Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
How can you reduce your waste ?
We can reduce the amount of waste we create in the first place by not using a material e.g. refusing packaging, using less material e.g. bulk buying, or using less disposable materials.
Top tips for Reducing Waste
- Buy products with the minimum amount of packaging. For example, when you buy vegetables in the supermarket, do not take a plastic bag for each item. Instead place the vegetables loose in the trolley.
- Buy products packaged in recyclable materials e.g. paper. Remember that paper and cardboard packaging can be easily composted. Simply tear into as small pieces as possible and add a little at a time to your compost bin or heap.
- Buy re-usable products instead of disposable ones, such as re-usable instead of plastic razors and rechargeable batteries.
- Try to avoid disposable plastic bags by choosing stronger shopping bags that can be used over and over. If you have to use disposable bags then re-use them as many times as possible.
- Buy products with packaging that can be recycled at your local recycling centre.
- Compost your garden, fruit and vegetable waste in your compost heap or subsidised compost bin.
Re-using waste means that we are using a product or packaging more than once.This extends the lifespan of the material, reducing the amount of waste we send to landfill.
How can we re-use waste?
An obvious example is to re-use shopping bags instead of picking up new ones every time we go to the supermarket.
Re-using waste means that we are using a product or packaging more than once.This extends teh lifespan of the material, reducing the amount of waste we send to landfill.
Re-using waste means that we are using a product or packaging more than once.This extends teh lifespan of the material, reducing the amount of waste we send to landfill.
Energy Conservation
Energy conservation in the home and at work is very easy and simple. It just means small lifestyle changes and following simple rules such as remembering to switch off lights as you leave a room.
Tips for Energy Conservation at home:
- Place a brick into the cistern of your toilet, that way each time you flush you use less water than with a full cistern.
- Invest in a water butt where you can re-use water used within your household. These can be purchased at most hardware and DIY stores.
- Make sure that all electrical items are switched off before you go to bed DID YOU KNOW that leaving a television on standby power overnight uses as much energy as your entire evenings viewing?
- Keep your thermostat the lowest possible, if you are out set up a program that maintains it at 15 degrees at night (if in winter). During the day turn it off and program it so it switches on 15 mins before you normally arrive. Remember there’s no point in warming your house if you’re not in it, and cats do survive in the outdoors, ie they don’t need a warm house!!
- Put aluminium foil behind any radiators fitted to outside walls. Ordinary kitchen foil will do, or you can buy specially designed panels from DIY stores
- One thing that makes a huge impact on the environment and of which we are very responsible is electricity. Electricity is produced by coal burning or nuclear factories that emit a huge amount of carbon dioxide into the environment. One way to stop this is to purchase electricity that comes form a renewable source. There are many different types of renewable sources available for producing, the most important being wind power.
- Close doors when going to sleep, this will help keep heat conservation at a maximum, and you will be using less energy.
- Living room :
- Keep your old newspapers and magazines and recycle them. Cigarette packs are however not recyclable although they can be used as filters when smoking hand-rolled cigarettes.
- Newspapers are a great way to clean mirrors and glass as they do not leave any scuff marks or deposits of fabric on the surface, just clean your windows as normal but using newspaper instead of a cloth. Also, a bit of vinegar in a bowl of warm water will do the trick for cleaning windows.
- Switch off TV, DVD, VCR at the monitor when going to bed
- Candles are great for watching films, or setting moods, even more they are eco-friendly and help to relax, why only use them in the bathroom ?
