention.
Ecover launched  100% sugarcane-derived plastic (Plantastic) as packaging  in 2010. This was followed by a further move to tackle the growing plastic waste mountain, resulting in its most recent announcement of the inclusion of PCR into Plantastic bottles.

The press launch yesterday was to announce the aspiration to create an entirely new plastic incorporating a percentage of sea waste into its Plantastic/PCR packaging by 2014. 

Ecover says...
Research from the Marine Conservation Society reveals that plastic debris accounts for almost 60 per cent of all litter found on UK beaches and it is widely recognised that vast amounts of beach waste ends up in the sea.  Working closely with Waste Free Oceans (WFO), Logoplaste (who are supporting the development of the new materials) UK plastic recycling plant Closed Loop, Ecover will be working with fishing communities to collect plastic* and reintroduce it into the recycling chain via its bottles – a solution which will help protect the delicate sea-based eco-systems and give a whole new meaning to ‘catch of the day’.  Trials have already begun on the exact mix of the three plastics which allow the brand to deliver what will be the first ever fully sustainable and recyclable plastic.
 The press launch was also used to unveil an ambitious art project designed to influence and engage.

 Ecover say...
Renowned sculptor Ptolemy Elrington, will be creating a free-standing, attention-grabbing art installation which will be unveiled at Glastonbury 2013.  Using recycled content – including sea waste – the installation has been designed as a focal meeting point for festival goers – and an education opportunity into the bargain.  

After Glastonbury, the new installation will then take pride of place at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show alongside Ecover’s show garden by Matthew Childs. An upcoming gardener, Childs won the Conceptual Gardens category at Hampton Court in 2012. This year he is designing the ‘Ecover Recovery Garden’ which will also be championing plastic from the seas, and will help further convey the importance of sustainability within plastic materials.

All this sounds really interesting and I was really sorry I had to miss out on attending. But, even though I could not go to the launch Ecover sent me the goody bag I would have received if I had gone, which was jolly nice of them and which I will enjoy using. The bottles are made from Plantastic - if you use Ecover products look for a distinctive green and blue Plant-astic logo



What do you think about this? I have mixed feelings about using land to grow sugar cane to make plastic, rather than using it for food BUT I totally applaud the idea of retrieving plastic waste from the seas and recycling it.

If only we could stop people throwing the stuff into the seas, in the first place...!

Tuesday, 1 January 2013

New Year - hopefully a lot better?

A very Happy New Year to all of you :-)

I am sitting here at the desktop computer, listening to Santana on the mp3 player on my new phone, in a curiously ( unnervingly?) tidy Study. Today is the first day of 2013 and I have been decluttering and tidying...

The Study had become  a shameful dumping ground for junk and rubbish over the last month, and I also wanted to sort out the Tardis (a cupboard, where I keep a lot of crafting and work supplies - some of which now have other places to live -  mainly on my large crafting shelf or in the various plastic stacking boxes which hold bulk supplies of wool, yarn, fabric etc)

so today I was ruthless- lots of stuff went into the recycling bin ( when they finally make a collection here, been three weeks now - just don't ask!)  and lots more for the charity shop and rag bank. Nothing added to the landfill bin, which was pleasing.

We are also about to embark on the major refurbishment of yet another room ( yes, yes, I know, but there are only two left to do!) - more of the same (internal insulation, new floor, complete redecoration etc)  so all the contents have to come out and be found homes somewhere (!) - most of the stuff has gone into the loft, but as the guest bedroom gets used as a bit of a storage place there was a lot of stuff which needed to be moved somewhere else!

I also have started on a major clear out of my wardrobe - not quite the project 333 challenge, but not far off it! So lots of items have also made their way into the charity shop bag. Some have been earmarked for turning into crochet yarn, for another rug project.

I have spent a few enjoyable hours getting my new android phone sorted out - am very impressed with the features on it and can't help comparing it to the early computers I used at work many years (30 plus!)  ago - which probably had a 1000th of the computing power and cost many 100 times more...!

Guess this is old age finally catching up on me!

What did you do for New Year Day?



Monday, 3 December 2012

Mending the duvet

 It must be winter, as I tend to catch up with a mountain of sewing/mending/crafting tasks at this time of the year - (as well as scaling and conquering the ironing mountain)

This is the much loved duvet which Compostgirl begged me to "fix" it had a hole worn through, a number of unravelled seams and some of the buttons missing.

The buttons and the seams were easily fixed with new buttons and some sewing machine work BUT the hole was a bit harder to fix.

