Each year we dump over 2 billion tons of waste. This can either end up at landfill, be incinerated or worse still, into our oceans. The damage that this does to our environment and wildlife is catastrophic. As a family, we are always making a conscious effort to try and be more environmentally friendly and try to cut down on waste as much as we can.
How To Go Waste Free by Caroline Jones is a fantastic guide full of easy ways to reduce the amount of waste that we produce.
The book is divided into sections. The facts and statistics that are shared in the introduction are a real eye-opener. A huge 219.4 million tons of household waste was produced in 2016. Out of that, only 102.4 million tons was recycled, so over half of all waste ended up polluting our planet.
Each section has useful tips on how we can reduce our carbon footprint and aim to achieve zero-waste. In London in 2019, the planned Extinction Rebellion climate breakdown protest brought parts of the capital to a standstill. Greta Thunberg inspired children to even hold school strikes to raise awareness.
The zero-waste movement encourages everyone to produce absolutely no waste that can’t be reused or composted. The goal is to keep all matter out of landfills.
The 5 Rs
Refuse
Say no to fresh products that are wrapped in plastic.
Reduce
Try to cut down on unnecessary buys such as a bottle of pop, or an extra lipstick when you already have several at home.
Reuse
Rather than throw an item away, find a way to repurpose it. Jars are a good example, there are so many crafts on Pinterest on jar crafts. You could even upcycle household items.
Recycle
Recycle everything that you can. Donate all other items such as unwanted clothes and furniture to charity.
Rot
Compost all food scraps. It takes longer for them to break down at landfill because of the lack of light and oxygen.
Every little helps when trying to save our planet. I even keep waste in mind when I do crafting. I have made reusable shower puffs, washcloths and makeup removers. My lovely friend Cheryl who blogs at Time To Craft has lots of fab ways that help her to enjoy living a greener life.
Now time for a giveaway!
We have kindly been given two books for you to win! To enter simply fill in the rafflecopter form below. Good luck!
T&C Apply
When prompted on the form for your details and website URL, please leave the URL section blank if you do not have a website/blog.
UK residents only.
No cash alternative.
The winner will be notified through Twitter.
The winner will be asked for address details which will only be used for dispatching the prize.
Competition ends 6th March 2020.
Our eco-team at school would love this!
A great book which can be recycled around my family
This is so interesting, it sounds amazing!
they look great, very interesting
A useful book that will get a lot of viewings, and hopefully a lot of results.
this sounds like a super interesting read!
I started reducing my plastic last summer and would love to learn how I can do more 🙂
looks amazing
Hopefully full of new ideas to help save the planet
Ahh wow this is fab! I’d love to win, I’ve been a lot more environmentally conscious and trying to recycle/reuse more often. Also trying to buy more sustainable and plastic free products. Would love to give this a read 🙂
Looks very useful, trying to be less wasteful this year
Excellent interesting information
Great book to make sustainability just that little bit easier.
lovely giveaway fingers crossed x
What a great book and must read we should all be doing more to reduce our waste
I would Love to learn more about how to Be more eco-friendly
lots of useful information to read
I love the sound of this book and the way that it is laid out, a great book to dip in and out of :o)
#MMBC
Sounds a fab book to have X #mmbc
this sounds like an amazing book. so useful!
Looks good
Such an important subject to discuss with our children, a fantastic prize xx
Were trying to be more eco in our house so this would be perfect
This looks really interesting. Thanks for the giveaway
To generate less waste is an important aim for me, and for both my daughters
Would love this to encourage me to do more.
This would be fab, My son always reminds me of the 5 rs! 🙂
We do recycle, but no doubt I could do more
This looks great for my family
i could really do with learning to go waste free more x
Would love this – trying hard to cut down on any waste x
This sounds like a book full of great ideas x
Sounds really insightful
This would be a really handy & interesting book to have!
This would be great. I love the idea of helping to save the planet and recycle as much as I can but would love some extra guidance to help do this.
I try very hard to create less waste, meal planning, recycling and reusing. I would love to know more.
It’s great to see that more people are becoming more conscious about the impact their habits have on the environment, although I’m baffled to see how unaware many have been until just recently. It sounds like this book has a lot of good suggestions in it. Though I wonder about turning the fridge colder, how that will effect energy usage. It’ll reduce waste, but it’ll increase energy consumption. Sometimes it’s tricky to know how best to be eco-friendly, isn’t it? x #MMBC
This sounds alike a very useful book to have around
This is sure to give me some great ideas for improving my eco-friendly game
This looks great – super handy
Some great ideas, we try to reduce, reuse and recycle. This book could help out so many people not knowing how they can help.
It sounds great, I would love to read it!
Looks great, with baby number 3 on the way I’m looking a lot into low waste/eco ideas, products etc.
Looks like a great read, with very useful ideas.
I’d love to waste less.
This sounds like a great read – count me in please!
I would love to win this and cut down on the waste we produce.
This looks a really interesting book
Cool giveaway.
i am trying to use non plastic containers I can reuse
Very good read, thanks for the prize and competition.
This looks great, our family are always looking for ways to cut waste.
Very interesting book
Looks like a really useful book
Everyone should own this book
We are trying so hard to reduce our waste but a few extra tips would be really helpful
This sounds right up my street, I would love to be chosen as the lucky winner
These look great, it’s an important issue.
Fantastic, I’d love to read it 🙂