How to Reduce & Reuse?

REFUSE unwanted items such as plastic bags, click the image to find out how to cancel that unwanted mail. 

Find out how to REDUCE your waste  and REUSE items by clicking on:

 our A-Z of waste minimisation or Waste Aware Scotland's sort-it reduce or sort-it reuse

Almost a third of the food we buy is thrown out. To find out how to stop this waste click on to WRAP's site below:

To reduce your food waste:
Check the fridge & cupboards before you shop – eat what you’ve already got!
Only buy and cook as much as you can eat.
Freeze leftovers
Check ‘use by’ dates regularly.
Measure out food before you cook.
Buy loose fruit and veg- buy just what you need and save packaging too.

Reduce what you buy. Avoid over-packaged goods, hire instead of buy, share and swap with friends and neighbours.

Reuse objects at home, repair, send clothes and other goods to charity shops or other local groups, Compost any garden or vegetable waste. Have you tried FREECYCLE to pass on unwanted items instead of throwing them out or find things you may need?

Buying recycled products

Close the Loop and Buy Recycled, Fairtrade and Eco-friendly!

Want to buy more recycled products – but don’t know where to find them? Some supermarkets do stock standard items like recycled bin liners and kitchen roll but there are lots more fun and interesting recycled products out there if you know where to look. We've had lots of requests for more info on this, so here are some details which should help you shop.

‘UMBRELLA’ WEBSITES
Several websites will help you to source a wide range of products or give easy links to other suppliers. These include Recyclenow , The green directory and The Green Shop – all well worth a browse. Products are divided into recognisable categories. The Green Shop focuses on ‘providing sustainable and low impact products for the home’ and sections of the Recyclenow website also give news, views and ideas on recycling for both adults and children. The Green Directory covers products as diverse as electric bikes and solar powered toy cars.

A couple of sites stand out for innovation and the diversity of the products they offer:
Recycled Products A wide range of consumer products for all around the house and garden. Items range from recycled golf balls and play equipment, to gift bags made from old cement bags and magazines; jewellery and clothing; recycled soap dishes, garden benches and even 100% recycled cat litter! The website provides lots of links direct to the manufacturing companies.
Centre for Alternative Technology  has lots of eco-friendly and fair-trade products, ideas for reducing waste and energy consumption and recycled products. A good range of books and fact sheets and even a calculator powered by the new patented replaceable water cell technology.

Stationery, Jewellery, Bags, Glassware, Ornaments and more........
If you feel like treating yourself you don’t need to look further than the Green Glass company with their fabulous affordable recycled glass jewellery, tea-light holders and glasses cut from old bottles. At Revolve lots of ‘recycled’ stationery is now available now from pencils and rulers made from recycled plastic cups, to clipboards and coasters made from old PC circuit boards and even welly boots! For clothing, Patagonia fleecewear and polyester made from recycled plastic and textiles is expensive, but good quality. Their product info on recycling is good.

Natural Collection who say they are the official catalogue for many prominent organisations (including Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth) offer ‘a wide selection of ecologically considered products and services’. They assess all products against their own criteria of Eco, Organic, Fair and Sustainable Trade, Natural Living and Well Being and the catalogue has a corresponding dot guide. Affordable, reliable and interesting – try paper made from elephant dung or a beautiful glass bird feeder. For recycled stuff, look at the backpack made using recycled plastic bottles, or recycled aluminium foil. Another source too of low energy lightbulbs.

Lakeland Plastics offers a range of useful household products which all help reduce waste at source including storage containers, microwave food covers, laundry balls, soap nuts and microfibre cloths. A ‘recycled’ search brings up biodegradable storage boxes made from corn starch and they also sell a range of compost containers.

And finally, some mailorder companies are incorporating more recycled items. Try Pedlars for recycled planters, bags and bottle openers.

 Check other suppliers listed in our contacts.