Recently I checked out the Revive-Reuse shop at the recycling centre and spotted the automatic breadmaker pictured below:



It's a bit bigger and heavier than the loads I normally carry home, but when the staff member told me the price was $5, that was sufficient motivation to give it a try.  She also told me that the OK sticker they slapped on it meant only that they had tested it as far as they could, which in the case of a bread machine means that "the paddle went around when the guys plugged it in".  So I decided to take a gamble on it ($5 is the price of a Lucky Dip Lotto ticket**) and lugged it home.  I discovered later it weighs 7.1kg.
My mother is somewhat of a bread machine expert and when I told her I'd bought a Panasonic SD 250, she said it was a very good model.  She added that I could download the original manual in PDF format from the panasonic.co.nz website.  Today I tested it by making a 100% whole wheat loaf.  To my relief, it worked great!  I've made bread by hand in the past ... they never looked this good.  Can't wait to cut into it tomorrow for breakfast, lol.



While this loaf was baking I looked at the expired listings on Trade Me for Panasonic bread machines and found one earlier this year for the same model, which sold for $222.00!  I'm glad there are people in  my district who--for whatever reason--would rather off-load their stuff at the recycling centre than put it up for sale on Trade Me. :-)

** Edited to add: My Lotto FREAK of a daughter informs me that Lucky Dip tickets have been $6 since August 2004 and I should know this already, being so closely related to someone who lives and breathes Lotto.

I haven't blogged about waste in a while because after I solved the most common problems to my satisfaction, it became a case of "rinse, repeat". There's not that much new to say about my personal waste. In case anyone is wondering, I'm still using cut-up t-shirts instead of toilet paper. The 15-litre kitchen rubbish bin filled up about the 6 month mark and I transferred it to a collection bag which is sitting out in the sleepout.

The Revive-Reuse Shop, to give it its proper name, is part of the Tasman District's Resource Recovery Centre located about 2km from my home. It's a walk of about 7,000 steps there and back. I have a Yamax Digi-Walker SW700 pedometer now and aim to log 10,000 steps a day, but I'm more motivated to walk if there is a purpose to my walk beyond exercise, like poking around in the recycling centre. Today I lugged back over 10 lbs of stuff on the return journey:
( Photos and stuff here... )

I brought home a baby's long-sleeved white 100% cotton top from St Vincent de Paul's free bin yesterday, which I've cut up for toilet cloth. The sleeves each made 1 cloth, and the front and back made 2 cloths each. The clothing label and the metal snap fasteners from the neck/shoulder opening were added to the trash container. I added the neck itself and cuffs to a compost bin in the far back corner of my property, where I put all the biodegradable stuff that I think might take years to rot completely.

Some people buy specially designed toilet cloth in fun prints, or cut and hem their own out of new fabric. If you cut pieces from old t-shirts though, you can wash and dry them without hemming them. And they're really soft too! I've only used white t-shirts, so that there will be no mix-up between these cloths and dusting rags. The first ones I cut, I cut too big - they don't really need to be that big. The pieces from the baby top measure about 6" by 8" which is just the right size for me (I've seen people go smaller though). Here's a photo of toilet cloths recycled from old t-shirt material drying in the sunshine (washed in cold water), to show how low-tech they can be.



Recycling day is tomorrow and I spent a good 30 minutes today opening the bottoms of cans and squashing them. I was watched carefully by Milly, no doubt hoping that one of these cans might not be empty and might release the wonderful smell of Jellymeat. Alas for her, it was can after can of Wattie's baked beans. This is two weeks worth of recycling from our house. I contributed 1 plastic dishwashing liquid bottle, 3 cans, and the cardboard in the bottom right corner of the bin. DD's contribution was 20 cans and 12 PET bottles (1 was accidentally left out of the photo).

1. The label from a Vegemite jar which I am reusing to hold other stuff. I took the label off thinking it was paper and could go in the compost. On closer inspection, it turns out to be some kind of plastic, gack. If I'd realised that, I would've just left the label on the jar! Thought of a way to reuse this: as a "Scrap Metal" label for a metal recycling bucket in the garage.
2. The sticky tape that blocks the holes on a container of Barkeeper's Friend.
3. Sellotape taped around the corrugated cardoard holding the Eneloop batteries inside the courier envelope. The envelope went into the plastic storage tub I keep in my study which holds packaging for reuse. The corrugated cardboard piece went to the worm bin.

I read today that one super-green Wellington couple is moving to Kaikoura, because Kaikoura has a zero-waste-by-2015 policy, e.g. all types of plastic are accepted for recycling.  While living in Wellington, this couple made one council rubbish bag last six months.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4568375a23918.html

Eneloop batteries come fully charged and ready to use, so here are bout2's flowers and the shampoo bar....

June 5 is World Environment Day 2008, and this year it's being hosted in New Zealand; the host city is Wellington. The theme is CO2-Kick the Habit!: Towards a low carbon economy.  To promote the climate change focus and encourage people to ditch their cars in favour of public transport, Tasman District Council,  Nelson City Council, and the Ministry for the Environment are together providing free bus rides along the Richmond-Nelson route for a Nelson/Tasman 'Less-Cars' Day.  For World Environment Day events elsewhere in NZ, check the world-environment-day tag at nzlive.com

DD and I have planned to take one of these free rides into Nelson to see the NZ movie, Second Hand Wedding.

( Read more... )

Waste created today: plastic packet from 500g linguini, toothpaste tube, foil bag from Dilmah teabags.

I went to see if I could get a better fly swat, or at least, what I could do now about the existing one.  Payless Plastics stocked the same fly swat I want to replace, plus a packet of 3 from China which the saleswoman assured me would be the same "cheap crap plastic".  As soon as she heard I was looking for a fly swat, she asked, "is yours all cracked and breaking up too?"  It sounds like a common experience.