Reducing Your Waste

Information and advice on how you can reduce your waste

Recycling as much of your waste as you can is great, but it is even better to try and reduce the amount of waste you produce in the first place. It isn't always easy, but reducing your waste doesn't just help the environment, it can also help cut down on your bills, saving you money.

Below, we have listed some ideas to help get you started:

Reducing Food Waste

To reduce the amount of food waste you have, you can:

Keep your fridge at a cool 0-5 degrees Centigrade, this makes your food last longer in the fridge
Check out the A to Z of food storage on the Love Food Hate Waste website - find out the best place to store your food and if you can freeze it!
Plan your meals - check your fridge and cupboard and make a list of what you need before going food shopping
If you're not planning on using your leftovers straight away, pop them in a container or sealed bag, label and date it and place in your freezer
Be aware of the meaning of date labels:
- Best Before is about quality and food should be safe to eat after the date
- Use By is about food safety - you can eat it right up to the Use By date, but not after

You can find out more useful food tips by visiting the Love Food Hate Waste website.

For any food waste, this can be recycled using our weekly food waste collection service or click here to find out information about Composting.

Reducing Single Use Plastic

Remember to take your reusable water bottle or coffee cup when you go out
Download the Refill app for information on locations where you can refill your water bottle, go plastic free shopping and other useful information
Use your own reusable containers when buying meat, fish, cheese, fruit and vegetables; most major supermarkets and local suppliers will let you
Remember to take reusable shopping bags with you to the shops
Say no to straws or carry your own bamboo or metal ones
Take your lunch to work in reusable containers
Try shampoo bars or soap instead of bottled cosmetics

Use Real Nappies

You could save money and help the environment at the same time by using real nappies.

Modern reusable nappies:

are easy to wash
have no need to be soaked
have no chemical content
have soft, natural fibres against baby's delicate skin
use less energy and water, even including the washing
are not tested on animals

The council offer a free trial pack for Real Nappies.

Repair, Donate, Sell or Upcycle Unwanted Items

The WRAP Love your clothes campaign has many helpful mending tutorials
Upcycle your existing clothes by embellishing, altering and combining them in new ways
Take unwanted clothes and toys to charity shops
Take unwanted furniture that is in good condition to a furniture reuse scheme; in West Berkshire there is The Community Furniture Project Newbury
Visit a repair cafe (see further information below)

Sustainable Fashion

Fast fashion is the mass production and quick turnaround of cheap and low quality clothes. This comes at a large environmental cost and encourages over-consumption, meaning items are worn only a few times before they are thrown away.

By following the hierarchy below, starting with buying less, you can stay in fashion whilst reducing the amount of clothes that go to waste:

Buy less - it helps to turn off e-mail or post subscriptions to fashion retailers, thus avoiding that temptation
Swap it - either with friends and family or try an online swapping platform, for example Vinted, Depop or Swopped
Have damaged clothing repaired for free at a local Repair Cafe (see further information below) or look into repair schemes run by individual retailers, for example M&S.
Even for clothing that is beyond repair, certain brands offer a recycling service and a voucher toward your next purchase, for example H&M and Rapanui.

If you do need to buy something new:

Make your clothes last by washing at a cooler 30 degrees and air drying them
Borrow - think about renting instead of buying new
Shop secondhand at charity shops or online selling sites, for example eBay, Re-Fashion, Thrift plus or ReRun Clothing

Furniture

Like fast fashion, fast furniture is also an issue. The availability of mass-produced items encourages people to change their furniture frequently. Ways to combat this include:

Buying secondhand furniture
Hiring furniture is a good way of getting the look you love whilst keeping the flexibility to change your mind
Check out rental services for cutlery, crockery and tableware if you are holding a party or event

Waste Prevention Projects

You could get involved with Waste Prevention projects with local community groups:

Repair Cafes

Repair cafes are a growing global movement where people bring their broken household items along for volunteers to repair.

People usually make a small donation whether or not the item is successfully repaired and sit with the volunteer while the repair is being attempted to learn repair skills.

In West Berkshire, there are the following repair cafes:

If you are handy with a set of tools or just fancy having a go at making repairs at home, visit the iFixit website for repair guides for a wide range of household devices. If you enjoy repairing items, like helping others with repairs and sharing your skills, why not volunteer at a Repair Cafe in your area.

Other community opportunities include:

Householders visiting our recycling centres will also have the opportunity to take away paint free of charge using our Community RePaint scheme.
Swap Events are community events where people bring clothes, baby equipment or other small household items to swap
Community fridges are publicly available fridges which store unwanted fresh food from the local area, so it can be passed on to those who can make use of it. To find a community fridge near you, head to the Hubbub website
Community composting - there are schemes whereby communities come together to compost their suitable household and garden waste and produce compost for an area
Community larders - a place to access surplus food