European Week for Waste Reduction

All this week it’s European Week for Waste Reduction 2012 and Greener Kirkcaldy’s taking part with our Swap Shop and a call for ‘Reuse and Repair Champions‘ to spearhead our exciting new Community Mapping project.

We have been running our Swap Shop on Friday and Saturdays from our Advice Centre for 4 months and over 100 books, CDs and DVDs have been swapped since then.  Make a special effort to come down to the centre this weekend with an unloved DVD or neglected book, and swap it for something new!

We’re starting a new project to get the people of Kirkcaldy re-using and repairing more, and throwing away and buying new less.  We’re looking for Re-Use and Repair Champions to help us do this.  We need enthusiastic volunteers to help us carry out a survey to identify all the places you can repair broken products, donate unwanted items for reuse, or buy good quality second hand goods.  We hope to create a directory of all these services in the town so residents have a handy resource at their fingertips.

The Week for Waste Reduction isn’t about putting your rubbish in the correct bin for recycling.  It’s about reducing the amount of stuff we that gets put in the bin, even if it is the recycling bin.  There are 4 steps to achieving less waste:

1) Better Production This one is up to the manufacturers; making products in a way that minimises the amount of waste produced.  We can influence this by choosing to buy environmentally sound products.

2) Better Consumption This is all about being more conscious of what we buy to minimise waste – taking reusable bags, choosing products with less packaging (e.g. refillable Ecover products) and even asking whether we really need to buy something when it could be borrowed, hired, or even swapped at our Swap Shop!

3) A Longer Life for Products Can the thing you’re about to throw out be given a new-lease of life?  Have you investigated getting it repaired if it’s broken?  Could you donate it to charity, or even sell it on eBay?  Or alternatively could you give it a creative new use?

4) Less Waste Thrown Away Every year the average Scottish household throws away £430 worth of food waste that could have been eaten.  Shop smarter, plan your meals, check the cupboards and know your portion sizes.   Some things like banana skins could never be eaten, but they can be composted.