London residents halve rubbish in environmental makeover
13 June 2006
Fourteen London households have successfully reduced their rubbish by half, turning themselves from 'wasters' to 'winners' in just six weeks.
The Recycle Western Riverside (RWR) 'What Not to Waste' makeover required households to complete a series of three fortnightly missions to 'Recycle', 'Reduce' and 'Reuse' as much of their rubbish as possible. Participants were rewarded for completing their challenge to live a more environmentally friendly lifestyle at the 'What Not to Waste' Awards which were held last week at the London Eye.
The fourteen families managed to slash their black sack rubbish by an astonishing 53% saving 1.7 tonnes of rubbish from being landfilled each year. By learning what actually can and can't be recycled, participants also cut the amount of non-recyclable materials included in their recycling by almost 80%.
All of the participants say they will now continue to recycle and keep up their commitment to reducing the amount of rubbish they throw away.
Ingrid Munoz-Romero was one of the participants from Lambeth who successfully completed the challenge and has reduced the total waste generated by her family by an impressive 45%. She said: "The makeover has been brilliant! We've learnt loads and we'll definitely continue everything we've been shown."
Throughout their makeover families were mentored by the recycling equivalents of Trinny and Susannah. Anekka Scarth, RWR recycling support officer, guided south London residents through their challenge. She said: "I'm thrilled with the progress the families made. Many of them knew little about recycling before starting the challenge but all have stuck with it and made a really positive change. The 'What Not to Waste' makeover really proves that everyone can make recycling part of their daily routine and dramatically reduce the amount of rubbish that ends up in landfill."
Participants were given a set of rules to follow throughout their makeover. As well as recycling as much as possible, participants were also shown how their lifestyle impacts on the amount of rubbish they produce. Participants were encouraged to shop smarter by buying goods with less packaging and shown how to sign up to services that stop unwanted junk mail being delivered. Unwanted items were also donated to charity shops or swapped at 'reuse' parties rather than being thrown away.
The fourteen households changed their wasteful habits in many different ways. Jenny Baker from Lambeth started to use an indoor composting system, saving around 65kg of food waste from landfill each year and Gloria Pereira from Kensington and Chelsea tripled the amount or rubbish that she now sends for recycling.
Candi Perez from Fulham made a huge effort to recycle the right thing and has cut the amount of non-recyclable material included in her recycling by 73%, while Sylvie Sasaki from Wandsworth put a 'no junk mail' sticker on her door which has reduced her junk mail by 86%.
Ingrid added: "As well as recycling I've also started to shop differently. I've been buying items with less packaging and have even starter using cloth nappies rather than disposable ones."