Invited to Parliament, fed MP’s wasted food. Just another day.

On Tuesday 8th September, The Real Junk Food Project Brighton fed MP’s a wasted food buffet in the Houses of Parliament. Why? In support of Kerry McCarthys “Food Waste (Reduction) Bill”.

Here is my account of the event and her thoughts on the food waste (reduction) bill – also published on trjfpb.blogspot.com

Supporting Kerry McCarthy’s Food Waste (Reduction) Bill in the Houses of Parliament, was a very interesting yet surreal experience. If someone had told me last year that I would be serving wasted food to MPs in Westminster, I would have laughed, but after being on-board with The Real Junk Food Project Brighton for the past nine months, nothing now surprises me. Security checks, sniffer dogs, and parking our little red (1993) Rascal beneath Big Ben were new experiences which I won’t forget in a hurry, but it was being permitted inside Parliament that was most surreal.

We were granted access to the Jubilee room fifteen minutes before the event began, which left little time to construct our buffet. A selection of 120 vegan, vegetarian, and meat canopes, pre-baked pies, organic fair trade chocolates, and pastries. Wasted food. Every last delicious mouthful of it. We presented our wasted food buffet in our usual style, hand made bunting, up-cycled info-boards, and flyers. It was odd to consider the origin of everything on display as we stood in the most self-indulgently decorated room I had ever seen. To me, our modest community centre on our local council estate felt much more inviting. Despite so little time, as usual we all came into our own- like well versed ants preparing a new hive. We had catered for important events before, but this time we were not just representing ourselves, we were representing The Real Junk Food Project Charitable Network as a whole.  Adam Smith, the Network Founder, commented on my facebook update as I tried and failed not to over do it on the hummus. No pressure.

By 3:05pm the room was filled with MPs and we found ourselves conversing with Caroline Lucas and Kerry McCarthy about the ethics of wasting food. As the speeches began, we proudly stood in front of our wasted food buffet as we were thanked by each guest speaker for providing a wonderful spread and a great service to our environment and community. At that precise moment, I couldn’t help but notice the smell of hypocrisy as I spotted several unopened bottles of water left over from the event before, each one labelled with the Westminster emblem…no tap water or evian here. I remembered the petition I had recently signed, asking for the removal of the £1.3 million subsidies for the catering service in the House of Lords. The lavishly decorated room was not lost on me as I pictured what little many of the people we feed back at home have available to them. Yet I was also surprised by the way in which these MPs spoke passionately about the need to reduce food waste and food poverty.  I was very impressed by the number of representatives from different food organisations and charities that were present within this one small room in Parliament. It was the first time I’d seen evidence that political debate includes the views of those they are debated about from rooms similar to this one. It was nice to hear Lindsay Boswell, CEO of Fare-Share, openly question aspects of the food waste bill. Niki Charalampopoulou, Managing Director of Feedback, spoke of their research in Kenya where they found farmers were forced by supermarkets to waste up to 50% of their food produce without any compensation due to cosmetic demands.

Kerry McCarthy, Labour Member of Parliament for Bristol East, introducing the event.

Caroline Lucas, Green Member of Parliament Brighton Pavilion, speaking of work of The Real Junk Food Project in Brighton.

After the speeches, food waste campaigning organisations including This is Rubbish. The Rubbish Diet, WWF-UK,  Friends of the Earth, and Sustain bustled about the room sharing their views on food waste with MPs, all with waste food canopes in hand.

The Real Junk Food Project Brighton and The Rubbish Diet

Empty plate- good sign!

Well we couldn’t be serious all the time

It was refreshing to see a Parliamentary conversation that includes not just MPs, but those who work first hand with people living in food poverty, and who work tirelessly to collect, sort, and redistribute wasted food. Yet  even a week after this event and having read and re-read the food waste (reduction) bill…I still can’t quite see how this bill is going to be truly effective.

So what is really  in the Food Waste (Reduction) Bill?

In short (and I quote):

The Bill seeks to ensure that more of the obscene amounts of food needlessly wasted through the food industry supply chains- from farm, to production, through to retail- is prevented or made available to charities, for redistribution to people living in food poverty.

Sounds great doesn’t it! Does it? Firstly, the provisions within the bill only apply to “in-date” food. Yet most edible food which is thrown away in supermarkets is out-of date (food which has passed it’s sell-by date). Since February, The Real Junk Food Project Brighton have intercepted over 10 tonnes of edible food from supermarkets-with only a small proportion including items of damaged packaging or over-ordered stock. Most of what we intercept,  re-distribute,  cook with, and serve, is out of date food. Yet we are the most accessible healthy food options in our city, ensuring all our meals are highly nutritious and varied. Why not teach people to trust their senses and re-address the absurdity that is sell-by-dates? Cured meats, tinned goods, and pickled veg, to name a few are all PRESERVED to last a long time, we knew this in the war, so why have we forgotten it now?

Secondly, no where can I find in this bill, any suggestion of financial assistance to the charities which would be responsible for taking on this wasted food. I was really shocked to find in this bill a quote from FareShare, that claims food redistribution to food charities is more costly than landfill and anaerobic digestion, at the cost of “between £60-£100 per tonne for transportation alone”.

WHAT?! This means that The Real Junk Food Project Charitable Network, are missing a trick! In the last 18 months the network as a whole has saved 107, 000 tonnes of food…for free. That’s between £6, 420, 000 – £10, 700, 000 that we’ve apparently missed out on.

So who is it that is currently profiting from wasted food and food poverty? How can a charity be effective in it’s mission if it’s charges alone act as a disincentive to supermarkets, that means throwing edible food away when people go hungry is actually the preferable option? Of course it is correct for the Food Waste (Reduction) Bill to include comment as to the financial barriers to food re-distribution, but surely there should be more emphasis given to why these costs are so great- particularly when our network are not bound to these same financial restrictions. So it appears to me that the people working with wasted food are not always the good guys. Surely food, particularly wasted food, should be freely accessible to those who need it. No sign-up fees, no additional charges, just edible food going in bellies not bins. There clearly needs to be incentives for both sides of food re-distribution so that charities are well equipped to cope with even more wasted food, and supermarkets have incentives to work with them.

