I get involved in trying that little bit I can in saving the environment for the future generations.’ Our little womble community managed to remove 1.5 tonne of waste via TerraCycle programs alone

J Karst’s Journey Through West Berkshire.   A guest blog from West Berkshire Villagers for environmental issues.      ‘Welcome to the new …

Today I can update you on the great new development of plastics recycling. More of the TerraCycle programs were closed as they moved to join the ‘Wrap’ recycling scheme run by a charitable organisation who partners with large corporation to have recycling available at supermarkets.

This week was scary. My little fluffy canine baby was showing signs of being poorly. Usually, when brushing her teeth, she would give me that look of an absolute disgust but this time, she yelped in pain followed by an almighty howl.

What a year it has been! I am glad to see the back of it yet even with all the setbacks, our little womble community managed to remove 1.5 tonne of waste via TerraCycle programs alone which raised £1652.53.

I was asked to look after the next-door tomcat during Christmas. With pleasure I accepted the chore with excitement of many fluffy kitty cuddles. I was however basing it on how much my canine loves her closeness which was completely the opposite to their feline counterparts.

J. Karst Journey through West Berkshire      ‘Welcome to the new edition of this Guest Blog, I am a full-time working mum …

I sang to myself jingle bells when I was taping the recycling stuffed boxes. That’s 82.4Kg of waste that’s heading to be recycled. It’s the nice part of the volunteering, as it shows the result of the never-ending box stuffing.

Its December and soon stressed-out parents can relax once Christmas is over. Until then, they will be rushing about like mad lunatics so approach them with caution. That’s just a little warning for I know this very well myself – yet another present delivery has been lost and my patience is very thin.

I know it’s been a while since I wrote. It was little bit harder to remain positive and hence write something that would cheer you up. I took the route of hiding from my grief, which didn’t work. I suppose you never fully recover from losing someone but eventually learn to accept it. I am about there, just not yet completely over it.

You might have noticed the lack of new blogs in the last two weeks. I needed some time off as sadly my belloved father-in-law passed away unexpectedly.

It all started with my rescue Beagle. Her painful howl and hobble were awful to watch when she cut her paw for the 3rd time on discarded litter. After the Vet visit, I sat with her trying to calm down her anxiety shakes. I stroked her soft fur and my tears were dropping onto her shiny coat.

If you wish to see the ‘Gangs of New York’ in action, you no longer need to visit the cinema. All you need to do is sit in your back garden. In a proper Gangster way, there is always the godfather, in my case it’s the sparrow hawk. Then there are the wanna-be Gantsa squirrels pushing their boundaries and an old timer crook aka. the robin redbreast.

Watching the squirrel stuffing its face made me think of my home country, where the squirrels must defend for themselves by being faster forages before the frugal humans.

Too soon did I speak of sun, because it took a runner and hid behind the clouds like a stroppy teenager. Rainy, cloudy weather kept me inside, so I caught up on the recycling/charity raising figures.

The majority of infants in the UK are born with a rugby, a football, or a cricket bat attached. When they grow older their preference for the national sport strengthen and solidify. Then they marry off and their partners understand that when it comes to one of those matters its basically ‘life or death’ situation.

ts shocking but today I sent out 51Kg worth of crisp packets. Considering that I have two more crisp packet filled boxes to finish up, the volume is scary. I am sure that there are healthier alternatives but trying to nip this crisp addition in the bud is a near impossible task.

The recycling has been keeping me busy, but there has been a drop in volume. Maybe its because people made the right choices or that there are more options for people to recycle. Tesco has a drop off point for soft plastics as well as any make up and filter cartridges.

The sun is here! In case you need help in remember what that is, it’s the yellow, warm circular thingy in the sky.

The weather seems to be mocking us. When the sun makes a presence, it changes to rain the second after. The recycling drop offs slowed down drastically. Normally I would be disappointed but this time I welcomed it. I was hit by the most life-threatening illness ever – the Man Flu.

This cold spell sent me into hibernation. At least that’s the excuse for raiding the pantry and eating all the chocolate. Maybe a poor excuse but I get the last laugh when the Ice Age comes back, and I survive due to a very sufficient blubber reserve.

The sunshine has abandoned us, with chill entering our houses yet again. April fools’ weather at its best. Hammock had to go inside but will see the outside as soon as the sun returns. At least my hive might stop the urge of swarming. Like I said before, there always is a silver lining.

This week’s sunshine was fabulous indeed. I caught up with all my gardening and even managed to get the hammock out.

I have been a very bad girl and didn’t submit a blog last week. In my defence, my life was hectic last week. I had a minor surgery which made me feel rotten. It was slightly strange to be offered a scooter from an elderly arthritic lady because she noted my Donald the duck with haemorrhoids walk. How daft was I to think that I was doing a good job in pretending that I was completely fine!

The weather has been very good this week, sunshine filled me with hope. The garden started to bloom and a quick visual inspection on my hive confirmed that at least one colony is doing well. Bees were returning to the hive with legs filled with pollen. The other colony didn’t survive but each beekeeper does expect a colony loss over winter.

Surprisingly, its been very slow recycling wise though the latest figure on metal recycling was positive indeed. We are now near the £700 pound mark for Help For Heroes and Penny Brohn UK living with cancer charity.

It has been mad but very much worth it. Only today I helped the UPS guy to pick up the weeks-worth and it accounted to all together 117.8 Kg. To top it up who huge load of metal was taken to the scrapyard and hopefully I should have the figures soon.

This week I have gone backwards, as instead of clearing my garage I filled it with stuff from a house clearance. For time being I will be struggling with space until I can sell it on the next available boot-sale to raise funds for Cats Protection league. Meanwhile I am waiting for the boot-sale to open I must box up the recycling as fast as possible, so it doesn’t end up being an overwhelming job.

This week was very pleasant, the sun in the sky with the spring air brought in the reminder that soon we can return to normality. Not much happened with recycling apart from me joining another TerraCycle Program.

This week I have gone backwards, as instead of clearing my garage I filled it with stuff from a house clearance. For time being I will be struggling with space until I can sell it on the next available boot-sale to raise funds for Cats Protection league

I am getting into the swing of things and slowly preparing for the end of lockdown. I have already asked for boxes because I am expecting a mountain of waste to arrive

Jana’s Journey Through Recycling in West Berkshire Everyone is frustrated with recycling because due to Corona the recycling options are limited. The …

Not much has happened with recycling apart the worry that when I finally open, I will be faced with a mountain to sort through. Although its easy to think that lockdown had some negative effect on our lives, it also made some things better.

Another week and yet another lockdown with closed recycling. My sister keeps working hard in an ICU unit and thankfully had her vaccine.

I am sure that everyone is pleased to see the end of 2020, though realistically we still need to be more patient with 2021. Like any new year, they all come with challenges.

This year has been amazing, despite all the corona required shut down of the drop off point. We still managed to remove 1761.57 Kg of waste plus the metal which we haven’t weighted (I only own human scales and must balance a box on my back to be able to weigh it. I can’t do that with metal for its way too heavy.

This week was manic with recycling. The Great Wall of China has been built inside my garage out of fully stuffed cardboard boxes. I realised that a broken broom handle is a very useful poking device to push the recycling into all corners of the box. T

This week has been exhausting. The amount dropped off was an infinite number of confectionery and crisp packets.

Yet again, not much recycling happened during this last lockdown week. I used this time to concentrate on getting the Christmas decorations out. The vintage baubles brought back many memories of family Christmas stories.

Jana’s Recycling Journey Through West Berkshire This Monday a large volume (169.2KG) was sent to TerraCycle. This should generate plenty of funds …