Gloucestershire's greenest family back 10:10
One of the county’s greenest families is backing the Gloucestershire 10:10 campaign.
Richard and Rachelle Strauss, from Longhope, yesterday put out the only bin bag they filled in 2009 – the result of a massive effort to recycle more and waste less.
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The Strauss family
Richard, who spends most of his time home-educating his eight-year-old daughter Verona with his wife, said: “We fully support the campaign.
“One thing we never do is preach. We will never judge people on what they are doing now, because we were in their shoes a few years ago.
“All we do is just try to encourage people to think about it. If every person recycled one tin, we would have 60 million fewer tins on landfill, and 60 million new tins back in circulation.”
Yesterday the family completed its challenge of filling the bin just once in the last year. They now aim to throw away nothing at all in 2010.
They all got up early to watch their bin being taken away at 7.45am.
Rachelle said: “It was actually really emotional to see it go. It was totally full by the time the bin men came.
“We were really pleased with what we’ve achieved but I still watched that bin of rubbish be taken away and thought long and hard about where it’s going next.
“Long after we’re all gone, that rubbish will still be there, clogging up the landfill. So next year we’ve set ourselves the goal of not sending any rubbish to landfill at all.”
She said that one of the hardest problems to overcome was their daughter’s love of crisps.
Rachelle added: “My daughter loves crisps but we’ve finally found a good use for the packets. We’re going to send them to a charity in the Philippines which make bags out of weaving crisp packets together.
“We’re also doing some campaigning with manufacturers to mark products more clearly about how they can be recycled.
“We want to make it easier for everyone to recycle everyday items because after all – we’re only one family.”
3 Comments
by Chris, Gloucester
Friday, January 29 2010, 3:48PM
“These people are to be commended. I'm all for cutting out waste especially as resourses are finite.
However I am a bit concerned that this whole eco green global warming thing is turning into something of a religion.
My own focus has been on reducing energy usage. Not because I want a carbon footprint "gold star", "merit points" or "media recognition" but because I don't want profiteering energy suppliers and wholsalers to get any richer out of me.
I'm sure amongst the faithful I'll be accused of being a cynical old so in so, but I won't be joining the "church of the carbon footprint" anytime soon.
However I'll be singing the same hymn, perhaps a bit out of tune, for different reasons.”
by Hunter, Cheltenham
Friday, January 29 2010, 1:02PM
“Many Congratulations.
What a shame that you don't get the same number of comments on here that you would if you have got if you had done something awful!
Most people seem only happy to dish out the criticism and have a whinge.
You are a real credit and a role model - it's peole like you who should get awards and MBE's rather than faceless bureaucrats and civil servants.
Good for you.”
by Kalo, F.O.D.
Thursday, January 28 2010, 7:02PM
“Well done the Strauss family! We've seen and heard a lot about your efforts recently and I can only say it's a refreshing change to see a family taking active steps in helping the environment. Sure, your not the only ones doing this, but you have done a lot to raise awareness of the waste issue. If we all did our bit and took your lead we could forget about an incinerator for Gloucestershire. Yes, I hope people make the connection, this family is a good example of an alternative way forward.”