Each year, Recycle Now runs a week long campaign to raise awareness on the benefits of recycling. They share tricks of the trade to help make recycling easier for everyone. So, in light of this, I thought I would share with you some of the recycling efforts we do here at Manira Palm and you may even be able to bag yourself some free food for life (almost).
Waste has such a negative impact on the natural environment and recycling helps to reduce the pollution caused by waste. Due to the coloured assortment of bins now available for waste disposal, there are more and more households recycling cans, paper, glass and plastic. But what about food scraps?
Only 3% food scraps are composted and the remaining 97% is being tipped into in landfills. When the food rots it releases a harmful greenhouse gas called methane into the atmosphere. So, what if there was an easy way to re-use food scraps to help resolve this problem? Well funnily enough there is and it will even benefit you!
There are a number of vegetables that actually regrow, simply from water alone. So?
The magic of being able to regrow your veggies not only helps #recycle your food scraps but it also makes #organic food available to you, for free. We all know organic food can carry a higher price tag but re-growing food will help save you money on your food shop - so being organic, just got affordable. If you want more about why organic food choices are better for you, check out my blog here.
Regrowing your veggies is free, it is easy and hey, it is a little bit of fun. So why not give it a go? Here's how:
#1: Get yourself a glass or container relative to the size of the food you're growing.
#2: Get yourself some water - not too much, just enough to cover the roots (about half an inch).
#3: Get yourself some food scraps to regrow. See below 10 veges that grow, just with water!
Celery
With the bottom two inches of the celery stalk, place in water and wait 4 days to see it start to grow. Whilst it may take a little while for the whole stalk to re-grow, there are so many things you can do with the celery leaves to flavour dishes.
Bok Choy
In just 1-2 days you will see new growth of bok choy, just simply cut off the bottom of the stalk and place in a small bowl of water.
Cabbage
Choose the smaller side of a cabbage and place the root in a shallow bowl of water and see if flourish from the centre.
Garlic Chives
These are the green bits in the middle of the garlic clove. To grow them, place a garlic clove in water but don't submerge it. The roots will be visible in a few days and the shoots will shortly follow.
Lettuce
Lettuce grows in a similar way to celery, just much faster. Cut off the bottom and place in a small bowl of water. You will have half a head of lettuce in two weeks!
Green Onion
In a tall glass of water, place the white part of a green onion with the roots if still intact and it will continue to grow and grow.
Lemongrass
Similarly, in a tall glass, re-grow the bottom 2-3 inches of lemongrass in about half an inch of water. You will see new shoots begin to grow from the centre.
Carrot Greens
Whilst you can't regrow carrot with water alone you can re-grow the tops. In a shallow bowl of water leave the end of a carrot and watch the green leaves grow. These make a wonderful addition to salads!
Fennel
Cut off the bottom one inch of the base so that the roots are intact and place in a small bowl of water.
Leeks
With the bottom 2-3 inches of a leek stalk, pop in a glass of water and there you have it, the leek grows again!
I would love to know how you all get on. Keep me posted on your progress and happy growing!