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It may shock you to know that on average each one of us throw away the equivalent of our own body weight about every 60 days. Where does all this stuff go, mostly to be buried or burned.
As these buried items decay they give off gases that pollute our water and air and contribute to climate change, whilst burning also releases pollutants, contributes rapidly to the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere and is a chronic waste of resources.
Our throw away society makes it cheaper to buy some products new than fix them. Our ancestors I’m sure would be astonished.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Some simple measures by like minded people can make a real difference.
By Reducing both the amount of rubbish we make and the resources we consume, we dramatically reduce our contribution to the problem.
By Reusing what we might otherwise throw away we not only prolong the useful life of that item, but we both delay and reduce the contribution it makes to the overall issue, in some cases almost indefinitely.
By Recycling we can find new uses for items we commonly regard as rubbish that in their unmodified form don’t really fit the other two categories.
Recycling saves on average 4 to 5 times the energy that could otherwise be used to light or heat your home. But even on a domestic level our use of energy should be efficient if it is to be effective.
For recycling to work, it needs to work for you. It is less about being a lifestyle change, and more about a change in thinking. Big changes are often hard to sustain, so ease yourself into what works best for you and your family. Think about the environmental impact of what you both use and throw away.
The best thing about recycling is that it often saves you money and even small changes can make a significant difference.
