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:
Wasting food is not only expensive,
costing the average family with children £680 per year, but
has serious environmental consequences. Avoid creating
unnecessary food waste by making sure that you only buy and
cook what you need. Visit the
Love Food Hate Waste website (new window)
for handy hints and tips for avoiding food waste, as well as
tasty recipes for using up leftovers.
Take plastic carrier bags back
to the supermarket or reuse them, 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 (new window) - 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 (new window) during their life - for
example washing machines with the energy efficiency label, and
energy saving light bulbs. Follow this link for more information
about information about energy efficiency in the
home.
- Buy second-hand items - many charity shops and
auction websites sell good second-hand
clothing.
- Donate your unwanted goods to charity shops, offer them to
family and friends, try offering them
on the Freecycle (new window) or
Freegle (new window) websites 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 (MPS) (new
window) - 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,
DMA House,
70 Margaret Street,
London W1W 8SS.
MPS registration line: 0845 703 4599.
Royal Mail Door to Door Opt Out service (new
window) - will prevent unaddressed junk mail from
being delivered to you. If you wish to opt out of receiving Door
to Door mail items, send or email your name and address to the
address below:
Freepost RRBT-ZBXB-TTTS,
Royal Mail Door to Door Opt Outs,
Kingsmead House,
Oxpens Road,
OXFORD OX1 1RX.
or email:
optout@royalmail.com.
Want to know more?
For more information and ideas about minimising your waste visit
the Suffolk Recycling website (new
window).