Local MP, Caroline Spelman is encouraging people to recycle as much as possible this year. As we see the effects of pollution on the climate and countryside, it makes increasing sense to recycle materials, and prevent excess waste spilling into the countryside.
Caroline said, “This year, an increasing number of shops and locations are providing bins to recycle Christmas cards. Hundreds of thousands of cards are sent every Christmas. With the start of a new year, why not clear out the old cards you no longer want and put them back into the paper industry, where they can be made into cards for next year. This not only saves trees, but also keeps waste from piling up in landfills, or being incinerated.”
DEFRA explain that we generate about 177 million tonnes of waste every year in England alone. This is a poor use of resources and costs both businesses and households money. It also causes environmental damage - for example, waste sent to landfill produces methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.
We want to move towards a ‘zero waste economy’. This doesn’t mean that no waste exists - it’s a society where resources are fully valued, financially and environmentally. It means we reduce, reuse and recycle all we can, and throw things away only as a last resort.