Top 10 Shocking Facts about Waste

We bin around 50 million tonnes of electrical waste globally every year. That’s

nearly four million double decker buses worth of old computer equipment, TVs,

stereos and kitchen appliances,

We throw away 7.2 million tonnes of food every year, and more than half of that

is perfectly edible. Meanwhile, one in seven people across the world doesn't

have enough to eat.

Between 20% and 40% of fruit and vegetables are rejected by supermarkets

before they even hit the shelves because they don’t adhere to their cosmetic

standards.

The amount of trash generated by the UK could fill Britain’s largest lake, Lake

Windermere, in just eight months.

We use around 500 million plastic bags every week in the UK, and each will

take between 500 and 1,000 years to decompose in landfill.

Some Interesting Recycling Facts

The UK recycling rate of ‘waste from households’ reached 43.9 per cent in

2012, rising from 42.9 per cent in 2011. There is an EU target for the UK to

recycle at least 50 per cent by 2020.

The average family in the UK throws away around 40kg of recyclable plastic

each year.

The UK Biodegradable Municipal Waste (BMW) sent to landfill has continued

to reduce and in 2012 was 10.3 million tonnes.

One solitary recycled glass bottle could power a laptop for 25 minutes.

How to Use 3R's to Reduce the Amount of Waste Sent to Landfills

Reduce

On average 16% of the money you spend on a product pays for the packaging,

which ultimately ends up as rubbish.

Avoid wasting food!

Reduce the amount of junk mail posted to you

Choose products with less packaging

Reuse

UK household have an average of £4000 worth of clothes but we haven't worn

30% of those in the last year.

Repair furniture rather than trashing it!

Repair or mend clothes and in case you don't want to then instead of throwing

it away, pass it on.

Recycle

If you could release the untapped energy in the average dustbin, it would power

a TV for 5,000 hours.

Swap unwanted items online.

Recycle electrical goods.

Rather than throwing away ripped and torn clothes donate them to be used as

industrial blankets and insulation.

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