Reduce and Reuse instead of Recycle

Councils and the media etc regularly encourage people to recycle but I think more emphasis should be put on encouraging waste reduction and on reuse rather than on recycling. The whole recycling process requires a lot of energy - transporting material (sometimes to thousands of miles away); the actual process at the recycling plants etc. In many cases this defeats the object.
I help out at the Work and Play Scrap Store in Tooting which takes materials that businesses don't want and makes them available for schools, colleges etc (www.workandplayscrapstore.org.uk). It's amazing what students create with donations which may have ended up in landfill.

I reuse things whenever possible. Let's have some examples of what other members do to avoid putting recyclable waste into orange sacks - eg plastic bottles with the bottoms cut off make good protection for seedlings in the garden, yogurt pots (not collected for recycling by Wandsworth I know) can be painted and made into plant pots etc etc. Let's get creative!

** DID YOU KNOW that you can take your empty Ecover bottles (1 or 1.5 litres) of washing-up liquid, washing liquid and all-purpose cleaning liquid to 'As Nature Intended' in Balham High Road to be refilled? **

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Diane on October 27, 2008 at 9:16am: Are you talking about 'As Nature Intended' in Balham? If so, I didn't know they did refills - thanks for info. I send mine back to 'Wiggly Wigglers' to get refilled but you have to buy very large bottles (5 ltrs) to be able to do that.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ben on October 27, 2008 at 8:02pm: Yes - that's right - the refills are available at "As Nature Intended". They allow you to refill Ecover washing-up liquid, washing liquid, all-purpose cleaning liquid (plus a couple of others, I think) - in 1 or 1.5 litre bottles. And it's at a slight discount compared to buying a new bottle! Ben; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Project Dirt on October 31, 2008 at 2:07pm: Fantastic. I had no idea... I've been buying my new Ecover bottles in Sainsbury's for ages! This is great... I'll change my habits.

We're currently thinking about how to get businesses a bit more involved (transparently!) with Project Dirt... maybe local businesses should be making people aware of what green 'shopping' measures are available to them through this website... We've yet to work out how best this would work though... your thoughts?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ben on November 1, 2008 at 12:03am: Two thoughts:

(1) what about simply inviting local shops to send in (to Project Dirt) details of the main things they do to be greener? (But I suspect there would need to be someone on the Project Dirt site vetting what they write: after all, it's in the shops' interest to trumpet their achievements. For instance, I completely approve of Sainsbury's Balham encouraging shoppers to switch to "bags for life"; and for the past month or so, they've had signs up at the tills announcing that "with effect from 1 October, we'll be withdrawing free plastic bags from our tills - though shoppers are still welcome to ask for the free bags". But is there any evidence that Sainsbury's has actually removed the free bags from the tills? Not as far as I can see!)
(2) getting eco-friendly consumers to suggest ways in which local shops could be greener. For example, I pinned an on the suggestions board at As Nature Intended (ANI), asking if they could take back the egg boxes to be reused at the farm from which they source their eggs. (I remember my grandparents' butcher would always take egg boxes back.) I didn't get a very satisfactory answer from ANI - they initially just told me to recycle the cartons; when I then pointed out that reuse was more efficient than recycling, I don't recall the answer I got - but they've certainly not gone down the route of inviting customers to return their egg boxes for reuse!

Perhaps all this argues in favour of a webpage (the link to which could be advertised in the Council and Green Pledge Newsletters, etc.), where:
- shops advertise the main green initiatives they're doing;
- shoppers suggest ways in which shops could be still greener; and
- shoppers and shops could (respectively) give each other feedback, i.e. whether the shops' green initiatives are working in practice / whether the shops have taken on board the shoppers' suggestions (and if not, why not)?

Incidentally, it needn't be just shops that do this. I notice your question was framed in terms of local businesses more generally. And I think there's scope here too: if a solicitor / a pub / etc. told me (via this putative webpage) that they had switched to a renewable energy provider for their electricity supply, or that they had fitted low-energy light-bulbs where possible, etc., then I would treat that as a positive criterion when deciding whose goods / services to buy. (I already vote with my feet in this way, for instance when staying at B&Bs that advertise themselves as green, e.g. giving discounts for those arriving by public transport.); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Diane on November 1, 2008 at 9:29am: Wandsworth Council are developing a Green Map to go onto the council website and Nick and I are helping them with the content. Nick: This would be a great thing to include on the map although there wouldn't be time to do it before for the launch - perhaps at a later date. Shall I send the link to Ben's comment to Sophie, Steven and Mandy to see what they think? Diane

Permalink Reply by Nick on November 1, 2008 at 8:42pm: Yes Diane (re your comment below) - sounds like a good idea.
I can feel another 'project' coming on... great idea to tie it to the Green Map. Let's discuss at the next WEF meeting.
I see you've updated the 'main' discussion with the Ecover info... thanks!

Permalink Reply by Mark on November 4, 2008 at 11:31am: Hi Ben ...

We haven't met, but i've been working with Nick Gardner in setting up and running project dirt - i hope you like the site and finding it useful?

Thanks so much for your comments above - it think it's a really interesting area. It's something Nick and i have been mulling over a bit recently - and it would be great to get your thoughts about how to take this forward ... ie, local businesses promoting their sustainable activities.

One way of doing it that could work would perhaps be along the following lines:

We could encourage companies to put up their own pd page on the site, which promotes their environmental activies and also services available to the public. To do this however, they have to pay a listing fee - the proceeds of which will be pooled together and invested into the projects on project dirt that need funding (via a committee or something like that).

It would be great to get your thoughts on something like this and whether you think it would work ...

cheers

Mark

Permalink Reply by Mark on November 5, 2008 at 11:19am: Hi ben - thanks for your reply on my proflie page.

i agree with you that we dont want to price out local businesses - because the most important thing is getting them and their environmental information on the site - to benefit the local residents.

perhaps the best way is to make it a discretionary donation - that is displayed on their own page. That way - the bigger guys will donate more (to out do their competitors) ... and the smaller local firms can give what they can aford...?

what do you reckon ...?

cheers

Mark

Permalink Reply by Sophie on December 29, 2008 at 10:11am: I thought I'd just point out how much I like this site:

http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/

It features one product, item or ingredient at a time and allows people to contribute their tips on how to reuse or recycle it. A lot of the suggestions people leave are more relevant to Americans, but it is still very useful.

The more festive ones people might be thinking about now include what to do with tinsel that's become a little bit tatty. Suggestions include using it for children's Halloween or nativity costumes, stuffing it into clear glass bulbs for decoration, and using in parcel packaging to protect the contents.; ▶ Reply to This