In this section we've included some hints and tips on how to manage your household
rubbish. You can find out how to minimise the effect that you have on the environment
and how to make your household more environmentally friendly.
Each year in the UK households throw away over 29.1 million tonnes of waste, that's the same weight as 4.85 million male African Elephants!
(source: recycle-more.co.uk)
In the UK we throw away 13 billion steel cans every year, stacked on top of each other, you could make 3 piles of cans that would reach to the moon! (source: www.scrib.org.uk)
Each year about 600 million UK household batteries (22,000 tonnes) are sent to landfill. That's the same weight as 3,666 Tyrannosaurus Rex's (source: recycle-more.co.uk)
The energy saved from recycling 1 glass bottle is enough a power a light bulb for four hours
Disposable nappies take 500 years to decompose
Producing steel from recycled material saves 75% of the energy needed if steel were made from virgin material
If every Briton purchased one item
made from recycled wool a year it would save 371 million gallons of water, 480
tonnes of chemical dyes and 4571 million days of an average family's electricity
needs (source: UK Gov)
Every tonne of paper recycled saves 17 trees
The energy saved by recycling 1 aluminium drink can is enough to run a television for three hours
