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Well it's got to be one of the more obscure world records in the Guiness book of records, but this week it was confirmed that around 30 parents and babies who gathered in the Calton Centre last month made a successful contribution towards a global attempt to smash the world record for the 'largest simultaneous real nappy change in the world.'
The new world record which they helped to set saw 8,251 nappies changed at the same time. This was 3,225 more than last year. Events were held in 11 different countries.
Leslie Dible, Changeworks' Real Nappy Project Co-ordinator said: "We're delighted to take part in this fantastic event. It was great fun and demonstrates how people can do amazing things which, when brought together, make a real impact. In this case, Edinburgh's tots helped trump a world record for real nappies and waste prevention."
Changeworks volunteers organise 'napachino events' in Leith fairly frequently where Mums can find out more about using real nappies - details are usually posted to thegreenerleithsocial.org
Food waste collection are coming, to every household in Edinburgh. By 2020 70% of our waste will be recycled and less than 5% of waste will be sent to landfill. It that even possible? How do you change a city? How do you change a country? It's time to find out with the Cabinet Secretary, Zero Waste Scotland and the City of Edinburgh Council. Leith, Edinburgh and Scotland, this is our Zero Waste Future:
If you have iTunes installed on your computer you can subscribe to our audio as a podcast by clicking here.
The photo at the top is the Cabinet Secretary Mr Lochhead at the launch of the Government's new recycle for Scotland Campaign. The big green box is a sort of reverse vending machine, you give it things to eat and it cheers and tells you what they can now become. In today's podcast we featured Angus Murdock from the City of Edinburgh Council:
He told us that food waste collections are coming soon. I managed to take a photo of the map on his wall showing the areas that already have food waste collections:
For more information on your recycling facilities check out the City of Edinburgh Council Website. Remember Angus said prevention was better than cure, for more information on reduce waste in Edinburgh check out the Changeworks website and the Zero Waste Scotland website. Today's podcast featured Miriam Adcock from Zero Waste Scotland:
And here we are at the end of theseries, we started by following the journey of waste to landfill and ended by looking into the future. In between that we've covered:
We've met some brilliant people along the way including todlers at a toy library, birds of prey at the landfill site, an MSP at the parliament, worms (yuk), community groups, charities, families and individuals who are making a difference. Here's a flickr slide show of the highlights, you can see all the photos from the series here:
Thanks to everyone who's made the podcasts possible and to you the listeners for being part of our community journey towards zero waste.
If you need to repair your trousers or your laptop you're in luck! Remade in Edinburgh run free drop in sessions at the South Bridge Resource Centre every Friday morning. Here's a laptop health check in action:
Find out more on the Remade in Edinburgh website, on facebook or follow on twitter, @RemadeEdinburgh. REmade are looking for textile and tool donations too, so do get in touch.
Cafe owner Kal Ali (below) was inspired to start the Sewing Bee Cafe after working with the Warm Hearts Quilting Group. We visited the group for Zero Waste Podcast 6: Waste Action in Action.
For every bag of waste we throw out, 70 bags of waste are produced just to make the things we've thrown away! Read more on the issues surrounding our consumer culture in 'Zero Waste Podcast 10: But Less, Borrow Instead'.
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Edinburgh, we don't need to keep consuming, lets get mending!
It's fun, it's funky.... it's time to mend our ways.
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If you have iTunes installed on your computer you can subscribe to our audio as a podcast by clicking here.
In thirty years we consumed over one third of the earth’s natural resource space. Do we need to keep buying?
The people of Leith are sharing books, toys, cars and even fish tanks. Visit Casselbank Kids Toy Library, meet founder member of Greener Leith Ally Tibbit to find out about the online Leith Lending Circle and pop into the pub, Sofi’s bar to swap books and DVD’s. All this and more on our latest podcast:
If you have iTunes installed on your computer you can subscribe to our audio as a podcast by clicking here.
Casselbank Kids Toy Library
Here are some photos I took during my visit the toy library:
Casselbank Kids meet every Thursday morning from 9.30-11.30am at South Leith Baptist Church, 5a Casselbank Street (2nd right from the foot of Leith Walk). It cost £3 for family membership for the year and toys are 20p, 40p and 60p to borrow for a week. Call 07954 206908 for more information.
The Leith Lending Circle
The Leith Lending Circle is a great way to share and borrow household items if you live in Leith. Read more about it on Greener Leith. This online lending circle includes insurance for valuable items and is provided by Ecomodo.
