Reduce, reuse, repair & recycle

"'If the garbage man calls, tell him we don't want any' Groucho Marx / Inspiring Quotes 9"



Action Ideas

 * Community Recycling schemes
 * Community Wood Recycling Projects
 * Nappy laundering service
 * Community compost schemes
 * Furniture recycling
 * Scrapstores
 * Second-hand clothing, etc. stores
 * Computer recycling
 * Community paper collections
 * Waste exchange schemes
 * Repair services
 * Promoting products that are actually repairable in the first place (and not engineered to be disposable). A wiki or magazine could provide info on the most repairable products.
 * Give or take days
 * Give or take stalls at Green fairs
 * Freecycling and Better Use - see International Links
 * Community art from recycled materials
 * Community vegetable gardens
 * (England): Report excessive packaging to Trading Standards

Why it matters
(article needed)

Random facts

 * Around one and a half tonnes of packaging is thrown away every second in England alone and makes up over 40% of the waste disposed of by households. The amount of waste being produced is increasing by 3% a year and will cost more than £2.5billion to collect and dispose of this year (2006) alone. Source: The Local Government Association (LGA), July 2006
 * The UK (around 27million tonnes) sends about twice as much rubbish into landfill as France (around 13million tonnes), and more than twice the amount that Germany does (around 10million tonnes). Source: Local Government Association, January 2007. Figures for municipal waste in the European Union taken from 2003/4 statistics as they are the most recent comparable figures.

Related Topics

 * Environment quality
 * Green Purchasing
 * Green New Year resolutions
 * Growing and gardening
 * Recycle at Christmas - personal options
 * Recycling and composting rates for areas of England

International Links

 * Freecycle Grassroots movement of people giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns.
 * Better Use Sites for Switzerland, UK and France
 * BookCrossing.com

News UK

 * Sunday, January 7 2007 - Local Government Association launches War on Waste campaign. LGA
 * Sunday, November 19 2006 - Call for new product tax to increase recycling and stop waste at source.
 * Thursday, November 16 2006 - Waste 'tide' turns - municipal waste produced last year dropped by 3%. 10% reduction (1.9 million tonnes) in the amount of municipal waste sent to landfill. Defra news release
 * Thursday, October 12 2006 - Households in England recycled 27% of their waste during 2005/06. Defra news release
 * Monday, August 7 2006 - Defra publishes report on 53 recycling incentive schemes. Defra news release
 * Monday, July 31 2006 - Fly-tipping by householders now costs local authorities as much to clean up as waste dumped by organised waste criminals. Defra news release
 * Thursday, July 27 2006 - Government gives business a clear timetable for implementing the EC Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). Key proposals to be introduced from July 1 2007. DTI news release
 * Monday, March 27 2006, Record 82 million Christmas cards recycled, up 41% on last year’s figure of 58 million. Woodland Trust press release
 * Tuesday, February 14 2006, Waste strategy (England) consultation opens, Defra press release / Waste strategy a missed opportunity, say Friends of the Earth
 * Residents tempted to recycle more, October 6 2005

Campaigns

 * Real Nappy Campaign

Consultations

 * Consultation on the Review of England's Waste Strategy, Launched, February 14 2006, deadline for comments is May 9 2006. More information via Defra website

Resources

 * The Waste Book. Directory containing advice on recycling a very wide range of materials. It can show you how to recover, reuse, repair, or recycle what you thought was waste and turn it into something useful. Or it can introduce you to someone else who can do this for you.   Designed mainly for commercial users, although individuals and voluntary organisations should find many items of interest, such as useful tips on household waste.  Covers the South East of England, but also provides sources wherever possible to help other visitors.
 * 50+ top tips for cutting waste, from Friends of the Earth
 * Women's Environmental Network website includes a number of downloadable resources on Waste prevention, including guides on Give or Take days

UK links

 * Directory has advice on where to recycle wide range of materials - also reduce, reuse, repair: commercial, voluntary, individuals
 * Community Recycling Network
 * National Community Wood Recycling Project
 * Furniture reuse network
 * Waste Watch
 * Waste Online Extensive information library on waste, managed by Waste Watch. Site includes extensive links listing.
 * recycle-more.co.uk
 * GreenMetropolis.com
 * Green Works
 * Recycle now
 * www.donateapc.org.uk
 * Re-cyle.org Collect and ship second hand bicycles and parts to Africa. Local partners teach local people the skills of how to repair and maintain them, to improve their lives in a sustainable manner.
 * Recycling and waste Information from the  Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
 * Women's Environmental Network Campaigning on environment and health issues from a female perspective
 * Mailing Preference Service

UK local links

 * Kingston Waste Partnership Programme
 * Community Freebay - Aims to rehome over 4000 tonnes of unwanted things in Warwickshire and Coventry this year. Please help by telling your friends and family about this site.

New Zealand
See Recycling in New Zealand.

External links checked Philralph 08:15, 20 March 2006 (UTC)