The 3 Rs
Every week in the UK we produce enough rubbish to bury every
Premiership football pitch in 1000ft of rubbish. 60% of our
dustbin's contents could be recycled and put to good use and you'd
be surprised at how easy this is to do.
Reduce, reuse and recycle
If we want to reduce the amount
of waste we create then there are three simple practices that we
need to embrace -reduce, reuse and recycle.
Rather than have to find ways to dispose of your
waste, reduce the amount of waste you produce in
the first instance.
Reducing the amount of rubbish we create is by
far the most effective way of diverting our waste from landfill.
And this is easy to do by simply thinking before we buy. Packaging
for example makes up a large proportion of what goes into out bins
so when you shop try to find products with little or, better still,
no packaging.
When we cannot reduce we should try to
reuse.
There are lots of ways to reuse
items. Reusing items - by repairing them, donating them to charity
and community groups, or selling them - also reduces waste. So
before you throw anything away ask - yourself 'could someone else
make use of this'
Reusing products, when possible, is even better
than recycling because the item does not need to be reprocessed
before it can be used again.
Materials and packaging that cannot be reused
should be recycled at home, work and school.
You can also contribute to recycling by
purchasing recycled products and products that can be recycled.
Recycling turns materials that would otherwise
become waste into valuable resources. In addition, it generates
a host of environmental,
financial, and social benefits. Materials like glass, metal and
paper are collected, separated and sent to facilities that can
process them into new materials or products.
You can also visit the Recycle Now website for more great
ideas about how to recycle more.
This webpage was updated on
2/3/2012