The increase in soil fertility that compost brings is immediately obvious. And then there is the satisfaction of seeing the volume dwindle in your rubbish bin. Different methods work for different people: rotary bins, heaps, wormeries, bokashi, collecting leaves. When I work abroad I am embarrassed by our measly efforts at composting compared to other countries, such as Japan and Germany. Recycling wisely wherever possible can also help to change your garden. Emmeline, who helps me in my garden, has made her own (good-looking) greenhouse with wood and materials from a skip and websites such as Freecycle (uk.freecycle.org.uk). When she has any excess produce, such as when her currant bushes are heaving, she rings her neighbours so they can help themselves. My halo spins slower here, but my pigs love me.

Read more

Local authorities are fragmented in their approaches and there are few political incentives for them to work together, which makes recycling and reuse often too complex and piecemeal for people to want to engage with. People pay for waste through their taxes and yet they feel disenfranchised from (or simply disengaged with) the whole process.

There are practical solutions springing up and reasons to be positive. Local repair groups such as Restart are teaching people how to repair and reuse products, the popularity of Freecycle (the grassroots organisation that lists products people want to give away) is an example of a real desire to move away from disposal, and younger people, suffering from the brunt of the recession, seem to be more engaged with what they are throwing away.

Read more

I have also been a member of the local Freecycle group for a wee whiley, and so far haven’t replied to anyone’s advert and taken anything unwanted in, but I have got rid of quite a lot of tatt. Erm, I mean, stuff that we own of the unwanted variety.

So far, I have managed to offload, erm, I mean, Freecycle, a plastic pink and purple bubble car, a wee girls’ bike with ‘princess’ stickers and midget stabilisers, an old office swivel chair and a coffee maker. Beauty.

I will shortly be listing a heee-yooooo-ge bundle of Happyland (when I can work out how much a shed-load of Happyland will cost to post??), and have just sold a Beyblade Metal Fusion stadium on eBay. If you have to ask, you’re not with the programme, pops.

More plastic tatt (of the variety that I am utterly convinced no-one could ever want in their entire puff and so will not be Freecycled in any shape or form), is in the trailer waiting for a lift to the tip at Gala.

Read more