Recycling is great and reducing your waste in the first place is even better.
The average person in Cornwall throws away five times their own body weight in black bag rubbish each year.
We take it all to the Cornwall Energy Recovery Centre where we incinerate it and turn it into electricity – enough to power 21,000 homes each year.
We encourage people in Cornwall to take virtual tours of the CERC and our Bodmin Materials Recycling Facility to see how it all works for themselves.
We all need to refuse, reduce, reuse and recycle as much as possible because doing so protects ecosystems and wildlife, conserves natural resources, saves energy, cuts climate emergency emissions.
It would be better if we all reduced or reused as many of our unwanted items and materials as possible, rather than recycle or incinerate them.
Here are some tips for slimming your rubbish bin
You can reduce the amount of rubbish your household produces by:
- reducing your food waste - find out how you could save money by visiting
Love Food Hate Waste
- buying rechargeable batteries,
- thinking pre-loved (second hand) first before buying new,
- mending things when they break,
- using Cornwall’s award-winning Repair Café Network, and
- choosing items with less packaging
- buying yourself a re-usable ‘cup for life’ for your takeaway teas and coffees
- buy a council-subsidised compost bin which are also buy one get one free. Enter your postcode on the Get Composting website and your discount will be automatically taken off the price of your bin
You can also:
- use your local zero waste shop or refill shop – the ones that allow you to bring your own containers and only take as much as you need
- choose real nappies instead of disposables
- stop junk mail by signing up to the Mailing Preference Service
- When you buy presents, give experiences like spa vouchers or dinner out at a restaurant, rather than things
- Organise a pre-loved (second hand) clothes swap with friends rather than buying new
- Sell, give away, or donate everything you can to charity before binning it
For further ideas on waste reduction visit the Recycle Now website.