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Lola Cary and son Writh examine a week's worth of recycling from their house.

Wandsworth residents embark on award-winning green makeover

24 April 2007

Seven households from Wandsworth will begin an environmental makeover this week that will transform them from 'wasters' to 'winners' in just six weeks.

The Recycle Western Riverside (RWR) 'What Not to Waste' makeover aims to show how everyone can make a big difference to the amount of rubbish that is buried in landfill sites by making small changes to their lifestyle.

The makeover consists of three fortnightly challenges which will teach families how to recycle, reduce and reuse the rubbish they produce. The first challenge, 'Recycle', was revealed on Friday at an event at the Sure Start Roehampton Centre. Participants must recycle as much of their rubbish as possible and follow the 'recycling rules' to complete the challenge successfully.

To assess their habits prior to the challenge each household brought one week's worth of rubbish to the event for a big 'weigh in'. Bags full of waste were weighed to find out just how much rubbish would have ended up in landfill. Participants then donned rubber gloves to sift through their weekly waste and search out items that could have been recycled. The audit produced some staggering results - over 80% of the rubbish the families would have thrown away could have been recycled or reused.

Lola Cary is one of the residents taking part in the challenge. She said: "I've got a young son and although we try to recycle, I know there's lots more we could do. We don't compost at the moment, and get through about six nappies a day, so I'm really hoping to improve that through this scheme."

The RWR team will be on hand to help each household stick to the 'recycling rules' and will provide the encouragement, advice and resources participants need to complete their makeover successfully.

Jackie McKeay, RWR Community Outreach Officer said: "People often want to reduce their rubbish but don't know where to start. This project aims to demonstrate how easy it is to make recycling a part of your daily routine."

"Last year our participants cut their household waste by 57%, diverting half a tonne of rubbish from landfill. We hope to achieve similar results this time."

The families will complete challenge one on Friday 4 May and will feedback their experiences to RWR. They will then receive the second challenge in their quest to become more environmentally friendly.

Waste typically costs companies 4.5% of their turnover (source: Envirowise).

An average office could save thousands of pounds a year just by using both sides of A4 paper.