Tracey Smith's Book of Rubbish ideas is a guide to reducing your household waste.
With more and more councils opting for fortnightly bin collections and heavy fines becoming commonplace, this book could be the best money you spend this year.
The book inspires you to change the way you handle your rubbish (who enjoys carting around bags of stinky rubbish anyway?) and encourages you to make a difference in your every day life.
If pay and throw schemes are going to come into British law, then you'd better get reading! Or if you've always felt a bit guilty for slinging things in the bin, then this book will help you to recycle more, make better purchases and slim your bin so that the environment can breathe a sigh of relief.
The book is split into 3 parts.
In part 1 you can get hold of all the rubbish facts and figures you've ever wanted to Wow people with at a dinner party.
Part 2 walks you through your own home where you'll learn how to minimise waste and find cheap, effective solutions to keep your home clutter and rubbish free. The best thing is, you'll learn how to view your rubbish as a resource, and you'll even get tips on how to make a few quid too!
In part 3 you'll peer into the life of celebrities, find inspirational stories from people who are walking their talk and find helpful books and websites to help you along your path to a rubbish free existence.
A fascinating history lesson starts your journey through this book, where you will work your way through the Greeks, Romans, the industrial revolution and find your way bang up to date with plastic wrapped bananas and cucumbers. How many carrier bags do you think are given out every day across the world today? You'll find out within the first few pages.
Now, back to the dinner party; do you know how long banana or orange peels take to rot? How about chewing gum or plastic bottles? Do you know what happens to your textiles or your glass bottles once they've been sorted for recycling? What about junk mail - just how do you stop it? You'll find all these answers, and more, nestling in the pages of this fabulous book.
You'll even find innovative ways to deal with the stuff that DOES come into your home. You'll learn how to clean your laundry with nuts and balls, reduce your food waste and you'll find out how to recycle strange objects like foreign coins, spectacles, paint and even frying pan fat.
Now don't be shy ladies, because Tracey is going to have a rummage through your bedside cabinet and bathroom cupboards too and show you how to have a plastic free period. If that's not enough to get you rushing to the bookstore, she'll tell you just how to recycle your outworn vibrators! Yes, you're going to green up your sex life too and she'll spare you your blushes.
Do you know what to do with your cooked food scraps, other than throw them in the bin? You'll discover how to turn your food 'waste' into a valuable resource that will save you money!
Find out what Janey Lee Grace finds most difficult to recycle, how Penny Poyzer thinks we should feed fussy eaters without creating food waste and what Kim Wilde has to say about compost.
Phew! It's a great read, you'll learn heaps, be inspired, have a giggle and be able to set yourself small, achievable goals that will save you money, time, effort and will benefit our beautiful planet.
Tracey Smith is creator of International Downshifting Week. She is also a trustee for the National Associate for Children of Alcoholics (a percentage of her royalties are being donated to the charity) and a volunteer broadcaster on her local hospital radio. Her goal is to normalise sustainable behaviour and to take the freaky out of eco. And you know what? She achieves it without a doubt with her book of rubbish ideas!
