50+ top tips for cutting waste

1 March 2004

1. Do you have a local kerbside recycling scheme? If so, sign up for a box and get your recycables taken away from the comfort of your own doorstep. What could be easier?
2. We're a big fan of e-cards. You can send one of ours instead of a paper card to celebrate an event, cheer up a mate, or just to say hi.
3. Get hold of a solar powered recharger and some rechargeable batteries, and say good riddance to the one-use, money-draining disposables in your life.
4. Are there plastic carrier bag pushers at your local food store? Just say no. Cotton bags that you can use again and again are no longer just a hippy thing, and there are lots of fashionable designs out there to choose from. So check out ours in our Shop, and see if it's your bag ...
5. Fruit 'n veg in supermarkets tends to be wrapped in all sorts of plastics, paper and other stuff whereas shopping at a local market or grocer means they come loose and interestingly shaped. Win-win.
6. Do you use disposable kitchen roll? Ditch buying that and instead get hold of some cotton cloths that you can get to know like an old slipper.   
7. Refills rock. You can buy them for washing powders, liquids, salts etc.
8. Why not find out if there's a milk delivery service in your area? The kind that delivers good old glass bottles instead of plastic ones.
9. Compost your kitchen and garden waste - most councils now offer advice on how so there's no better time to get rotting.
10. The fibres from old clothes can be shredded and rewoven so take along your old glad rags to a British Red Cross shop. 
11. An excellent example of seeing waste differently comes from an MP, Norman Baker (Lewes): "While we are considering innovative recycling, may I tell the hon. Lady that I have a constituent who had a couple of gallstones removed and has made them into very attractive earrings?" (Hansard, 14 March 2003 : Column 537)
12. Did you know you can buy re-conditioned electrical appliances? We've heard about the ReStore Community Project but there may be others.
13. How about starting a paper-recycling scheme at work? We don't mean making your meeting agendas into paper aeroplanes because you're bored - we're talking en masse paper recycling. Check out the Community Recycling Network for info about community recycling in your area.
14. Patio-heaters and garden lights run off the mains are bad news for the planet but you can buy solar-powered garden lights instead. We stock small moonlight lanterns and sun jars in our Shop. And citronella beeswax or vegetable-based candles can help you keep insects away.
15. You could consider recycling your fridge if it's old - as they contain CFCs and HCFCs - and instead buy a "Greenfreeze" model. Most retailers will collect and recycle your old fridge. Otherwise, get your hoover out and clean your fridge's coils to make it more efficient.
16. Tried reducing waste and energy consumption where you work? Are there ways you could make it more fun for your colleagues to get involved eg competitions between teams? You can get info and support from Global Action Plan.
17. Befriend your local Save-a-Can bank. There are 2,000 Save-a-Can banks across Britain just waiting for your cans. And they're doing a great job - steel plate recovered from cans each year in Western Europe weighs as much as 132 Eiffel Towers (bet you didn't know that). More info at the Steel Can Recycling Information Bureau.
18. Why not think of printing as the last resort?  We only print when we really really have to and instead encourage people to read our monthly e-newsletters.
19. OK, so you really really have to print some things. Please use both sides of the paper. We do so hate seeing the other side go to waste.
20. How about checking out the software that can help reduce your paper usage? Fineprint could save you 25% to 50% of your paper and toner usage ... so half a tree, one branch, or a twig depending on how much your printing habit is under control.
21. And are you recycling your inkjet cartridges? 
22. Do you leave your computer on without using it for long periods? Like an over-ripe banana left too long in your fruit bowl, all that energy (and money) is just wasting away ...
23. Old computers don't have to be dumped, you have the power to give them a second life. But remember, with great power comes great responsibility. Sell online, donate to a charity, donate to someone else, or recycle - it's your choice, choose wisely.
24. Did you know you can recycle polythene wrappers and bags? A company called Polyprint Mailing Films takes them. But please only send clean ones, ta. Email: info@polyprint.co.uk 
25. What do you do with your old mobile phone? If it's no longer useful to you (eg it's now refusing to do the washing-up) then stop it going to landfill by contacting Oxfam, ActionAid or Rainforest Concern who will recycle or re-sell it.