With this in mind, the Food Waste (Reduction) Bill, includes suggestions that supermarkets could be given incentives to redistribute wasted food via charities, in the form of tax reductions per tonne of redistributed food. So where’s the incentives for the charities dealing with this wasted food? In Brighton, we already spend in transportation costs alone, ~£60 per week. Since February this year we have intercepted over 10 tonnes of food (which we now know to be a saving of between £600-£1, 000 for our donor supermarket!) so where is our support to take on more? We would need more storage (£), more vans (£), more petrol (£), and more time- which currently we all already give for free. What I found most bizarre however, was that within this bill, it is openly recognised that “redistribution receives no subsidies or support” …yet at no point is support for charities proposed here.

Another confusing statement within this bill: the recognition that a) the UN have recently agreed to a target of halving food waste by 2020, and b) that THIS BILL insists on no less than a 30% food waste reduction by 2025. Why not go the full hog and match the UN? But, it has to be said, there is also the argument put forth that food waste in the EU could rise by 20% by 2020 if no action is taken, and a reduction in global food waste by just 25% would leave enough food to feed everyone on the planet. So this is for you to decide: is this bill proposing enough?

The biggest positive of the Food Waste (Reduction) Bill has to be, without question, the provision of documentation: all supermarkets would be required to document their food waste statistics- Just as Tescos have done this year. I can not find fault in this. This in itself, would create more job opportunities within stores, and if each charitable food donation was sorted, weighed, and documented, it would save charities the resources to do it themselves. One little thing though- there was comment during the Parliamentary event that retail food waste figures are largely unknown- clearly no-one asked The Real Junk Food Project network who has been collecting this information since 2013. A quick google would have also have shed some light.

Do I support the food waste (reduction) bill?

Yes I personally support the Food Waste (Reduction) Bill, because yes I do think supermarkets should be forced into transparency (as proposed by this bill). I think supermarkets should do more to save food (as proposed by this bill). But no. I don’t think it’s enough. I don’t think it’s even close. But it’s a start. It’s a start of a conversation which for too long has gone unspoken.

From left to right: TRJFPB Founder Adam Buckingham, TRJFPB director Jess Hooper, Caroline Lucas Green MP, TRJFPB director Sarah Betts, Kerry McCarthy Labour MP, TRJFPB director Nick Saxon.

Caroline Lucas, Jess Hooper, and Adam Buckingham, speaking of reducing food waste and food poverty in Brighton.

One REALLY important thing to remember:

The Real Junk Food Project started because no one of any “power” was doing anything to help people going hungry whilst edible food was shamefully being tossed in the bin. If I’ve learnt anything from the event it is this: regardless of the Food Waste (Reduction) Bill, if a group of normal people, volunteers from varying backgrounds who only met through their shared passion for equal access to food, can feed members of parliament wasted food, we can certainly positively impact food poverty and food waste in our respective locations. The rest is what it is, but we will keep saving food and we will keep feeding people.

Let’s REALLY feed the world.

The Real Junk Food Project Brighton team at Parliament. From left to right: Imogen Richmond Bishop, Paul Loman, Nick Saxon, Sarah Betts, Jess Hooper, Adam Buckingham.

*On September 9th The Food Waste Reduction Bill entered Parliament and has been given leave to proceed – without being forced to a vote. Its second reading has been scheduled for 29th January 2016, which we will be following closely. More information about the food waste bill, aptly named “what a waste” can be found on facebook here.

Erm…why?

MY NAME IS JESS: I am a 25 year old female post-graduate living in England, and I want to go waste free…how hard could it be, right?

Actually, I always thought it was impossible, that you either had to be rich to afford a waste free life style, to be void of food packaging and plastic bottled cleaning agents, or a devout hippy with an impressive beard. Even then, I always imagined these waste-free weirdos sneaking their garbage out in the  middle of the night to avoid scrutiny, whilst in the day they shone as exemplary human-beings to their neighbours and friends; who were all quite honestly sick to death of hearing about the crime they were committing by using plastic covered toothpaste. I thought it was a life of luxury afforded by those who didn’t need to shop on a budget, or didn’t live in a city, or who had enough space in their life to grow their own food, and could replace all their throw away items with expensive metal substitutes. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I like an impressive beard as much as the next person (the guy on the left in this link is actually a close friend of mine), and my nickname growing up was in fact ‘hippy’ but I am by no means a spiritualist floaty type of person who wishes to ditch my razor to adopt the natural look, and the thought of the mooncup makes me quite honestly wretch. I am, on paper, a scientist. Yet right now I am a post-graduate working in a deli where I make sandwiches for minimum wage, trying to pay off my bank loan which I foolishly took out to complete a masters degree, which ultimately got me here…as is the case for the other hundreds of UK students working in ASDA or bar tending whilst being more qualified than the customers they ‘serve’.

So why am I trying to go waste free when, and lets be frank, I quite clearly have bigger problems to work out….like leaving my parents house after having to move back home (cue the sad string music). Well, I kind of just want to see if it is possible. Or for lack of a better explanation: why not? I don’t know about you but I hate the thought that the environment and the animals in it are suffering because of the waste we are too lazy to avoid. The oceans, forests, woodland, and even our city streets are quite literally littered with our rubbish…and for what? It’s just not something I want to be part of.

I WANT TO SEE IF LIVING WASTE FREE IS POSSIBLE: Right now I am living in Brighton, the only city in the country run by the green party yet it has appalling recycling facilities (I mean, really bad!). In the summer I am hoping to be living in the countryside with enough space to grow my own food and live off the grid on solar and wind power (which we’re of course building ourselves), and next winter I plan to be travelling South America, where I am a volunteer primatologist for Ecoparque el Fenix monkey sanctuary and my boyfriend is to be building eco-beach-houses. I am hoping that if I nail the zero-waste life style now, then I can be as low impact upon the environment as possible no matter what project I am working on or where I am living at the time. But can being waste free work in all these situations? I’ve yet to find a “travellers guide to waste free” for a start so maybe this will be the first!

