How to reduce waste in your home this spring

Did you know that in the UK a staggering 26 million tonnes of waste is produced by households every year? This means that the average person in the UK is responsible for almost half a tonne of waste each year, which equates to each of us throwing away our body weight in waste every seven weeks.

How can that be possible? 

Also, of the 26 million tonnes of domestic waste produced in the UK every year, 14 million tonnes go to landfill sites, and 12 million tonnes are recycled. This gives us an average annual recycling rate of 45% in the UK. But it’s estimated that about 80% of waste in UK household bins could actually be recycled.

In this article we look at how to reduce waste in our home, and ensure that we are recycling as much as we can, rather than sending waste to landfill.

Here are a few ways that you can make a start:

• Reduce your use of plastic

Even though most of us are aware that we need to use less plastic, it’s important to understand why. Some types of plastic are non-biodegradable and would take hundreds of years to decompose. This means that if thrown away they will remain in landfill for decades, polluting the environment and endangering wildlife.

So one of the most important things you can do to reduce harmful waste is to reduce your use of plastic. A few ideas on how to do this are:

• Save plastic containers – for example from cleaning products and toiletries – and refill them at a local refill store;
• Use your own containers for supermarket products such as the salad bar;
• Find a local delivery service for milk in glass bottles;
• Only buy drinks in glass bottles or cans;
• Use your own fabric shopping bags instead of plastic carrier bags;
• Consider alternatives to plastic bin liners eg compostable bin liner bags, newspaper, or just a naked bin.

• Recycle plastic correctly

When we do use plastic and need to get rid of it, it can be confusing to know what to do with it. Some types of plastic can be recycled at home, others can be taken to supermarkets or recycling centres to be recycled, and others cannot be recycled at all.

The first thing to do is check with your local authority website as to which plastics they will and won’t accept, as this does vary between authorities. As a very rough guide, the following is what is likely to be the case for many authorities:

• Plastics that can usually be recycled from home:

  • single-use water bottles;
  • drinks bottles;
  • yoghurt cartons made from PET plastic (polyethylene terephthalate);
  • milk cartons;
  • plastic bottle caps;
  • shampoo bottles;
  • squeezable bottles containing creams and gels;
  • ice cream tubs;
  • bread bags;
  • frozen food bags.

• Plastics that need to be taken to a recycling centre:

  • plastic straws;
  • takeaway food containers;
  • parcel tape;
  • plastic picnic plates and cutlery.

• Plastics that need to be taken to a store for recycling:

  • crisp packets;
  • carrier bags;
  • tablet blister packs (some pharmacies recycle these).

• Plastics that cannot be recycled and need to go into general waste:

  • clingfilm;
  • PVC pipes;
  • PVC furniture;
  • Polystyrene packaging;
  • CD cases;
  • plastic forks;
  • Polystyrene yoghurt pots;
  • Styrofoam;
  • foam takeaway containers.

• Dedicate a separate bin for other recycling items

As well as plastics, there is a range of other household items that can be recycled from home – such as paper, cardboard, glass and cans – but various others that it’s difficult to know what to do with. So it’s a good idea to set up a separate bin for those odd items until you can find somewhere to take them.

A few examples of such items are small household items, books, electrical items, bulbs and batteries. There are likely to be places that these can be recycled, for example specific recycling bins in stores, in council car parks or at your local recycling centre. So it may be a case of waiting until you have enough items to merit a journey. But it is much more environmentally-friendly to do this than just putting them in the bin and sending them to landfill.

• Use all the food you buy

A lot of domestic waste is food waste. As a nation we throw away around 9.5 million tonnes of food waste every year. So it’s important to do anything we can to avoid throwing food away. 

A good way to start is to check what you already have before you go food shopping, and plan meals that will include these items. Get into the habit of always knowing and constantly using items that are already in your fridge, freezer or store cupboards. Contents of the fridge are particularly important to check, to avoid them going beyond their use by date and having to be thrown away.

Also make sure you use as much of each item as you can. For example, we can waste a lot of fruit and vegetables by not using the whole product. Many vegetables don’t actually need peeling; the skins or outer leaves are often the most nutritious parts. And if you are using part of a fruit – for example the juice of citrus fruits such as lemons, limes or oranges, the zest can be grated and used separately for something else later on.

And any vegetable or fruit peelings that you don’t use for food could be used for compost. It’s very easy to dedicate either a bin or small garden area for composting. All you need to do is combine your peels with a high-nitrogen material such as grass clippings, then cover with carbon ingredients such as leaves, hay or sawdust, and add water. After a while, your compost will break down into a soil-like texture, which you can then use either in your garden or to mix with potting soil for container plants.

• Bulk buy non-perishable goods

Once you get into a good understanding of food use in your home, it could make sense to buy in bulk the products that you use a lot of. If you have space to store them , this can not only work out cheaper but could also save a lot of packaging. 

For example:

• Tea and coffee;
• Bottled and canned drinks;
• Tinned food;
• Jars eg sauces, condiments;
• Dried pasta;
• Rice;
• Cereals;
• Nuts and crisps;
• Pet food;
• Kitchen roll;
• Toilet paper;
• Batteries and lightbulbs.

• Buy and sell clothes second hand

The fashion industry generates a huge amount of waste – an estimated 10% of all carbon emissions. But there are many items that you can buy second hand at good quality and a great price, for example from:

• Charity shops;
• Online sites such as eBay or Vinted;
• Local selling sites such as Facebook Marketplace;
• Local schools, nurseries or community groups, for childrens clothing.

You can also greatly reduce waste by either selling or giving away your own unwanted clothing, which can also be a great way of making a bit of extra money.

• Put a stop to junk mail

It’s estimated that around 17.5 billion pieces of junk mail are produced every year in the UK. This can either be from mailing lists, addressed specifically to you, or general junk mail pushed through the door. Either way, you can help put a stop to it.

If you receive catalogues or mailings addressed to you from companies you are no longer interested in, take a couple of minutes to contact them to be removed from their mailing list. This can usually be done online.

To prevent unsolicited junk mail, you can register online with the Mailing Preference Service.

And for junk mail through your door, you can put a sign or sticker on your door requesting that no leaflets are posted through your letter box. Some local Councils will provide you with a sign on request, or you can just make your own.

Taking time to sort this out will mean not only that you only receive mail that you want to, but that you play your part in further reducing domestic waste.

We hope that the above information inspires you to find ways of reducing waste in your home this spring.

And if there are other changes you are making to your home this spring, and you are considering a small personal loan, remember that Loans 2 Go offers online loans that may be able to help. 

Do visit us here again soon for more lifestyle and financial tips from Loans 2 Go.