Last weekend as I was mid-flow in extolling the virtues of recycling (well, positively foaming at the mouth about people who don't neatly sort out their cans from their cardboard) Lorna said sheepishly; 'You know, I'd love to recycle more but I just don't have the space.'
I was dumb struck. How can anyone not recycle?* It's the easiest thing in the world to put a glass jar in one bin and kitchen scraps in another. Isn't it?
'You have a garage' she explained. 'It's easy for you. I barely have room for just once bin in my kitchen.'
She was right. It stinks in my garage. No matter how thoroughly I seem to rinse out the milk cartons, a sour smell always emanates from the garage by the weekend. Who would want that in their flat, even if they had space?
This got me thinking about the three R's: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. So this month let's focus on Reduce and Reuse as I believe that we all know what to do to recycle and if we can, we do.

Miss Salthouse's top ten reduce/reuse ideas:
1.Reuse foil or buy the reusable baking paper (or better still, don't use it at all).
2.Phone a friend on their birthday rather than send a card (and ask friends not to send birthday cards).
3.Put gifts in a reusable bag.
4.Tear tissues/kitchen towel in half as you don't usually need the whole sheet (may be not loo paper though!)
5.Do like wise with washing-up cloths.
6.Keep old clothing for dusting and cleaning.
7.Buy the herbal teas that don't have each bag wrapped up in separate paper sachets (what is that about anyway?)
8.Share magazines.
9.Borrow books and DVDs from a friend (saves money too)!
10.SNUB (Say No to Unnecessary Bags).

Finally, if you don't feel to have the space to recycle all of your cans and bottles, why not just recycle a couple of items a week and drop them off whilst doing you shopping, as most supermarkets provide recycling facilities. Remember, it is said that just one recycled aluminium can saves enough energy to run a television set for three hours! (source:www.alupro.org.uk]

*Some facts I picked up from the Hertfordshire website, which help explain why I gawp wildly at anyone who still does not recycle: it is estimated that Hertfordshire's current landfill sites will be full by 2009 and there very few suitable sites remaining; the local authority will face fines of £150 for every tonne of waste produced over the government set limit. This could impact the amount of council tax you pay in the future. http://www.hertsdirect.org/envroads/environment/waste/