We all do a bit of it.  But most of us could do a lot more.   Here’s how …..

Give Your Stuff Away Day 

The first  ‘Give Your Stuff Away Day’ was on Sunday 24th July and was such a success we’ve decided to repeat it.

There will be four Give Your Stuff Away Days in 2012 – in each case the day after a Farmer’s Market:  March 4th,  May 6th,  July 8th, and September 2nd.

The idea is simple.  If you have household items that could be of use to someone else, leave them outside your house between the hours of 11am and 3pm, in clear view, and make them available to others for free.  And if there’s things you could use outside other peoples’ houses – help yourself!

The ‘Give Your Stuff Away Day’ is not about getting rid of that rubbish in your garage. Instead it’s about putting out that fridge that still works and could be perfect for someone else to use.  It’s an ideal opportunity for the children to swap games and toys, bikes and football boots, and to begin to take responsibility for the waste that they generate as they grow up and grow out of their favourite sweatshirt.

Items can be left at the end of your driveway, or on the verge, or perhaps you could get together with your neighbours and decide on a collection point for donated items on your street.  Tell your friends and neighbours about it and you can make it into a recycling street party!

Suggested items are fully functional household appliances, computers, electronics, bikes, sports goods, toys, tools [but be careful with sharp blades], garden equipment, furniture, musical instruments, books, clothes, shoes, DVDs, games, kitchen utensils, lamps, plants, building materials and other durable goods. No rubbish!  No illegal or dangerous items, or chemicals.  Be sensible!

It is important that pavements are not obstructed and that left-over items are removed at the end of the day.  If you end up with things at the end of the day – here’s a list of charities that may be interested in taking it, some of which will arrange collection.

Where can I recycle things locally?

"Give Your Stuff Away Day" kicked off in July

 

You don’t have to go far to recycle those unwanted items.  Here’s a handy list of nearby places that will take items from bras to inkjet cartridges!   If you know of other useful recycling options let us know.

Ford Recycling Facility

A group from the Greening Campaign visited the Ford Materials Recycling Facility, near Arundel, in September 2011.  This is where all of our recyclables from kerbside collections go to get sorted.  Malcolm Love wrote a report on this intriguing visit.

Useful websites

There’s some great websites out there where you can find out more:

Freecycle Lets Recycle Recycle now Recycle more

Did you know?

26.5 million tonnes of municipal waste were generated in the UK during the year 2009/10 with 46.9% of this waste ending up in landfill.  Of the remainder, only 38.6% was either composted or recycled, and 13.6% incinerated to produce energy.  The aim is to reduce this figure to 12.2 million tonnes by 2020.  Over the past 5 years the amount of waste produced has gradually decreased, mainly due to improvements in the packaging used and the recession. However, this is still an enormous amount of waste, and landfill space is filling up!  The amount of permitted landfill will be filled by 2018.  Landfill also represents a huge waste of useful resources, with vast amounts of perfectly reusable items being thrown away.

In West Sussex huge efforts are being made to find alternatives to landfill, with vastly improved Household Waste Recycling Centres that are now achieving high levels of recycling. There are also various waste prevention initiatives being implemented through ‘Better Tomorrows’, a community interest company set up in 2008 by West Sussex local authorities with the mission to reduce the amount of household and business waste sent to landfill.  Landfill really must be a last resort for our waste, with reduction being the highest priority, followed by reuse and recycling. ‘Current UK recycling of paper, glass, aluminium and steel is estimated to save more than 18 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, equivalent to the use of 5 million cars per year or 14% of UK transport sector emissions‘. (Defra 2007)