Reduce your waste

Reduce

Reducing the amount of waste you produce is both the most environmentally friendly and also the most cost-effective option.

• Food Savvy Norfolk is here to help you tackle food waste, whilst celebrating good food and saving you money. Save up to £60 per month with the food savvy challenge and get great recipes and top tips
• Compost your waste at home - find great offers on composting equipment for Norfolk residents as well as help and advice on composting
• Join the Refill Revolution and download the free Refill app and find over 500 Norfolk locations where you can get refills for water, hot drinks, food and shopping without the single-use packaging. Find out how to add a new refill location or volunteer for refill too
• Single-use products like disposable nappies, cling film and wet wipes are used just once, before being thrown away. How many single-use products can you swap for reusable alternatives to save money and the planet? See swap2save for great ideas
• Opt out of junk mail - You can prevent this by registering your details with the Mailing Preference Service which stops personally addressed unsolicited mail. Join the Mailing Preference Service
• Sky lantern and balloon releases can be a fire hazard and the leftover parts can harm wildlife and livestock. We've banned the release of sky lanterns or balloons on any land or property owned by the County Council. Join the campaign and find out more at Sky lanterns and balloon release charter.

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Reuse

Many Norfolk recycling centres have Reuse Shops, where you can donate your good quality unwanted items instead of dumping them, and pick up a bargain.

Or try these ideas:

• Norfolk has a large network of reuse and repair facilities including charity shops and some charities will collect from your doorstep. To find your nearest reuse options use the Bin Genie search tool
• Freegle is an online exchange where you can pass on things you no longer need - for free
• Learn new repair skills to mend your clothing and other textiles and stop them becoming waste. Knit and natters are also great groups to help develop skills to mend and repair clothing or to create new items
• Hold a community reuse event - such as a Give and Take Day, Jumble Sale, Car boot sale or Garden Produce Swap event

Host a Swishing Event - Swishing is a great way to swap your old unloved clothes for different ones. For more information, visit the Get Swishing.com website

Recycle

Using your recycling bins at home and your local Recycling Centre are great ways to recycle your waste. Try these ideas to recycle even more.

• Find your nearest community recycling banks using the Bin Genie search tool or find out how to install new local recycling banks and collect Recycling Credits
• Check out Terracycle for collection points around Norfolk of difficult to recycle materials like crisp packets, contact lens packaging and toothpaste tubes
• Set up a Community Composting Scheme - where local communities collect garden material from households, take it to a community site and make it into compost