Weekly Recycling Challenge: Show the Planet Some Love

Weekly Recycling Challenge: Show the Planet Some Love

Valentine’s Day has been and gone, but in this blog we want to remind you that as well as your other half, there’s another thing you should be showing some love to and caring about all year round; our planet. Here’s how you can show the planet some love. Try to do as many things on the list this week!

Plan your meals for the week

This will really help cut down on food waste because you’ll only have to buy and cook exactly what you need. Prepare and cook it in batches if you can then make good use of your freezer.

Freeze what you can

Speaking of using your freezer, you can freeze leftovers, bread, and anything else that would otherwise end up in the bin. Then if you get an evening where you come in from work and you’re too tired to cook, just defrost some leftovers and voila, a quick and easy midweek meal.

Cut down on eating out

Eating out is fine for a treat, but cooking at home is often healthier, easier on your pocket, and kinder to the planet. There’ll be less carbon emissions because you won’t be driving to the restaurant, you’ll save £’s per head, and there’ll be less waste because you won’t be serving gigantic restaurant sized portions.

Get creative with your leftovers

Instead of throwing perfectly good food in the bin, use things like leftover meat in stir fries, curries, and casseroles, and use leftover veg to make a broth or a warming soup. There’s plenty of inspiration for creating something delicious from your leftovers at ‘love food hate waste’.

Go meat- free at least one day per week

Whether or not you took part in Veganuary, going meat- free even one day per week is good for the planet, as well as your health and bank balance. Meat production uses a lot of land, fuel, and water, so cutting down is an easy way to show the planet some love.

Reduce your water use

Don’t leave the tap running when you’re brushing your teeth, and limit your showers to a few minutes. It’s also a good idea to fix any leaky taps to make sure water isn’t being wasted needlessly.

Start composting

If your council doesn’t collect food waste, think about starting a compost heap or pile. This saves so much food waste from rotting away in landfill and it will also give you back some goodness to put on your garden come the spring and early summer. You’ll be surprised at what you can put on a compost heap; you can pile on everything from vegetable peelings to coffee grounds and banana skins.

Switch to energy-saving lights

LED lights are great as are energy-saving bulbs. They’ll help reduce your energy bills as well as greenhouse gases.

Buy items made from recyclable material

Many items you’ll find on the supermarket shelves are now made from a certain amount of recycled material, including paper and toilet paper. Look at the packaging and choose items that have been recycled wherever you can. Doing this helps preserve the planet’s precious resources.

Take your own bags to the shops

Unless you’ve been living on another planet, you’ll know that many supermarkets are now ditching their 5p plastic bags in favour of sturdier bags for life or biodegradable bags. Plastic bag usage has reduced since the introduction of charges for bags, but that doesn’t mean we can rest on our laurels. Have a stash of reusable bags in the car or near your front door so you don’t forget them when you are heading to the supermarket. This prevents millions of plastic bags sitting on landfill, taking forever to break down, poisoning the soil and waterways, and potentially harming animals.

Pick up a few pieces of rubbish each day

When you’re out and about, make a pledge to pick up a few pieces of rubbish. Don’t be one of those people who says ‘it’s not my job.’ Imagine if everyone thought like that. Make the place where you live and work cleaner, greener and safer, by taking a bag with you when you go out, and picking up a few pieces of litter. Every little helps, and if you did this every day, it would make a huge difference.

Buy rechargeable batteries

How many gadgets have you got that use batteries? And what happens to those batteries once they’re flat? Because they contain hazardous chemicals, you can’t just discard them with your general waste, they have to be stored properly (ideally in a battery recycling bin) and either taken to a collection point or a recycling centre. Of course, you could save yourself the trouble and show some love for the planet by buying rechargeable batteries, which can last for years before they need to be replaced.

We hope we’ve given you some inspiration on how you can show the planet some love and save some money in the process. What will you do this week to make our planet a better place?