Reducing waste

Reducing food waste

In Wandsworth, over a quarter of dustbin waste thrown away by households is food.  It costs the typical household £480 per year to buy this food and then costs the council around £2.8 million annually to dispose of it. Reducing the amount of food you waste leaves more in your pocket and helps keep council tax low. 

The Love Food Hate Waste (LFHW) campaign raise awareness of the need to reduce food waste and provides helpful advice on how to achieve this.

• Visit London's Love Food, Hate Waste site for tips on perfect portions, saving time and money and recipes.  Or visit the National Love Food, Hate Waste site.
• Download the free Love Food, Hate Waste mobile app. 
• For local contacts, workshops and events visit Recycle Western Riverside's Love Food Hate Waste website.
• You can compost uncooked, non-meat and non-dairy kitchen scraps. Buy a reduced-price composter.
• Become a volunteer London Food Waste Champion.

Food waste disposers

Around a third of rubbish collected from homes is food waste, which gets disposed of at an energy-from-waste incinerator. To reduce the amount of rubbish you put out for collection, you could instal a food waste disposer (FWD). 

• FWDs fit under your kitchen sink and grind food waste.  
• It lets you separate your food waste at source; it then gets treated along with wastewater. This helps us reduce waste collection and disposal costs.
• It lets you get rid of food waste immediately.
• You avoid problems with litter caused by animals attracted to food waste in refuse awaiting collection.
• More information about FWDs.

Or, search Insinkerator for a local stockist by entering 'Wandsworth' in the 'search by place name' box.

Buy unwrapped goods

• Loose fruit and vegetables often have the same freshness and shelf life as packaged goods. 

Use a 'Bag for Life'

• You can buy them at the supermarket, or use a cloth bag to cut down on plastic carrier bags.
• Don't push it to the back of a cupboard - you're better off using a plastic bag than storing a cotton bag you never use. The environmental impact of growing, processing and transporting cotton is far greater than the footprint of one plastic carrier bag.

Junk mail

In the UK producers of addressed and unaddressed junk mail use 550,000 tonnes of paper and 16.5 billion litres of water every year. This equates to over 9 million trees. The volume of junk mail produced is decreasing every year. Reduce the amount you receive:

• Get a 'No Junk Mail' sticker for your door from your local library or by contacting us. 
• Unwanted direct mail: register with the Mailing Preference Service (MPS) or phone 0845 703 4599.
• Fax and telephone preference service (FPS and TPS), and a Baby MPS which puts a stop to mailings from baby-related companies.
• Unaddressed mail from Royal Mail: phone 08457 740740 or email your address to optout@royalmail.com.
• The Junk Buster claims to sign you up to the MPS, Royal Mail's Door-to-Door Opt-Out and Your Choice Preference Scheme for Unaddressed Mail simultaneously. 
• Remember that any junk mail you do receive can be recycled. 

Stop using disposable batteries

Try to avoid using products that require them, or buy rechargeable batteries. If you can use the main electricity supply, do so. Batteries are hazardous waste and shouldn't be thrown in the rubbish bin because the chemicals leak out and cause damage in the environment.

Dispose of household and car batteries at the Household Waste and Recycling Centre at Smugglers Way, SW18.

Recycle batteries

Household batteries - D, C, AA, AAA, 9V, button cell and rechargeable batteries can be recycled at all libraries in the borough and at:

• Concourse reception at Wandsworth Town Hall
• Millennium Arena, Battersea Park
• Tooting Leisure Centre, Greaves Place
• Putney Leisure Centre, Dryburgh Road
• Wandle Recreation Centre, Mapleton Crescent
• Balham Leisure Centre, Elmfield Road  

Energy efficient light bulbs

• Saves resources
• Saves money
• Lasts ten times longer than standard bulbs

ReCYCLE your bike

• Unwanted or old bicycles can be taken to the Youth Offending Team bike recycling project every Thursday, 5-8pm at the Training Centre, Alma Road, SW18.
• The bikes are refurbished and given to victims of crime. Phone Rebecca Lynn 020 8871 5571 or email rlynn@wandsworth.gov.uk

Reduce your carbon paw print

Twenty-nine thousand wheelie bins of plastic-bagged dog waste go to landfill each week. Products like the Good Boy Dog Loo can be installed easily in gardens to break down the solid waste into liquid which is safely released into the ground. It's harmless to the environment and safe for plants and pets. Once installed add a capful of Bioactivator and half a litre of water each week. 

Reusable nappies

Go to our nappies webpages for full details on reusable nappies. 

Reuse what you can!

Reusing things is even better for the environment than recycling, as recycling involves breaking things down to their raw materials and making new products, a process with its own environmental impacts. 

Before you throw something away, consider whether someone else might want to reuse it.  And before you buy something new, consider whether you might be able to reuse something someone else no longer wants. 

Re-use collection service collects items suitable for reuse, refurbishment and/or repair. 

Reuse containers. Ice cream tubs, jam jars or other containers can be used as sandwich boxes or food containers.

Find out more about websites you can use to give unwanted items away or find things you want that are being given away by others.

Share

Ecomodo allows you to share various items - from garden tools to fancy dress - locally. Search for an item or even for someone with a special skill in your area. You can choose to charge for your item or service by the day or hour, or lend for free and just request a deposit.

StreetBank shows you all the things and skills your neighbours are offering.

Waste reduction quiz, game and comic

How good are you at reducing waste? Take the waste reduction quiz and find out. 

Read the Attack of the Killer Muckwads comic strip.

A-Z recycling list

Check our A-Z recycling list to find out how to recycle a range of other items or, if they can't be recycled, the best way to dispose of them.