The continual production of waste in mountainous quantities across the globe is a cause for concern for everyone, even if they don’t realize it yet. While finding new and innovative ways of recycling materials is an ongoing task, there are many consumers who have yet to grasp the basics of recycling their waste. With a few sensible tips and a will to reduce waste, anyone can help boost the amount of recycled materials in circulation.

Whether it’s glass jars, plastic bottles or even just the peelings from vegetables, it’s important to make sure as much waste as possible is put into the recycling stream rather than sent for land fill or incineration. It is thought that as much as two thirds of household waste could be recycled. Separated curbside collections and civic amenity sites set up for recycling are now common in most urban environments and everyone should be making sure that recycling starts within the home. Taking a few steps to make recycling easier and part of your everyday lifestyle will not only increase the amount you send for recycling but will also reduce the amount of overall waste produced in your household.

With future charges for waste disposal being considered that are volume and weight driven, it makes sense to get a grip on your waste sooner rather than later. Why not put a few additional small bins out to keep some materials separate? For example, a small waste bin in the bathroom would allow you to keep empty plastic soap or shampoo bottles away from the other waste in the house, ready for putting straight into the recycle bin. This could also be used for the cardboard centers of empty toilet tissue rolls.

If you have a garden, why not invest in a compost bin? You can separate some of your kitchen food waste to be put in the compost bin instead of going to land fill. Compost bins can take many organic materials such as eggshells, vegetable waste or peelings and even shredded paper. The result is nutrient-rich compost you can use in your garden to help with next year’s crop of home-grown fruit or vegetables.

One of the most obvious ways of cutting your waste is by getting a hold of reusable shopping bags and remembering to use them. This reduces your demand for polythene carrier bags which are incredibly difficult to dispose of, despite the use of billions of them every year in supermarkets. If you do find yourself having to use a bag from a store, ask if they have paper bags. These can at least be put into your waste paper recycling bin when you get home.

Make more use of charity shops and recycle bins in general. At your local civic amenity or refuse disposal centre, there will be an array of recycle bins. These will take almost anything nowadays, from clothes to CDs and books. If you have clothing that’s perfectly serviceable that you just don’t want, why not give it to a charity shop to sell on to someone else.

Refilling consumables is becoming more and more common as the cost of packaging, both in monetary and environmental terms is increasingly understood. From printer ink cartridges to detergents, soaps and coffee, more and more consumable items are being made available to buy as refill packs. Making use of these will cut down not only the waste packaging you buy but also the cost and impact of transporting the goods in the first place from the manufacturer. Every little reduction in weight or size that you can make will have an upstream carbon reduction in the supply chain. Imagine the savings on transport cost and emissions if everyone used refill packaging instead of new jars, cartons or bottles all the time.

You have the ability to control the waste being produced in your household. As a consumer, you also have the ability to make choices around what products or brands you buy that will affect the manufacturers’ long term attitude towards packaging and waste produced downstream of their operations. Only through doing things differently, and making choices that are responsible, can we reduce the waste we produce for good.

Cindy Recycling household recycling, household reuse, re-use, re-use household items, recycle, recycle waste, Recycling