Blog Every Day in May - Blog 13 - Go Green

Image courtesy of Kittikun Atsawintarangkul / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 I'd be the first to admit that I'm a bit schizophrenic in my green tendencies. I'm lucky to live in an area where recycling is made easy. The local council give us seven (count them!) recycling containers to dissuade us from using our black bin:

• A green bin for garden waste (although can you believe they're considering charging residents to use this?!)
•  A green box for glass and cans
• A bag for plastic bottles
• A bag for cardboard (although you're meant to leave your cardboard stacked, we complained and got a trial bag for cardboard as the alternative was that at the first gust of wind our cardboard would be liberally distributed over our neighbours' gardens)
• A container for food waste
• A bag for waste paper 
• A bag for batteries

Partially as a result I'm completely OCD when it comes to recycling. I recycle every plastic bottle, piece of glass, cardboard container, can and piece of paper that I get my hands on. All my food waste goes in either our compost bin or the food waste bin. Our black bin is rarely half full when it goes out for our fortnightly collection and all plastic bags get returned to the supermarket for recycling. I'm erring more to giving my old possessions to charity shops than selling them on eBay and rarely bin old clothing. Hell, we even have solar panels on the roof.

Despite all of that, I despise public transport with a passion and if I'm taking a trip that I can't walk in ten minutes, I will drive there, often with me being the sole person in the car. Only for journeys of three hours or more when I'm prone to losing concentration, or if I'm going into London, will I take the train. I love baths and can soak for hours, without losing any sleep over water conservation, and you can normally tell where I am in the house due to the energy being consumed in that room (and the trail of lights throughout the house that I've left behind).

I guess my conclusion is that I'm green if it's made easy for me. My dislike of public transport is that it's dirty, expensive and inconvenient. If Bristol had a public transport system akin to London I'm sure I'd feel differently, but I think that's a long way off.