SO THAT’S ME AND THAT’S WHY I WANT TO BE WASTE FREE: Lets see what happens! I predict the first couple of months to be the strongest learning curve, which will of course be documented here for educational purposes…if not just for a laugh.

Wasted potential: Life in the Calais Jungle.

We do not see any borders from space. From up here it is crystal clear that on Earth we are one humanity, we eventually all share the same fate.

Alexander Gerst, German Astronaut

In my house, my dad has the news on the television all day every day. I’d become tetchy and irritable when news reporters showed images of young men jumping onto lorries and even the roof tops of Euro-tunnel trains. These are desperate people I would mutter, these are refugees fleeing war, violence, and corruption.Yet even the word “migrant” has become dirty, as if there’s something wrong and selfish about the freedom of movement. The freedom that we take for granted but wont permit to others in desperate need.
As soon as the British government sent £7 MILLION to Calais in the form of prison-like fences, I’d had enough. I wanted to show my solidarity and show that my government does not represent me. A government, I may add, that the majority of the UK population didn’t want in the first place. So myself and three friends, Gareth, Dil, and Adam set up a crowdfunder online asking friends and family to help us raise £150 to cover the price of the ferry for one van loaded with aid supplies. Within three days we had £750, in a week we were just shy of a grand. “Guess we’re doing monthly trips then” I said. And so it started. We named our little group “HumanKind” and within three weeks we had connected with local aid groups including Children of Calais, the Hummingbird Project, and many different independent people who had been collecting donations and even buying new supplies. We ended up taking 55 tents tatted from Bestival by a group of local anarchists, food and bottled water intercepted by The Real Junk Food Project Brighton, and a job lot of tents, tarpaulins, camping chairs, soaps and shampoo, all collected by Children of Calais and The Hummingbird Project, who kindly provided Dil and I with first aid training to boot! Not wanting to be “one of those” groups-who, with the best intentions, end up badly self-distributing the wrong aid and dehumanizing people in the process, we were extremely selective in our donations. We only took priority items of the highest quality, and were in regular contact with volunteers on the ground and in the distribution centres to know exactly what was needed most.

On 19th September we left Brighton at 3am in an old micra, and a questionable van, both filled to the brim with supplies, set to join thousands of people on a solidarity march through the jungle organised by L’auberge des migrants international.. Once in Calais at 9am, it had already been 6 hours since we started travelling. Our sleep deprived delirium continued throughout the morning as we navigated our way around Calais on the wrong side of the road, to check in to various hostels and to get breakfast. Then we entered the jungle.

It seemed to hit us all in a wave of emotion, as we each simultaneously fell silent. Flood damage could immediately be seen, and as I tried to stay clear of the pools of water I looked down to see people’s feet crammed into shoes that didn’t fit or wearing flip flops as they walked through boggy sand and waste. In every direction there was barren landscape filled with makeshift shelters. But there are not that many people. 3,500 is hardly the “swarm” our doting Prime Minister would have us believe. A sickly plastic smell clung to the air as we passed large areas of the camp that had been destroyed in the floods. Broken tents lay abandoned on the ground, and piles of unwanted (often unthoughtful) donations smouldered in a bid to burn waste materials. Who sends high heels and sparkling bikinis to a refugee camp?

Refugee camps lined with fences to “protect the border”

Material debris is burned

We followed the procession of people to the bridge, where the atmosphere exploded. Music and dancing burst through the crowds, as everyone chanted the word “Freedom” in Arabic. Amongst the crowd I was surprised to see Europeans who were elderly and disable, and that many adults walked hand in hand with their young children. This was nothing like anything the media portrays to us back at home. Smiles were everywhere, everyone spoke enthusiastically, wanting to shake our hands, to say hello.

“Hello” quickly became my favourite word to say- it says: “I see you, I see you here with me. I see you here, in a place that the outside world ignores”.

Three policemen watched from on top of the bridge, and the prison-like fences crowned in barbed wire stretched across the entire horizon. Despite the fences, we smiled and we chanted and watched the dancing. Little were we to know that not four days after this wonderful unity of European citizens and refugees (Somalian, Sudanese, Eritrea and Syrian people), the French police would rip down all the tents from under the bridge, bull dose large areas of the camp, herd these people like cattle into the jungle, and tear gas indiscriminately despite the presence of women and children.

Speeches are given from the back of the van, followed by music and dancing. Police watch from the bridge.

Europeans and refugees walk, dance, and talk with each other below the fences.

Europeans cheer for freedom on the march through the jungle

The march stops one of the lorries entering the industrial estate on the periphery of the Jungle

One of the many banners we saw on the march

No.

The march took us all the way to the Calais ferry port where we painted our words of welcome and solidarity on a large wall. My favourite moment was when one Syrian man turned to a French lady behind him and asked her how to spell “victims” in English. The French lady struggled to answer. The man laughed with her as he said “this is jungle problem-we need English speakers, we speak English-we try to go to England”, I said to them both “yes but then the English speakers here can’t speak French!” we all  laughed in the realisation that the small things that seem helpless like the lack of a common language, can be overcome quickly with humour and a smile.

Syrian refugee and French citizen joke about their language barrier-the desired language: English

After the march we set off back into the jungle where we had left our car. Walking back from the ferry port we met many different people who said hello, gave a smile, a hand shake. But the nearer we came to the bridge, our entrance of the jungle, the more uneasy I felt. I stepped over a sleeping mans legs, as he lay face first in his tent that was half the size of him, too small for him to lay completely inside.

Under the bridge we came across a group of women and children, each holding signs asking “where are our rights?” “the jungle is for animals, it’s not for us”, some held personal signs which read their identity, their purpose.  “I am a scientist”, “I am a student”, “I am a teacher”, “I am a lawyer”. A knot formed in my throat. One woman with a mega phone and well-spoken English asked us these questions as I filmed. My eye’s started to water. A man walked by, saw my sadness, and gave me the most warm smile of encouragement I could have asked for. The Jungle is not a place to self-victimize, it’s not a place to bring your own struggles into, it’s a place where we must bring positivity and action. I would not let myself cry. I had no right to. I will share their message instead.

