There are some simple ways we can reduce our waste, and save ourselves some money, buy keeping an eye on what we by and shopping smart!
- Plan your Shop: whether its food shopping of clothes shopping, plan ahead, check what’s in the house and make a list of what you really need .
- Share: If you are buying something you will only use occasionally, consider borrowing it or hiring it from a friend, neighbour or online. Check out Dunbar’s Borrow and Lend.
- Experience it: if you’re buying a gift for a loved one but you’re not very sure what they’d find useful consider a gift card or an experience rather than an item that they might not use, or remember to ask for a gift receipt just in case.
- Think reuse: Might you be able to find what you are looking for second-hand, in a charity shop or online?
- Avoid Packaging: a lot of our household waste is from packaging, so take a minute to think about your options, buy loose apples rather than apples in plastic packaging, or choose packaging you know you can recycle at home.
- Buy in bulk: buy bigger volumes of common items that you use such as pasta or shampoo, this will save money in the long term and reduces unnecessary packaging.
- Buy Local: try to buy goods which are produced locally, not only have they not been transported as far but they often have much less packaging, visit fiftymiles.org to find out about producers local to Dunbar.
- Avoid disposable: buy items that can be reused, like cloths instead of paper towels, reusable razors rather than disposable, rechargeable batteries, reusable coffee cups, Tupperware instead of single use sandwich bags. You’ll usually save money in the long term.
- Buy Quality: Whenever you can buy quality items that will last rather than ‘built to break’ cheap items that will need replacing in the near future.
- Buy Recycled: Buying products made from recycled materials saves valuable resources, conserves energy, and increases the demand for recycled materials. From toilet and kitchen rolls to pens and pencils, office paper and gifts cards Keep any eye out next time you’re in the supermarket and local shops and you might be surprised what recycled products you can buy.
- Don’t Forget if you’ve bought something that you are not going to use something, take it back for a refund, put it on eBay or take it to a charity shop rather than letting it gather dust
And lastly, remember your re-useable bags!
Other Reduce Options
