Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

The 3 R's of waste management are Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, this is what you need to be thinking about in your office, in your home, in your life.

So this will be another one of my blog posts, I will keep updating this with great advice and people to check out so you can Reduce, Reuse, Recycle your waste

Reduce

As you can expect this is the hardest one to master. It is all about making sure if you don't need it, don't get it. If you don't have something, it can't be waste. Though one of the simplest ways of Reducing waste is the new 5p bag charge, bringing your own bag to the shops so you don't need another plastic bag.

Reuse

For me this is the most interesting and the one with the most potential. Things can be reused is so many different ways, anything from donating unwanted items to friends or charity shops, to finding unusual ways of reusing items (have you seen the chair made using a shopping trolley before?)

Recycle

This is the one we are most used to, and the easiest to do. Hopefully you will know where your nearest recycling bins are, and what you can recycle.

You can recycle clothes using Clothes Banks, many supermarkets and shops will have battery bins for recycling. Does your office have recycling facilities for printer toners, electrical equipment?

Below is where I will be posting good Reduce, Reuse, Recycle people to check out, sites to visit, and tips to help you

Zero Waste Week - An excellent website, with some many great ideas and resources. They run an annual Zero Waste Week in Sept, next one is 5-9th Sept 2016 www.zerowasteweek.co.uk

First Mile - An recycling company based in London, who offer recycling services to business in 22 London Boroughs. They also cover Birmingham. They can offer your business all types of recycling and waste collections from mixed recycling to food waste, confidential waste as well as recycling for glass, textiles, fluorescent tubes www.thefirstmile.co.uk

Freegle - Don't throw it away, give it away is Freegle's motto and it is a perfect way to sum up what they do. So do you have a sofa you don't need, or have a load of stuff in your loft you don't use maybe they are other people in your community who could make a use of it, or maybe you in need of something. They are over 400 groups across the UK, so you just need to find out where your local group is http://ilovefreegle.org 

We Can Recycle - A group of friends based in South Belfast, trying to make a difference by recycling what we can. Collecting recyclables within the greater Belfast area using 100% pedal power. Recycling aluminium cans, writing instruments, baby food pouches, tassimo pods, biscuit wrappers, inner tubes and much more https://wecanrecycle.wordpress.com 

Silo - A restaurant in North Laine area of Brighton, which was designed from back to front, always with the bin in mind. Aiming to create Zero Waste with re-usable delivery vessels, and choosing local ingredients that themselves generate no waste. Compost machine inside Silo turns any scraps and trimmings directly into a compost to produce more food... Closing the loop. www.silobrighton.com 

Library of Things - Finally finding a new home in West Norwood, the Library of Things is a friendly space where you can borrow, share and learn with your community. All about encouraging REUSE, where instead of a whole street having their own DIY tools or gardening things, you can borrow them from Library of Things www.libraryofthings.co.uk