- Stop junk mail - register with the Mailing Preference Service.
Write to: MPS, Freepost 22, London, W1E 7EZ, phone 0207 766 4410 or visit www.mpsonline.org.uk
- Make a weekly food menu - the average UK household spends £680 a year on food that goes in the bin. (That amounts to 8.3 million tonnes of food wasted in the UK every year). In a landfill it produces methane, a greenhouse gas more than 20 times as powerful as carbon dioxide. We’re also wasting the energy used to produce, package and transport the food.
- Try www.lovefoodhatewaste.com website for tips, ideas and great recipes for using leftovers.
- Start a compost heap - it reduces the vegetable and garden waste going into landfill sites and it’s good for your garden too!
- Planning a baby or got children still in nappies? Use "real" nappies - they create less waste than disposable ones. A nappy washing service uses 32% less energy and 41% less water.
- Join a library rather than buying all your books – it’s cheaper too. Take books to work and exchange with colleagues.
- Cut out carrier bags - British shoppers use over 13 billion plastic bags a year. Some of these are re-used, for example, as waste bags, before being thrown away. For those regular outings to the shops, can you use a more sustainable option, such as a "Bag for Life", textile bags, crates or boxes? You can still use any plastic bags to collect waste in the house.
- Set your hot water thermostat to 60°C and make sure your hot water tank has a thick insulating jacket.
- Recycle more - nearly two thirds of all household rubbish can be recycled. Most councils run doorstep recycling collections for paper, glass and plastics, often more. But local civic amenity sites often accept many other things – such as wood, shoes, textiles, TVs, electrical equipment, light bulbs and fridges.
- When cooking - use lids on pans.
- Use plastic containers – ditch the cling film and foil!
On average, each person in the UK, throws away seven times their body weight (about 500kg) in rubbish every year.