How I Significantly Reduced My Household Waste and How You Can Too

This last year has seen many councils across the UK make some significant changes to their household waste collections, with one of the most controversial for my area being the introduction of a food waste caddy. This had people up in arms over smell, maggots, having too many bins, remembering what can go in there and so on, but… After a few weeks of use, the mindset was clearly changed for most residents, and I have since seen online comments praising these new bins, saying what a difference they have made to the ordinary waste bin and how smooth the transition was. We have now been informed that from the autumn our ordinary household waste bin will be collected bi-weekly instead of weekly. Great, I thought, we need to catch up with other counties who have had this in place for years, along with the food waste bin, but others online had other thoughts (again). I get that change can be hard and that if you aren’t aware of other ways in which to reduce your waste, the concept of reducing collections may be worrying so I wanted to share how I have significantly reduced my household waste over the last 8 years and how you can do so too.

Increase Your Recycling

I live in Hampshire, and I have to say, our current kerbside recycling sucks. We have a glass bin and a recycling bin in which we can put plastic bottles, cardboard and paper, tins, cans and aerosols. That’s it. This means we either look into alternatives to items we use, such as reusables (which I will cover further on), or we look for recycling points within our area.

I think the introduction of soft plastics recycling at the supermarket is a fantastic step and this should really help to reduce that waste going into the normal bin. We collect ours up in a bucket that sits inside a cupboard, and when it’s full, we bag it up and drop it off when we do our usual shop. Snack packets, crisp packets, pet food pouches, frozen food plastic bags, film lids, plastic bags and so on. We all have no choice but to end up with them because this is the way food is packaged, but we can now dispose of them in a better way. You can also take your batteries and water softener cartridges to some supermarkets.

Foil is collected kerbside in many counties but not ours, so I again store ours up (in an old ice cream tub – always reusing) and when I have enough, I scrunch it all into a ball and drop it off at my nearest recycling point (which is luckily right by my child’s school).

There are actually many more items that can be recycled, and I spent a long time researching all of the available recycling options in the UK to write this blog to help others out. You don’t have to do all of them, but even by choosing a few, you’ll be making a big difference to what you throw out at home.

Shop a Little More Eco-Consciously

By taking a little more time in the supermarket to look at packaging options, disposal instructions on the packets and what alternatives are available, you can start to see where you can actively reduce your waste for good. For example, if you always buy your cat food in pouches and you struggle to drop them off at a soft plastics recycling (so they just end up in the normal bin), take a look at cat food in tins instead, as these can be washed out and placed in your kerbside recycling. You should also look for products that come in cardboard packaging over plastic and check what brands are taking the initiative to be more sustainable. Another really simple way of stopping plastic from coming into your household is to only purchase loose fruit and veg. As you wander around, just be a little more conscious of what you are putting into your shopping trolley and what changes you could be making. From here you can then look at the next pointers…

Purchase Reusables

We are so fortunate to have so many reusable options available to buy now. When I first started out on my eco journey, my first swaps were to water bottles, reusable bags, beeswax wraps, reusable nappies and wipes, and just these few changes made a huge difference. From here I did get a bit addicted and found myself switching to so many more reusables such as period products, sandwich bags, cupcake holders, nail varnish remover pads, makeup remover pads, cleaning cloths, reusable kitchen roll, coffee cups, tea strainers, etc. All of these meant we could reduce our waste even further and live much more sustainably. Once you begin to look into what single-use items you can do away with, it almost starts to become a fun challenge to see what else you can incorporate.

I have a list of 55 reusables in this article here, but again, you don’t have to swap to them all; we certainly haven’t. It’s just about choosing what would work for you and your lifestyle. These will also save you money and time in the long run, so they do have many benefits.

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Buy Refills or in Bulk

If you are fortunate enough to have a refill shop in your local area, make sure you stop by and see what refills could benefit you. Dried foods, cleaning products and bathroom products are all usually on offer in refill shops. All you need to do is take in your own container, decide how much you want to purchase and get your refill. You decant these at home and then just repeat the process. This helps to eliminate unnecessary plastics and can also save you money.

If this isn’t an option, look into purchasing some of your regular items in bulk. For example, I buy white vinegar for cleaning, so I will purchase a large plastic container of this and make my own cleaning solutions in spray bottles. This reduces my plastic waste and also means I have enough to last me for months. You can do the same with shampoo, washing up liquid, certain foods, etc.

Zero Waste Products

Zero waste products are those that will leave you with no waste to dispose of in your bin. These would include items such as soap bars, shampoo and conditioner bars, bath bombs and so on (Lush is a great shop for all of these by the way). You could also consider having your milk and other drinks delivered by a milkman (giving the bottles back for reusing) or choosing products whose packaging could go into the compost bin or be easily recycled. This would include things like loose tea that can go into the compost bin and cardboard box that could go into your kerbside recycling bin. Another example would be refillable toothpaste from Mighty Mouthcare whose refills are home compostable and lids that are recyclable. We are so lucky that there are so many new options now coming to market.

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Start a Compost Bin

Ok, so I have mentioned home composting a couple of times above. If you don’t yet have one but have the space to accommodate a compost bin, I would say definitely give it a try. Not only can you easily dispose of these home compostable items I have briefly covered, but you can also add all of your garden waste and end up with some free compost to use in the future. I know composting sounds daunting, but I had no idea what I was doing when I first started out and I’ve now been making my own compost for years, and I love it! I have all you need to get started with composting in this blog post here.

Make Full Use of The Food Waste Caddy

The new food waste caddy can take:

• vegetables and fruit including peelings, cores and stones
• nuts and shells
• raw and cooked meat and bones
• tea and coffee bags and coffee grounds
• dairy products and cheese
• eggshells
• raw and cooked fish bones and shells
• bread, cakes and pastries
• cooked and uncooked rice, pasta and beans
• wet and dry pet food

With this now available to many of us and more councils making this move, the waste going into the normal household waste bin should be significantly reduced. And don’t forget the raw peelings and fruit can go into the compost bin too. If you find yourself creating a little too much food waste, look into meal planning, weighing your ingredients, storing leftovers correctly, freezing what you can, offering surplus produce/food to neighbours to use and not paying too much attention to the best before dates and using sight and smell to judge instead.

By following a lot of these points, there shouldn’t be much left to go into your normal waste bin and going 2 weeks for a collection shouldn’t be much of an issue for the average household.

For more tips on reducing waste, you can search through my website or purchase my 36 page downloadable booklet from Etsy called Your Simple Eco Home Audit Checklists and Tips.