Ten Ways We Can Recycle More
The average person in the UK throws away around 400kg of waste each year which is around seven times their body weight. This means that overall the UK produces 26 million tonnes of waste and of that only 12 million tonnes gets recycled. The UK recycles around 45% of all the waste it produces while other countries such as Germany, Austria and South Korea are world leaders in recycling with a rate of 60-70%
Here are ten ways we can all help to increase the UK’s recycling rate.
1. Repurpose glass jars and containers. When you buy something which is in a glass jar from a supermarket you’re paying for the container so why not re-use them? You’ll have a lot of household items that require a container so reuse you glass containers for those. Arts and crafts hobbyists are big users of recycled glass jars like coffee jars and you’ll find that there is actually a market for second hand ones on sites like ebay.
2. Reuse your plastic shopping bags or use paper ones. We can use up to ten bags each time we do a supermarket shop which is an astonishing 520 bags per year going to landfill for each household. Reuse those bags or even better use paper or cloth bags which will biodegrade when they’re no longer useable.
3. Recycle electronics. Don’t just dump old electronics once they’ve reached their end of life. Some charities in the UK will take your old electronic devices, fix them up and sell them on raising money for the community. You may also find that your old device is in demand as spare parts on sites like ebay so check there before binning that old phone or toaster.
4. Reuse scrap paper for crafts and homework projects. Each tonne of recycled paper saves around 380 gallons of oil, 7000 gallons of water and around 3 cubic metres of landfill space. A lot of scrap paper can be reused in arts and crafts projects and homework projects. Sights like Pintrest will produce some good ideas of what can be made from scrap paper.
5. Use cloth napkins and towels. Another way to reduce paper consumption is the use of cloth napkins and towels rather than paper ones. These can be used over and over the course of a year will save you a considerable amount of money.
6. Use cloth nappies. This may seem out of date in this day and age but in the UK alone disposable nappies account for 500,000 tonnes of waste per year. Parents have been using cloth nappies for centuries and switching to them for your child would have a big impact on the environment.
7. Recycle water. This should be a no-brainer, using a water butt in the garden to collect rain water is a simple alternative to using tap water for watering your plants. The average person in the UK used around 152 litres of water in 2021 and it’s this kind of useage which inevitably leads to hosepipe bans in the summer.
8. Make your own compost. Throwing organic waste like egg shells and potato peelings into the bin should one of the easiest things to cut down of you have a garden. Many councils provide compost bins at a subsidised rate and using one of these will help reduce waste and do wonders for your garden.
9. Buy second hand furniture. Somebody else’s sofa might be perfect for your house and means it isn’t going off to landfill. You’ll also save a considerable amount of money buying used furniture, it’s one of the greatest ways of recycling.
10. Give your stuff away. If you don’t want the hassle of selling stuff when you have no more use for it than why not consider donating it to charity or advertise it on free sites like Freecycle or social media?
As we are providers of a Warrington waste clearance service we like to do our bit for the environment and ensure everything we collect is recycled one way or another. Our Warrington rubbish removal service is extremely eco-friendly and we provide a Warrington house clearance service which is extremely kind to the environment.