For the sake of our planet

RECYCLE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Recycle and actually, just cut down on your waste. (Please don't be put off by this eco-warrior style title, and carry on reading!)

I happened to spend all day yesterday at a landfill site in Essex. An active landfill site. Now don't get me wrong, this isn't the aspect of my job I love the most, but it was an eye opener. I'm sure, like me, you've all seen footage of huge landfill sites in developing countries such as India, where people live off the landfill, collecting rubbish to sell on. And you think this only happens in those types of countries. Well think again, what I saw looked very similar to this (apart from people scavenging of course).

Maybe some of you have seen the kids movie Wall-E? All I can say is this: yesterday, I felt like I'd jumped into that movie. Huge mounds, mountains of rubbish everywhere, the wind picking up plastic bags before lorries had time to cover the waste with the daily cover of clay.

What shocked me the most? That the most common item of household waste that I could recognise apart from supermarket plastic bags was the plastic bags loaves of supermarket bread are sold in. Suddenly I felt like there is a whole new reason to making my own bread. It's not all about saving money, the truth is it's pretty clear that shop bought supermarket bread would cost me less than home-made bread, seeing as I try and pick nice (and occasionally organic) local flour. And it's not about knowing exactly what I put in my mouth. It's about not making the planet pay for me by throwing away plastic bags after each loaf.

I found this really disturbing. What are we doing?! Surely being self-sufficient shouldn't just be some hippy idealistic version of the world, this should be what we all aim for. Trust me, every time I went to the bin this morning and threw something in, I felt a little bit sick inside. Pure guilt basically. Because when I saw things that I consume and that I don't actually need (salt and vinegar McCoys for example), I felt guilty. Guilty that a little pleasure such as eating crisps ends up like this. Is it worth it? Definitely not.

So there. I think all school children should have trips to local landfill sites to make them realise that we recycle for a reason. If you can, I encourage you to make you own bread when you can (bread maker I love you!). Recycling helps to preserve this planet, and I mean this in the least eco-warrior way. Surely there shouldn't even be a label for people who care, it should just be normal.

*****

Now, onto something a little more light hearted. I'd like to say a big thank you to you my lovely lovely readers. After a dip, I now seem back on track and more "on it" blog-wise. I've had the nicest comments lately, so a special thank you to Deb from Dedanotions and Katy (who doesn't have a blog and commented about 10 days ago- hope the quilting is going well by the way!) . Deb, thanks very much for your offer to send me lip balms, I am so touched but can only turn down your offer, it's so kind of you, but to be honest, your comment is plenty reward for me, so thank you! Thanks for all your encouragements and congratulations to me busting my gross little habit, I hope to give an update on it at the end of the year, hopefully it'll be a positive one!

And Mooncalf, no I didn't write numbers anywhere (of the threads I wound up around little cardboard things, in case you're wondering what I'm going on about) because I'm not that fussed about that to be honest, I don't think I'll be buying more of that thread and I don't follow patterns to the letter, I just use what I have! I guess that just shows the limits of my organisational skills ;-)