How to reuse?

It’s so easy to throw things away without a second thought. Perhaps you are replacing a set of curtains after a change of colour scheme in your front room, upgrading old VHS videos to a different format or simply disposing of unwanted Christmas presents. Before you consign your unwanted items to a hole in the ground consider the old saying, “one man's rubbish is another’s treasure”. It may be something that works perfectly and still does a job, or something that doesn’t sparkle for you the way it used to but would look great with someone else’s new outfit. Throwing your well-worn or unwanted items away should always be a last resort. So next time, before slinging “last year's model” straight in the nearest bin have you considered the many other options available? Could you:

• Repair it where possible.
• Find a different use for it.
• Give it to a friend or neighbour.
• Donate it to a charity shop and support the Choose2Reuse campaign in the eastern region or donate to a local not for profit organisation.
• Sell it - at car boot sales or community events - or over the Internet.
• Give it away by advertising on freecycle (see below) or similar websites.

Refurbishing and repairing what waste we have is the next important step after reducing our waste. We are becoming more of a throwaway society where products are thrown away when they become slightly damaged or ‘unfashionable’. With a bit of thought these items can sometimes be used in another way, fixed or used again by someone else.

The Internet - a 21st century way of managing your waste

Increasingly there are new ways of getting rid of unwanted items without taking the easy route of dumping them in the nearest bin. Internet auction and trading sites can be a great way of clearing out the attic and sometimes recouping some of the money you paid for them in the first place. Similarly you may have an electronic ‘noticeboard’ at your work place for selling or giving away unwanted objects.

The Freecycle Network™ works along the same lines as global auction sites except no money changes hands. It is a group of on-line local communities whose aim is reducing the ever-increasing amount of goods going into landfill, by encouraging people to give things away rather than throw them away.

Users register via Freecycle.org by selecting your nearest group and post unwanted items for people to arrange to collect. As Freecycle is organised around local groups this reduces the impact of environmentally damaging car journeys to collect wanted items. In Suffolk there is currently an ever expanding membership of over 4,000 with groups organised in the Ipswich, North & West (based in Bury St Edmunds), Waveney (Lowestoft) and Stowmarket areas.

If you haven’t got access to local council recycling services or can’t recycle or reuse items through charitable or not for profit schemes, Freecycle may save your waste from the landfill - and you can do it from the comfort of your own home!

Get in to the habit!

It’s very easy to train yourself to ‘think reuse’ at home, in the workplace, at school or when out shopping. Here are some quick ideas:

Home, office or school -

• Make sure that you write on both sides of a piece of paper, before you recycle it.
• Use paper written on one side in faxes or as notepaper.
• Reuse envelopes whenever - you can stick labels over the old address.
• Refill your printer ink cartridges at one of the many shops that offer this service.
• Use an ice cream tub as a lunch box and reuse plastic bottles for water.
• Reuse plastic carrier bags in your kitchen bin as bin liners for your general waste.
• Use rechargeable batteries instead of disposable ones.
• Choose reusable nappies rather than disposable types.

When Shopping -

• Refuse new plastic carrier bags - use a cloth bag, which can be used again and again.
• Wherever possible buy refills for washing up liquid, washing powder, kitchen condiments etc.
• Buy items from local charity shops and support good causes.

These are just a few suggestions - please visit the A-Z Materials for further ways to Reduce, Reuse or Recycle a whole range of everyday items.