Libraries and the City Car Club
You can visit your local library and borrow books for free, find out more on the Edinbrugh City Libraries Website or on the Tales of One City blog. The Edinburgh City Car Club was set up by Changeworks in 1999 with funding from the City of Edinburgh Council. This project has been so sucessful we now have car clubs throughout the UK.
The Bigger Picture
The next 'buy nothing day' is November 24, 2012. The challenge is to raise awareness of the issues behind our mass consumerism and think about how it's effecting the rest of the planet.
We've been tricked into thinking we need to keep consuming, manufacturers even design items to be obsolete after a couple of years. It started to boost our economy but it's not sustainable. Find out about all of this and more in the eye opening, engaging short film the Story of Stuff:
With resources decreasing and population increasing sharing may be the best way forward.
I made an official visit to the Scottish Parliment to talk to Gordon Millar, environmental campaigner and Alison Johnstone, Green Councillor and MSP on smart shopping and their plans to ban plastic bags in Edinburgh.
Are plastic bags really a problem? What's happening locally and globally and what do you do if you've forgotten your bag for life? Listen to find out all this and more:
If you have iTunes installed on your computer you can subscribe to our audio as a podcast by clicking here.
Just this week Seattle Council voted to ban single use plastic bags in their City. Italy banned plastic bags a year ago and Rwanda is now entering it's forth year of plastic bag free living. Wales introduced a levee on plastic bags, causing some confusion. Would an outright ban on plastic bags be a more straightforward solution for Edinburgh? You can follow the campaign to Ban Plastic Bags in Edinburgh on twitter and facebook.
Here in Leith our reusable bonus bag has been a big hit with councilors and locals. The funding for the scheme has finished but the bags are for life. Read more in the Edinburgh Guardian article mentioned in the podcast.
Gordon was inspired to start his campaign by the Plastic Pollution Coalition in the US. This trailer to the film 'Midway' gives you an idea of the global plastic problem. WARNING, be prepared for beauty amidst terrible tragedy:
If that left you feeling a little sick, think about changing the way you shop and cheer up with some Zero Waste Chrismtas Shopping tips from Alison and Gordon, I've even added sleigh bells:
That's the last Zero Waste Podcast for 2011, we'll be back in January. Wishing you a very merry Zero Waste Christmas.
Today in Leith an exciting new kit called 'Kitchen Canny' launched from Changeworks. It aims to help householders find practical ways to reduce their food waste and save money. It includes membership to an community of people who, like the Prince Family, are up for a challenge:
They're like you, they don't waste food. But they took part in the Kitchen Canny Pilot along with 3000 others across Edinburgh, the Lothians and Boarders. The results were astounding. On average households reduced food waste by a whopping 37%. It seems we do waste food after all, in fact we waste over 2 million tones of it in Scotland every year.
What can Kitchen Canny do to make a difference? How is it different to food waste collections? Months after the pilot will the Prince family even remember Kitchen Canny? All this and more in our exclusive Kitchen Canny Launch podcast:
If you have iTunes installed on your computer you can subscribe to our audio as a podcast by clicking here.
A Kitchen Canny kit costs £10, see the new Kitchen Canny Website for details. You can also get connected to food, news and top tips on the Facebook Page and follow the project on twitter @KitchenCanny.
Heralding today's launch, New Kitchen Canny Project Manager Evelyn said:
“This is an exciting time for Changeworks. The new Kitchen Canny kit is better than ever before and will save people money and time. Not only that, it will also reduce the amount of food waste we produce which is fantastic.
"We piloted and developed the whole kit so that it’s something practical that people will want to get their hands on and take part in. We’re also encouraging people let us know how they’re getting on and share their tips with others through the new Kitchen Canny Facebook app and website. Go online and get canny!”
Kitchen Canny tries to tackle the problem of food waste at the source. Food waste recycling collections started in Edinburgh this September, they deal with the results of our food waste problem but are expensive and use energy. There's more about food waste collections and some great stats on Scotland's frivolous food habits on this BBC video or read more on the Zero Waste Scotland wesbite.
Locally you can find out more about our zero waste future on the Zero Waste: Edinburgh and Midlothian website or read the Zero Waste Scotland plan, download it as a PDF. Note there are amendments since publication including the ban on biodegradable waste going to landfill moving forward to 2020 and small businesses having to recycle their food waste by 2015.
