Successful Rubbish?

How's the new Bristol recycling project working out for you?

Reports of suburbs awash with raw food, rat droppings and badger attacks appear (in this part of town at least) to have been overstated.

Personally, I'm glad that the council have bitten the bullet and made these changes. A friend recently commented that in her native Scandinavian country they've been doing this for decades. We obviously can't go on filling land fill sites indefinitely and recycling is a key way of making sure we don't.

It may just be me, but the change to the way we do rubbish has been the catalyst I needed to make a more serious move towards more extensive recycling. Our plastic bottles are rinsed and go to Waitrose on Henleaze Road and we've also started using Freecycle. This great site lets you give away for free items that you would otherwise have no use for - and which the charity shops won't take. So far we've recycled a central heating flue that we didn't need, a collection of wooden planks, and a chest of drawers.

The only rule on Freecycle is that everything offered must be free. The recipient is expected to collect, and you can add photos if you want. You can advertise items you want or things you want to give away. It's very local and very easy to use.

Bring on the revolution!