Rubbish at recycling? It's time to go green

Feature

We have become a world full of wasters. In our disposable society we throw away tonnes of stuff that could easily be recycled and in doing so are polluting our planet. The harsh fact is that most of us are rubbish at recycling.

Each week the average family in a developed country gets through four glass bottles or jars, 13 cans, three plastic bottles and 5kg of paper. Each UK household produces about one tonne of rubbish annually, amounting to about 27 million tonnes for the UK each year.

Each UK resident uses an equivalent of 200 cans a year. Put end to end, they would be as high as the Tower of London.

These statistics should horrify any eco-conscious person. But there are lots of things you can do to help cut down on waste.

The website www.recycle-more.co.uk can help with ideas. It believes families could easily reduce the contents of their rubbish bins by up to 50 per cent just by being green-minded.

Producing steel from recycled material saves 75 per cent of the energy it would take to produce it from scratch. It can be recycled over and over again into products such as bicycles and of course, new cans. So don’t chuck them, recycle them.

Don’t buy heavily packed goods. Instead pick up loose food rather than pre-packaged.

Stop junk mail and faxes through the Mailing Preference Service. Cancel the delivery of unwanted newspapers and donate old magazines to waiting rooms.

Use your own shopping bags when visiting the supermarket and reuse carrier bags. Each person in the UK uses an average of 134 plastic bags each year

Grow your own vegetables. Many varieties can be grown in small gardens.

Use a nappy laundry service and save disposable ones for holidays and long journeys.

Take a packed lunch to work or school in a reusable plastic container.

Seeing the potential of reusing items that you would otherwise throw away is key to being green.

Reuse scrap paper for writing notes and reuse envelopes by sticking labels over the address.

Rent or borrow items you don’t use very often, such as party decorations and crockery. Some supermarkets hire out glasses for parties, saving on disposable cups. Don’t use throwaway plastic cups at work, get each employee to adopt their own china mug.

 
Donate old computer and audio-visual equipment to community groups or schools.

Buy rechargeable items instead of disposable ones, for example batteries and cameras.

Buy domestic products such as washing powder in refillable containers.

Buy concentrated products that use less packaging.

Take old clothes and books to charity shops or have a car boot sale.

Look for long lasting – and energy efficient – appliances when buying new electrical items. Ensure these are well maintained to increase the product life cycle.

Choose products in packaging that you know can be recycled.

Lots of kitchen waste can be composted. Contact your local council for details of local composting schemes and details of any compost bin sales.

Picture caption: Glass action: use recycling bins to reduce waste.