Bad news, homeowners - your waste will be with you for much longer than usual. According to newly released information, most local councils collect black bins three times a week and recycling bins twice weekly.
So, the chances are that you'll be having your waste for a longer time than usual.
What do you do?
While most of us consider ourselves pro-conversing and recycling, the truth is that the average citizen makes far more trips to landfills than you think. According to reports, an average household in the UK produces at least a tonne of waste every year; put that together, it comes to nearly 31 million tonnes of waste every year.
Put that in perspective, that is equivalent to the size of three and a half million double-decker buses, a queue that will circle the world two and a half times.
Reduce, recycle and reuse is one concept we've heard all around the world, but you'll often find more waste, despite the best effort you make to recycle.
Stop beating yourself up!
Let's face it, all of us are not perfect. If you are trying to reduce waste, don't get too overwhelmed with the matter. It's a battle against the system that doesn't seem to care enough to make an effort. No matter how much you try from your end to be resourceful and to reduce the spillover, it might seem like the rest of the world is not adopting.
Recycling is not everyone's bread and butter. While a selected set of individuals are adopting, most are yet trying to grasp the concept of reducing, recycling and reusing.
That's why you need to take the initiative in controlling what you can do and not worry about the externalities you most certainly can't control.
Here's 7 quick and easy-to-adopt ways in which you can reduce your waste quite quickly. There will be a list of things that you can even take charge of and control today to make a difference in your waste footprint.
1 Use Newspapers and paper for wrapping
The old newspapers and magazines can be used to wrap up anything at home or when you go. This magazine paper is highly recommended to be used to wrap anything without looking out for plastic or tin foil on non-perishable items, and it could help ensure that there's a residual use for them.
Old newspapers can come in handy to wrap fragile items without relying on bubble wrap or any stuffing, which will also save you extra expenditure.
2 Organize a Yard Sale
Head over to your storeroom or attic, and you'll find at least five items that are still usable but not used for quite some time. Quoting from a famous lyric, "one man's trash is another man's treasure", you can organize a yard sale and dispose of any items in good condition to someone else.
These can be old electronic items or furniture. Chances are that you can earn a little bit of money on the side, and you don't need to spend on the disposal of these items.
3 Donate clothes
While we cannot do much about fast fashion, we can certainly do something about the clothes we wear. Your wardrobe will have clothes still in wearable condition, but you don't usually use them. Rather than tossing it to the bin, see to the possibilities where you can donate it to goodwill so that someone else can still use them.
There is a list of charities around the UK to whom you can donate your old clothes. While you are reducing the landfill, you are also helping someone else on the side.
4 Start making your own compost fertilizer
If you have a large backyard, you can use up the residue that comes from the kitchen as inputs to build your organic fertilizer. The leftover peels, vegetables, tea and several others are significant fertilizer inputs. You can store it in a sealed container for a considerable period and have your compost fertilizer for your garden.
Rather than using the bins for the food waste, you can send it through to your fertilizer bin. This way, it helps reduces the trash that's collected daily.
5 Keep the grass clippings
When you mow your lawn, keep the clippings on your lawn instead of bagging them. This might sound a little unpleasant initially, but by doing this, you let the clippings return nutrients to the soil and help grow the lawn better.
6 Dispose of old electronics wisely
You might have at least one outdated smartphone, a few headsets and old computers in your storeroom. While some of these electronics will have no value, a few might be precious - at least the parts inside these devices.
If you have an older phone, you can give it up for some decent money at a local electronic store for its parts. Calculators and older computers can also fetch valuable bucks at e-waste disposal centres; ideally, you should reach out to them to get through with your e-waste.
E-waste is horrific - they have several toxins that can be horrific for landfill, and the best way to see a way out is by sourcing the parts to the ones who need them. Also, vintage electronic devices are now gaining value; if you are lucky, you can fetch a buck load of cash for them.
7 Stop buying things that you don't need!
This might come a little too aggressive, but the first step of not collecting waste is to go back to the source. With online shopping and targeted ads you see while you scroll on Facebook and Instagram, most of us tend to make purchases for items we don't need.
When you buy new things, you create demand for that thing - a demand that was once non-existent. You also contribute to creating a demand for the production journey. If you look at the overall wastage, that will be a massive footprint.
Start at home - start small!
Every bit counts, and the little step you take in clearing the food waste can be the first step to better using the rubbish you collect for alternate use.
In the meantime, see how you can make incremental steps in reducing the items that get tossed to the bins. In a matter of a few weeks, you'll eventually see the result.
If you need any help in reducing any of the waste, don't hesitate to reach out to us, our experts are always there to help!
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