Getting started

Goeie dag

I lengthly want to go deeper into to the workings of this lifestyle change.

When you start to clean out your packaging and dispose of it into three piles, eg recyclables, non-recyclables, and glass (steel, plastic, etc. can go together without causing a threat, having broken glass or whole glass mixed in between the plastics DOES cause a health risk), this really becomes an easy new way of dealing with your personal waste management systems and you will have a feeling of "why haven't I done this sooner". Depending on your situation, these three can still all go into one bins, with non-recyclables going in at the bottom, then glass, and at the top the recyclables. Making end separation much more effective and efficient.

Try to look at these categories as broad as possible. When you are doing steel work, the off cut pieces of steel or even old nails can all go to recyclables. Just look at the item, and ask yourself what does this item identify as most?

Personally I have two more categories here, namely charity and burn pile. 

Charity is for more valuable, in very good condition, no-more use in my house items. You do not always have to keep it till the end of days or have to give it to a family or friend member. Just give it the local hospice or similar to help fund their cause. Plus take a walk around, there just might be the last item of the set your are looking for. 

Burn pile has always been my favourite, luckily I live on a plot so this is allowed. After doing wood work, off cuts into the pile, thorn tree branches (first cut of the nice thick ones for braai-ing, and the small ones full of thorns) to the pile, various garden waste to the pile. Not sure if it can be recycled or not, into the pile.

My recycling category also includes un-used useful items such as slightly worn clothes, cookware, household items. As the collectors or recyclers could either find a use for them personally or they could sell the item for a few extra rands. Really worn clothes become my garage and grease cloths.

After doing this for not too long, you will more easily start recognising that there is still value in what we used to call waste.

So now that all the packaging materials are properly disposed of, it is time to look at the food waste.

I have the following categories, you need to look at your personal situation and decide what categories you have available and also see yourself doing.

- bones and meats

- cookable vegetables

- dog food

- chicken food

- worm food

Bones and meats go into a plastic container, into the freezer, till capacity has been reached, enough to fill my big pot to 75% capacity. This then becomes broth. I am sure there are plenty of recipes and blogs talking about how great it is, so please google for more information on the topic. You will thank me later.

My wife actually loves going through the bones and meats to separate the meats from the bones to be used as an additive to our home cooked dog food. Something about squishing out her frustrations.

Cookable vegetables are the potatoe skins, pumpkin off cuts, top of the carrot, skins of onions, left over peas, etc, etc.

These go into another plastic container into the freezer and is used as needed in the bone broth to add extra flavour and nutrients. 

After these have been used, the left overs are so worn out, they break down much easier, could be buried in a potted plant, dug into the garden, added to a composting bin, but not good for any animal feed use.

If you have the space the bones can also be burnt in a fire to create bonemeal. The veg that was cooked with it will also burn down in a fire. I do recommend soaking the bone meal and charcoal bits before adding it to the compost pile to ensure it is filled with live. Read up on terra-pretta to understand more.

There are some left overs that sometimes gets missed as dog food, like pastas, rice, or bacon. I highly recommend to go google this topic to get an idea of keeping it balanced. A dog's stomach does not handle it well when a diet is drastically changed on an irregular basis.

For the chickens, they get some of the further down the line items such as chilli off cuts from making your yearly chilli sauce, egg shells, old cereals or old flour, forgotten muesli, soggy cucumber, and such. Plus my wife will just add a few items in there with no issue but as a treat to them.

Then lastly where all the left overs of the left overs go, to the worms. When you live in a flat or without a garden, rather look into bukashi, as I tried the worm bin on my balcony, it started off well, but quickly went south when the worms started crawling everywhere.

I also add the dust from sweeping my floors into the worm composting bin, remembering to remove all recyclable and non- recyclable items from the dust pan first.

If at the end you are still left wanting, I urge you to at least make the broth and place all the left overs into a separate bag (preferably frozen) into the bottom of the bin, with the recyclables at the top. Now at least a step has been taken into the more optimal personal waste management system.

If your current waste collectors are looking for options for the left over food waste, please send them a link of ours and this will direct them to communicate with us.

I am looking forward to your feedback

Goed Gaaf

Oom Louis