Some thoughts for when you're next at the supermarket

• Take your old carrier bags with you to reuse
• Do you need to put a bunch of bananas into its own bag at the veg stand?
• Remember it's your choice, so look for choices - why not pick the tomato paste just in a tube, rather than a brand which is boxed?  Do you need 10 shrink-wrapped apples on a tray, or would a bag of 5 loose apples be better?  Think about how many you can eat and how you plan to store them?  Do you really need a tray? You could be saving on packaging but also on food waste too.

And when you're at home

Look at the things you've bought.

How many layers of packaging are there?  Could the product be packaged with less?  Do any look bigger than what they contain?  Is this misleading?  If you think there's a case of excessive packaging to be answered, write to the manufacturer and ask.  You can also ask Trading Standards to consider cases of excessive packaging and misleading packaging too.

Don't forget to recycle your packaging too.

• Plastic bags can be reused (e.g. as bin liners).
• Tins, plastic bottles and glass jars/bottles can be washed and returned to recycling centres or your doorstep collection if you have one.  Paper, newspaper and cardboard can also be recycled similarly.  If you don't have collection or recycling, contact your local Council and ask them about providing recycling facilities for your community.
• You can also recycle wood and garden waste, but most likely you'll need to take this to your Council's collection site.
• Can you think of any inventive ways to re-use your packaging?  Bubble wrap is great to cover plants from frost. Plastic milk bottles make for easy watering cans and 2l clear drinks bottles can be used to cover small plants to start them growing outside.  Inside the house, washed syrup tins make great pen pots. Old CDs can be made into clocks using model clock kits. What can you think of?

Going that bit further

Once you've started to recycle your packaging waste, why not look at the rest of the bin?  Food waste for example can be composted in the garden.  If you have a garden, why not get a composting bin?  Most Council's have schemes to provide these at reduced prices.  Council sites also collect old paint, chemicals, old electronic items etc.  If you've got good quality clothes and working things goods which your just getting rid of because you have something new, why not take them to your local charity shop.  Some Churches and community centres also collect furniture, clothing and goods for reuse in the community through schemes such as the Furniture Reuse Network or The Besom.  Think about everything you throw away and how it might be used... you might be surprised how small you can make your residual waste bin.

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