You guys, I have a confession – I’ve been creating more to-landfill waste than normal over the last few months and I don’t really know why.

In our old house, it was rare that the landfill bin was even a quarter full when it was emptied but here, it’s always over half full, two-thirds full by the time it’s emptied. That’s a lot of rubbish.

I think there are a few things at play – we’ve been doing a lot of work on the house & garden which has generated waste. We’ve had a lot of deliveries related to that, so more packaging waste than normal. And, most important, as we’ve technically moved cities, the balance of what we can recycle has changed too – we can recycle glass now but can’t doorstep-recycle plastic or corrugated card. (We’re more likely to reuse glass jars etc and we’ve had a lot of card because of the DIY/deliveries.)

But I think it also feels harder for us to recycle than it used to be – we have to separate out the recycling more, our compost bin is three flights of stairs away from the kitchen, we’re eating in more so creating more food-related waste (although not specifically food waste) and even though the house is bigger, it feels like it has less bin space in the kitchen (so can’t separate in there) and we haven’t got any cellar space like we used to have for medium-term storage of items to be reused. Excuses, excuses.

Almost needless to say, I want to solve this situation! Becoming a zero waste household isn’t feasible for us but I’d like to cut down a lot, preferably down to less-than-the-old-house waste levels.

Some ideas I’ve had:

• reduce! The first wave of DIY stuff has mostly come to an end so that’ll cut down a lot of waste and also make it easier for us to bake/cook more at home & cutting down on food packaging
• get multiple bins (or a single divided bin) in every room to separate recycling on the spot (we already have multiple bins in some rooms and it’s a great help)
• get a covered bin in the front yard for stuff to take to recycling facilities at the tip (at the moment, we’ve got stuff in carrier bags – it looks untidy and isn’t waterproof)
• free up some space in the store room (the closest thing we have to a cellar) and half-a-garage to allow more storage space for reusables
• set aside a specific box for charity shop stuff and donate the contents regularly
• research an animal poo solution! (Something more like a bin to break it down rather than a cork to stop it coming out in the first place.)

But what else can I do?

(My! doesn’t that sound like a smutty euphemism? :) )

We’ve had an email from Alicia:

Because a leak caused damp, all the metal stuff in my kitchen cupboard went rusty while I was on holiday. Didn’t think that could happen but it has! There is a square grater, a colander and a seive. Can I do anything with them?

I’ve de-rusted a cast iron griddle pan and we regularly have to de-rust our less-than-perfectly-seasoned wok but I imagine it might be harder work to restore holey things like that – anyone got any advice on repairing them and protecting them so they don’t continue to rust?

I’ve seen all three used as fun light fittings (eg this Instructable uses a colander as a ceiling light shade). If you don’t want them rusty, you could sand them back to get rid of the flakiness and paint them to protect it from future rust and give it a new look.

Failing all that, they’re some sort of metal so can be recycled in the metal scrap bin at your local tip/waste collection site.

Any other suggestions?

I asked a similar question on Twitter the other day but since I’ve lost more leaves to the blighters over the weekend, I thought I’d asked for more suggestions – I want to belt & braces it!

In response to my Twitter question, @KakeLover replied: “beer traps! gets the slugs everytime!” and @maryhoresh said “this year trying egg shells they aren’t supposed to like waking over them.also heard to paint glitter around edge of pots”.

So I’ve got beer traps down (made from old drinks cans, filled with out-of-date beer), John on order to eat eggs for breakfast and if I can find some glitter, I’ll make my pots into disco pots. I’ve also heard they don’t like copper (they’re supposed to get a little electric shock from it) but I don’t have enough old copper pipes to go around – will see what I can dig up though.

Any other suggestions? What have you tried? I’ve heard introducing certain parasitic nematodes can kill off slugs for a short time – anyone had any experience with that?

We’ve had an email from David:

I need to know how to recycle the inner brass parts of grandfather clock that no longer work?

Brass, like nearly all metals, is in high demand in the recycling world and so if there is a good weight of it, most local scrap metal dealers would willingly take it off your hands – some might even pay a little for it. We have random-but-frequent scrap collections around here (some more legitimate than others…) and there are usually metal bins at local tips.

I’d imagine the workings would also be highly desirable to other people who want to reuse rather than recycle them – someone might be able to make them work in another clock or, probably more likely, use them to make artwork. Offer them on your local Freecycle/Freegle group – or put them on eBay if you think they might be worth a few quid (if they’re heavy, you could say pick-up only if you didn’t want to organise shipping).

Any other suggestions? Any particular practical or creative ideas for things that could be done with them?

After writing Wednesday’s post about deli counter plastic wrapping, I got thinking about pre-packaged cooked meat packaging and what a pain they are to reuse or recycle.

The ones I’m thinking of are used in the UK for sliced meats such as ham or roast beef/chicken, “continental sausages” (ie chorizo, salami etc), or wafer thin water-injected animal shavings (mmm!). The packaging has a semi-rigid shallow plastic tray and is covered with heat sealed plastic film. According to the misc pack of salami we have the in the fridge, the packing “currently isn’t recyclable (but because we care about the environment, we’re working on it)”. (Uh huh).

There is obviously a reduce option – although depending on the alternative provision, you might end up with as much plastic anyway.

Most packs only contain a single layer or a few slices max so the plastic tray is a little too shallow to use in the usual plastic tray ways – a saucer under plant pots, a paint palette for budding Monets – so are there any other ways they could be reused instead?