I last had a good old moan about recycling way back in the Summer of 2022 when I was spending hours every weekend separating the recyclables from the non-recyclables, since then everyone has got stuck in and things have improved tremendously and I thank you all for your great effort.
Well, thanks to the French Government’s need to meet their targets things have suddenly got a lot stricter and the rules have changed once again.
I know, that we all know, that this particular issue is only going to become more of an issue and never will it become less of one, and Helen and I continue to be amazed at how little stuff we actually send to landfill. Virtually nothing.
The new subject of the day is “composting”.
A very simple rule : nothing that is able to be composted should be put in to the general waste bin and we now have to supply receptacles for compostable material, and we now have to compost it ourselves.
That obviously translates in to : if the rule applies to us then by default it automatically applies to you. Or at least while you are here anyway.
In order to help achieve our new requirements we are providing a different set of bins, both in the Gite and also at every log cabin on the lake :
In order from left to right:
The small green buckets
This is the easy one, these are for the smokers to put their cigarette butts in.
The green baskets
The green baskets are for all recyclable materials, that includes all glass, all plastics, all tins and metals, all cardboard, all papers and magazines, all food containers and wrappers, batteries, gas cans, etc, etc, etc. There is not a lot in France that cannot now be recycled.
If unsure please ask, do not use them for wet-wipes, dirty tissues, dirty cling film, etc, nor anything that is compostable
All food containers should have their contents scraped in to the Compost Bins and then swilled out, the green baskets should not contain any food waste and they can be emptied everyday if needs be.
Compost Bins
The bins with the green lids and the biodegradable light-green bags are for biodegradable waste, this includes all food waste, the obvious stuff like vegetable peelings, bread, rice, pasta, etc. It also includes some of the less obvious stuff such as egg shells, tea bags, coffee grinds, apple cores, banana skins.
Most importantly it should not contain any food containers of any sort; no food wrappers including string bags and elastic bands, no clingfilm, no wet wipes, no plastic bags, etc, etc.
Regular waste bins
The regular waste bins have light-blue lids and black bags. If you have followed the guide above then there should be very little that ends up in the regular waste bin.
Helen and I have put this to the test and continue to be surprised as to how little waste we now produce that actually ends up in the regular waste bin which in turn ends up in landfill.
We have got it down to a few dirty contaminated items such as tissues, wet-wipes, dirty clingfilm, and such like. There is very little in France which cannot be recycled.
Anglers’ stuff
There is a tendency for anglers to treat their fishing stuff differently to everything else, and for the life of me I do not know why. Here are a few examples:
Batteries, they are recyclable.
Gas cylinders, are made from metal and are recyclable.
All of the plastic bottles that your glugs and oils, your hemp, your nuts and a host of other stuff comes in, they are all made from plastic and are recyclable.
Boilie bags are almost all recyclable.
Here is a really strange one, empty tins of sweet corn ! A tin is a tin, they should be swilled out and put in for recycling.
Pot Noodle containers !! the pot is plastic and the lid is tin foil, all recyclable.
Rig kit that comes in little plastic bags or on backing card with plastic fronts, they are all recyclable.
Come on Guys and Girls, your fishing kit is nothing special almost all of it is recyclable, stop putting it in the general waste.
Thank you
We are not doing this out of the goodness of our own hearts nor in an attempt to save the planet, we are doing it because we have to; by law, out of necessity for the planet, for the sake of future generations, and because we fully support the whole concept.
While you are here enjoying your holiday please help us to recycle and compost responsibly, if you are not sure about an item of waste and where it should go please ask before you bin.
So far this season everyone has done a great job and we would like to thank them for their efforts to date, and to thank you in advance for helping in the future.
Le Moulin de Graffeuil 