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Aug 15, 2023

Try These New Ways to Reduce Waste at Home

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The world is becoming more and more environmentally aware by the day. With the increased supply of energy from sustainable sources, to the reduced use of plastic and boom in reusable products, people are slowly taking steps to a more sustainable future.

But of course, you don’t have to do something radical like invent a ground breaking device to replace fossil fuels, just to make a difference. Even small changes can make a big impact on our planet!

If you’re looking to make your lifestyle that little bit greener, start by reducing the amount of waste you produce at home. We’ve put together a quick and easy guide on how you can actively reduce your home’s outgoing waste, check it out…

 

Re-Use What You Can

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Top of our list is a super easy and creative way to reduce waste from your home with absolutely no extra cost for you; and that is simply reuse whenever you can. This might include doing things as simple as refilling water bottles, refilling glass jars once they are empty, refill your spray bottles with refill cleaning products, keep cardboard boxes to the side in-case you can use them for storage later…The list can go on and on, but you get the picture.

It’s always a good idea to keep an eye out for ways you can reuse your old stuff. This saves the energy needed to recycle old items and the pollution made when making new ones, so it’s a win win.

 

Upcycle Your Items

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Upcycling is a great way to reduce waste at home! For all you creatives reading this, why not get crafty with your old clothes, packaging and toys to give them a new lease of life? You can find new ways to use these items, whether that be turning an old jump-suit into a pair of dungarees or converting old cans and jars into little plant pots for your growing collection of house plants.

There are so many ways you can give you old stuff a new lease of life, all it takes is an idea! If you’re stuck for an idea, have a browse on Pinterest or TikTok - we’re always seeing impressive up cycling on our screens!

 

Plan Ahead

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Planning how and what you are going to use and buy is an excellent way to reduce waste at home. It’s as simple as creating a digital shopping list before you go to the shops so you only buy what you need, or making the most of paper space when you’re printing something out to avoid unnecessarily wasting paper. A little planning can go a long way and can save you both money and waste in the long run.

 

Choose Your Products Carefully

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One of the biggest producers of waste is single use packaging. If you’re one of those people that constantly has to empty the recycling bin (how does it even fill up so fast?!) then why not try reducing the amount of single use plastic you use for a week and see how you get on? Now this might seem like an impossible task, it seems to cover just about everything in the supermarket! But all it takes is to be mindful of the items you pick up in your weekly shop. Replacing just a couple of items that contain single use packaging with sustainable packaging can make a big difference. For example, rather than buying packaged fruit and veg, take your own bag and select loose items, it will quickly become a habit.

The results will be immediately noticeable when your waste doesn’t fill up straight away - hallelujah! Refill shops are also a great way of reducing waste at home because they manage to cut out almost all excess packaging, which makes it whole lot easier to reuse your old stuff.

 

Donate Old, Unwanted Items

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Ever felt guilty for throwing old clothes in the bin? Ever wanted to do more with your old clothes? Outgrown the clothes you loved and can’t stand to see them go to waste? Solution? Donate! Donating your old clothes to friends, family, or charity is a great way to let someone else enjoy them as much as you did. But it’s not just clothes that you can donate; toys, furniture, electronics, dining ware; there will always be someone who can give it a new lease of life.

In fact, if you have any old books, CDs DVDs or games lying around that you want to recycle, we’ll take them off your hands in exchange for cash! Click the button below for more information.

Recycle my old books

 

Recycle

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Sometimes waste just can’t be avoided, and that’s okay. Some things just don’t come without the packaging and the things that you can reuse will eventually outgrow their usage. The question is, what to do with all that stuff that just doesn’t have a use anymore? To save all of those materials from going to land fill, the solution is to recycle! Recycling is a universally recognised way of reducing waste at home and is now easier than ever to do - almost anything can be recycled if you know how!

Check out our blog on The best household items to recycle for some tips.

 

Compost

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Every home produces food waste, but instead of simply throwing all this organic waste straight into the bin, why not get yourself a compost bin? Having a compost bin is a great way to reduce waste at home. Taking those extra few seconds to separate the compostable with the non-degradable things can really go a long way to reducing the amount of food waste that ends up in landfill.

Not only will this help slow down the filling of landfill, but new methods have been developed to turn all that decomposing organic material into biofuels to power your home!

 

Home Cook Fresh Foods

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Have a rummage through your cupboards, don your chef’s hat and get cooking. This might sound obvious, but you might be surprised at just how much waste is saved by simply cooking home-made meals instead of ready meals and takeaways.

 

Sell Unwanted Items

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Want to reduce waste at home and find a use for all those cardboard boxes you have been saving? Want to declutter and free up some space all whilst earning some extra cash? If you qualify for all these then selling could be the best option for you! There are tonnes of sites and apps out there that make it easy to sell your old stuff. We even have a page telling you the best online selling sites for everything from furniture to clothes - so be sure to check it out!

If you’re like thousands of other people in the UK and have found yourself with a backlog of books that are filling your home then WeBuyBooks could the best option for you, offering great prices for your hardbacks and softbacks alike, with zero fees and hassle free selling process! To start selling on on our website, click here.

 

Improve Your Energy Ffficiency

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Waste doesn’t always mean rubbish and excess materials. Have you ever considered how much gas or electric is wasted in your home every day? There are so many ways to mitigate this wastage and they couldn’t be easier! Getting into the habit of simply turning light switches off whenever you leave the room, turning the heating off when you leave the house or even just washing clothes on eco or a lower temperature is a great place to start.

Maybe consider installing a smart meter to see exactly what you are using and figure out what areas you could save energy. Another more drastic measure could be to insulate your home, so you don’t need to heat your house as much or even go all the way and install solar panels and become fully self-sufficient!

 

Reduce Plastic in Products

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You might be surprised to learn just how many plastics are in your everyday products. For example, did you know that there is plastic in chewing gum, drinks cans, tea bags and so many other day-to-day products. Thankfully there are a growing number of brands out there that are devoted to offering sustainable and plastic free products! These companies are creating bio-degradable and eco-friendly versions of the every-day products that we just can’t live without.

Here’s a short list some of some brands that either look to sustainably source materials for their products or are actively working to save the environment:

Clothes:

Reusable Products:

And so, to conclude, there are countless ways to reduce waste at home, from taking small steps like turning off light switches and printing documents double sided to installing solar panels. Making a difference on a larger scale can be so easy and all it takes is a couple extra minutes of your day and a little creative spark. As the old saying goes, reduce, reuse recycle and you won’t go far wrong!

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