26. Are you signed up with the Mailing Preference Service? As well as reducing the junk mail pouring through your door, it will also save you time sorting through it all. Another win-win.
27. Did you know making your own lunch instead of buying from a sandwich shop can save you more than £4 a day or about £1,000 a year? And just think of all that saved packaging.
28. Join a toy library and you get to borrow a wide range of toys as well as giving old ones to other families. You do have to have a child in order to play - acting like a big kid alone won't give you access to the toys. 
29. Scrapstore warehouses provide re-use craft resources for schools and youth groups. Could your office help contribute to building a kid's model robot? 
30. If each of the UK's 10 million office workers used one less staple a day it could save the equivalent of 24 African elephants in weight a year. Secure your papers with a reuseable paperclip or print 2 sheets to a page and double sided and you can secure far fewer pages with a simple fold at the corner.
31. How about asking at your workplace if a roller towel could be installed instead of using disposable paper towels?
32. Single-use cameras?  What do you think?  We think: think again.
33. Hiring DVDs, and borrowing books from a library rather than buying them saves you money and saves you space at home too. Plus, you get access to a huge range rather than the limited selection in your own home.
34. Did you know you can recycle or exchange old curtains? Go hang out at The Curtain Exchange for more info.
35. Having a shower instead of a bath saves about the same amount of water as 4 toilet flushes. And if you're installing new sinks in your bathroom or kitchen, try fitting spray taps - they use less water than normal taps.
36. Got a baby? Why not try out paw print or leopard print reusable nappies? According to the folks at The Real Nappy Information Service, reusable nappies can be fun, funky, and incredibly addictive ...
37. When buying gifts for friends and family, do you default to giving disposable presents? How about hunting down a ticket to an event instead, like a concert or sports match that shows you have thought about your relative/mate's interests? And can you ever go wrong giving a voucher to for a spa treatment?
38. Do you have an old pair of glasses at home that are now merely a spectacle? See their new life potential and pass them on to their next owner via a high-street opticians.
39. Tyres often have multiple lives too. To get some car tyres with a history, use retreads and feel good about saving a rubber tree: Retread Manufacturers Association
40. How about encouraging the next generation to be green ambassadors?  Could your local school be persuaded to compost its green waste?  Friends of the Earth Italy - Amici della Terra's - campaigned for depots for green waste in schools and blocks of flats in Florence. You can find out about our other European campaigns on Friends of the Earth Europe's site.
41. There's always the option to lobby for political change by taking an action with us. We're grateful for any time you can give us to help change things.
42. From cool dudes buying second-hand designer clothes to punters bidding on boats, online auction sites like ebay are a great way to sell your stuff rather than taking it to the dump.    
43. When you're doing a spot of DIY, have you tried sourcing materials from reclamation yards, skips, auctions, or second-hand shops? Mending, re-upholstering, or restoring old furniture can be satisfying as well as saving you money.
44. And, on the topic of doing odd jobs around the house or garden, why not hire tools or borrow some from your friends or family rather than buying your own? Tools for Self Reliance will also send your old tools to Africa.
45. Unwanted CDs? Printers Beacon Press runs a recycling scheme: tel: 01825 768611
46. Forget plastic bags, tin foil and clingfilm for your packed lunch. Try a reuseable sandwich wrap.
47. Do you have a pad handy of our re-use mailing labels? These save paper and money, and they're dead simple to use, just 'lick and stick'. 
48. Do you subscribe to magazines that you don't get the time to read? Save yourself a few quid and let the planet save a tree by unsubscribing.
49. Can you persuade your company to use reusable cups rather than disposable ones? If they refuse, see if they'll agree to a Plan B instead - getting the vending cups to be recycled via the Save a Cup scheme.
50. Why not try out eco-friendly sanitary products? Such as the reusable Mooncup. Unusally named but it's use is not lunar dependent. 
51. Freecycle! Free recycling in your community powered by email and the wish to prevent household items going to landfill. Join your local recycling revolution today. 

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