I got out an embroidery hoop and darned the thin, holed ares until it was much stronger. I could have used my sewing machine but small jobs like this are better done by hand I feel :-)

I was left with an area of darned fabric which needed covering, so little fingers did not "worry" at it again :-)

So I went to my stash of fabric and found an old pair of much loved cords of Compostgirls,from when she was 6 or so, which had some lovely fabric flowers on them - I was thinking about making some but remembered I had these in my stash box.


I cut off a flower and sewed it over the darn




And lo - a duvet restored to use and back in action on Compostgirls bed :-) she was very pleased with this :-)


What have you repaired, lately?

Sunday, 9 September 2012

Zero Waste Week - Barn and polytunnel clear out and tidy up


Much like the Study in the house, the Barn tends to be a bit of a dumping ground for all sorts of stuff we want to keep, but don't quite know how or when... so it gets cluttered with empty feed bags, boxes, paper feed sacks, all sorts of stuff basically. I have to periodically have a huge sort out, so I decided Zero Waste Week would be as good a time as any...

Before




After



Pellet bags and Amazon card used to line the Hen houses and nest boxes.


5 Kg buckets waiting for holes so they can become huge plant pots
Big white bin now a rubbish bin but was the outside of our old water softener, which died recently





Poly bags which had held bales of Aubiose ( hen bedding) reused under wood pile and to cover up bales of straw.


5 L containers which had held bulk buys of washing up liquid etc is re used ( after cleaning) to transport water for the hens to drink



I tore up any damaged boxes as they will be great to add to the compost bins.







The Polytunnel has been tidied a bit - all the blighted tomato plants have gone and I have made a start on clearing out the buckets of old growing media,



 

 
 but I have been sidetracked by this happening next to the polytunnel....













 So the polytunnel and washing the plant pots has had to wait!



Saturday, 8 September 2012

Zero Waste Week 2012 - Study clearing


Our Study is a lovely room, with a lovely view, but with both Compostman and I working from in there and with it housing a lot of our books and my education and craft stores, as well as a load of other things like household filing and ongoing art and craft items, it tend to get a bit "cluttered".  So I decided to have a sort out for Zero Waste Week.

Before - last Monday


These show my half of the room - Compostman's side was not much better! All a bit of a mess, with unfinished projects and part finished things everwhere.



Stuff I sorted out to be stored in the loft :-)


This pile went to the Red Cross Shop in Ledbury :-) This helped to finish the de clutter of the Guest bedroom as well - it is now as clear as I can get it without removing the bed and wardrobe.



Offerings on Freecycle



And this is the Study after I had finished.today :-)





All clean and dusted and vaccumned. I feel much happier now!

 
Loads of paper put into the recycle bin and all my invoices, filing etc has been sorted out and paid. Compostman and Dear Daughter E also had a tidy up and produced a lot of paper for the recycle bin. We normally have this bin less than half filled over two weeks! This was after one week!

















And only one tiny bin of extra waste for landfill generated :-) mainly bits of plastic wrappers, which I am going to see if I can re use or recycle in some way.


 So - I feel this was a very successful de clutter for Zero Waste Week - but what about the Barn and Polytunnel? Watch this space for more details ...


 How did you get on?

Thursday, 11 February 2010

Been out all day, Went to Compostgirl's school for her class assembly, all about Planets, it was very very good and then we had coffee after and a look at their work...

then I went to spend rest of morning walking around Bromyard in company of amazing local history expert, doing another Trail ( similar to the one I was doing in Ledbury last week)

I took some photos and have written some clues, but need to get on with the rest of it and hand it over and get paid!
Then I went back home for a quick lunch and off out to a paper casting and paper fabric making session at Eco Club. The childen had a huge amount of fun doing this as it is not something they have done before. We talked about where paper comes from, it's history and how and why we recycle it.

I got back home about 6.30!

I then ate a meal, and read a book and watched "Only Connect" which we had recorded from the other day, both of us love this quiz and last night I got all the answers correct...perhaps I should go on the show? :-)

I have a busy day tomorrow, doing yet more training...should be much fun!

Monday, 1 February 2010

Paper crafting workshop for grown ups....

Monday night, car loaded up with paper craft stuff, card blanks, stuff to make envelopes, the paper and paper fabric and papercasts the participants all made last week...

Had to iron some of their paper as it was a bit thick and had dried crinkly, but have sorted it all out now!

and the stuff to make up tonights project, which are A5 notebook covers, which are then filled with A5 paper to make a note book...

