What you can do

We need to think about reducing the number of products we buy to help minimise waste. Reusing and repairing products is a great way to extend the lifetime of things we use, which also saves you money. Recycling of products should then be considered after this, followed by disposal in general waste bins as a last resort. This approach to thinking about the production and disposal of waste is known as the waste hierarchy.

There are many ways you can reduce and recycle your waste. Some handy tips are given below:

Avoid/Reduce: Both steps are similar and are about reducing the amount of ‘stuff’ we buy and/or buying things with less packaging. Some ideas are:

• Keep your clothes and items for longer, taking care of them so they do not need replacing.
• See tips available on Love Food Hate Waste to reduce the amount of food waste you produce in your home.
• Consider giving ‘experiences’ (for example, cinema or gig tickets) rather than material items as presents.
• When you do consider buying products, think if you could buy them second hand at a charity shop, car boot sales or online second-hand sites like Freegle. There are also lots of Colchester based Facebook groups where people look to sell or giveaway items they own. 

Reuse: Using reusable coffee cups, water bottles and Tupperware are all great ways to reduce the use of disposable alternatives. You can also reuse jars and containers you own to fill up with products such as dried goods and washing products to avoid packaging. There are lots of refill shops in Colchester and the surrounding area which offer you the choice to refill your own containers with products from pasta to shampoo and offer other packaging free products. Examples include ColchEco, Refill Den, Colchester Food Co-Op and Reco Store.

Repair: There are lots of guides on YouTube and other sites for repairing a variety of products from electronics to clothing. Try looking at these before recycling or disposing of items that are damaged; repairing can be extremely rewarding.

Recycle: There are lots of other ways to recycle materials other than those you can put out for collection by the council. 

• TerraCycle is an organisation that recycles a vast variety of materials and products that the council does not collect. There are places in Colchester where you can drop off your recycling where it will then be sent off to TerraCycle to be recycled. Visit their website to see a list of materials and products they can recycle and find your nearest drop off point.
• Visit Love Essex or Recycle Now to search for places to recycle certain products that we cannot collect at the kerbside.