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Reduce, Re-use, Recycle
Some
of you will have seen the new Essential Standards for IBHS Hostels
and noticed that they now contain a paragraph asking hostel owners
to, Endeavour to run their hostels in an environmentally friendly
way . To some extent it is our fault that this was included, as
it is something we feel very strongly about. I should add that it
was included only after consultation with the Management Committee
and with the agreement of IBHS Members at the AGM. As a punishment,
I have been delegated to write something about this.
I
need to say at the start that it would be presumptuous of me to
tell you how you should run your hostel. All I can do is write
about what we do and hope that you pick up some ideas. We are no
saints and many (most) of our own daily activities could be deemed
to be environmentally unfriendly. The world wont be saved by re-cycling
one drinks can, but every little helps. In this article I will focus
on the last two words in the heading; re-use and recycle. Reduce
encompasses the likes of fixtures, fittings, energy use and lifestyle
and is possibly another article. (Stop groaning.)
Why
do we do it? Not just because were stingy Scots (by birth
and by adoption). Its to conserve resources as well as to reduce
the volume of our waste, which means that we pay less for that waste
to be removed. We also hope that there is an element of education.
Some of our customers have not attempted re-cycling before so we
hope that they take some ideas away with them. We try to make it
as easy as possible for them by providing convenient and clearly
labelled bins in the hostel. What we do here is dictated by
how things are re-cycled locally and I want to stress that a special
journey should NEVER be made. Always fit a visit to the depot in
with an essential journey. Most supermarkets now have some recycling
facilities.
Metal
Our
local can bank is a metal bank; aluminium and steel do not have
to be separated. We ask customers to wash all cans although many
dont bother and some food cans make a dreadful mess. Our
bin is checked every day and nasty food cans are extracted and
rinsed (rice sticks dreadfully). We provide a crusher for drink
cans but we end up doing most of the crushing ourselves. The cans
are stored in our garage until they can be taken to the can bank
which is three miles away in the village where the nearest money
bank is.
Paper
We
no longer have a paper bank locally due to the increased cost of
transporting paper from the highlands to where it can be re-cycled,
so we have had to do some lateral thinking to find uses for it.
As you know there is more than just paper, it breaks down into
several types;
Newspapers
These go to a friend who has rabbits
and guinea pigs. It is used for bedding and he has assured
us that one day he will make a papier-maché canoe! We scrunch some
up to use for fire lighting.
A4
Sheets
If only one side has been used it
goes into a pile to be re-used for non-essential printing.
We are currently experimenting with a hand-cranked shredder and
have used some paper for chickens/pet bedding and some for composting.
Glossy
Magasines
These go to friends, a charity shop
or doctors/dentists surgery so at least they get more than one
use.
Cardboard
There is no
re-cycling facility locally but there is one in Inverness.
Unfortunately we have found it impractical to store cardboard for
disposal on our infrequent trips to the big town. We use some
to keep the weeds down on our veggie patch and some to light the
wood burner; toilet roll tubes make excellent firelighters.
Glass
We
ask customers to wash out all bottles & jars, quite a few do
but food remains can be a problem (especially cook-in sauce).
As with the cans it is important to check these bins every day (as
you would any other bin in the hostel) and rinse out the really
grotty bottles. Suitable jars are dropped off to local jam-makers
and the remainder of the glass is stored in our garage until were
making a journey which will take us by a bottle bank.
Compost
Our
two hens enjoy treats such as carrot peelings, melon seeds and lettuce.
We provide collection boxes (4L ice-cream tubs) and compost everything
of vegetable origin: vegetables, fruit, peelings, coffee grounds,
tea bags/leaves and eggshells. We empty these in to the compost
bin where it is mixed with shredded paper, torn cardboard, grass
clippings, other garden waste and soiled bedding from the hen-house.
Up here, because we have quite a short warm period (once known as
summer) it takes about a year to rot down but when it is put back
on the garden it just looks like good soil with lots of eggshell
bits. When we have fishermen to stay, if they need worms we have
a ready supply. Amazing and saves us buying compost from B
& Q.
Plastic
Other
than carrier bags, there is no facility for re-cycling plastic in
the highlands. As there are many different sorts of plastic
I feel that it may take a long time before we get one, so this has
to go in our rubbish bin. The carriers are re-used as bin liners
or taken to the charity shop for re-use but could be returned to
a supermarket for recycling.
Abandoned
belongings
Quite
a lot of clothing, towels and assorted stuff are left behind.
Our policy on non-perishables is that we record what, when and where,
keep them for two weeks and then, if unclaimed, dispose of them.
Clothing and equipment is used by us, given to the local charity
shop for sale or re-cycling or put into the clothing bank. Suitable
food and toiletries are put into please use boxes in the hostel.
Beer, wine and whisky are treated as gifts to us from contented
customers.
The remainder
So
what ends up in our bin? Not a lot. Plastic, cardboard and
some of the other things I have mentioned. All the landfill
rubbish from our house and hostel fits easily into one wheelie-bin
most weeks. We would like to do more. What can we do with
batteries or electrical equipment? Its scary to dump batteries
in landfill and seems wasteful to simply ditch electrical goods.
Legislation is already here for fridges and is on the way for other
electric goods and cars - so far no-one has left us with a car,
thank goodness.
Some
visitors, e.g. those from Germany or Holland are really impressed
as so few hostels in Britain make any obvious effort at re-cycling.
Some customers find it hard to put things in the correct bin but
most do try. If we find things in the wrong bin we point out (very
pleasantly) that we would prefer if they would use the re-cycling
bins. I have heard that we have sparked off much animated debate
in the hostel along the lines of, is a foil lined juice container
paper, metal, or neither? and should left over haggis be composted?
I would like to think at least some of our customers take a few
ideas away with them. They have learned from our hostel that they
only need to make a few changes to reduce the amount of rubbish
they produce.
I
know some of you will ask what the point is when the general public
throw away millions of tons of usable stuff every day. Just because
they do it does not mean that you and your hostel have to follow
their example. If the western world carries on the way it is going
then we will run out of more than just holes in the ground in the
next few decades.
I
hope you found this article of interest and if you have any comments
or ideas please contact us
© Peter
Main - 2002 |