Wednesday 07-08-2024 - 15:15

Zero Waste Week is an annual online and on-the-ground awareness campaign starting on the first Monday in September (2–6 September 2024) designed to help householders, businesses, organisations, schools, universities, and local community groups reduce their landfill waste to save money, preserve resources and protect the environment.

The organisers suggest participants set a goal of doing “one thing” to reduce their landfill waste.

The problem

Each UK person throws away five times their own body weight in waste annually. Sent to landfill or incinerated, this is a resource waste. Composite materials like crisp bags and pet food pouches cannot be recycled. But many materials can.
The other landfill downside is environmental damage when decomposition produces methane.

The waste hierarchy

The waste hierarchy is a common-sense waste management approach. The 3Rs — Reduce, Reuse, Recycle — are written in that order for a reason. Recycling increases the life of valuable resources but is more energy intensive than reuse which in turn requires more energy than reducing the number of items bought and used in the first place.

Recycling symbols

Recycling is supported by symbols on product packaging. However, their meaning is frequently misunderstood. Some of the most common are:

• The Green Dot — this does NOT mean a product can be recycled, but that manufacturers contribute to recovery and recycling costs
• On-Pack Recycling Label — explains what kind of packaging is used and if it is recyclable
• Plastic Recycling numbers — specify the type of plastic resin used. Local councils know which can be recycled at home
• WEEE — anything with a battery or plug is WEEE and must not go into landfill (hence a crossed-out wheelie bin) but should be returned to manufacturers and some local recycling centres.

The Zero Waste Week website has lots of useful images and resources to help you organise at a local level.