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Transport |
| How to Reduce your Waste |
How can we reduce waste ? - Julie Holland has some suggestions. - Stop using plastic carrier bags.
- Buy as little prepackaged as possible – go to butchers / markets / buy loose veggies / Use a box scheme for vegetables. Box schemes normally use reusable boxes and the fruit & veg come in one box that is then returned to the delivery person. You will have a lot less packaging to get rid of; you will save yourself money, and probably be getting better vegetables - Think about growing some of your own veg. Even if you only have a window box, grow a few herbs. If you have a small garden, plant veggies among your flowers (I grow a wigwam of runner beans in my front garden, they look great and taste fab). If you really want to go the whole hog, get an allotment through your local council offices. - You could also get chickens for eggs, they are easy to keep, eat food scraps and the eggs are great. - Make a shopping list – you will buy less and will only buy what you need, also think before you purchase things because they are on offer, eg buy 2 get 1 free – just buy 1 if that is all you want. - Sign up for the Mail Preference Service and reduce the amount of junk mail that you get. - If you have a baby, breast feed it, don’t feed formula , not only does this reduce the need for the extra packaging of formula milk (crap in a can!) and all the associated sterilising equipment etc. It is also far, far, healthier for both you and your baby / toddler. Everyday 4000 babies die in the world, due to being fed formula milk instead of being breastfed. If you want more information on the figures then refer to the Milk Baby Action website (www.babymilkaction.org). - Use washable nappies. 4% of the rubbish going into landfills consists of disposable nappies. Not only do they take a long time to break down, harming the environment, but they are also harmful to your baby - with the cocktail of chemicals that they contain. - Use the toy libraries. There are two toy libraries in Godalming, they both provide excellent toys for a really cheap price. It means that you can borrow toys for your children to play with, and when they get bored with them they just go back to the library and you don't end up with loads of unused toys around the place. It also means that when you do buy toys you can buy what they really want, as you will have seen the toys that they get most pleasure from. - Borrow books from the library. How many books are you going to read more than once? If the book is not in stock it may well be possible to have it brought over from another library for just £1.00. - Buy second hand books from the library or one of the many second hand bookshops in the area for your holiday reading. This way you can leave the book behind for someone else to read and have more room in your suitcase for souvenirs when you go home. - Try and make “real” food rather than buying packaged food, this will reduce the amount of waste you produce, will be far healthier for you and even if you only use organic fruit and meat, it will be much cheaper than ready meals. - Use washable sanitary products. There is a huge selection available of both washable sanitary pads and other types of menstrual fluid catchers. The best place to start is the Women's Environmental Network (http://www.wen.org.uk/sanpro/index.htm) or Gladrags http://www.gladrags.com/ . Once you start using them, you will wonder why you didn't start earlier. - Use your car less, use the train / bus / bicycle / walk. - Do less shopping - do you really need more than 7 pairs of shoes? Read the Rubbish Diet blog for some more useful tips on reducing the rubbish that goes into your bin, and on to landfill to emit carbon into the atmosphere as it decomposes and thus contribute to climate change. |
