Why Reduce?

Why should we Reduce, Reuse and Recycle our waste?

Since the earliest civilisations man has produced waste and disposal by landfill has been the main way of dealing with it. In modern times growing industrialisation and consumerism have transformed the types and quantity of waste we generate in our every day lives. As a result, the ways in which we manage this waste have had to change dramatically over a relatively short period of time.

Environmental Impact

The effect of society’s wastefulness is becoming more apparent on a local and global scale. The impact of mining, deforestation and the removal of natural resources that cannot be replaced has had a wide-scale detrimental effect on natural environments and wildlife habitats, causing environmental and health problems for local people, as well as contributing to global warming.

Disposing of our rubbish in landfill is not sustainable. It permanently buries potentially valuable resources that could be used to make new products and is a waste of the resources and energy, which have been used to make the product in the first place. By reducing, reusing and recycling instead of throwing away we are saving the use of natural resources such as the world's forests and minerals. As an example, the production of glass containers involves energy; in mining the raw minerals, transporting these to the furnace and heating them at high temperatures. Using recycled glass in this process can reduce the amount of raw minerals required by as much as 90% and requires far less energy to melt the mix. Glass can also be used in road construction as an alternative to mined aggregates.

The Cost of Landfill

Alongside these environmental concerns, the rising cost of landfill is a driving factor for the need to reduce waste. From as early as 2009, the EU Landfill Directive, which aims to reduce to amount of biodegradable waste going to landfill, could penalise local authorities that landfill more than their allowance by as much 4 times the current cost of disposal. This provides a huge challenge to Suffolk waste authorities and residents with major decisions to be made about the future of waste disposal in the county.

Waste Hierarchy

Although we are becoming more aware of the need to recycle it’s only the 3rd level of priority in the waste hierarchy. The waste hierarchy outlines the order in which we should manage our waste streams with reduce at the top of the list as the most environmentally desirable. The hierarchy encourages that:

• waste should be prevented or reduced in the first instance.
• where production is necessary, waste materials or the products themselves should be reused or refurbished for reuse.
• materials should be recycled or reprocessed into a form so that they can be used make a new product
• where materials can’t be recycled they should be treated to recover the energy content - to be used instead of non-renewable energy sources. Mechanical Biological Treatment and Energy from Waste incineration are examples of this stage
• disposal by landfill should be the last resort if all options of reduction and recovery are not possible.

What can you do to Reduce?

Reducing the amount of waste that we produce is the top of the waste hierarchy and its something we can all do in our everyday lives. This is more important then reusing and recycling because by reducing our waste we cut down on the amount of waste that enters our homes or workplace in the first place.

Some easy ways in which we can reduce our waste include:

• Don't buy too much food and use up any leftovers. A third of the food we buy gets thrown away. Visit www.lovefoodhatewaste.com for tips on how to reduce your food waste.
• Cut down on the amount of packaging we buy. Make a conscious choice to choose goods that have less packaging when doing the regular shop. Choose loose fruit and vegetables rather than pre-packaged. Take reusable bags with you when shopping and avoid plastic bags. See the Smart Shopping page for more tips and advice for reducing packaging.
• Buy better quality goods where possible to avoid the need of regular replacement.
• Buy longer-life energy efficient light bulbs and rechargeable batteries.
• Cut down on unwanted junk mail: Register with the Mailing Preference Service (www.mpsonline.org.uk Tel: 0845 703 4599) to have your name and address removed from mailing lists.
• Choose reusable nappies: Around 4% of our household waste in Suffolk is made up of disposable nappies. By choosing reusable ones that can be washed and used again we can cut down significantly on the amount of waste being sent to landfill. Please see Reusable Nappies for more information.

If you have other materials which you no longer have use for, but can’t be recycled through council recycling services, there may be other ways of keeping these from landfill. Please look at the A to Z Materials page for ideas and suggestions for dealing with a whole host of items by reducing, reusing or recycling.