Women’s protest

Children accompany women holding signs.

Leaving the women, we entered the jungle which felt very different from hours before. It was as if we had been given a reality check, of what it is really like here on a “normal” day. I was suddenly overwhelmed with the smell of human waste. Despite 3,500 being a small number of people, there are too few toilets for even that many.We were told there is just one water tap. The barbed wire fence loomed over us on the surrounding hill. No wonder these women liken their situations to caged animals. Caged animals left without adequate care. How can this be happening?

People cued patiently as groups of coordinated volunteers distributed bottled water and small plates of food. An English volunteer explained how in England it’s considered polite for women to go first, and so all the men shuffled back to let the women to the front of the cue. Everyone looked tired, but we received smiles from everyone. There was a sense of cooperation and order amidst the helplessness and injustice of poverty.A gentleman holding a small paper plate of rice peered into our car as we ready ourselves to leave, he offered us some of his food as if it’s the most normal thing to do in the world. This is so far removed from what we are told to believe by our media and by our government.

Five minutes later we were back in Calais, feeling sick at the thought that what is essentially third world poverty, was within walking distance from first world society. How is that not our responsibility? How is that moral, fair, or even legal??

The next day we travelled to a distribution centre where we offloaded all our supplies, which were greatly received. We felt a sense of achievement knowing that all these tents, sleeping bags, food, and more, will be used-not left to sit in a pile and eventually burned.

Humankind left to right: Adam and Jess (The Real Junk Food Project Brighton), Gareth, and Dil.

One of our vehicles filled with priority supplies

me and Gareth unloading crates into the storage facility

Real Junk Food Project Brighton food donations

Empty van!

Left to right: Adam, Gareth, Dil, Jess, Dave, Mark

We will be returning in a few weeks to spend another weekend in the Calais Jungle, this time we are bringing carpenters and tools. We will be building shelters with L’Auberge, teaching people basic carpentry skills, helping to clear away waste in the camp, and distributing more much-needed supplies.

If you would like to help fund our next trip please click here

(All money will be used to pay for petrol and euro-tunnel tickets).

For more updates you should follow us on facebook here: HumanKind

UP-CYCLED BLACK BOARDS: A DIY special for Zero Waste Week

UP CYCLING with blackboard paint

I LOVE BLACKBOARD PAINT. It is cheep, versatile, and adds an interesting and interactive twist to every day objects. It sticks to glass, wood, chip board, metal, and even ceramic. I’ve been experimenting with items at our “pay as you feel” wasted food cafes in Brighton.

My first item: A TIP POT. A ceramic coffee pot for sprouting new ideas. Cafe visitors can place inside their constructive tips, ideas, feedback, and give their contact details for volunteering.

Tip Pot! Not for money, but for tips, literally.

GLASS TABLE-PIECES. How do you spread key messages about the environment and society to a room of 300 hungry people? Make interesting table pieces for them to ready whilst they eat! A great way to offer information about our project, where the food comes from, and why we are feeding bellies not bins. Each week I can add different wasted food facts, local statistics, interesting tips to reduce wasting food, and event updates.

Couldn’t find flowers so I used spring onions…you say that’s odd, I say that’s ingenious.

INFO AND MENU BOARDS:

Ironically made from my old kitchen cupboards, I wanted an interesting but simply set of boards for our basic cafe needs.

I hand draw all my designs but stencilling would be a great way to achieve uniformity across your designs.

Completed menu sign which I get the kids to fill in at the cafes

Because I’m English

Need a bigger sign

So there you have it, you can turn any piece of tat or rubbish into quirky objects with a purpose. A nice hobby to have, so why not try it out yourself this zero waste week?

Hut home continued

It’s been a busy few months working on our little house project. It’s still a work in progress but I thought it was time to share what we have created so far.

WE HAVE A KITCHEN!

In such a small space we have had to be clever with its functionality. We have screwed the lids of jars underneath the wooden shelves to utilise both the top and underneath of the space, I buy our food in bulk and store it in mason jars and up cycled jam jars which I really like the look of. Mugs hang from the shelves too, and instead of cutlery draws we simply keep them in jars too! All of the kitchen materials were scavenged from building sites (the timber doors are old flooring boards, the work top was rescued from a skip), timber yards (the wooden shelves are scrap oak), or begged and permanently  borrowed (our oven and fridge are up cycled from my Nans old flat, and all our jars are those which I have collected for a rainy day). I am also trying to find some wicker baskets to use in place of another cupboard, and what with us still being in the process of setting up we don’t have a working fridge (not enough electricity from our one solar panel). This has meant we loose a lot of fresh produce from the heat…and so unfortunately we have had to resort to packaged good (gasp of horror!!)… But we’re working on it I promise!

Kitchen

Hanging mugs and jars are a great way to utilise all available space

So our kitchen is also our bathroom storage as well at the moment…notice any of my home made skin care products?

A LIVING ROOM/SNUG

Another rescued piece- our wooden shutters (which I LOVE) were being thrown in a skip…why oh why?? But good for us because now get to use them, admire them, and generally feel good about saving them. Win.

Our hammock can be pulled out to use or tucked away when we want some more space, a little momento from travelling and there really is nothing better than hanging in a hammock with a cup of tea and a good book. Bliss.

Our bed…is not a bed. It’s a futon which we donate to the dog in the day and pull it out at night for us to sleep on. This is fortunately not a permanent feature. We are going to be building a bed into the wall which we can fold up and down to use, which will save space, and make the living area fully functional.

The wicker basket is our wood store…I found this on the street years ago, and although I did have doubts at the time, the half hour it took to drag it home was totally worth the effort!

Oh and we totally found the rug in a skip just days after we carpeted the hut and were slightly appalled by our efforts. I couldn’t believe it, I mean what are the chances?

Under-window storage, will have doors eventually, and was made from unwanted oak. Yes please, more oak…can’t get enough of it. Storage is so crucial in a space like this, but it’s also important (I think) to make a feature of it so it fits in and isn’t an eye sore.

