Tips for household waste and recycling

This article is part of a six month series on waste, which investigates what is happening at a local and national level and where Bristol businesses and residents can get involved to make change.

In order for Bristol’s household recycling rates to rise from 43 per cent (2016/17) to it’s current 50 per cent target, there is work for us all to do. If you want to do more to improve your home waste management or want to inspire those in your household or street to get on board with recycling, then these tips are for you.

One thing at a time
Choosing one waste stream at a time has seen the best results for Bristol Waste, as demonstrated by the Food Waste initiative Slim my Waste, Feed My Face which achieved a 10 per cent decrease in black bin waste as food was diverted to the brown caddy when it was trialled in Hartcliffe.

Gwen Frost, development and sustainability manager at Bristol Waste recommends you do the same: pick one waste stream, like food, plastic, tins or cardboard, and focus on getting everyone in your household on board with putting this in the right recycling bin. Once you’ve got this sorted, then move to another.

You can check what goes in each recycling bin on the Bristol City Council website

Get some clarity
Bristol City Council has information on what goes in which bin and what happens to items that get recycled.  This is handy information to explain to people in your household that it does make a difference for Bristol and the wider community to recycle. The better the quality of recycling, the more money the materials can be sold for and any profits can be re-invested into the city (read our article on Bristol’s recycling for more information).

Rearrange the bins
As humans we are creatures of habit and will always seek the easiest option, so if you notice that people choose the black bin as it is easier to get to than the recycling bins, move them around. Or if you don’t have space for the bins in your house, try putting bags on the back of doors for recycling, or finding your own solution for making recycling easy, suggests Jane Stephenson, business development director at Resource Futures.

Review your waste streams
If you notice that you are constantly throwing away one material, take a look at the waste hierarchy and see what you could do to prevent, reuse or recycle it. This is particularly relevant for uneaten food, as this is something you have paid for and not used. On average, Bristol households throw away £60 of edible food every week – money that could have been spent elsewhere. Perhaps trial buying less or not going for the buy one get one free offers if you find that you never eat the other pack.

The waste hierarchy was enshrined into UK law in 2011 for businesses to follow and is a good guide for considering how to deal with items that become waste

Take a friendly approach
If you want to inspire your neighbours or housemates to change their waste practices, a friendly chat will get a better response than shouting at people or being authoritarian. Studies have shown that recycling is done as a social norm, meaning it is done because everyone else does it, rather than for the environment.

So if you are talking to someone who isn’t environmentally motivated, consider taking a social angle, highlighting the benefits to their household, the street or block of flats, as well as to the city and the wider community.

Demand Change
If you are fed up with all the packaging that is filling up your bin, the black plastics that can’t be recycled or the over-packaging of certain items, then ask questions and demand changes from your shops and suppliers. Companies do respond to consumer pressure and in fact, there is a nationwide plastics pact by some of the biggest packaging producers afoot, created in reaction to customer feedback, particularly following on from the impact of 2017 BBC documentary series Blue Planet II.

If everyone was to take just a couple of small actions then we could all improve recycling rates and waste reduction and create a cleaner, greener Bristol.

If you are a business looking for tips to address your waste management, visit: www.bristol247.com/life style/environment/tackling- your-business-waste

If you want to learn more about Bristol’s pioneering history when it comes to recycling, visit: www.bristol247.com/lifestyle/environment/recycling-recovery-processes-bristol