Recycling helps to save materials, resources and energy, but if we could reduce the amount that we purchased/consumed in the first place then we would not need to throw things away in the first place! The best possible step we can take is therefore to reduce the amount of waste we produce.

Much of the stuff you throw away ends up in landfills, where it creates methane – a greenhouse gas that is 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

Wasted Food

It may sound patronising, but try not to waste food, research by WRAP (a government funded organisation) has shown that in Britain we throw away more than £8billion worth of food each year. In other words we throw away one in three shopping bags of food purchased...that amount of wastage would fill Wembley Stadium eight times

A simple solution is to plan your meals in advance, only buy what you need and do not cook more than what you need. This process will take less than fifteen minutes per week to plan and could save you over £600 per year, which is the current average value of food that is wasted by a family of four each year!

Still in the supermarket…

Nearly one fifth of household waste is left over packaging from retail purchases. Obviously by avoiding products with unnecessary packaging or by opting to purchase ‘loose’ products you will cut down significantly on your household waste.

Did you know that packaging can also account for 16% of the cost of the product! That’s a lot of money being spent on something that you are going to throw away instantly!

Shopping carefully is the message to take home. It’s simple things like avoiding using disposable bags (or at the least reuse your old bags!), buy products that will last or that you can use again (e.g. reusable batteries) – in terms of both clothes and appliances – and look out for energy-efficient applicances when buying new white goods. These steps cut back on waste that can end up in landfill sites and can save energy too. Even more importantly each step has a really positive impact upon the environment.

Nappies:

It is estimated that by the time the average child is toilet trained they will have gone through 3,796 nappies, most of which will end up buried in landfill sites, which accounts for up to 2% of the average household rubbish. So for all those with young children make sure you use re-usable nappies and reduce the nappy mountain that is currently clogging up landfill sites across the UK.

Unwanted mail:

There are several steps that you can take to stop unwanted junk mail coming through your letter box:

By registering with the Mailing Preference Service (MPS) (hyperlink this http://www.mpsonline.org.uk/mpsr/) your name can be removed from up to 95% of all direct mail lists! This service tackles unwanted direct mail from being delivered to you, but do note that it will not stop mail that is sent from overseas, unaddressed material or mail addressed to ‘The Occupier’.

To stop unnaddressed, unsolicited marketing mail you will need to contact the Royal Mail (email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) and the Direct Marketing Association (UK) Ltd ( hyperlink http://www.dma.org.uk/Content/Home.asp).