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Waste not, Want Not - EcoVision Investigates your Recycling options

4th September 2008

Published in Country & Town House Magazine - October 2008 - Available in Waitrose nationwide

Nowadays, we buy too much, waste too much and throw too much away. But there are schemes out there that can prevent our discarded goods going to landfill. EcoVision's resident writer Duff Hart-Davis investigates the options.

How simple recycling used to be in the old days. Our neighbouring farmer’s wife remembers life 70 years ago when milk came straight from the cows in galvanised cans and butter was made in the house. Food scraps went to the chickens, which produced eggs, or to the pigs, which yielded pork, ham, bacon and sausages. Tins were rare and there was no such thing as plastic, and no electronic equipment that might break down and become useless. As a result, hardly anything was ever thrown away – and the farm was, in effect, a PRF – a Perfect Recycling Flagship.

Fast-forward to 2008, to a world of electronic goods, overflowing landfill sites and plastic packaging, and things get a lot more complicated. We may not have pigs to feed our scraps to, but we are aware that avoidance of waste and conservation of materials must play an ever-increasing part in daily life. Even 20 years ago nobody thought of taking empty bottles and jars to a collection point – but now in the UK 50 per cent of all glass containers are recycled.

So, what can we do? For any number of good ideas for reducing waste including home composting (a must for anyone with a garden), plus the latest recycling news, visit recyclenow.com. Type in your post-code, and the site will show you your nearest drop-off point, together with a map of the area marking other local possibilities, and tips about where particular items like batteries, glass and metal can be deposited.

One golden rule of good housekeeping today is ‘Don’t trash it – treasure it!’ Rather than jettison your old cooker, armchair or TV set, find out if someone else might like it by visiting freecycle.org, where you can not only identify people who will take unwanted objects, but also pick up tremendous bargains.

The growth of the freecycle movement has been astonishing. The first UK group was established in London only five years ago, but there are now nearly 500 groups all over the country, with a total of more than 1.25 million members. The admirable aim of the movement is simply to keep usable items out of landfills.

A similar practice is upcycling where household items bound for the tip are turned into something useful, such as converting a broken blender into a comtemporary lamp. Some people such as artists have taken upcycling beyond the home and use it as a viable form of business. The idea is to inspire people to see the value of materials in products which are past well past their best.

The advantages of recycling are obvious: by reducing the use of raw materials and cutting energy consumption, it is already estimated to save 18m tons of CO2 every year in the UK alone – the equivalent of taking five million cars off the road.

At the moment there is no financial incentive to recycle but a scheme called Recycle Bank, which has had widespread success in the United States, awards households which perform well with vouchers worth up to $50 a month. The UK could see a weight-based scheme where bins are weighed when emptied and householders throwing away the least receive a rebate. Those throwing away most could pay more. Even more reason to waste not, want not.

Top Recycling Tips from Ecovision

  • Think about packaging and waste before you buy something, rather than after you’ve used it. It’s better to attack the problem at its source
  • Take full advantage of your local council’s recycling services. Your council tax is paying for them – so welcome them with open arms
  • Don’t chuck old clothes out. Put them in one of the charity shop collection bags posted through your door, and hope someone else can make use of them
  • Instead of buying new furniture, why not visit an antiques shop, junk shop or reclamation yard or even give a current piece of furniture a new lick of paint – remember reuse as much as possible.

    • For more eco ideas, visit EcovisionSystems.co.uk

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