How to reduce waste

There are three key factors when thinking about how to reduce waste - the 3 R's:

• Reduce - buy less
• Reuse the things you buy
• Recycle what you don't need any more

Here are some simple changes you can make at home to help reduce what you throw away:

• Home composting and garden waste
• Food waste
• Small electrical items
• Donating items to charities
• Collecting items for charity
• Recycle more
• Reusable nappies

Home composting and garden waste

For information about composting and garden waste collections see:

• Garden waste collections

See also: Get Composting website and home composting.

Back to top

Food waste

Most food waste is avoidable, and reducing what you throw away is not only good for the environment, it will help save you money too.

Home composting uncooked fruit and vegetables and peelings, planning meals ahead and using up your leftovers are all easy ways to waste less.

You can find advice, tips and recipes to help you reduce food waste and save money, see:

• Preventing food waste at home
• Love food, hate waste website

Back to top

Small electrical items

If your item is in good working order, somebody else may be able to use it. You could consider:

• passing it on to a family member or friend
• donating it to a charity
• selling your item

If your item isn't working but you think it could be fixed, why not take it along to one of our local repair cafés:

• Adur: We are Over The Moon Repair Café website
• Worthing: Transition Town Worthing Repair Café website

If you are unable to repair or reuse your item, then please use our small electricals recycling service:

• What you can recycle: WEEE (Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment) collection service

Back to top

Donating items to charities

Good-quality, unwanted goods can be donated to charity. Some charity shops may offer to collect larger items for free.

To find local charity shops near you try a web search for:

• charity shops in Adur
  or
• charity shops in Worthing

You can also book a free collection of a wide range of household items including clothing, bric-a-brac and textiles through Anglo Recycling:

• Anglo Doorstep Collections - website

Back to top

Collecting items for charities

Many items can be collected for local charities to help them raise money, for example:

Plastic milk bottle tops, which cannot be put in your recycling bin, are collected for recycling by various eco-initiatives to raise money for charities like Chestnut Tree House. See:

• Milk bottle tops for charity (in their 'quick and simple ideas' section) - on the Chestnut Tree House website

Collect stamps and left over foreign currency from your overseas trips, or any unusable old British currency hiding at the back of the drawer, for the RNIB and make a difference to blind and partially sighted people, see:

• Save your stamps - on the RNIB website
• Surplus foreign and old  unusable British money - on the RNIB website

Back to top

Recycle more

Remember that a lot of your household waste can be recycled rather than be sent to landfill, see:

• Find out what you can recycle

Back to top

Reusable nappies

In the first 2.5 years of a baby's life, they will need at least 4,000 nappy changes. If using disposables, these nappies will be sent to general waste, which comes at a cost to the environment. These can take hundreds of years to decompose, as well as taking up a lot of space in your refuse bin.

Reusable cloth nappies are more environmentally friendly, and are cheaper in the long run to use. For information about using them see:

• Embracing reusable nappies - on the West Sussex County Council website

Avoid flushing items such as nappies, wet wipes and cotton buds down the toilet as this can cause blockages.

To avoid blocking your drains, follow Southern Water's advice on:

• Fighting the unflushables (eg items such as wipes, nappies and cotton buds and others) - on the Southern Water website
• How to prevent blockages - on the Southern Water website

Back to top