You may not think it is the most exciting topic, but you should care about waste. We all produce waste, but have you thought much about it; do you know what happens to your waste? Traditionally, in the UK, waste has been sent to landfill, filling holes in the ground with our rubbish, but we’re running out of space so what do we do next?
Or perhaps you’d care more about waste if you knew the ways it costs you money; for example:
Packaging
Packaging is important because it protects items during transport and prevents breaks and spoiling. However, a lot of packaging is designed to make products look good, for example many items come in unnecessarily large boxes because it is more eyecatching on the shelf. The packaging is added to the cost of the product increasing what you pay.
It is possible to think differently about packaging. My daughter was given a doll in a box which was designed to be a shop for the doll, and to my excitement this was promoted on the box. My recent online order from Origins was delivered using paper instead of foam shapes to reduce movement during delivery, and I’ve heard Lush uses popcorn although I haven’t tested that (but I should because I’ve finished all the bath bombs I was given for Christmas).
Replacement
I’ve heard that 90% of the items we buy become waste within six months of purchasing through the item breaking or deciding to upgrade. Each time we replace an item you are paying for it again so it could have been cheaper to buy a more expensive item that lasts longer or has a refill option.
And who doesn’t love new gadgets, I certainly love technology and get excited about having a new ‘toy’. But do you need the latest model? Will you use the new features or are you falling for the marketing? I discussed this in a recent post about technology convergence.
Increased cost of material
As the global population increases and we want more things it means we are using more material to produce those things. There is a limited amount of material in the world so as it becomes more scarce it becomes more expensive, meaning the resulting products also become more expensive. Or items are no longer available. A few years ago I heard there is more copper in old wires in landfill then there is left in the Earth’s crust!
Disposal
We are used to the Council collecting our waste on a regular basis. It probably feels like a free service, but we pay for it through our council tax. This cost covers the collection service, transport and disposal of the waste and landfill tax. By reducing how much waste we produce the council could reduce their collection and disposal costs, and this may enable the council to reduce council tax (or increase other services) in the future.
Fines
If we fail to meet the 2020 recycling targets set by the EU we will have to pay a large fine. And unfortunately at the moment it looks like England will miss the target as the percentage of recycled waste has slowed down, so that money will need to come from increasing taxes or reducing services.
Waste is often seen as an unwanted material, but Zero Waste Week is encouraging us to think a bit harder about our waste, and how we can reduce it by reusing, recycling or repairing one more thing.
What one more thing are you going to do?
Disclaimer: this post contains an affiliate link to the doll my daughter was given as a birthday present from a school friend.
Compelling reading, Kate – thanks so much for putting this together brilliantly. It makes for thought-provoking reading 🙂
Thank you Rachelle, I’ve learnt a few things from the people I work with 🙂
Lots to think about. I’ve noticed more and more of Monkey’s toy packaging having far less to it which is great for everyone.
That is great to know Mary, I see mixed results. The annoying thing is it will save the company money if they reduce their packaging and most customers would be pleased.
What you say is very true and you may want to mention that landfill tax is only going to rise, it’s set in stone that it rises every April. It was introduced in in 1996 at a rate of £7 per tonne, mow in 2014 it’s £80 per tonne! This puts pressure on council’s budgets and that is passed on to you in council tax rises and skip hire costs if you are undertaking any home improvement. For instance RCT council in Wales just announced fines of £75 for any household that disposes of more than 4 black bags! One of two things is going to happen, we learn to recycle even more or fly tipping rates will rocket.
We will be completely renovating our house over the next few years so we’ve already investigate the amount of waste we can dispose at our local centre. At the moment we are looking to reuse as much as we can, so we putting in doors in place of a window, but will use the bricks to block up another doorway, and when we knock down a wall we will use a lot of the rubble to fill the pit below the lift once it is removed (yes we really have one of those in the house). Fly tipping is an issue and I’ve already seen it increasing on the roads I travel.