5 Tips for Better Waste Management

Any smelly rubbish can make us pinch our noses and quickly chuck it away. When this happens, we usually don’t care about which bin it goes to. We’re just happy that those pesky fruit flies are no longer circling around us. But it’s important to make sure that our actions don’t result in excessive levels of waste.

If you want to avoid this, the following five tips outline how you can have better waste management.

Separate your waste

As mentioned above, it’s easy to put every rubbish away into one bin, but this screams poor waste management. A lot of households do this, but you should ideally be separating your waste into their appropriate bins. This is because mixing different types of waste can make it difficult to recycle any recyclable materials, resulting in wasting some resources.

It’s also possible to increase soil contamination and water pollution if you throw any toxic waste into the bin specifically for general waste. The toxic waste will end up in landfill sites instead of special treatment facilities, which is why it’s essential you separate your rubbish.

All households in the UK will usually come with separate bins (unless you live in a block of flats). If you’re confused about what each colour means, here are their rightful meanings.

• Black bins – for general waste that cannot be recycled or composted.
• Blue bins – for mixed dry recyclables such as tins and cans (make sure you give them a quick rinse!), as well as plastic tubs or bottles, aerosol cans, jars and glass bottles.
• Red bins – for paper and card such as paper bags, cardboard, newspapers, etc.
• Brown bins – for food waste such as any meat and fish bones, eggshells, fruit and vegetables, etc.

Reduce, reuse and recycle

We all know the three Rs. Following on from the first point, reduce, reuse and recycle is another tip for better waste management. You should reduce your usage of materials that are harmful to the planet, such as reducing how much plastic you use. You should also reuse any beneficial belongings you have. These are belongings like plastic bags; bring these plastic bags whenever you go shopping and use them again at a later date. By doing this, you’re also reducing your plastic usage.

If you have any belongings you no longer want, consider offering them to friends or family members before getting rid of these items completely. Alternatively, you can try selling them on Facebook Marketplace to give them a second home.

Buy rechargeable batteries

To further reduce waste, avoid single-use batteries and opt for rechargeable ones instead. This will help save natural resources. Batteries can also contain toxic elements that are harmful to the environment. If you do need to get rid of some batteries, check your local waste disposal guidelines and dispose of them accordingly. There are also many supermarkets such as Asda and Aldi that collect used batteries. So, head over to your local supermarket and check whether used batteries are collected.

Create a compost pile

One way to deal with organic household waste is to create a compost pile. You can just throw away any of your vegetable and fruit waste into the pile and the microorganisms will take care of it for you. By creating a compost, your waste decomposes and disappears in a natural way.

Avoid buying bottled water

Bottled water increases the amount of plastic usage and waste, which causes harm to the environment. To avoid this problem, buy yourself a reusable bottle and refill it instead. You can even find refill stations on the Refill app. According to Water UK, “there are now over 30,000 refill stations listed on the app in the UK, including large chains such as Morrisons, Costa Coffee and John Lewis”. By refilling your water bottle, you can reduce your carbon footprint and help save the planet.

These are the five tips for better waste management, which hopefully helps you deal with any household waste. If you need advice, help, or for any enquiries, don’t hesitate to get in touch with our waste disposal experts from our directory here. Alternatively, you can also contact our recycling specialists from our directory here.

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