You may have heard of the waste hierarchy before, ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’. But it’s evolved a lot since the 90s and there are so many other components now. Refuse, reduce, repair, reuse, recycle, discard. It’s a lot of steps and for anyone beginning their eco-journey, it can be overwhelming. Which is why we’re going to start 2022 by breaking it down into simple steps that you can take at home. If there was ever a New Year’s resolution to make – it’s adopting one of these habits in your home.
Where you might be able to refuse waste
When you look at the top of the waste hierarchy and you see ‘refuse’ it would be completely logical to think ‘but I don’t ever deliberately accept waste’. However, there are plenty of occasions when you really think about it. Have you ever ordered a takeaway and been given lots of extra sauces or a new menu? That’s your first refusal right there.
Other examples can be walking down the street and someone handing out flyers for events. Even grabbing the Evening Standard on the way home from your commute. There’s lots of temptation out there. Grabbing an extra napkin from the coffee shop – even using a single-use wooden stirrer. When you look closer. Refusing waste is more than popping a sign on your door that says ‘no free leaflets’ it’s also making regular decisions to say no to items that are deemed useful. The difference is being able to spot a need versus a want for those items. Do you really need another sauce?
Top tip: Refusing waste is easy when you get ahead of the game. Ordering a takeaway? Let the person on the phone know you don’t want an extra menu or napkins.
How you can reduce your consumption
Reducing your waste is possibly the easiest step on the waste hierarchy. It requires little knowledge, no creative thinking and is simply a case of being aware. Sadly, we live in a throw-away economy. When it comes to our electronics we hope they’ll last years, if we thought about every item like that our waste would instantly reduce.
This doesn’t mean that we’re all spending frivolously, wasting money and resources, but there’s always something we can improve on. Reducing your consumption can be as simple as remembering your reusable bags when you go shopping. It could be heading to a zero waste shop to get your pasta put in a reusable tub rather than buying a plastic bag of it at the supermarket.
Kitchens and bathrooms are popular areas to look for possible reductions – mainly because a lot of the items in there are easily replaced with options from a zero waste store. Head into yours, and ask yourself, can this item be packaged differently? Any yes’ can quickly be turned into your latest reduction habit!
How to reuse these popular wasted items at home
Reusing items can be tricky. Especially as most are designed to be thrown away. However, if you’ve got a creative mind then reuse will be where you thrive. Reuse, also known as upcycling, is the perfect hobby for any waste reduction enthusiast. We’ve seen members transform old bike wheels into clocks, teacups in bird feeders, but our favourite and most popular has to be old clothes into cleaning rags. Simple and effective.
You see, it’s great being incredibly creative and coming up with wild ideas, but the little steps are the ones that stick. Ultimately they’re the ones that will make a difference to your waste levels. So if you’re worried that your reuse ideas won’t be grand enough, think again. Cut up your old t-shirts and make some cleaning cloths. Use glass jars to store grains to bake with. Even reusing your potato peelings by baking them into crisps – that’s right you can even upcycle food. These are the perfect small steps that you can make a real difference with.
Why recycling should be your last resort
Most of us have just about nailed recycling. So we don’t mean to burst your bubble when we say it should be a last resort. But really, it should be. After you’ve refused excess waste, reduced it by buying better eco options, and reused items as much as possible – recycling is the last resort. It’s too easy to put a glass jar in your recycling which is why it’s low down on the waste hierarchy.
The higher up the waste hierarchy the more challenging the task. Just two steps above disposal is recycling and one of them (recover) is not applicable to everyday people like us. This means that recycling is your last resort beyond throwing an item out with little knowledge about where it will end up. While recycling is certainly far better than discarding an item, it is important to not recognise it as a saviour in the waste hierarchy. It should be considered a minimum effort when it comes to fighting climate change.
If you’ve perfected the recycling process, great. It means you’re ready for more. Look at items you keep recycling and see whether you can push them up the waste hierarchy. You never know, it might be easier to refuse, reduce or reuse than recycle the item anyway!
Think of the waste hierarchy as climbing out of the pit of climate change. The higher up you go, the clearer the air, the better the horizons look and the better you feel. If you remain at the bottom – only disposing and recycling items – it will feel like you’re stuck on your journey without making much progress. It’s time to challenge yourself to take the next step. What will be your first task in climbing up the waste hierarchy?
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