Recycling Tips: Shop Smart

We all want to do our bit for the environment. But where do we start? The weekly supermarket-shopping trip is a good place. Supermarket products account for a large percentage of the goods bought every week. That gives supermarkets enormous influence over the products they offer, and the raw materials and packaging they use. But it also makes us, the shoppers, very powerful. By choosing or refusing, we can let the supermarket bosses know that environmental concerns are important to us. And when their profit’s on the line, they listen.

Plan your weekly shopping trip with the environment in mind and you’ll be surprised how many smart choices you can make. Aim for maximum waste reduction, but you can also support and encourage re-use and recycling. Start by taking your own shopping bags to the supermarket. If you only fill 5 plastic carriers per weekly shopping trip, taking your own bags will save 250 bags a year!

If your local supermarket offers a carrier bag recycling service, use it to get rid of all the bags you’ve collected from other stores. Not only will you de-clutter your home, but you will also help save precious oil and energy.

Avoid heavily packaged items. You only pay for what you throw in the bin as soon as you get home:

1. Cosmetics are serious offenders here. Take moisturizer: a glass jar, in a dinky little cardboard box, shrink-wrapped in plastic. Then there’s usually a leaflet in there somewhere, telling us how to cream our faces. Would it surprise you to know that 16% of the item price is for the packaging?

2. Cornflakes or other breakfast cereals are equally over-packaged with their plastic or foil bags inside cardboard cartons. Some manufacturers now use sturdier bags and dispense with the cardboard. Try to support them – they are helping to save trees.

3. Fruits and vegetables can add to your packaging waste, too. Styrofoam trays, plastic bags, and shrink-wrap are all unnecessary when buying fruit. Invest in washable cotton bags, or make your own from old pillowcases. You’ll get your fruit and vegetables home in top condition.

One sure-fire way of saving money is to buy frequently used items in bulk. Most of us do this automatically, but pat yourself on the back when you reach for the family pack of toilet rolls, shower gels, rice, or pasta, because you are also saving on packaging!

Another good place to reduce packaging waste is the aisle containing detergents and laundry aids. Concentrated detergents or fabric softeners come in much smaller packages and last just as long, if not longer, than the standard product. Many manufacturers also offer refills for the existing containers. Both are good ways to reduce waste. Alternatively, ditch the detergents, softeners, and drier sheets altogether and use wash balls and drier balls instead. Each wash ball lasts for approximately 100 washes before it needs to be replaced. Drier balls, once bought, will last forever. Add up the yearly cost of laundry aids, and all the waste they create. Then try wash and drier balls.

We all know that glass is a useful material, because it can be recycled. Most of us have home recycling bins for glass and use them. But do you buy soft drinks or beer in cans or plastic bottles? Do you buy milk in cartons? Look out for packaging materials that can be re-used or recycled and your waste reduction program will run and run.

The weekly shopping trip has a large impact on the content of our rubbish bins. Smart shopping ensures that the weekly rubbish heap is as small as possible, by reducing waste before it reaches our homes. Making smart, environmentally aware, choices during the weekly shop also conveys the message that we care about waste reduction, pollution, and recycling. Smart shopping can help the environment and will benefit your wallet, too.

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