What a load of rubbish!

In Wiltshire on average each household throws away a tonne of rubbish a year - the same weight as a small car.  In 2015, almost 45% of this rubbish was recycling and composting; which is great, but half of the rubbish we throw into our black bins could be recycled at home using Wiltshire Council’s recycling collections. Much of it is food waste (40% according to a 2013 survey) but textiles, paper and plastic bottles and more can all be recycled at home and yet too often end up in the black bin. 

We can all make a difference. Starting at home we can: 

Reduce our rubbish by using and buying less ‘stuff’, you could make a shopping list so that you only buy what you need and save money at the same time! See www.lovefoodhatewaste.com and www.carryoncomposting.com for ways to reduce food ending up in your bin and www.loveyourclothes.org.uk to find out how to keep your clothes out of the (recycling) box for as long as possible. 

 

Reuse – if you do have to buy something, try to get as much life out of it as possible before recycling it, for example take unwanted clothes or kitchenware to a charity shop.  Try buying what you need from a charity shop or check out re-loved furniture available from local organisation the Repair Academy.

 

Recycle your rubbish using your black box, blue-lidded wheelie bin and local Household Recycling Centre.  Wiltshire Council and Recycle Now have lots of useful information about what and where you can recycle.

 

Recycling guide Wiltshire

Why reduce and recycle?

Reducing our rubbish and recycling more saves money and helps conserve valuable resources, saves energy and reduces landfill which all helps to protect the environment.

In Wiltshire 10,420 tonnes of paper was collected for recycling last year and this is only a third of our waste paper – the rest just went in the general bin!  In the UK we use a staggering 12.5 million tonnes of paper each year.  Paper produced from virgin raw material uses more water and 70% more energy than recycled paper – but it takes just seven days for paper to be recycled into newspaper.

If you want to ‘slim you bin’ further, check out www.rubbishdiet.org.uk and www.mymakedoandmendlife.com for hints and tips. 

 

Sign up to our Slim Bins newsletter, follow us on twitter @SlimBinsWilts and check out Wiltshire Waste Watchers Pinterest Boards and add ideas #MyRubbishIdea. Contact the WasteTeam if you have any questions rethinkrubbish@wiltshirewildlife.org or 01380 736077.

See how you can help your community to reduce rubbish.