Gateshead, South Tyneside and Sunderland councils are working together as the South Tyne and Wear Waste Management Partnership to boost recycling and find a treatment solution to deal with the rubbish that’s left.
The Top Ten is one of a number of the partnership`s public information campaigns aimed at boosting rubbish reduction, reusing and recycling rates.
The partnership is improving and increasing its recycling facilities and services in order to hit a target recycling rate of 50% by 2020 (currently 26%).
Cllr Michael McNestry, chair of the partnership, said: “For environmental reasons we all have to reduce the amount of rubbish we put in the ground. Landfill produces methane – the greenhouse gas with the highest environmental impact. We’re running out of space and landfill will keep getting more expensive. There are lots of things we can all do to reduce our rubbish.”
South Tyne and Wear Waste Management Partnership`s
Top 10 Tips for reducing rubbish
1. Banish unwanted mail
To reduce the amount of unwanted mail coming through your letterbox you can:-
- Register with the Mailing Preference Service to stop receiving addressed junk mail. Log on to
www.mpsonline.org.uk or call 0845 703 4599
- To stop unaddressed junk mail contact Royal Mail, email mediacentre.customer.service@royalmail.co.uk or contact Direct Marketing Association (UK), DMA House, 70, Margaret Street, London W1W 8SS, tel: 020 7291 3300 or email: yourchoice@dma.org.uk
- Be careful when giving out your name and address – make sure you indicate that you DON`T want your details to be used for future promotions or passed on to third parties
2. Love food, hate waste!
Around one third of the food we buy is wasted – that`s one bag of shopping out of every three bags we buy. Here are some tips for making sure you waste less:
- Buy the exact amount of fruit, vegetables and meats you’ll need, instead of multi-packs, buy loose or from the deli counter
- Avoid buy-one-get-one-free offers unless you really need two of the product and it will stay in date long enough for you to eat it
- Ensure any left-over or unused foods are transformed into tasty recipes – check out
www.lovefoodhatewaste.com
3. Refuse plastic carrier bags in shops – take your own reusable bags or bags for life. There are 8 billion carrier bags used in the UK each year - that is 135 bags per person per year and most of those end up being thrown away.
4. Shop smart
- Buy high quality, durable goods to reduce waste. Higher quality items are likely to last longer – saving you money in the long-run - for example, leather shoes rather than vinyl or cloth; well-made clothes; high quality electronic goods
- Avoid goods that have excess packaging
- Buy goods made from recycled material
5. Home compost your garden and kitchen waste
Some of your food waste can be composted - vegetable peelings, teabags, eggshells, cardboard and paper are just a few of the things that will decompose easily in a compost bin. Composting creates a fertiliser that can improve your soil. If you don’t have a garden, the fertiliser can be used for plant pots, house plants and window boxes or you can give it to gardeners or allotment holders.
Your council has teamed up with Recycle Now to offer compost bins starting at just £17.00. To order a bin contact 0845 077 0757. To find out more about home composting visit
www.recyclenow.com/home_composting
6. Give your `rubbish` to someone who needs it
There are ways to recycle your unwanted white goods and furniture:
• Give your items away through
www.freecycle.org
• Sunderland Community Furniture Service refurbishes furniture and household goods and redistributes them to north east people who need them
For information: 0191 549 4343,
www.scfservices.org.uk
• Renew North East is a charity that recycles electrical appliances by refurbishing them for resale. For information: 0191 469 7068, enquiries@renewnortheast.com,
www.renewnortheast.co.uk
• The Recycling Village at Middlefields, Tyne Dock recycles white goods such as cookers, washing machines and fridges; televisions and computers and other electronic devices like hairdryers and dvd players. There is also a shop there that will take your unwanted furniture to resell.
For information: 0191 427 2064, recycle@southtyneside.gov.uk,
www.southtyneside.info/recycling
• Other companies and recycling centres in the north east that recycle your unwanted furniture can be found on
www.frn.org.uk www.gateshead.gov.uk www.sunderland.gov.uk www.southtyneside.info/recycling
Or advertise your old furniture using websites like
www.vskips.co.uk
7. Don`t throw unwanted clothes and shoes in the bin
Take them along to a recycling bank or centre or give them to charity
8. Avoid disposables
- Batteries (use rechargeable ones), razors
- Party time – use your everyday cutlery and crockery
- Use reusable containers to take your sandwiches to work or school
- Try to purchase toiletries with refillable containers, for example, The Body Shop has a good range
- Use real nappies instead of disposables – it will cost you half the money! In the UK we throw 8 million nappies into landfill every day. Modern real nappies are nothing like the terry-towelling ones of the olden days! For information call Real Nappy Helpline on 0845 850 0606 or log on to
www.realnappycampaign.com
9. Drink tap water from a washable drink bottle rather than buy bottled water or you could even buy a water filter jug that can be stored in the fridge
10. Buy refills instead of new bulky packs of washing powders, liquids, salt, etc.