This is not my... Focus

We are running out of space!

We need to reduce waste

We need to RecycleNow

The first thing we should try to do is to reduce the amount we throw away.

Some easy ideas might be to:

Get a long life shopping bag

If homes saved just 10 plastic bags per month in the UK we would save 2 million plastic bags.

Set your printer to double sided in the office

Americans discard about 4 million tonnes of office paper a year, enough to build a 4m high wall of paper from New York to California.

Go old school and get some Tupperware

You can save on packaging and cost by buying in bulk.

Avoid buying things you just don’t need!

See how much more you appreciate something if you wait longer to have it (and how much your bank manager appreciates it too!)

However, despite all our best intentions we will create waste.

This is a bit of a problem as in the UK as our landfills are pretty much full. Incineration looks set to rise.

Not only is this an unappealing thought for those of us who will end up living next to incinerators but as Friends of the Earth note - increased incineration ‘encourages more waste’, ‘uses up energy’ and ‘causes pollution’.

So let's RECYCLE!

If every aluminium drink can sold in the UK each year was recycled there would be the equivalent of 14 million fewer dustbins full buried in landfill sites.

Recycling a glass jar saves enough energy to light a bulb for four hours.

For every tonne of recycled paper

13 trees are conserved
31,780 litres of water are conserved
2.5 barrels of oil are conserved
4 cubic yards of landfill space is conserved
4,100 kWh of electricity is saved*

So - why wouldn't we recycle? We can just get two bins and use one for things we can't recycle and one for things we can. Simple.

To find out what you can and can’t recycle in your area have a quick look on the recycle in your community site.

If you can not recycle everything you would like to in your area – write to your MP and request that they look into the issue. Find out who your MP is here and drop them a line.

We must recycle and there is no time like the present to start!

* zerowaste.co.nz

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