AS a notoriously messy person it is not surprising I found Surrey Waste Management’s challenge to produce as little waste as possible for a day quite daunting.

Living 100% waste free is increasingly more difficult in modern life but I have realised that making concerted efforts to cut down your waste makes a big difference to the size of your bin but not your lifestyle.

Recycling is a great way to help the environment, but reducing the amount of rubbish you produce is even better as it requires no extra resources and saves resources that you would otherwise have used.

On the morning of the challenge, waste minimisation team manager Sarah Ottaway and communications officer Alison Bennett arrived at my flat to weigh my rubbish.

Full of plastic packaging, vegetable peelings and glass jars, the bin bag weighed 1kg 34.

After giving me some hand tips and providing me with a kitchen caddy to collect compostable materials, such as teabags, egg shells, vegetable and fruit peelings, I set off for work.

Having ditched the clingfilm in favour of a tupperware container to store my sandwiches in, and remembering to put my apple core and banana skin in the caddy, I created very little waste at lunch time.

Everyone in the office was eager to get involved too and when making a tea round ensured the teabags were not just chucked in the bin.

Calling in at the supermarket on the way home I was amazed by the amount of packaging used for fruit and vegetables – I understand tomatoes need protecting but individual casing and two plastic sheets of packaging is surely unnecessary?

To be honest I had never really thought about it before but picking up one of the small plastic bags to put fruit like oranges and bananas in when they are going to be peeled anyway, now seems absurd.

For dinner I created as little waste as possible by eating fresh vegetables. The only thing that went in the bin was the plastic packaging from the sausages.

And instead of having a yoghurt for pudding, which meant I would have had to throw away the lid and pot, I opted for a bowl of ice cream, which comes in a tub that, once empty, I could re-use as a lunch box.

Consciously attempting to change my lifestyle I traded my face wipes for face wash and plastic bags for reusable cotton ones.

The experience was a complete eye-opener as I realised how much unnecessary waste I produce and how easy it is to adopt a greener lifestyle.

And I was delighted when Kate Marsh and Toni Waters arrived the next day to see how I got and weighed my rubbish which amounted to a measly 0.14kg.

For more information on Surrey Waste Management and how you can reduce and recycle your waste visit www.surreywaste.co.uk

It is surprising how easily you can slip into green habits and how rewarding that empty bin feels. Here are some handy tips to get you started:

Reduce:

• Buy fruit and vegetables loose to reduce packaging. This could even save you money as buying loose means you only buy what you want, rather than purchasing pre-determined amounts that you may not use.
• Buy items in bulk to reduce the amount of packaging used – e.g. buying a big bag of crisps and putting each day’s amount in a reusable container avoids five individual packets going in the bin.
• Avoid foods from plastic packaging that can not be recycled e.g. ready meals.
• Plan ahead before you visit the shops, this way you only buy what you need and could potentially save you money. The average household throws away £420 worth of edible food every year. (www.lovefoodhatewaste.com)

Refuse:

• Have a waste free lunch. Putting your food in a re-usable lunchbox keeps it fresh and avoids clingfilm and foil, which go straight in the bin after use. Old takeaway containers are excellent for keeping sandwiches fresh and unsquashed.
• Use a reusable bag when shopping, rather than taking new plastic ones.
• Buy milk from the milkman as they use glass bottles that are collected and reused up to 20 times before being re-cycled. (www.wasteonline.org.uk)
• Use re-usable cotton pads that you wash and reuse to take your make-up off, or even a flannel instead of face wipes that last for one use.

Recycle – More than 30 types of material can be recycled at your local community recycling centre. These include:

• Bras
• Tin cans
• Plastic bottles
• Batteries
• Used cooking oil
• Small electrical appliances (including mobile phones)
• Glass jars and bottles
• Stamps
• Aluminium foil

For more information visit www.surreywaste.info/thirty

Additionally you can buy subsidised compost bins for your vegetable and fruit peelings from the Waste and Resources Action Programme (www.wrap.org.uk).

Not only will this mean that organic matter like teabags avoid landfill, but you will be left with a rich compost – meaning you do not have to buy it from other places.

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