Become a recycling ninja!
Thanks to a rubbish combo of limited landfill space, a lack of infrastructure and changing relationships with Europe and the rest of the world, Britain is facing a big deficit between the waste we create and our capacity to deal with it.
The good news is, recycling rates are on the up. In 2017, 70.2% of the UK’s packaging waste was either recycled or recovered (compared to 64.7% in 2015!).1
Although there’s still a fair bit of confusion about what can and can’t be recycled, and even whether our recycling ends up where it’s meant to, it’s still absolutely imperative that we stick to our good recycling habits.
Check out what waste your council recycles and get going. You’ll help prevent the need for new landfills and make sure recycling behaviour becomes the norm across the land!
Money
With landfill taxes on the up and council budgets in tight demand, recycling your waste is a great way to help your council save money for the things that really need it - like libraries and local transport.
A word to the wise: do a bit of research to check what you can and can’t put in the recycling. Otherwise, there’s a small risk you might actually end up costing your council more!
Conserving resources
You can't make something out of nothing. Everytime a new product is made, we extract fresh resources from the earth – through mining, quarrying or tree felling. Unless, of course, it's made from magical recycled materials, like fleeces out of plastic bottles or insulation from old newspapers.
Climate change
It’s easy to forget that our stuff has an impact long after we’ve got rid of it.
In fact, landfills produce about 0.2% of the UK's greenhouse gas emissions.3 So, to make sure your stuff has a positive impact rather than a negative one, make sure it doesn’t just go in the bin.
What’s more, making something from recycled materials is much less energy intensive than creating from scratch. Making tins from recycled aluminium uses a WHOPPING 95% less energy than creating tins from raw materials.2
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Landfill
It's strange to think of landfill sites as a precious resource, but they're filling up so quickly, some councils are already struggling to find space to bury our ever-growing mountains of waste.
By committing to reducing, reusing and recycling as much as of your household waste as possible - from composting your food waste to avoiding single-use plastics, to disposing of all plastic responsibly (including from your bathroom), you’ll help reduce the need to build more landfill sites around our country.
Global Goals
In September 2017, an historic agreement was signed by UN member nations agreeing to work towards 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development by 2030, otherwise known as the SDGs.
Achieving these ambitious goals will require action from governments, businesses, NGOs, and individuals alike. We can - and must - all play our part.
By making the 'Tintin' pledge, you are contributing in your own small way to the following SDG targets:
12.2: By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources
12.5: By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse
12.8: By 2030, ensure that people everywhere have the relevant information and awareness for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature
13.3: Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning
How
When it comes to doing your recycling, a little bit of knowledge goes a long way. Here are a few tips to help you perform at the top of your recycling game:
1 - Check RecycleNow to find out what kind of recycling your council collects. Their handy postcode search tool provides all the waste-sorting info you could ever dream of.
2 - It’s important to give all those empty jars of peanut butter and tinned tomatoes a quick wash before you put them in the recycling. This helps reduce the workload at a recycling plant, and lowers the risk of contaminating a batch of recycling.
3 - Black? Clear? Bags? Recycling different types of plastics can be a bit confusing. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be that way. This helpful ‘at a glance’ guide to packaging and plastic symbols will take your recycling to the next level.
4 - Don’t forget the bathroom! Shampoos, conditioners, shower gels, deodorants… if everyone in the UK recycled one bathroom cleaner bottle, it’d save enough energy to vacuum 82,460 homes.4 Here’s how to get your bathroom recycling up to scratch.
5 - Is everyone in your house doing their bit to recycle? Statistics show that women recycle more than men6… so here are a few more hints and tips to make sure everyone feels up to the job.
Success Stories
1,253
Pledges
in total
21,710kg
CO2
pledged
Images
1. Copyright Peter Facey, and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.