I got some wonderful wallpaper sample books ( 3 very expensive books!) from the scrapstore and have spent a very nice afternoon making up cards and notepads and books, some as examples, some as future stock.

The envelopes look amazing, though I say so myself...I have used various nature magazines and some wallpaper as well, picking out wonderful pictures, and made beautiful lined envelopes which I will use for my cards, and they look ...wow...

Even CM thought they were good, and he is usually unimpressed by such stuff....

Must have shower before I go though, and get changed into clean, paint-y clothes, rather than clean, gardening clothes....

Couldn't get onto the RSPB site to upload my BGBW results...it was too busy

Update at 11 pm.....Late in from paper crafting workshop ( 10 pm...!) so sat on sofa, drank wine, watched Kirsty Young on social history of UK and went to bed. Slept well, but not long enough..

Friday, 2 October 2009

Oh! Such joy ( well a new recycling scheme, anyway.....!)

Today we had an unexpected delivery. A new Recycling Bin!

You may remember my previous rants on the subject of recycling , in which I mention that we don't get any doorstep collection out here in the wilds of rural Herefordshire.

But,Herefordshire has now decided to extend the scheme to ALL its residents so everybody gets some recyclables collected from their home. (Well, it, and all Councils, are now legally obliged to do so ,
by legislation I helped to campaign for!
)

As an Environmental Consultant and activist I also spent a huge amount of time in the late nineties vigorously campaigning to stop the building of an Incinerator in the town of Kidderminster. This was meant to "dispose" of a large chunk of Herefordshire and Worcestershire's joint household waste. I rather suspect that IF they had managed to build this incinerator I would not now be feeling so happy as "Energy Recovery" from the incinerator would have counted as "recycling". So, I guess, there would have been no Big Green Recycling Bin sitting outside my back door?

But we won the fight against the Kidderminster Incinerator (hurrah) and the Incinerator plan "went up in smoke". And lo, I have a Recycling Bin.

Here it is in all its glory...




along with a calendar, a handy leaflet telling us what we can put in our bin and a sticker to go on the front of the bin.




Here is a list of the items that you will now be able to recycle from your home:

Paper - including newspapers, magazines, phone directories, catalogues, office paper, junk mail, greetings cards and envelopes.
Cardboard - light card and corrugated cardboard, egg boxes and kitchen/toilet roll tubes.
Metals - food tins and drinks cans, aerosol cans and sweet/biscuit tins.
Glass - bottles and jars of all colours.
Plastic - all plastic bottles. Plastic containers including yogurt pots, margarine/ice cream tubs, fruit/vegetable punnets, cream/ custard pots, cake/pastry trays and soup/sauce pots.
Cartons – including milk, juice, smoothie cartons, fabric conditioner, soup, chopped tomato and custard cartons.



So...finally .....we have a recycling bin at Compost Mansions and we can stop filling up our car boots with recyclable stuff "just in case" we go near a recycling point.

We will still need to go to the Household Recycling Site with textiles, batteries, CF lights, wood, electrical goods, soil and rubble etc, but this bin will make SUCH a difference to us! Apart from anything else, the bottles, cans etc can go in the bin, outside, rather than filling up boxes in the boiler room, or in my car boot!

Also the 100g (ish) of landfill waste that we do put out each week at the moment for the landfill collection (all else is reused, recycled or composted here) is largely yogurt or margarine cartons, so we will now be able to reduce the stuff we send to landfill even more, maybe even down to a true Zero Waste level! Previously the recycling system would not take these items, but the building of a new Materials Reclamation Facility has changed all that. |
All collected recycling will be transferred to a new material recovery facility (MRF) being built at Norton, Worcestershire. This new facility will sort materials using state of the art technology into their different types ready for recycling.


So, we will be able to put these items inside our lovely new recycling bin!

Hurrah! I am a very happy Compostwoman, today! Good on you Herefordshire Council, for doing this...!

Tuesday, 29 September 2009

Fabric from the Scrapstore

I laid the fabric I got from the Scrapstore out on our king sized bed, so you could see the size and colours of the various bits of material I acquired.



Oh how I wish there had been enough of the biggest bit to make a cover for the bed....I would LOVE a cover in this fabric! I am planning to redecorate the sitting room in these colours.

The cream and brown piece nearest to the camera is actually two bits, the other bit is underneath!

Ah well, perhaps I can make it the main fabric in a BIG quilt.....the one I WILL get around to making...one day...when I have more time....

