Day 2: Everybody needs good neighbours

(My fabulous neighbour Anita, handing over her cartons for Recycle Week)

Yes, RESULT!

I'm now the proud owner of another fourteen Tetra Pak cartons. And I am chuffed as a cheery cheshire cat who's got a lifetime's supply of thick jersey cream.

This is thanks to my neighbour, Anita, who's been collecting her family's cartons for the last month or so in the run-up to Recycle Week.

So tonight I popped in to see her to pick them up.

What's great is that these would have otherwise gone to landfill, but instead they are being added to our collection at school.

And I've arranged that I'll continue to pick them up from my neighbour even after Recycle Week is over, especially as I've since discovered that if every other household recycled at least two cartons every week for a year, more than 50,000 tonnes of paper-based cartons would be recycled.

Apparently that's the equivalent of 500 enormous blue whales!

So huge thanks to Anita and her husband for taking part. It is very much appreciated.

And if you're wondering what happens to all the cartons that are being collected, here's a slide that shows the kinds of things that are made from the cardboard pulp recovered from the paper mills in Sweden and North Europe.

The residual material can also be used in a number of different applications, ranging from garden furniture, energy recovery, and playground equipment to roof tiles. According to Tetra Pak the company is currently working with industry to develop plasma technology that is able to separate the aluminum and polyethylene into their raw constituents of aluminum and paraffin for ongoing use.

So methinks that despite today's back-pain, all in all this is a positive end to Day 2 of Recycle Week.

I just wonder what tomorrow will bring. One thing's for sure, I'm looking forward to listening in to the James Hazell show again on BBC Radio Suffolk. Following my visit yesterday, the producer Sally has found she's got really hooked by this recycling business and has upgraded her Recycle Week rubbish-free day pledge to a whole rubbish-free week.

You can keep up with their escapades at the James Hazell programme page, found here.

_________________________________________________________