Let's waste less!

We work in parternship with WRAP - the Waste and Resources Action Programme - to deliver our new advice services on reducing waste.

Guest blog from Dr. Liz Goodwin, CEO, WRAP

As we celebrate the 5th year of Recycle Week this year, it’s interesting to compare how closely the increase in success and popularity of this week mirrors the growing commitment from consumers. Over the past five years, since the launch of the Recycle Now campaign, we’ve increased our recycling rates from 17% to 34%, nine out of ten homes now have recycling collections and the range of materials we can recycle locally has increased, so it’s never been easier to recycle and waste less.

Recycling is also helping to make a real difference to the economy. The value of materials that households in England send for recycling has reached £1.1 billion since 2003 as we continue to recycle more – an average annual growth of 30%. This is really good news and shows that recycling really is working.

This year’s theme for Recycle Week is, ‘Let’s Waste Less’ and the week’s activities are designed around all the many, small things we can each do to reduce our waste which, when taken together, makes a big difference. From recycling more of our everyday items like glass and plastic bottles to reducing our food waste, re-using carrier bags or trying out new things like home composting, there’s a lot we can do to help cut back on the amount of waste we send to landfill.

This year, we’re particularly pleased to have so many supporters on board; the Energy Saving Trust, Coca Cola, Asda, Tesco, Oxfam just to name a few. It just goes to show how making better use of our resources is important for all of us and Recycle Week is a great way for different organisations to come together and show support. Why not find out what is happening in your area and make a pledge to ‘waste less’ during Recycle Week. Simply go to www.recyclenow.com and find out more.

Comments

[Clinton Porter]

It's great to see a well run energy saving blog like this, but there are so many areas of energy consumption which are below the radar and really need to be "named and shamed".

For example, the data centre industry in the UK consumes about 6% of the country's energy consumption. Compare the media coverage this gets to something like the airline sector at about half of the consumption and it seems a bit out of whack.

The CRC (Carbon Reduction Commitment) is a good start, but much of industry seems quite unaware of how this is going to affect them. Considering the very companies that it will affect are the same companies by and large with extensive data centre facilities, these are the people that should be taking note.