New Years Resolution – Reducing waste and recycling more

As the new year approaches, many people are making their preparations to purchase a gym membership or to cut down on smoking. Here at Thompson Fuel & Skip Hire, we believe that there is a lesser chosen New Year’s resolution that can not only improve the quality of life for oneself — but also for billions of others. Today we’re going to discuss why reducing waste and recycling more should be your New Year’s resolution for 2019.

Reducing waste

One of the easiest yet most impactful changes someone can make to help the environment is to cut down on the amount of waste they produce. Reducing waste is a highly effective way of reducing greenhouse gases, conserving resources and protecting the natural environment. Instead of reusing something over and over — such as a plastic bag or paper coffee cup, for example — why not opt for a product that can be reused again and again?

Take the idea of purchasing a reusable coffee cup, compared to using a new cup every time you go out and buy a coffee:

1. Not requiring a new cup for each purchase of coffee reduces the demand for the cups, leading to a reduced supply needing to be made.
2. A reduced supply of the cups also reduces the amount of energy that is needed to create that supply, leading to a reduction of the greenhouse gases emitted as a by-product.
3. Not obtaining a new cup over and over also means you are disposing of less cups, leading to a reduction of the amount of waste that ends up in landfill and — by extension — reducing the amount of harmful chemicals that seep out from landfill and infect our land and oceans.

It’s clear that reducing waste has a significant impact on the environment. Here are some tips to follow to help reduce waste this new year:

• Purchase food without packaging. Buying loose fruit and veg from the market instead of packaged items is a good place to start.
• Take bags with you to the supermarket and other retail stores.
• Use a refillable water bottle
• Refuse straws when purchasing drinks.
• Opt for tea towels instead of kitchen roll when cleaning up messes and spills.
• Try purchasing second hand items, such as clothes. This is a great way to reduce the supply of goods, and can often be economically efficient for you as well.

Recycling

Another great way to help the environment is through recycling. Great efforts have already been made to implement recycling methods into our daily routine, but improvements can always be made. Take a look at these tips to inspire some new recycling behaviours:

• Before you recycle your tins, cans and bottles, it’s important you wash them thoroughly. Items placed in the recycle bin that possess bits of food can be deemed contaminates and will often get rejected and sent to landfill instead.
• Some people temporarily stop placing recyclable items in their recycling bin when full. Our tip is to utilise as much space as possible by flattening items such as cardboard boxes.
• Some items are often mistaken to be recyclable when they’re not — and vice versa. Always check the packaging and labels to determine whether or not an item should be recycled.
• Batteries can be recycled at local battery collection points. These can be found in most supermarkets.

Here at Thompson Fuel & Skip Hire, we’re serious about recycling. We use our best efforts to recycle as much as we can from our skips. Choosing to use the skips from Thompson Fuel & Skip Hire will not only provide you with fantastic service and an effective way to remove unwanted items from your home, but you’ll also be helping to save the environment in the process. To learn more, give our friendly team a call today.