Every year British households throw
away 25 million tonnes of waste- that’s over half a tonne of rubbish per
person! The UK’s waste problem is mounting as the available volume for landfill
is rapidly reduced.
PAPER: The production of virgin paper requires the farming of
land for trees and the use of vast quantities
of water and various chemicals, some of which are harmful if released in
the environment, in paper production. By adopting the following measures these
processes can be reduced:
·
Save waste paper and
deposit it in a local paper bank. (In Britain we recycle 1 out of 3
newspapers.)
·
Reuse envelopes,
paper, wrappings and egg boxes.
·
Choose to buy
recycled paper products, including greetings cards.
·
Reduce the amount of
junk mail that you receive by contacting: Mailing Preference Service, tel: 020
7291 3310, Email: mps@dma.org.uk Website: www.mpsonline.org.uk
GLASS: In Britain more than 6 billion glass containers are made
every year – that’s approximately 100 per person!
·
Choose returnable
bottles if available.
·
Recycle glass at a
bottle bank. (In Britain we recycle 1 out of 4 glass bottles.)
TEXTILES: A
large tonnage of clothing and cloth is disposed of each year. Consider
undertaking the following actions to reduce this waste:
·
Take clean clothes
to charity shops and clothing banks.
·
Jumble sales are
another place to recycle material.
·
Cloth which cannot
be sold can be recycled into industrial wipes, blankets and stuffing for
furniture.
·
Only buy clothes
that you really need and consider buying second hand.
NAPPIES: The average baby gets through 6000 nappies. Disposable
nappies account for 4% of landfill, where they can take up to 500 years to
decompose. It takes a cup of crude oil to produce the plastic for one
disposable nappy, and in the UK alone, 7 million trees are felled each year to
produce wood pulp for disposable nappies.
HI
TECH – EQUIPMENT: The rapid obsolescence of computers and mobile phones
means there is a burgeoning high tech waste mountain accruing.
·
A number of
charities and organisations are pleased to receive unwanted computer equipment
for reuse or recycling.
·
Additionally, some
charities accept unwanted mobile phones and toner cartridges which they can
forward to a recycling scheme and thereby raise money for their work.
METAL: This is a valuable
resource that can readily be re-used, so recycling saves the mining of natural
resources, energy used in mineral processing and land-fill costs. Around 11
billion steel cans and 5.5 billion aluminium cans are manufactured for use in
the UK per year. Both types of can may be recycled. For information on Cash for
Cans call Alucan 0800 262465.
·
Use local can banks.
(In Britain we recycle 1 out of 3 metal cans.)
·
Support collections
of foil, milk bottle tops, etc.
·
Take or arrange for
unwanted bulky metal appliances to be deposited at a local authority metal
collection/recycling site.
SPECTACLES: You can deposit
all old spectacles at most opticians where they will be used by charities for
the benefit of poorer nations.
PLASTIC: The UK produces a growing mountain of plastic waste, much
of which does not readily biodegrade. For more information about the recycling
of plastics contact: RECOUP, tel; 01733 390021, email; enquiry@recoup.org, Website: www.recoup.org
The nearest
recycling point for plastic bottles is the
Clatterbridge site. (In Britain we recycle 1 out of 25 plastic bottles.)
BATTERIES: Put
your used batteries in the bucket in the Church porch for green disposal – see
Green Sheet 2.
·
Use mains
electricity rather than batteries when possible, and choose re – chargeable
batteries if you need them.
If you have any information which you
would like to contribute to the Green Sheets, please contact Sally Cashen on
625 2659