Monday, 21 September 2009

Sunday catch up

Well I thought a catch up post was in order, as I have been doing lots here but haven't posted much lately (apart from about the chickens )

I was up early again this morning (couldn't sleep due to brain whirr), so have done lots and feel very content BUT am now flagging ( as you do...)

I was woken by Treacle the beautiful Black Star



laying her very first egg!



So 2 of the POL pullets are now laying :) Ginger started a few days ago and is very vocal about it! Good job someone is laying as the "old girls" all seem to have gone off in a huff and decided to moult and/or just stop laying

It has been a beautiful day here today, I got 3 loads of washing out and dry before lunch! I have mowed all the grass and it is all piled up ready to go in the compost bins.

I have cleaned Fudge the Guinea pig's house, all 4 hen runs and houses as well, so Fudge, the hens and Ruby and the chicklets are all nice and clean and cosy :-)




All the throws and cushion covers from the sitting room are in the wash or have been given a good beating on the line to get the dust out, the kitchen, halls, sitting and dining rooms have been vacuumed and generally tidied up

20 wine bottles have been released free of labels and washed and upended to dry,





We need lots of clean bottles to reuse, as we have 72 bottles worth of wine on the go at the moment!



I refilled all the various washing up liquid and liquid soap dispensers, I buy Faith in Nature and Bio D in bulk bottles to save on packaging and resources and then reuse or recycle the big bottles when empty.



I tidied up generally, cleaned the small bathroom with an e cloth and hot soapy water, I cleaned various windows and mirrors with an e cloth and vinegar.

Compostman and I started loading up my car for me to go to the Household Recycling site....



Then we picked apples ...lots and lots of apples.....and pears....



This is what 50 lbs of apples looks like..and we have lots of these tubs filled up....

Compostman picked beans, and blanched and froze a load of courgettes while I picked the pears from the other pear tree (Conference)and I think I shall have to make pear leather with the remaining Beth pears as they are very ripe now.

I will be making chutney later on from the Victoria plums in the fridge, the Damsons are finished now on our tree so we are leaving what is left for the insects ( especially butterflies!) to ea. We have lots of wine on the go and lots in the freezer to make jam out of in a few weeks time.

I now have to think about making cider and juice from the apples.

One of the cats took exception to some mending left in a pile on the floor by my chair yesterday and wee'd all over it (and my knitting..grr) so I spent ages cleaning up the mess with the special spray from the vets ( which works!) and washing out wee from previously clean stuff yuck!

I had a lovely, if busy week here, one day last week my fellow Eco Club leader (who is a teacher at Compost girl's school) came round so we could sort out the Green Flag application for the School. We had a really productive session and got lots sorted and it makes me SO proud of the children to see what progress has been made over the last 4 years. I have also re started the Eco club I run at another school nearby, as well as "pitching" for some craft workshops during half term in October (happily I got the work, so am now making stuff for it and Compost girl is helping me!)

So a busy and productive day, and week, here at Compost Mansions!

Saturday, 19 September 2009

CIWM Recycling Champion Award

Oh I am so excited! Once again I am up for this award! I am so pleased, for me, my family and for all the people and the children I work with :-)

From the organisers, The CIWM,

We are delighted to inform you that once again you have been short listed for this award and will be put forward as a finalist to our judging panel, who will be choosing the category winners and also the winner of the overall Award for Environmental Excellence. All the winners will be announced at the ceremony which takes place at the Dorchester Hotel in November.


Hope this time I have better luck actually getting to the event, though....

Thursday, 20 August 2009

Skips, and why I really don't like them.

The roof is now finished on Compost Mansions, and very fine it looks too. Building work is always disruptive but all the craftsmen working here for us were very tidy and helpful and have done a very good job. But the work DID gebnerate a lot of mess and a lot of waste.

When I did a waste free day challenge a few weeks ago, we managed to generate only
20g of landfill waste in a day and 120g in a week INSIDE THE HOUSE, which is pretty good by anyone's standards.....

BUT at the same time. we had 2 SKIPS full of un-reusable, un recyclable stuff from out of our loft work over a period of 8 weeks since the roof work etc started :-(

Which I did not mention. :-(

Most of it was chewed up bits of polystyrene sheet and disgusting dirty, mouldy, wasp nest/ mouse nest/bird nest /dead things filled fibre glass loft insulation dating back from god knows when, it was truly vile and NOT re usable in any way shape or form as far as I could ascertain.