Food is high on the agenda and later in our podcast series we'll be catching up with Zero Waste Scotland to ask them how they plan to ban food from bins by 2020. If you have any questions you would like me to ask Zero Waste Scotland about food or waste please add them to the comments below.
Last month we met Anne. She was successfully home composting in an Edinburgh flat with a small garden. Well done Anne but what about those of us with no garden at all? How are we supposed to compost? Meet Kathleen and her DIY wormery:
Her wormery cost less than £5 to make and has been going strong for over two years! Find out why Kathleen started a wormery, why she loves worms and what you can do with the juice (worm wee) and black gold compost they produce by listening to our latest podcast:
WARNING: This women is seriously in love with worms...
If you have iTunes installed on your computer you can subscribe to our audio as a podcast by clicking here. To see inside Kathleen's wormery press play on the photo slideshow:
I may not love worms like Kathleen but after doing a bit of research I can appreciate them. I'm fond of facts, did you know worms:
Eat at least their own body weight in food waste every day
Have 5 hearts (Doctor Who that's more than you!)
Breath through their skin
Are hermaphrodites - both sexes produce eggs and sperm, they have a saddle on thier back when they're mature
If you want to know more about worms and get answers to questions like "Help, all my worms have died!" then worm city is the website for you. New wormeries cost £100 but you can make one for less than £5 just like Kathleen.
To Make Kathleen's Wormery you will need:
A big tub with a lid
1 brewers tap (you could take one from a wine bag?)
Some stones
Netting for oranges (to bag stones)
Leaves/Shredded paper
Woolly jumper (optional)
Worms (not earth worms, tiger worms. Get them from a compost bin)
Drill
Method:
Fit tap to bin at lowest point
Drill small air holes around the top of the tub
Put stones in netting to cover bottom 15cm of tub - this acts as a sump to collect the liquid
Half fill bin with leaves and shredded paper
Introduce worms
Top up with leaves and shredded paper
Place jumper over disc
Put the lid on
Worms eat:
Tea bags & coffee grinds
Vegetable & fruit scraps
Cardboard & shredded paper
Cooked food
Remember, worms don't have teeth! Before they eat anything, bacteria and fungi make it mushy and that all happens faster if you make the food pieces as small as possible.
If you are a DIY enthusiast and would like to make a more fancy wormery, check this out
I'll leave you with a few more worm facts in the form of a counting rhyme I wrote for children, but like wormeries it's for all ages. Add your own actions:
The City Of Edinburgh Council runs a Waste Action Grant scheme to help fund individuals, community groups and schools to reduce waste to landfill and change attitudes towards waste. The deadline for the next Waste Action Grant is just around the corner on 12th December and you can apply for up to £2,500. At Greener Leith we were delighted to receive a grant earlier this year to make a series of 12 Zero Waste Podcasts.
We're half way through our podcast series and in this podcast we catch up with some of the other Waste Action Grant funded groups in Edinburgh to see how their projects are going. The Living Memory Association are sharing their memories of rationing and 'make do and mend' with school children. Abundance Edinburgh pick and press surplus fruit in the city. The Warm Hearts Quilting Group run a quilt production line in a church hall. Listen to waste action in action:
If you have iTunes installed on your computer you can subscribe to our audio as a podcast by clicking here.
If you would like to help the Warm Hearts Quilting Group by donating material or volunteering they meet every Monday from 12 - 3pm at the Holy Cross Church Hall, 11 Bangholm Loan. Here are photos of them in action:
Abundance Edinburgh do a great job of reducing and reusing surplus fruit in the city and it's a lot of fun so why not join them? If you would like to borrow apple presses and fruit picking equipment for your community group have a look here.
For more information on the Living Memory Association including a fantastic photo archive, log on to their website. Here's a wee photo I took to give you a taster:
Apply for Waste Action Funding: Deadline 12th December
Remeber the deadline for the next big Waste Action Grant is 12th December, you can apply for up to £2,500, amazing!
There are small grants too, up to £250 available all year round. Download an application form and find out more here.
Funded projects include everything from buying wormeries, setting up toy libraries to making music from waste. Trash Music provide our podcast theme tune. Read more about funded projects and get some ideas for your grant here.
Lastly, there's an excellent video introducing two very different waste action funded projects:
May 19, 2012 by 
