July 2022 Update
“Despite comprehensive recycling systems being in place, residents in Hillingdon recycle just 37% of their household waste. Compared to our neighbours in Three Rivers, who top the national tables at 64%, there’s definitely room for improvement! The mandate of our stewardship of the earth requires that we do our best to protect its resources. However current societal trends do little to support this, with trends in recent decades having been largely towards a rather high consumption, ‘disposable’ way of living. Despite these habits being deeply ingrained in our society, we are now seeing a shift in focus, with more people taking note of the need to be more sustainable in our consumer habits.
The ‘zero waste’ principles focus on limiting the use of products which will ultimately be sent to landfill. This means not only being mindful of the materials we are buying (and throwing away) but also being responsible with our consumption in general, encouraging a reduction in the consumer mindset in addition to promoting the use of re-usable alternatives. The 5 core principles are:
· REFUSE what you do not need
· REDUCE what you can’t refuse
· REUSE (and repair) instead of throwing away
· RECYCLE anything that can’t be reused
· ROT anything that is compostable
Being more mindful of the products we buy takes practice. Most of us don’t habitually check the labels of the clothes we are buying to ensure that they are responsibly made or from sustainable fibres, and a single trip to the supermarket can be a total minefield when trying to avoid plastic. But even taking small steps to change our wasteful habits can add up to making a markable difference. With reusable vegetable bags for your shopping, silicone baking sheets in place of baking paper, wax wraps as a washable alternative for sandwich bags (and many more simple swaps) it’s never been easier to start to make little changes to start emptying your bin.
To step away from the idea that everything is disposable and start to focus on repairing (or repurposing) items that are past their best is a wonderful way to reduce the number of tip runs we do. There are many tutorials available online for all sorts of upcycling projects, such as creating vegetable planters out of filing cabinets (and they look great!), making fancy ice buckets from old paint pots, or even using old face masks as seedling pots. Mascara brushes can be donated to wildlife rescue centres (they make brilliant fox cub brushes!) and old plastic bottles make wonderful instruments for toddlers to shake, bash and squeeze. To re-use where possible rather than buy new items is a great way to reduce our impact on the planet, as well as give us an excuse to get creative!
Council recycling schemes, as we all know, are not perfect. There are however also various other schemes available locally which expand the types of products which can be saved from the bin. Most supermarkets now offer recycling for soft plastics, such as crisp packets, bread bags and pet food pouches, and the Terracycling scheme (https://www.terracycle.com/en-GB/) offers local drop offs for a number of different items. We are in the process of creating an ECN Terracycling hub for a selection of household items, however in the meantime, you can visit their website to find local collection points.
For anyone who is fortunate to have access to outside space at home, there is also the option to home-compost any biodegradable waste. This could be through traditional garden compost bins, worm bins or freestanding compost pods.
There are many things that can, and should be considered to help us to make more sustainable choices and reduce our levels of waste. Over the next few weeks, we will be sharing tips in the weekly ECN newsletter, and asking church members to start thinking about ways that we as a church family can look to reduce our footprint both individually and collectively.
Visit hillingdon.gov.uk/rubbishandrecycling for information about the various local recycling programmes, and https://www.terracycle.com/en-GB/ for more information about the Terra-cycling schemes.“