Recycling and Refugee week: pledges and tags

Well, there's a week for everything, and most bypass me.
Now there are two causes close to my heart and it's clear I'm already late for cause one and won't do either of them the justice they deserve.

It's Refugee Week this week and Recycle Week next week.

As always, Refugee Week has a fabulous programme of events, even here in sunny Glasgow, because Glasgow signed a contract 8 years ago to have a significant number of asylum seekers dispersed to the land of deep fried mars bars, to give asylum seekers the unmissable experience of perpetual rain, misery, incomprehensible taxi drivers and deep fried everything food. Apparently, the Scots are welcoming people, so some asylum seekers who got refugee status didn't get the first possible train back to London once they could. So we actually have quite a vibrant refugee community (communities really, because refugees are rather diverse) in Glasgow. And a great programme of events for Refugee Week.

The following week, same first letter, and the mummy blogosphere has embraced Recycle Week, kickstarted by Karen who blogs on The Rubbish Diet. There's great pledges to be made on a website. And even though I haven't been tagged yet, I couldn't resist the rather ingenious idea of making a pledge and then tagging a few fellow bloggers to do the same. I struggled a bit with the selection of pledges which are a bit thinly spread, and to find something which was a challenge, but a realistic one at that (no way I won't produce rubbish for a day, however, I already recycle a lot as it is) - there was little question that it would have to be:

Reuse carrier bags when shopping. Above all, don't get new ones from the shops. If I don't do it for the full week, I'll not be able to eat chocolate for a day. Or maybe even a week, depending on how masochistic I decide to be.

Coming from the European champion of recycling (if nothing else), Germany, I've been primed in supporting recycling. Except for one area where I seriously lapsed in the past 13 years living in Ireland and the UK. When still in Germany, I never ever used a plastic bag. Now, I never ever not use a plastic bag. It's my big environmental vice. Admittedly, every carrier bag does get recycled in our household, as bin bags, nappy bags etc. When I order online, I go for the no bag option. But I still don't use bags for life or rucksacks for shopping. This is something that I should change and that I can change.

Recycling Week will feature on this blog with a few tips on how to be more environmentally friendly. It's not just about recycling, but also about trying not to consume so much, which at times is more important than throwing your cans into a different bin.

Talking about which: We have two bins, one for general waste and one for recycling waste. The latter, blue in colour, exists in other parts of Scotland. Strangely though, what goes in varies greatly from council to council. Now this is something that is rather annoying. Our blue bin takes plastic bottles (no caps), tins, cans, paper (no cardboard and no envelopes). That's it. Blue bins in other councils take more types of plastic and cardboard. As far as I can see, Glasgow City Council can improve on the percentage of waste recycled and it's beyond my ken why the biggest council of Scotland is unable to recycle the same types of materials that a tiny council such as Clackmannanshire can. Other than that, it's enfuriating that I have to check labels on blue bins everytime to make sure I recycle as much as I can and don't spoil the bin with something that doesn't belong there.

Moan over, watch this space for some practical green tips.

And I tag:

Noble Savage
Cave Mother
Brit in Bosnia
Fab Brunette
KEDCrafty
Are we nearly there yet mummy?
PhD in Parenting
Southside Yarns

refraining myself from tagging Irish Mummy on the Run (but consider yourself tagged if you have the time right now for this)