Old vintage wardrobe door up cycled to be our wall mounted mirror, decorated with my jewellery.

Our snug with hammock out

Spot the horse-dog on our temporary bed

Storage unit and under-window seating. Made from oak and my Nans cushions. Our hand made up cycled scrap wood plant box can be seen through the window…love my flowers!

Up cycled wicker basket box for our wood store, wood burner harth made from slate which we bought for £1 a tile in Whales and that which shaped ourselves.

My hand made dream catcher, and slate which I chalked my favourite quote onto

ECO-POWER

So this is why we have a few rough wires flung over things…we bought our first solar panel! Which means although it’s not enough electricity to run our fridge, we are now running our music system, laptops, and mobiles from energy harnessed from the sun. I’m sorry-but how cool is that?!?

NIGHT TIME LIGHTING

We still don’t have light bulbs. Or plug sockets. Or enough cabling. So we made the most of what we did have and so I made an up cycled candelabra using old jars of chutney, a small amount of picture wire, and a beautiful piece of scrap oak. It looks so beautiful at night time because it creates patterns on the wood work…plus remember that big crack left by the ceiling falling down? Not anymore! Nothing better than a cosmetic repair.

Hanging candles

Up cycled light feature

NEXT STEPS

Another two solar panels will give us enough electricity for lights and our fridge.

A fold out bed to save space.

Waste-water bucket to catch our kitchen sink water which I will reuse to water my garden.

Compost bin so we don’t waste left over food.

Recycling bins so I don’t have to relive my student days by having a collection of recyclables spilling into my living space.

Some more built in storage units.

So that’s it so far, all space saving, money saving, environment saving suggestions welcome! Simply comment below ☺️

The Rubbish Junkies waste-free recipe: Cocoa and Shea Body Butter

No more forking out a fortune for plastic tubs of toxic infused body butters, this recipe simply uses raw organic ingredients in an up-cycled jar!

WHAT EXACTLY IS BODY BUTTER?

In a nut shell (as so many good ingredients are!) body butter is made by mixing natural butters (solids) and natural oils (liquids) in a 3 to 1 ratio.

For example:

75% BUTTER (SOLID): cocoa butter, shea butter, mango butter

25% OIL (LIQUID): coconut oil,  sweet almond oil, olive oil, avocado oil

INGREDIENTS:

For a rich nutty cocoa aroma and a body butter that melts onto skin without leaving it greasy, I selected the following:

50% : 150g* – Cocoa butter

25%: 75g-  Shea butter

25%: 75g – Coconut oil

*The amounts (grams) provided here produce enough body butter to fill one large coffee jar. For a smaller quantity simply stick to the 3:1 solid:liquid ratio.

A LITTLE MORE INFO:

SHEA BUTTER (pronounced Shee): Derived from the kernel of the shea tree fruit, shea butter is rich in fatty acids, vitamin E and A, with unique nutty fragrance.

COCOA BUTTER: A derivative of the cocoa bean and a key component in chocolate production, cocoa butter is full of fatty acids which promote skin elasticity and moisture retention. But mainly it smells like chocolate and so it’s got my vote.

COCONUT OIL: Another natural ingredient, this time from the coconut. Coconut oil is rich in fatty acids, proteins, vitamin E, and anti-microbial properties. Not only does coconut oil nourish your skin, it helps keep your skins immune system stay happy and healthy.

75g of coconut oil, the 25% liquid portion of the recipe.

75g of shea butter, which when combined with 150g of cocoa butter made the 75% solid portion of the recipe.

…AND ACTION!:

• 1) Add all your ingredients to a double boiler (or in my case, a glass mixing bowl in a pan of water on the hob). Let the bowl sit a fraction above the water in the pan, and place a lid over the top.

• 

  Combined ingredients in a glass bowl placed inside a pan of heated water.

  

  My low budget double boiler.

• 2) Gently heat without letting the water come to a boil. The water should not touch the glass bowl, allowing for the ingredients to melt by heat and steam. The nuttiness of the shea butter and the chocolate fragrance of the cocoa butter will be much cleaner this way, and the ingredients will infuse together nicely.

5-10 minutes of heating.

10-20 minutes of heating.

• 3) Once fully melted, stir well to make sure the ingredients have fully blended.
• 4) Decant the liquid mixture into a freezer-safe container (plastic is fine, I use a pyrex measuring jug). Place in the freezer until almost hard. For the amounts given here, I recommend 1 hour freezer time, smaller quantities will take approximately 20 minutes.

Fully mixed and melted ingredients in a Pyrex jug ready for the freezer.

• 5) Once firm, decant the hardened mixture into a large deep mixing bowl and break up any large chunks with a wooden spoon.
• 6) Whip for approximately 15 minutes. I use an electric hand whisk, though I would strongly recommend a cake mixer if you are lucky enough to have one. Good luck trying this by hand-and hat’s off to you if you manage it!

10 minutes of whisking with an electric whisk.

15-20 minutes of whisking with an electric whisk. Ideal consistency.

• 7) When the mix is light and creamy, simply plop it into an up-cycled jar and smother upon your person at will 🙂 !

Completed body butter in my large up-cycled coffee jar.

ADDITIONAL TIPS:

• Place a tablespoon of your body butter in a cup of boiling water and stir, once melted add to a hot bath for an aromatic relaxing soak.
• Keep your body butter at room temperature, all these ingredients are shelf stable and have a healthy shelf life of 3-4 years!

Give memories not stuff

CAN YOU REMEMBER every gift that your loved ones have ever bought you? Probably not. So what about the ones you can remember? I’m betting that the gifts you remember are the ones which gave you new experiences and fond memories.

To keep to our newly adopted waste-free living,  for our five year anniversary this year my boyfriend booked me a surprise holiday…a three night stay in Gwynedd, Snowdonia, Wales…in nothing less than a quirky grass-roof hobbit eco-house built into the foothills of a rugged lake surrounded mountain. Well done Dave, spot on.