- Pot-pourri are a great way to naturally enhance and perfume the air in the living room, and it can be put away from eye’s sight if one does not like the visual aspect. These can be changed regularly and do not require half as much as energy to produce the “plug-in” air fresheners, which not only cost you money due to electricity use during their short life but also think of what it took to make these products. They are generally made of plastic, and the production of this material produces high levels of VOCs emissions, that are released into the environment. Although some air fresheners exist that are not made to be plugged in, these are generally made out of plastic and have to be replaced frequently…and so like so many things in our house they end up somewhere far from the eyes, a place called a landfill. On top of this, you have to think of the packaging involved in these types of “temporary” products, have a look at the processes involved with the making of such a product. These require energy and as a result contribute to the effect of global warming. If you want to make a change to global warming, you have to think about the life-cycle of a product, not just the in-between which most of us are always exposed to and maybe believe that is all there is. A product doesn’t just exist in your home and it doesn’t disappear once you’ve thrown into the bin. We have to take responsibility for our actions if we are to make a difference. Think of a product’s life before it enters your house ( the manufacturing of the object as well as packaging), and also its life after you put it in the bin (see The story of stuff). And the best way you can make a change is by changing your mentality towards the products you come into contact with on a daily basis, and thinking a bit more about how this product was made.
- Keep old envelopes next to the telephone and use them as note-paper when taking messages or phone numbers, and after that recycle them. If we all pull together , we will make a difference.
- If you like listening to the radio, make sure to buy a wind-up radio or solar powered radio which doesn’t use any energy but produces the same high quality sound.
- Bedroom :
- Have a winter duvet and summer duvet , this will allow you to save energy by conserving a comfortable temperature whatever the heating and room temperature
- Make love
- Sort your wardrobe out. Everybody keeps clothes that they don’t put on anymore or clothes that are too small or too big , or that just haven’t been worn. Put all these clothes in a bag and give to your local charity shops. You can be assured these will go to a much needed place, and will make somebody very happy.
- Lavender is a great deterrent of moths and general insects. Buy lavender and use an old sock to stuff lavender in, and place within your cupboard or drawers. This will not only enhance the odour but will also keep away any hungry moths.
- If you like listening to the radio, make sure to buy a wind-up radio or solar powered radio which doesn’t use any energy but produces the same high quality sound. You can also find water-powered alarm clocks which do not require batteries.
- Switch off TV, DVD, VCR at the monitor when going to bed
- Kitchen :
- Recycling is the most important factor within the kitchen. If you do not have a recycling bin, you can contact your local council to either request one or find out more about their recycling policies and strategies.
- Composting is one of the most practical ways to use biodegradable products and you will soon realise how much space these products actually took up in your rubbish, more than 40 %.
- Try and buy more durable shopping bags, many stores now sell these and they will last for a long time reducing the need for plastic bags. If you do however use plastic bags when doing your grocery shopping, make sure to re-use them as much as possible and do not throw them away but keep a stock at home, and use for bringing packed lunches to work, sport shoes to training….and don’t feel bad about saying : “No, I don’t need a bag”
- When buying various cleaning products for the household, always make sure these carry the E.E.C logo for meeting government environmental standards,
- Baking soda as air freshener, half a lemon will also work very nicely to hide any odours.
- Keep your old newspapers and magazines and recycle them. Cigarette packs are however not recyclable although they can be used as filters when smoking hand-rolled cigarettes.
Tips for energy conservation in the office:
- Make sure that when you leave the office after work that all lights are switched off.
- After you log off your PC be sure to switch off the monitor.
- When buying sandwich or lunch, have a look at the packaging, is there too much ? Is it recyclable ?
Remember that one person can make a difference
- You may think ; what difference can I make ? Is it really worth it ? how will my single act have a positive impact ? For those of you who are still thinking like this, then I have one question for you : do you vote ? How does one vote change anything ? yet you still vote, because in the end , individuals make up a group and a bigger group and then this creates an impact. Well it's exactly the same with helping to create less of an impact on the environment, if we all do it, it will certainly make a difference.
Take it a step further
- For those of you who are adept recyclers, reusers and reducers than you can get involved on a political level, there are numerous organisations out there that are constantly sending out petitions and participating in protests, here is a few of them :
- Natural Resources Defence Council www.nrdc.org
- Friends of the Earth www.foe.co.uk
- Camp for climate action www.climatecamp.org.uk
- Greenpeace www.greenpeace.org
- The petition site www.thepetitionsite.com
