Environment

Reducing Your Waste

Everybody has heard about recycling - and lots of Bedford Borough residents are recycling using the orange bags - but how about going a step further and not creating the waste in the first place?

There are loads of simple things everyone can do to reduce our waste both at home and at work:

AT THE SHOPSAt the checkout

  • Plan your meals for the week - once you know what you are going to be eating you know what you need to buy. Visit Love Food Hate Waste for more information.
  • Make a list - plan what you need and don't buy more than you need to.
  • BOGOFS - Buy One Get One Free offers are very enticing, but do you really need extra salad/shampoo/bread?
  • Buy refills rather than a brand new container.
  • Buy your fruit and veg loose to aviod the packaging - alternatively buy from your local Farm shop or market.
  • Take your own re-usable bags instead of using plastic carrier bags

    AT HOMEWaste electrical goods

  • Use your leftovers - sometimes you can make two meals from one set of ingredients! Visit Love Food Hate Waste for more information.
  • Use 'Real Nappies' instead of disposables - they are better for the environment, better for your pocket and most importantly better for your baby! For more information visit the Real Nappy Campaign.
  • Use your milkman - the glass bottles are cleaned and refilled avoiding any excess waste!
  • Donate your old/unworn clothes to charity
  • Try to fix broken electrical goods rather then replace them
  • Register with the Mailing Preference Service to reduce unsolicited junk mail
  • FreeCycle- put unwanted items up for 'rehoming'
  • Use rechargeable batteries
  • Use energy saving lightbulbs - they last much longer than normal lightbulbs

    IN THE GARDENComposting at home

  • Compost your garden clippings and vegetable peelings - compost is great for spreading on flower borders during periods of drought as it helps retain water. Find out more about composting here.
  • Leave your grass cuttings on the grass - they will mulch down and improve the quality of your lawn
  • Use old towels etc as cleaning cloths for washing the car

    AT WORK

  • Take a packed lunch - avoid packaged sandwichesEating a packed lunch
  • Set your printer so it prints double sided
  • Reuse envelopes
  • Journal subscriptions - do you recieve several copies of the same journal? Cancel extra subscriptions so you get one copy that you can pass around
  • Set up a recycling collection
  • Donate unwanted office furniture to local charities or community groups

    If you can think of any other useful waste reduction tips please email us at: recycling@bedford.gov.uk and we'll add them to the list!





    • RELATED PAGES

    Rubbish and Recycling
    Real Nappies
    Household Waste
    Waste Disposal
    Street Cleansing Service
    Environment
    Butterfly Bridge