BRYN ELLTYD ECO-GUEST HOUSE 

Bryn Elltyd Eco Guest House

ON ARRIVAL, we were quickly ushered in by owner John Whitehead who completely bypassed the non-essentials (name introductions, small talk about the journey and the weather, where to put our things) and took us enthusiastically straight into the boiler room. I mean, where else right? John is an eccentric, chatty man, with an absolute passion for the environment and the people in it. He also has a pretty impressive boiler which runs from a handful of waste wood to create enough heat and hot water for the 14 bedroomed house. I can see why it deserved the only introduction (and has it’s very own page on his website). We then had what can only be described as a 100 mile an hour introduction to the local area, tourist attractions, general history, and weather system, all condensed into one cup of fair trade coffee…all before being shown our room. A room so quaint that Dave could only fully stand upright at one end of it. It’s name: The Hobbit. I was in love, everything about this place was wonderfully unexpected.

THE WATER was collected from the rain, the electricity was harnessed from the wind and the sun. Solar panels adorned every possible space. Carved benches nestled into the surrounding hills allowing for a panoramic view of the lake, mountains, and the steam railway which eloquently billowed steam across the back of the house.

View from the mountain, looking down onto the lake, eco-guest house, and railway

WE EMBRACED THE OUTDOORS in the day, hiking in the mountains, finding hidden waterfalls, old mining tracks, miner debris, lakes, and woodland. We toured the old slate mines, 500ft underground, learned how to break up slate and then took some home with us for us to use in our cabin.

Pretending to ride down the old mine track on a rusted miners cart which we found half way up the mountain behind the eco-house

IN THE EVENINGS we visited traditional pubs to drink ale and sit by the crackling fire, or we relaxed in the guest-house eco-sauna and refreshed ourselves under the cold starlit night sky. For breakfast we ate like kings, all local produce and freshly baked bread still warm from the oven. John and Ceilia kindly showed us routes on maps and told us of the best most remote places to visit.

Without need for our car (primarily because it broke down on the second day!) we simply walked, and what we found was amazing. A desolate slate mining village, surrounding the most vivid blue lake, all hidden inside a valley at the top of a mountain range. We found the entrance to the mines, explored the abandoned houses, discovered flying sheep, and climbed to the top of the mountain.

Slate

THIS TRIP will be one that I will always remember. There wasn’t tropical weather, there wasn’t a mini-bar, or a gift shop, or a raving nightlife. Instead there was nature, great food, long walks, lovely people and a lot of time to enjoy it all. The best part: it was the most low impact holiday I could have hoped for. Guilt free relaxation and exploration at it’s best.

MAKE A HUT A HOME

Yes that is my house trundling down the road on the back of a truck, as you do.

So! An update as to the little house project…

1) WE HAVE DOORS AND WINDOWS. Added windows and glass doors lets in so much more natural light, which almost gives the illusion that we don’t live in a box.

Recycled doors

Recycled window

2) WE HAVE CLADDING! This was a huge part of making the site hut look less like, well, a site hut.

I’m not going to lie and say I did much of this- but I did have have a go at it which resulted in the following: a wonky side to the building (which Dave swears was not my fault, bless him and his nice lies); the neighbours knowing exactly when I was the one using the nail gun due to my girlish scream after pulling the trigger each and every time; my mother freaking out at the idea of me using power tools altogether- and creating such a scene it was worse than listening to me actually using the nail gun.

bang, aaah!

3)  INSULATION: So Dave tells me this is one of the most important things because: it keeps us warm at night, cool in the day, keeps energy costs down, it has sound proofing properties…etc etc. All I know is that the ceiling fell down and is now patched together, as is my dads head which it subsequently fell on. Sorry Dad.

4) CARPET: A quick cup of tea and a seven minute youtube video later…BOOM! We were quite the carpet laying experts. An hour or two after wondering why it wasn’t looking as fresh as the example in video, and coming up with an entirely new technique in place of a knee kicker (planking the carpet and rolling around*)- we decided we always planned on having nice rugs anyway.

5) PAINT: Our donated carpet was green…which naturally meant we had to find something loud and garish to compliment it. Yellow. Because it seemed like a good idea at the time.

6) MOVING HOUSE, LITERALLY. We had it craned onto the back of a flatbed truck and driven onsite in the field, much to the dismay of the local residents…

I was sure the floor would stay where it was, waving goodbye to the walls and ceiling

dismayed cow

*patent pending

wasting time…and for what?

Having undergone some life changes recently, it got me thinking about metaphorical waste and how I am absolutely done with wasting my time, and for what?

AS MUCH AS I LIKE TO THINK of myself as a go-getter, I am also a strong believer that we (as a society) have become so driven by the societal norms of striving towards a better quality of life by acquiring our dream job, that we put overt amounts of pressure on ourselves to achieve this. Which paradoxically infringes our spirit and leaves us feeling empty and devoid of purpose.

I WORKED SERIOUSLY HARD in all three of my degrees, but past the awards, the certificates, and the attention, I left university feeling utterly lost and totally unprepared for the working world. I think many people of my generation feel the same. We all work hard at university to earn our place in a well paid job within our chosen career. Instead, we achieve our highest to get a big pat on the back and then we are left to deal with the soul crushing debt and almost zero job prospects. I carried a huge weight on my shoulders whilst working in a dead end job for minimum wage, a £36, 000 debt to be precise-£12, 000 of which needed repaying in monthly instalments of £210 IMMEDIATELY due to it coming from the bank. (Postgraduate masters degree’s don’t qualify for student loans, and unfortunately for me I’ve never been a member of the “bank of mum and dad”).

So what with a deposit for a flat, rent, bills, and this extra amount suddenly stuffed on top-all the while working in a kitchen for £6.50 an hour where I was over-worked and undervalued-I was not in a good mental space. I found myself becoming easily manipulated into working each day without a single break, working six days a week just so I could tell myself I was working off the debt slowly, that I was contributing to society. I walked the 40 minute walk to and from work each and every day no matter the weather because the bus in my city was almost £5 a day. No way was I working the first hour to only pocket £1.50 before tax! No thanks. I had been taught to work hard to get places, and work hard I did. I stopped sleeping, my mind a constant drone and buzz of thoughts, worries, anxiety, thinking of all the things I must do tomorrow, and what I didn’t have time for today.

