What's in store for National Zero Waste Week 2011?

I've just realised that the title of this blogpost makes it look like I run a shop.  So apologies to anyone who thought I might be doing a stock-check or reorganising my merchandising cabinets with a special twist for Zero Waste Week.

Sorry, this is more of a talking shop than a retail space, but if there are any stores who are applying innovative ways of reducing the amount of rubbish they stock, then please do share your news here. After all, the theme of National Zero Waste Week 2011 is "Reducing waste away from home", so if you're doing anything to help reduce the amount of trash that you pass on to your customers, then your comments will fit in nicely.

So what is happening at Almost Average HQ for Zero Waste Week?  Well, unlike my very first attempt back in 2008, I've had diddly-squat planning time.  Not that I'm good at planning anyway, but I suppose five minutes preparation would have helped things on the homefront, as would actually being at home, instead of zipping around the country on a secret mission.

Of course it would have also been useful to have reminded my husband and kids last week, particularly to avoid the surprise of arriving home this weekend to much excitement that they'd treated themselves to a huge multipack of crisps and 20 blimmin' Capri-Suns.  Someone must be having a laugh!  We never normally have such things in the house, not necessarily due to being pedantic about packaging, but we've got no room in our cupboards for starters, and besides I don't trust my willpower!  But great timing eh!  Bought just in time for Zero Waste Week.

So things on the homefront will be more of a challenge than usual then!  That's why the kids have gone into battle against my husband to see who can create the least rubbish this week!  Personally,  I think I'll leave them to it.

But of course the focus of this year's NZWW  is reducing waste away from home, so whilst head-to-head challenges are taking place behind closed doors, I'm more interested in opportunities to reduce waste while out-and-about and will be keeping my eyes peeled for good practice as well as being on a personal mission to avoid superfluous bits of plastic that commonly pop up in the catering trade.

I'm travelling again at the end of the week, so will make sure I'm appropriately kitted out to avoid all the rubbish that typically gets thrown at you when on the road.  Having read that sentence again, it sounds like I'll be wearing protective shields and defending myself with some form of waste-busting laser gun.  I'm sorry if that makes the reality of a refillable coffee cup and water bottle sound far less exciting.

This week I'm also on a mission to get more recycling bins on the streets of my local town.  I know we're pretty lucky to have two, but for the size of the town that's pretty pants, especially as there's not even a single recycling bin in the town centre's Abbey Gardens.   So this week, I'm taking the attitude of  "if you don't ask, you don't get" and proverbially speaking, getting off my backside to wing over an email to some local authority officers and councillors.  I'll also email my MP, asking him to look at the wider picture at a national level.

And on the subject of bins, I'm still on the hunt for photos for the 1000 Bin Challenge.  It's the final week, so I'm going to have to do a tally soon of the number of photos that I've collected over the summer.  I've got a sneaking suspicion that I am nowhere even near the 1K target, so I'm going to need your help more than ever.  To find out how you can help, pop over to www.1000bins.com and send in photos of any recycling litter bins that you spot in your town.  You may even be in with a chance of winning a georgeous ring pull clutch bag by Bottletop or a fabulous Waste-busting kit from Onya.

So I think it's safe to say National Zero Waste Week 2011 is officially launched at Almost Average HQ.  Huge thanks to Mrs Green at My Zero Waste for organising it.  To find out more about how you can get involved, visit www.myzerowaste.com, where you'll get more tips than you can shake a stick at.  And if you want to get up-to-date with what you can recycle in your area, pop over to www.recyclenow.com for the official lowdown.