And check I did, dear reader, to see if there was ANY WAY any of it could be recycled

Plus some scraps of wood, too small to re use or recycle, with nails in and all splintered up.

Believe me, we tried to think up ways of using it... (and we are pretty inventive when it comes to re-use here, believe me!) but we failed.

Most of the wood from the loft is going to be re used in one way or another - as a lot of it is 100 year old, untreated timber we are going to burn it as kindling! OR it will be taken to the wood recycling skip at the HWS in Ledbury.



The roof tiles were reused if undamaged and I have rescued any reasonably sized damaged tiles as edging for my raised beds or for use as insect habitats and for doing bug hunts in the Wood. We were also very firm that any replacement roof tiles had to be sourced from second hand reclamation yards, although our wonderful roofing contractor Neil was totally in agreement about this and needed no persuasion!

BUT there were still bits of broken tile and cement which we could not think of a re use....

Compostman has spent a lot of (precious and VERY MUCH not spare..) time taking off nails, bits of iron and zinc roofing "things" from the wood, so we can take them to recycle rather than just binning them in the skip. Lead roofing bits have been kept as they are really very re-usable and useful for making things.



The skip is a "mixed waste" skip and NO ONE is going to sort through it at "the other end" so it is up to us to be mindful of what we throw "away" (But we all know, there is no such place....hmmmm?)

BUT despite all this extra effort on our part, we still filled two skips.

We HAVE only used two small skips, which is apparently very good going (!) for building work of this nature ....but I still felt wasteful every time I walked by it, and saw something I felt I "should" have found another use for, but I couldn't quite think what.

I guess if even Compostman and I can't think of a re use for it all, it probably really IS "waste" and I just have to accept that it IS waste , and move on....But it has been quite hard to live with what is essentially a HUGE dustbin...and KNOW it will all just be tipped into a hole in the ground.

Monday, 19 January 2009

Meeting The Green family and a Zero Waste Roadshow

On Friday Compostman and I went over to nearby Newent to visit the Zero Waste Week roadshow in Budgens supermarket ( and do a bit of shopping as Budgens in Newent have lots of nice stuff and carry a huge range of local, organic foods)

AND to meet up with The Green family from My Zero Waste!

They are a lovely family! We all had a general chat then Mrs Green and I nattered ninteen to the dozen about waste, recycling, composting and so on (as you do) and Compostman and I gave Little Miss Green some eggs from "the girls" before we all parted.

We all then chatted to the wonderful people on the Gloucestershire CC Zero Waste Week roadshow

Here are Mrs Green and Aunty Rubbish!



Aunty Rubbish is the lovely lady on the Zero Waste Roadshow.

and then we talked composting ( well there's a surprise....)


here we are talking about composting!



Zero Waste Challenge Week 2009 is a really good idea, This is what they are asking Gloucestershire residents to do

Zero Waste Challenge Week 2009


Want to play a part in something new and exciting?

Sign up to our Zero Waste Challenge and help Gloucestershire reduce the amount of waste that ends up in landfill.

Zero Waste Challenge Week is all about reducing the amount of waste you throw away in your dustbin in one week. The week will be held week commencing the 26th January to the 1st February 2009.

Zero Waste means that nothing gets thrown away in the dustbin. As well as trying to cut down what we use, it also means that we try to only use things that we can reuse, recycle or compost. That way we’re left with nothing else to throw away in the bin.

We believe that if you make enough changes, it is possible to achieve a Zero Waste Week. However, the aim of the challenge is to see how close you can get. Circumstances are different for everyone and even if you don’t quite manage to achieve Zero Waste, you will find that you have a dramatic effect on the amount you throw away.



So, if you are reading my blog and you live in Gloucestershire, why not join in? You get some lovely goodies and you might win a prize!

Well done to all who have signed up and here’s hoping more than 1000 people have already joined!

I am most impressed with the Zero Waste Week stuff, just a shame I can’t sign up (wrong postcode) but I am working on my Council (Herefordshire) to do the same.
We are doing our own personal version of Zero Waste Week, as we started weighing our landfill bin again at the start of 2009, we haven’t done it for a bit and it is something that you have to keep an eye on, or “stuff” starts to slip in again and before you know it your bin has has put on weight. So far we are pleased with our continued efforts. I will post more on this at a future date.

So, anyway, a good day out for Compostman and I, we went to a nice nearby market town, met some lovely, like minded people ( you are lovely, Green family!) did some shopping, visited a roadshow, and then had lunch in the pub in Dymock.

A very satisfying sort of day.
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