THIS ISN’T LIVING. 

SO ONE DAY I SNAPPED. My boss was vulgar, taunting me for having so many qualifications yet ending up in a dead end job for shit money anyway (nice to know he was aware at how hard I worked and how little he valued that). I just snapped. I held my end of the bargain and waited until the end of the shift, then politely made my excuses and never went back again.

I BEGAN WORKING AS A FULL TIME VOLUNTEER in my local community, something which I had wanted to do but felt I didn’t have the time. I immediately started sleeping again. I started relaxing again, and I started smiling again.  I started living. Yes I still have the heart stopping amount of debt, but no it doesn’t worry me.

If I don’t have it, I can’t give it, and the maths really is that simple.

Yet I am giving back to society more than most people in well paid jobs and who pride themselves in paying their taxes. I am helping people and the environment on a grass roots level. I now refuse to waste my time and waste my life trying to fulfil a conventional place in society. Who was it up there who valued my time, my life, my potential, at £6.50 an hour anyway? Who was it who said to further my career I should do an apprenticeship for £2.73 an hour, despite me already investing £36, 000 and five years of my life to do just that? No. No I will not struggle and work the grind to fulfil my place in society if that is all society has to offer me.

IN THE UK WE HAVE THE LONGEST WORKING HOURS IN EUROPE. Nearly half of British employees work more than four hours of overtime each week. In 2013 alone, the British people put in over £33 BILLION WORTH OF UNPAID OVERTIME. That’s crazy! Especially when you consider the most popular reasoning for this ludicrous display of work dedication was that employees felt pressured by workload demands; and 1 in 5 people were compensating for staff shortages. Still our government prides itself on increasing job opportunities despite the fact that homelessness has risen by 50% since the coalition came to power, and over 900, 000 people are reliant on food banks each year.

THIS MAY BE A WORTHWHILE struggle if you were lucky enough to work a job that you love. But for the overwhelming majority, this simply isn’t reality. We work long hours for low wages doing mundane unappreciated work and we can’t even afford the time or money to take a holiday.

In the words of Lois (Malcolm in the middles mum, my favourite fictional woman):

“Welcome to the working world. They pay you less than your worth, but just enough to keep you crawling back for more.”

Feel like you’re being worked into the ground?

Even worse is the shocking number of people who dread being asked “so what do you do”, as if you’re value is solely based on your job title. “I’m a barman” or “I’m a cleaner” doesn’t exactly inspire pride for those who have spent £30 000+ to get there. It’s demoralizing, and it further emphasizes our institutionalized belief that our working life represents us as people.

THE MONETARY SYSTEM IS BROKEN

ONCE I GAVE UP ON MONEY, I stopped giving up on myself. I realised just how much of my life that I had resented was down to money. I resented my crap job, the low wages, the long hours. I resented the price of food, the price of clothes, haircuts, prescriptions, dentist appointments, drinks out with friends. I resented it because it cost money and I barely had the time to do all these things. Now that I earn no money, I am valuing my life and valuing my resources. I value the clothes on my back because I can’t afford to buy new ones. I value the food I eat because I am starting to grow it and I’m preventing it being thrown in the bin. I value the time I spend working because I get so much reward from helping others. I value my time because I am not waiting and dreading my next work shift.

Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t be able to live with such little money if I hadn’t found a part time job with free accommodation-but there are ways to free yourself from the pressures of monetary worth. Firstly, STOP WORKING OVERTIME FOR FREE! Say no. Say your children, your partner, your pets, your sanity, are more important than compensating for the decisions made by people earning more than you. You can make your finances stretch further by trading your time or your skills for the things you need. You can join Street Bank and the Freeconomy community online, read some inspirational material such as Mark Boyle’s book “The Moneyless Man” which details his journey of living 100% without money for an entire year and includes excellent tips and advice. Go wwoofing, volunteer with helpx, join your local community groups-even one day a month of volunteering your time will give you respite from the pressures of work life. Regain your connection with the people around you, your neighbours, your community. And next time someone asks you “what do you do”, you can tell them what you do with pride.

THE SYSTEM IS BROKEN BUT WE DON’T HAVE TO BE. Stop wasting your time and denting your spirit by conforming to a system which does not value you as an individual. Once you stop, your mind will feel so much better, and your body will too.

The Rubbish Junkie joins The Real Junk Food Project Brighton

I’ve always been really perplexed by the amount of waste we Brits make each and every year. But what really gets my goat is the amount of food we throw away. Collectively the UK people throw away 18 million tonnes of food every year.That’s a lot. Especially when you consider that our climate doesn’t support the production of a lot of our food, which means countless tonnes of that waste has travelled from all over the globe to end up in our bins! Even more alarming is when you consider that in 2014 alone, approximately 900,000 people were regularly using food banks.

Personally I’ve always been drawn to utilising waste food. I started skipping years ago after spending time living with people who fed each other collectively with food found in bins. I like finding my food in bins, it’s free and it’s perfectly edible -what’s not to like? The real problem, I found, is the poor attitude surrounding our food waste problem. I’ve worked for companies that locked their bins specifically to prevent people accessing the food inside. I once took a job as a supermarket cleaner which although made it easier to get my hands on bin food, I still risked my job by taking it. I started taking surplus food from my new place of work to feed the homeless this year- at first it was seen as a positive thing, until I was given some surplus veg that was expensive. Then I was told “don’t you be giving this to any homeless people now”…one chance to guess what I did.

It was at that time that I read about a UK movement tackling the waste food and food poverty crisis simultaneously. It’s name:

THE REAL JUNK FOOD PROJECT (TRJFP)

As a community interest company, The Real Junk Food Project  started intercepting food before it reached landfill, which they then used to create healthy meals to serve to the community. TRJFP has sparked a food revolution across the UK and even beyond. In 2014 there were 11 cafes operating under TRJFP which collectively saved 32, 974.026 Kg of edible food from going to landfill, which fed 16, 498 people. And the best part- all meals were served on a “Pay As You Feel Basis”. Food isn’t free, but it doesn’t just have to be traded for money.

