Yellow Bags and Vegemite

Did I get your attention with the heading of this blog? Well these two items were at the top of my shopping list yesterday.

image from WCC website

Yellow bags are the bags we purchase so that rubbish will be removed by the city’s garbage collectors.  It used to be that rubbish collection was paid for as part of the annual rates for services provided by the Council but some years ago this was changed.  Reduced services = higher rates (aka Council Tax.)

So we are faced with two options – pay for an independent garbage collection company to bring one of their wheelie bins to the house for weekly collection or buy the Council rubbish bags as these are now the only bags they will collect.  The bins are not expensive but as I don’t really have a great deal of rubbish I choose to use the Council bags.  And so yesterday I had to purchase some.

We also have recycling.  This is collected once a week and the Council have supplied wheelie bins to some areas in and around the city and in those they deem to awkward to service, ie steep or narrow streets, they have provided green rubbish bags.

Even though many people in my street have commercial wheelie bins for their rubbish, the Council have decided in their wisdom, that our street is too steep and/or narrow for their trucks so we have more plastic bags.  But we are assured that the bags are made from recyclable material and are themselves recyclable.

Now to Vegemite.  This is a yeast spread beloved by both New Zealanders and Australians but not my children or theirs.

It is made from yeast extract and we are told that it was banned in the US because it contained folate.  Apparently this can only be added to bread and cereals and so one could not import it into the US.  this would have been a real hardship for many of us who like it on toast in the morning with our tea or coffee.

But beware.  Some years ago we had a visit from some Canadian friends.  While on a short flight from the South Island they were offered cheese, biscuits and those awful little packs that contain jam or in this case, Vegemite.  With coffee in hand, and thinking the Vegemite was jam, my friend liberally spread it on the crackers supplied.  But it should only be spread very, very thinly on crackers or bread.  She found and pronounced it disgusting.

And what is this post all about.  Rubbish and food.  They kind of go together, don’t they?

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