Waste reduction tips
See also our composting and recycling pages for details about how you can compost your garden and cardboard waste and to find out how you can recycle more of your waste.
Waste reduction workshops
Community Action Groups (CAGs) held a number of different reuse activities during the European Week of Waste Reduction (EWWR), 20 - 27 November 2010. The EWWR aims to inform large numbers of European citizens about the simple actions that they can take in everyday life to contribute to waste reduction efforts.
Oxfordshire County Council working with the CAG project ran a number of exciting workshops with specialist tutors. Find out more about the workshops including fact-sheets so you can make your own items on the CAG website.
Reducing your waste
Here are some ways to reduce the amount of waste you produce:
- when shopping choose products with least packaging
- buy fruits and vegetables loose to avoid the unnecessary trays and wraps
- for items with a long shelf-life or for things you use often, buy the large or economy size: even when the overall weight is the same, one large pack usually uses less packaging than two smaller packs
- use a reusable shopping bag or rucksack rather than plastic carrier bags and say "no thanks" to carrier bags that you don't need! See our news item: Funding available to help create 'plastic bag free' towns for information about financial support to encourage the use of reusable bags.
- store food in resealable containers rather than using cling film or foil
- cancel junk mail - you can do this by registering with the Mailing Preference Service, who will arrange for your details to be taken off the mailing lists of companies sending unsolicited mail. To register for this service call 020 7291 3310, visit the Mailing Preference Service website or email mps@dma.org.uk
- cancel your telephone directory home delivery, and look online instead. To cancel Yellow Pages, call Freephone 0800 671 444. To cancel the Thomsons Local Directory, call 01252 555 555 or email distribution@thompsonlocal.com.
- use re-usable nappies rather than disposable ones - for more information see the Real Nappy Campaign website
- use rechargeable batteries rather than disposable ones
- compost your garden waste ... you can buy a home composting bin at a discount price
- set your printer to print both sides of a sheet of paper and photocopiers to copy documents double-sided
Reusing your waste
Here are some ways in which you reuse items rather than sending them to landfill:
- re-use carrier bags when you go shopping
- save packaging materials for sending parcels
- empty jars and bottles can be used for storage
- repair clothes rather than throwing away
- use backs of paper for notes, shopping lists or for children's drawings
- reuse envelopes by using sticky labels and re-addressing
- pass on any used magazines to friends, hospitals or doctors' surgeries
- donate old clothes, mobile phones and good quality bric-a-brac to charity
- donate unwanted furniture to Oxfordshire Community and Voluntary Action (OCVA) Furniture re-use project
- pass on left over paint to Orinoco, an Oxford-based charity, who will then pass it on to community projects and members of the public to use. For details of opening hours and how to find the charity's scrapstore please see their website