“PAY AS YOU FEEL”

“Pay As You Feel” encourages people to think about the cost of their food-not only in money value but in it’s mileage, where the food on your plate came from, who planted/cared for it, who packaged it, how much energy in sunlight, rain, and harvesting, was required to produce that meal? “Pay As You Feel” also breaks down the societal norm of valuing people with enough cash above those without-instead it values the individual. Can’t pay for your food? That’s no problem at all. Help us in the kitchen, come wash up with us, help serve the customers, busk or give some creative input. How many skills do you have? How many times have you shared these skills for your food? Trust me, it feels much better than buying it from the supermarket, and it gives a sense of community and value to everyone no matter their background or job title. It breaks down hierarchies. It saves food. It saves waste. It saves environmental degradation through the emission of toxic gases that are released by rotting food. It feeds the hungry, it takes pressure away from food banks. It’s inspirational, it’s encouraging, and it’s for everyone.

So a couple of weeks ago I quit my job and now I help to run The Real Junk Food Project Brighton as a full time volunteer director along with Adam Buckingham, who has tirelessly dedicated himself to the project from the beginning.

Seriously good PAYF coffee

We’re now recruiting more directors, members, and have a database of over 80 volunteers. We run two events a week, including a community cafe at One Church on Gloucester Place on Fridays where we serve up to 100 people in three hours. I love my job. I’ve met so many wonderful people who all have such gusto for life, for our planet and for each other. I’ve also started eating so much healthier now too! The amount of fruit and veg thrown away is staggering, I now enjoy well over my five-a-day each and every day, I can drink smoothies or fruit juice whenever I want, I can even eat as much Avocado as my heart desires (they’re so expensive if bought new)- all of which would be rotting in landfill somewhere if it wasn’t for the project.

Ready for customers at TRJFPB Community Cafe. (at One Church on Gloucester Place).

Serving time at our community cafe!

Our customers enjoying their waste food meals

TRJFPB volunteer Paul, tucking into a well deserved food waste lunch

TRJFPB market stall serving intercepted bread, pastries, fruit, and our home made chutneys

Fresh fruit juice made from 100% intercepted fruit

HOPEFULLY AS THE PROJECT GROWS we will be able to find a premises in Brighton to run a community cafe seven days a week. We want to run workshops on waste free living, healthy cooking, and food safety classes to teach people how to trust their senses instead of the sell-by-date labels. I am hoping we can come up with a premises that is equally as waste free as our ethos. For when I think of the amount of empty properties in this city I can’t help but envision a community restoration project using recycled ingenuity and voluntary support…but maybe for now I should start with my own tin cabin and see what happens.

Waste apples

More waste fruit!

You should follow us on facebook here: The Real Junk Food Project Brighton

and of course no twitter account is complete without: @realjunkfoodbri

The Rubbish Junkies Waste Free Recipe for Whipped Coconut Oil Moisturiser.

As requested, I will be posting several waste-free skin care recipes over the coming weeks. I thought I would start off with something easy, which is incidentally one of my favourites: The Rubbish Junkies Whipped Coconut Oil Moisturiser.

WHAT YOU NEED:

• 1/2 cup of coconut oil

• 1 teaspoon of liquid vitamin E

• 10-20 drops of an essential oil of your choice (I like Lavender, but I have also been told my Tea-Tree version is very effective at healing sore over-blown noses and opening up sinuses-perfect for making yourself feel a little better when suffering from a common cold).

• Electric whisk

• Mixing bowl

• One up-cycled jam jar

WHAT TO DO:

1) Place your coconut oil in a mixing bowl

Coconut oil MUST be solid to successfully whisk. If you are luck enough to live in a hot climate, place it in the fridge until hard

2) Whisk on the electric whisks lowest setting (e.g. level 1). I use the lowest setting because solid coconut oil can spray all over the place when you first start whisking. You don’t want to be finding coconut oil half way up your kitchen walls.

3) Add one teaspoon of liquid vitamin e. This will keep your skin nice and healthy, perfect during the long English winters.

Liquid vitamin E can be bought from your local health food shop or online. I use this particular brand because it is sold by my local health food shop which means I can support local businesses, and the bottle can be recycled.

4) Add drops of your chosen essential oil. I usually add 10 drops, whisk to mix it through, and add up to 10 drops more depending on my preference for fragrance strength.

Please research your essential oil of choice before applying it to your skin. Some essential oils should be avoided by pregnant women, infants, and young children.

5) Whisk until light and creamy. Fold the cream using a table spoon to make sure there are no hidden coconut oil lumps. Total whisking time: approximately 10 minutes.

The ideal consistency!

6) Decant the cream into your used jam-jar and store in a cool place.

So there you have it! It really is that simple.

By using quirky up-cycled jars, these make great gifts for waste-free birthdays too!

SHELF LIFE: This simple recipe uses all shelf-stable ingredients, a jar this size usually lasts me 4 months before I simply run out.

APPLICATION: I use a tea spoon for application to avoid any unwanted moisture from my hands entering the jar and causing a risk of mould. This also means you can share your jar without sharing germs. A little goes a long way, and the smallest piece will melt onto your skin and leave you feeling soft and lovely.

STORAGE: Store in a cool space, bathroom cupboards are fine. You will notice that the creamy texture can alter depending on the temperature (coconut oil melts when heated, and goes rock solid when cold). If your cream goes hard, simply run it under hot water, and if it goes runny just pop it in the fridge. Your jar of moisturiser can be re-whipped any time, and even when hard it will melt on your skin.

USES: I use this moisturiser on my legs and underarms after shaving, I use it as a face-cream at night time, a hand-cream after work, and I use it as a massage cream for myself and my partner. It’s known as the “miracle cream” in my house! It has cleared up mild acne and blemishes, it’s softened skin, and even helped sooth sore areas such as over-blown noses. This is NOT however, a medical cream, and should not be used as such. It’s just a simple way to feel soft, smooth, and luxurious, without spending a tonne of money on chemically infused beauty products packaged in toxic plastics!