Benefits of waste reduction
Junk Mail
Smart Shopping
Buying Recycled
Benefits of waste reduction
The amount of household waste in the UK grows by about 4% each year.
This means that one bag of refuse produced today will be two bags in 2020. In Calderdale that means the amount of household refuse generated will increase from 90,000 tonnes this year to 180,000 tonnes in 18 years time. This is an unacceptable level of growth and has a huge impact on the environment.
Reducing what we buy in the first place is the most effective way of reducing waste. If we don’t buy it in the first place it cannot, in the long-term, become waste.
To play our part we should think about what we are buying:
- Do we really need the product?
- Do we need the additional packaging that is being offered?
- Are we being given something we just do not want?
- Is there an alternative which does not create waste?
- Should we pay a little more now for something that will last much longer?
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Junk Mail
If each house in Calderdale receives just one item of junk mail a week – this equates to 4.5 million unwanted letters across the district each year. If you want to cut the amount of junk mail you receive contact the Mailing Preference Service for an application form on:
Telephone - 020 7291 3310
Address - The Mailing Preference Service, Freepost 22, London , W1E 7E2
Website -
www.mpsonline.org.uk
If you receive unwanted faxes you can get your name removed from mailing lists by contacting the Fax Preference Service:
Telephone - 020 7291 3320
Website -
www.fpsonline.org.uk
To put a stop to non-addressed, hand delivered mail like magazines and flyers that are delivered direct by your postal worker, write to:
Door to Door Help Line
Royal Mail
Beaumont House
Sandy Lane West
Oxford
OX4 6ZZ
State in the letter that you no longer wish to receive non-addressed, hand-delivered mail. Make sure you include your full address and postcode.
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Smart Shopping
Up to a quarter of the rubbish we throw away is packaging. Millions of carrier bags were given out to shoppers in Calderdale last year. Most are used once and then thrown away adding to the huge pile of rubbish going into landfill sites.
What we should be doing is Smart Shopping!
You can do this by:
- Choosing products with less packaging.
- Buying loose vegetables and fruit where possible.
- Supporting the bag for life schemes.
- Re-using carrier bags.
- Putting everything into one bag rather than taking a different one from each shop.
- Choose refills where available.
- Use cloth nappies.
If you follow these shop smart ideas you will put pressure on retailers to stock fewer items with unnecessary packaging. More packaging means more rubbish and higher prices.
If you do your bit and smart shop you will reduce the amount of rubbish we have to get rid of and you could save yourself money.
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Buying Recycled
Waste reduction and recycling have a wide range of environmental benefits. They reduce demand for raw materials preserving natural resources and habitats. They also reduce both energy use and pollution, result in less waste going into valuable landfill space, and promote public awareness and personal responsibility for the waste we create.
However, recycling has not actually taken place until we buy products made from recycled materials. For recycling to be economically viable and recycling schemes to be successful, there must be a market into which collectors of waste can sell their materials. Buying recycled creates a demand for the collected material, aiding the development of the materials reprocessing infrastructure and therefore increasing opportunities for recycling.
As well as helping the environment, buying recycled also helps to generate investment in new industries and creates new jobs.
The process of buying recycled is called "closing the loop" as a product cannot be described as recycled until it has been incorporated into a new product, thus comin full circle. This process ensures that the supply of waste materials balances demand, and stimulates the market in recycled products.
How can you help?
- Choose recycled products such as tissues, toilet rolls, kitchen towels, writing paper, pens, rulers and plant pots.
- Look out for the recycling symbol and the Buy Recycled logo.
- Buy it, Recycle it, Buy Recycled and close the loop.
For more information visit the Waste and Resources Action Programme website,
www.wrap.org.uk
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