Handy Tips
19 Easy Ways of Reducing Waste at Home
- Avoid buying heavily packaged goods.
- Buy fruit and vegetables that have no unnecessary packaging, e.g. bananas don’t need a bag
- Buy concentrated products that use less packaging.
- Buy products such as washing powder in large containers to reduce packaging or a 2-litre bottle of cola instead of a few small bottles or cans
- Take your reusable shopping bags with you to the shops every trip.
- Try to get off mailing lists for junk mail, faxes and emails.
- Use reusable products wherever possible e.g. use a nappy laundry service and save disposable nappies for holidays or long journeys.
- Use refillable and rechargeable products when possible e.g. a refillable ink pen rather than a disposable biro, rechargeable batteries and cameras.
- Where possible, buy groceries packed in recyclable packaging like glass or cardboard instead of foil and plastic
- Choose products in packaging that you know can be recycled
- Use and refill your own durable drinks bottle
- Try to keep your bin from filling up.
- Try growing your own vegetables
- Have a garden composter for organic waste like vegetable peelings, food leftovers, teabags, fruit peelings, garden waste and divert 1/3 of your waste away from landfill
- Think before throwing anything away – can it be reused for something else?
- Use a lunchbox for your sandwiches or salad and don’t wrap them in plastic
- Save all glass jars and bottles and bring them to your local Glass Bank for recycling
- If you have a blue bin/clear bag at home be sure to use it for newspapers, magazines, junk mail, pizza / cereal boxes, milk / juice cartons, food tins and drinks cans as well as other materials, depending on where you live.
- If there is a recycling centre close to where you live or work, be sure to bring old batteries, plastic bottles and bags and any other materials they accept for recycling
Greener Gardening & Greener Cleaning booklets
Greener-Gardening-(web).pdf (size 3.6 MB)
Greener-Cleaning-inhouse-printing.pdf (size 6.6 MB)