Whilst Suffolk Coastal is committed to recycling and composting
as much as possible, it is more environmentally sustainable to
avoid producing the waste in the first place. By reducing and
reusing your waste at source, you can avoid the need to collect and
treat it, thus avoiding the associated costs of transport and
energy.
Easy things you can do...
There are many simple changes that
you can make to your shopping and consumption habits in order
to minimise your waste, such as:
- Take your old shopping bags back to the shop, buy a 'bag for
life' or use a cloth bag - every year in England and Wales we use 7
billion plastic carrier bags!
- Avoid products with lots of unnecessary packaging.
- Buy products you can refill - for example washing-up
liquids.
- Avoid disposable items such as paper plates.
- Choose long life products - they may cost more to buy in the
short term but you will have to replace them less often.
- Use rechargeable products.
- Repair an item where possible.
- Think before buying luxury items - do you really need
them?
- Choose products made from recycled materials - many shops sell
a range of recycled products such as bin liners, toilet rolls, and
writing paper.
- Buy in bulk if possible, which cuts down the amount of rubbish
- buy drinks in large bottles instead of smaller ones, buy washing
powder in large boxes.
- Buy local products
if possible - they have been transported shorter distances.
Find out if you have a local farmers' market where you can buy
food, which means less petrol has been used, and less traffic on
the road.
- Choose products that have minimum impact on the environment during their
life - for example washing machines with the energy efficiency
label, and energy saving light bulbs. Follow this link for more
information about energy efficiency in the home.
- Buy second-hand items - many charity shops and
auction websites sell trendy second-hand clothing.
- Donate your unwanted goods to charity shops, offer them to
family and friends, try offering them on the
freecycle website or have a car boot
sale.
- Use real
nappies instead of disposable ones.
- Take up home composting, turning your fruit and
vegetable clippings and light garden trimmings into a useful end
product that you can use in your own garden, avoiding the need for
it to be collected and treated centrally.
- Businesses and individuals can use the Eastex materials exchange, a free online
service that allows you to exchange unwanted materials.
Reduce the amount of junk mail you receive
You can reduce the junk mail that
you receive by registering with the following services:
Mailing Preference
Service
Will prevent Direct Mail, or junk mail, originating within the UK
and addressed to you in your name, from being sent to you:
Mailing Preference Service (MPS),
DMA House,
70 Margaret Street,
London W1W 8SS.
Tel: 020 7291 3310
Royal Mail Door to Door Opt Out
service
Will prevent unaddressed junk mail from being delivered to you:
Freepost RRBT-ZBXB-TTTS
Royal Mail Door to Door Opt Outs
Kingsmead House
Oxpens Road
OXFORD OX1 1RX
Want to know more?
For more information and ideas about minimising your waste visit
the reduce and reuse pages on the
Suffolk
Recycling website.