Rob Dempster 'Allo 'Allo Gardens! (AAG) Howick (uMngeni) AAG Blog da Dog Food Tins, Not Recycled, ReUSED! 7 August 2025

ReCycling - I guess it first pricked my interest when we visited the Delports in Perth, Western Australia. They were recycling before we had even started to think about it, I think, Either way, they were fairly organized. Each home in Cheryl's street had two wheelie bins, one for garbage, and one for recyclables. What went into the recycle bin was cleaned and NOT squashed.

On the collection day the wheelie bins were wheeled out onto the verge/pavement/sidewalk and positioned next to the edge of the road. The collection truck would able by positioning itself next to the bins as it went by. When it was stationary opposite a pair of bins, an arm reached out, picked up the bins, and emptied their contents into the truck's BIG BIN!

Some years passed before we started recycling back in Pietermaritzburg. When it did, I had also started to think that I should compact whatever I was commiting to the recycling bin, in order to be able to pack more into the bin. Several years passed and recycling faded from our domestic scene.

When Edith and I arrived at our retirement home in Protea Gardens in Howick, I was made the street prefect. As all the residents living in the street were new residents, we could invent new rules and practices. That saw recyclables go into clear bags, garden waste into green bags, and household garbage go into black bags.

By then I had also learned that the RECYCLERS did not want you to squash the tins and plastic bottles and tubs that would ultimately be delivered to them. They probably also have other additional preferences, but I am not aware of them.

Now for the tins. The Dog Food tins. When Edith and I arrived in Howick, we did most of our shopping at Woolworths, and that included 500g tins of dog food. Once the contents had gone to the dogs, I claimed the tins, and once washed, they made their way to my garage. Their they have proved to be invaluable, as I mostly don't throw used screws, nuts and bolts away, they have to be stored somewhere. They mostly go into designated tins.

The tins are also useful for: holding the Mineral Turpentine I use to clean paint brushes, holding the clean dog bath water I have to slosh over the dog in order to rinse off the soap water once his bath is over, and covering hose pipe guiding spikes that might be dangerous if you fell on one. There is an example of such a spike amongst the photographs included below. The spike is adjacent to the road, and it is used to guide the house pipe. However, given that I only have one good eye, and Edith and I walk the dogs past it twice a day, it scares me. So I capped it. The art work is mine. The tins were decorated in our garage when I bought some paint for projects my local grandchildren were working on.

I should end by saying that we also recycle glass bottles. We have to, as Edith and I enjoy a glass of wine with our lunch.

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Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy a bicycle.

Some links

• Howick Recycling center
• From bottle to bottle: The emerging glass economy under SA’s EPR framework

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