Tips for home recycling

We try to recycle a lot as a family, in many different ways. Here are my top 5 tips for recycling at home:

1. Be conscious of packaging when buying food. If you can, buy things like fruit and vegetables loose, and look for things with minimal packaging. When you have finished with any food items, check to see if the packaging can be recycled. We recycle everything from plastic drink bottles and yogurt pots to cardboard sleeves and glass jars. They all get washed out and chucked into our recycling boxes, which are collected every fortnight. If you don’t have a doorstep recycling scheme, most recycling centres take these sorts of items. You can buy recycling signs from StockSigns to stick on your bins to make organising quicker and easier.
2. Recycle clothes and shoes. There are a couple of ways to do this. For anything that is beyond repair, we again pop it into our textile recycling boxes. Items which are still useable are either donated to charity, or given to local schools and nurseries for spare. 
3. Be aware of food waste. This is another section that often gets overlooked – don’t chuck it out! Most councils now have a food waste recycling scheme – our food waste bins are collected weekly. You could consider a compost heap if you have the space. Try not to chuck out excess from meals – freeze for a later date instead. 
4. Water can be recycled too! If you run the tap to heat water for washing up etc, then collect the cold water in a bottle and use for watering plants or filling up the dog bowl. You could also consider a water butt to collect rainwater – we use this for washing the car. 
5. Buy recycled where you can. The beauty of recycling is that more things can be made from what would otherwise be waste. Look for the recycled symbol on packaging – this means that not only are you helping to recycle, but you are keeping the cycle going too.

*This is a collaborative post*