Milk Money
Norway is really big on recycling. We have green bags and red bags, yellow bags and inside-out bags. The easiest to remember is the milk carton recycling. We open them, wash them out and then fold six into another empty carton. If you write your name and telephone number on the outside carton you go in the draw for a chance to win some kroner. If they pull your packed carton out from the local recycling plant you can win kr10,000. Then you go into the national recycling draw. If your compact milk carton gets pulled out again then you can win kr.100,000. Not bad for throwing your rubbish in the bin.
The folding of the cartons have now become an art form in Norway. The winner of the most cartons squished into one carton made it to 40, but he had the help of vices and bricks. Me, I’m struggling to try and get six into one carton. But now I just hand them over to Big Uncle who folds and packs like a pro.
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21st January is soldagen (the sun day) when the sun officially returns to Tromsø.
A traditional Advent Calendar is made with an orange and cloves.
In the winter we rest.
The further ‘out of the way’ you go the more common it is to see folk cottages standing by the side of roads, along fjords or in a thicket of trees, minding their own business. 
Table settings are very much a part of the tradition of serving cake.
Haha that drove me nuts when I was over there. My street is directly opposite a dump.. so we don’t have any bin pick-ups or recycling, we give all food stuff to our chooks and everything else just goes to the dump. So in Norway I was constantly having to pull stuff back out of the bin cos I’d forget and just chuck it all in, or if I managed to stop and think, I usually guessed wrong about what to keep out and where to put it!
I like the old-schoolness of having milk cartons though as opposed to bottles
It’s cute, and the stuff on the side gave me reading practise!
Gotta say though – for all the good work done with recycling, some if it’s gotta be cancelled out by the electricity usage. They never turn their lights out!! I might not be good with milk cartons, but I know how to flick a switch
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from L-Jay:
Yeah, the recycling to electricity ratio is an issue. Since moving I’ve been checking the metre every day just to see how much electricity we use in the Summer. I hope I can keep the Winter bill down to a medium gasp this year.
Big Uncle. I miss that guy.