The UK Government are looking towards a ‘green future’ with a 25 year plan to ‘improve the environment’ which focuses heavily on decreasing the amount of disposable ‘avoidable’ plastic waste to help protect the planet.
Although plastic is the largest contributor of waste, there are also lots of other items that can be found around the house which can and should be either recycled or reused.
Some household items that you thought you wouldn’t be able to recycle, well it turns out you can!
Wine Corks
Recorked UK are the leading natural wine cork recycling association. They ask that you donate your wasted wine corks to be repurposed for bigger and better things.
Cork forests are one of the most valuable resources for our planet, they’re considered the ‘lungs of the environment’, as they absorb lots of carbon dioxide in the air.
They’re also home to a number of endangered species. So, it’s important that the products made from them aren’t wasted and instead, are suitably decomposed of or reused.
Recorked want to combat the amount wasted and have partnered up with pubs, clubs, bars, restaurants and recycle cork efficiently. They then either re-sell them on for reuse and donate part of the profit to charity.
They also re-purpose them and donate them to schools to turn them into artistic masterpieces.
Recorked also create new household items from the recycled cork, which means you can buy mini cork plant-pots and even cork yoga mats!
Electronic Waste
Electronic waste is essentially anything electronic; laptops, mobile phones, televisions etc. It is the fastest growing waste contributor in the UK, with a staggering 2 million tonnes being thrown in the bin each year.
Most electronics contain valuable metal parts including gold, platinum, copper, silver and more. If these are recycled instead of wasted, the valuables can be recovered and then re-purposed to create more products.
Why not earn money and recycle at the same time! There are companies such as Envirophone and Mazuma which offer cash for your phone, which they then recycle to make new phones.
Actress and Fashion Guru, Nikki Reed, has even teamed up with Dell computers to create a circular jewellery brand ‘Bay You With Love’, which makes beautiful jewellery from re-purposed e-waste.
If you’re struggling to figure out what to do with your old electronics, we at GD, accept all forms of Hazardous and Non-Hazardous e-waste and suitably recycle it at our specialist waste transfer stations.
Whiskey
A Scottish company, Celtic Renewables, aren’t ‘wasting a drop’ of Whiskey.
They discovered, that when Whiskey is distilled, only around 10% of it is sold on as final product and the majority is wasted, which is known as ‘Draff’ and ‘Pot Ale’.
The industry as a whole annually produces around 1,600 million litres of Pot Ale and 500,000 tonnes of draff which could instead be transformed into more useful resources.
Celtic Renewables have invented a way to turn this waste whiskey into a sustainable biofuel to power your car instead!
Who’d have thought!
There are many advances in recycling innovation, the more research and planning put into production, the more circular we can make the economy as a whole.
After all, you’re only limited by your imagination!
If you are inspired to recycle more waste, in either your home or at your office, please get in touch with us on 01633 277 755. We’ll be happy to help!