Greener Living Ideas

A 3-part series for greener living, budgeting, saving time, and changing the way you shop to avoid waste.

Part 1 – Recycling and Waste

courtesy stock.xchng, sundstrom

In the UK each and every one of us produces about half a tonne of waste per year. Since some of us produce almost no waste whatsoever, others must throw away a lot. There are varying opinions about what to do with all this waste, but most people agree that it would be a good idea not to make it in the first place. If possible, don’t throw things away. So, what should we do instead?

• Repair and reuse things  - we live in a consumerist culture where buying things, throwing them away and then buying more things to replace them is encouraged. Think about what you buy so that you can break this cycle by having them repaired or using them for something else further down the line. Try not to buy electrical gadgets that come as sealed units, as these generally have to be thrown away when they break.
• Never throw away clothes - take them to a charity shop. Even if they are too foul ever to be worn again, they can have a second life as rags.
• Shop away your packaging. The smaller, local shops tend to pack things in a more sensible way, such as in paper, but if you have to use supermarkets then use the specialist counters rather than buying off-the-shelf. The butchers, fishmongers and delis all use far less packaging than the pre-packed stuff.
• Recycle your rubbish. This sounds fairly obvious, but it is worth phoning your local council to find out exactly what can be recycled where – you may be surprised. Do not try to recycle rubbish that your council can’t process – it could make a whole batch of recycled material unusable and consign tons of otherwise useful raw materials to landfill.
• Buy second hand stuff whenever practical and sell your old stuff on (or give it away). This is not only a lot kinder to the planet, but a lot lighter on your wallet. It is also recently beloved of the Uber-fashionistas, so anyone thinking that second hand is shameful is sadly behind the times.

Only as a last resort should anything actually be thrown away. This is where the concept of ‘Zero Waste’ comes in – not throwing anything away but repairing, reusing or recycling the whole lot.

Perhaps the greatest source of waste is the kitchen. A massive 33% of food bought in the UK is thrown away, mostly without needing to be. That means for every £1 an average person spends of food, they are throwing 33p straight down the drain.

• It is much easier to use what you buy if you shop using the ‘little and often’ philosophy
• If you have a big enough garden to make a proper compost heap, then all food waste can be put in it. These sorts of composts need quite a lot of feeding, so comparatively large quantities of stuff like grass cuttings are necessary, which in turn requires quite a large garden
• If you live in a town, the local council should provide a green-waste bin (often brown in colour) so you can put all your woody stuff in there.
• If you have a smaller garden, wormeries will take most food waste and compost bins will take any uncooked vegetable waste. The actual compost itself does not smell, but the liquid yuk coming out the bottom stinks.
• Another way to deal with the meat, fish and cooked kitchen waste is to invest in a bokashi system. This is basically a box that you fill up with the nasty stuff, layering it with a sort of bran that is made especially for Bokashis from bacteria and fungi. This Bokishi ferments and pickles the rubbish, which after 2 weeks is ready to be added to a standard compost bin or even dug straight into the garden.

Coming soon, Part 2 – Make Your Car Journey a Greener One.

Angus

Angus Middleton grew up in a small village in Kent, where his parents lived a semi self-sufficient lifestyle. With a degree in Geophysics and a Master’s at LEEDS, he spent time working as an environmental consultant before founding Ecoboom in 2009. Angus started Ecoboom to help people in the UK improve their lifestyles through becoming more eco. Ecoboom aims to bring together all the disparate eco resources on the web, empowering both the providers and users of these resources. Angus believes that unity is vital to achieve a smooth transition to a low carbon world: united we stand, divided we fall! Connect with Angus on Twitter and LinkedIn.