• Transition Aberdeen
  • Transition background
  • In Aberdeen
  • Success Stories
  • Links
• Eco-Challenge
  • Background
  • The programme
  • Waste
  • The Waste Hierarchy
  • Energy
  • Transport
• Master Composter
• Creative Waste Exch.
  • Price List
  • For sale
• Real Nappy Project
  • Useful links
• Compost Doctor
• City Composting
• Shire Composting

Steps to reduce waste

Go through these simple steps to do your bit to reduce waste and help the environment:

Step1 – Monitoring
Before You Start…. In order to establish a baseline figure, we ask that during the first week you DO NOT change any of your current practices and that you weigh your normal weekly rubbish at the end of the week. This will let you know how much each activity you do contributes to your bin’s ‘diet’.

Now you are ready to take the second step and start ’slimming’ your bin.
To assess the effectiveness of any steps you take, we ask that you weigh your weekly waste, before it goes into the wheelie or street bin. You can keep a record of what you to monitor your progress.

Step 2 – Recycling

Recycling recovers value from things that would otherwise simply be thrown away. It means that fewer natural resources are being exploited.
How to Recycle
Make it as easy for yourself as possible. Think about what you are going to recycle, where you are going to put it, and how much you want to store before disposal.

1. Choose a recycling technique from the list below and start recycling.
2. Work your way through the rest of the techniques and add it to your recycling strategy.
3. Tick them off as you go until you are regularly doing as many as possible, if not all.

Try to avoid making special journeys by car to recycling sites – combine with a shopping trip instead.

Paper
Put your weekly papers, magazines and cardboard out for kerbside collection or take them to a paper bank.

Glass
Recycle your glass bottles and jars. Separate them into clear, brown and green, rinse and remove tops.

Cans
Recycle your aluminium and steel cans. All types (food, drink and pet food etc) can be recycled.

Plastics
Recycle your plastics. Contact your local council to find out what kind of plastics they accept.

Clothes / textiles
If not suitable for charity shops or jumbles sales, put all clean, dry household textiles (including handbags and shoes in pairs) into the textile bank.

Step 3 – Reuse
If you can’t prevent waste, then you could try to get your money’s worth out of it by using it for something else. Reduce your bin even further by following these steps to reusing your waste.

How to Reuse?
1. Choose a technique from the list below and start reusing.
2. Work your way through the other techniques and add it to your reusing collection.
3. Tick these off as you go and Build up until you are doing all or most of the steps.

Steps to reusing your waste

• Donate unwanted goods such as clothes, books, toys and furniture to charity shops or jumble sales. They will accept virtually any household item or have a car boot sale and make some cash.
• Consider second-hand purchases.
• Look for products in refillable containers such as fabric softener and cleaning products. They are cheaper, save valuable resources, and avoid packaging waste.
• Reuse your own shopping bags rather than using new carrier bags each time.
• Reuse packaging for other purposes, e.g. jars, boxes and bottles for storage purposes, plastic bottles as cloches to protect young plants, yoghurt tubs for seedling pots etc.
• Use rechargeable batteries. This will not only reduce your waste but also save you money.
• Reuse envelopes by covering the old address with a label. Use both sides of paper and cut up scrap paper for use as notelets
• Start composting as much of your kitchen and garden waste as possible (for more information on how to compost successfully on www.scraps.org.uk).
• If you don’t have the room to compost at home, you can take your green waste to a central collect point. Contact your local council for details.

Don’t forget to keep Recycling and Weighing Your Waste! Be surprised at how much your bin has lost?

Step 4 – Reduce
If we don’t produce as much waste in the first place, then we will have less to deal with in the end. Try to follow these steps to reduce your waste.

How to Reduce
1. Choose a step from the list below and start reducing.
2. Choose another step and add it to your reducing collection.
3. Tick them off as you go until you are regularly doing as many as possible, if not all.

Stop unwanted junk mail
Stop unwanted junk mail by contacting: The Mailing preference Service, Freepost 22, London W1E 7EZ, Tel: 0845 7034599. This is a free service and allows you to have your name removed from mailing lists. Contact the Royal Mail to stop unaddressed items delivered by the postman. Remember to always tick the box on forms to say you don’t want your details passed on.

Choose goods with less packaging
For example, buy more fresh, seasonal, loose fruit and vegetables and less canned, frozen and pre-packaged produce. There should be an organic vegetable box scheme operating near you, where a box of un-packaged, generally locally grown produce are delivered to you house or work
Buy milk, orange juice and soft drinks in returnable bottles.
Store food in resealable containers rather than using cling film or foil. Use your jars and plastic pots you’ve saved while going through the Reuse section.
Say no to unnecessary carrier bags, or better still invest in a strong reusable one. Look for the ‘bag for life’ schemes operating at most supermarkets.

Repair
Try to get items repaired before getting rid of them. This could include electrical equipment, furniture, clothes and toys etc.
Advanced Waste Minimisation

What Else can we do?

• Avoid heavily, unnecessarily packaged goods.
• Change to concentrated juice and cleaning products that can be diluted.
• Avoid single portion packs and items with internal trays.
• Buy in bulk, it cuts down on packaging and is cheaper as well.
• Buy longer lasting products
• Buy refillable or remanufactured printer cartridges for home or workplace computers and return spent cartridges for recycling
• Choose to buy products made from recycled material. This will help close the recycling loop by setting up strong markets for your recycled materials. There are lots of everyday products with recycled content. For example, toilet paper, kitchen rolls, tissues, refuse sacks, writing paper, envelopes and recycled glassware and plastics etc. Visit the Waste Watch Recycled Products Guide at www.wastewatch.org.uk for more information.
• Borrow, loan and hire goods rather than buying. Book libraries and toy libraries are good examples and will reduce clutter as well as save money.
• Avoid using batteries by switching to solar power for garden lights etc and mechanical power for wind up radios, torches and toys etc.
• Try to support and buy from charity second hand shops.
• Cut up and recycle your rags rather than buying new cloths or paper products for cleaning.
• Use Real Nappies. It is estimated that 4% of waste sent to landfill is nappies. Reusable nappies now come in magical Velcro / popper fastened, shaped form and save you lots of money in the long run.

By taking part in the 4 steps of the waste hierarchy you will help save the environment and save money at the same time…….All you have to do now is keep doing it. Every little helps. Have a look at the energy theme for further environmental and cost savings.