REDUCE Waste

Photograph of rubbish being recycled by Mid-Devon Community Recycling Ltd

Devon currently produces 86,500 tonnes a year of landfill waste -

that's around 257 kg for every household!

Previous projects we have been involved in:

Investigating products already on market and available in our area that cut down use of resources especially plastics e.g. products in refillable containers, toothbrushes with removable heads
Campaign to ban the plastic bag in Crediton
Leaflet listing alternatives to plastic
Leaflet on reducing clothing waste

Current activities include:

Liaison with MDDC and DCC
Articles in the local press e.g. Crediton Courier
Reduce waste by encouraging shops to take customers' own containers for food or drinks

Future ideas to develop in order to reduce waste:

Take plastic packaging back to the supermarket
How to Reduce Waste in the First Place - e.g encourage shops to accept customers own containers
Campaign for a tax (refundable?) on plastic bottles
Education - talks and demos to show/encourage people how to buy less packaging
Involve young people and organisations e.g. scouts on waste reduction
Education with examples by talks or community stall

22nd July 2019

Reusable sanitary products

Women's menstrual issues are not often talked about, one of those taboo subjects. For those wishing to use less plastic or who would like reusable products, there are alternative products out there which reduce the immense volume of these products impacting on our waste disposal systems. Environme ...

22nd July 2019

Summer is here - time to conserve water

Why does saving water matter? The water industry is surprisingly energy intensive, using 2-3% of all the electricity purchased in the UK and is responsible for 0.5% of all greenhouse gas emissions. (as of 2007). Even though water doesn't appear in short supply in the UK, using less water actuall ...

28th November 2018

An Alternative to Cling Film?

CLING FILM is one of those hard to recycle plastics so here is a reusable product as an alternative. Bee's Wrap is a reusable food wrap available from Lakeland (and other sources) which can be reused in the kitchen. It is a sustainable alternative to cling film. ...

8th October 2018

Could you be eating your own clothes?

Our garments are shedding tiny bits of plastic that can escape into the ocean and potentially enter the food chain. Many clothes contain plastic which shed microfibres each time they are washed. Sign the petition to stop microfibre pollution. Find out how to avoid shedding plastic from ...

28th February 2018

Refill your water bottle for free!

With summer in full swing, people are encouraged to dring more water when it is hot. A recently introduced scheme offers people the chance to refill their own reusable water bottles with tap water for free. The initiative aims to help stem the tide of single-use plastic bottles and promote healthy ...

1st April 2017

What's Your Plastic Footprint?

See how much plastic you generate in a year and then consider how you dispose of it. Is it recycled or sent to landfill where it takes centuries to decompose. Can you reduce your use of plastic in any ways? Do this simple quiz and join the fight against ocean plastic pollution. Greenpeace have a ...

31st May 2016

Times New Roman or Verdana?

Did you know changing your font can have a real impact on how much printer ink you use? If you print a lot of text pages, changing your font can have a real impact on the number of prints you get from a set of ink cartridges. Swap Arial for Calibri or Times New Roman and your cartridges will go fu ...

2nd January 2014

Do You Shop for Meat at Cox's the Butchers in Crediton High Street?

If you do your meat shopping at Cox's in Crediton High Street and HATE plastic waste we have good news for you. After a very friendly phone chat with Paula Mossman of the Waste Action Group Cox's have agreed that you can take along your own clean re-usable containers to the shop for your mea ...

1st June 2011

Planet Plastic

Here is an extract from an article from the last Junk Mail about a subject that is dear to the hearts of the WAGS group - plastic! "There are now three main types of plastic carrier bag dished out by shops; the older, stronger plastic carrier, the thinner de-gradable carrier and third type ...

28th February 2011

Tristram Stuart

This is a truly eye opening book that deals with the subject of food wastage both in the UK and worldwide. It looks at food waste at many levels; at source or in other words at the farming and fishery level, at the intermediary level of food product manufacture, at the retail level by superma ...

7th March 2010

How a family reduced their rubbish to one bag a year

Can we all take the challenge to do as well or better? It would be interesting to hear how CCA supporters are doing on minimising household waste. ...

1st October 2009

The Story of Stuff - wonderful ... and worrying

"A 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns" ... a wonderful, clear animation thats brilliantly researched and a little worrying to hear! highly recommended. Jessie ...

30th July 2009

Plastic Bottles

We all know that disposable plastic bottles are an environmental nightmare as so many billions of them are created each year to pollute the environment for hundreds of years to come. However recent reports indicate the extreme inadvisability for women to drink water that has been left in plast ...

1st July 2009

Reduce junk mail

As recycling is becoming a pretty mainstream activity, now is time to expand our thinking and start looking at Waste Reduction more seriously. By reducing waste we save huge amounts of energy and help conserve the world's precious resources. A good place to start? Unwanted mail or junk mail ...

13th September 2007

See the Message in the Waves - the impact of plastic bags

BBC wildlife documentary about how plastics are affecting the seas around Hawaii. ...