Recycling is not only good for the planet but also for your wallet. So here are some top tips for recycling.
The great thing about these tips is you could end up making a little money as well as a rosy glow of satisfaction – because you stuff only goes to landfill if there’s no creative or profitable alternative.
Tip 1 View recycling as the final stage in a 3-stage lifestyle process: reduce, re-use and (only then) recycle.
Tip 2 Divide your recycling into 3:
- Money earners – eBay, Gumtree, school table top sales, car boot sales… your rubbish may be someone’s best buy
- Charity shops – if you can’t make money out of it may be a charity can?
- Recycle via rubbish collection or a trip to the tip – if you can’t sell it or give it away to charity, only then should it be disposed of so it can be recycled into something new.
Tip 3 If you’ve got space, organise your recycling into Money, Charity, Rubbish containers right from the start. Then you can then see at a glance when you’ve got enough for, say, a car boot sale or charity chop run.
Tip 4 Many charities will pick up bulky items such as furniture.
Tip 5 Don’t limit your recycling to what your local council will pick up from your door. Local amenity tips often have a wider range of recycling options, such as rags (clothes that are too threadbare for selling or giving to charity) and metal (aluminium is recycled separately but other useful scrap metal includes old baking trays, even wire coat hangers).
Tip 6 Join the Freecycle Network, an online resource which matches people with something they don’t want to people who want it. See the Links section in this article.
Tip 7 Recycle old mobile phones (they enjoy a new life in 3rd world countries) and printer cartridges (refills are cheaper).
Useful links – we’ll open these in a new window for you
>> Recycle Now
>> Freecycle
Third world inspiration
Upcycling is all about taking something that meant to be disposable and giving a new life and a higher value. Upcycling may be the new passion of the chattering classes but they’ve been doing it in Africa, Asia and elsewhere around the globe for centuries.
