who is responsible for rubbish?

We are all responsible for the rubbish created in the UK. If we want to start reducing rubbish it is important to remember that every day 'we', the consumers, buy cans of drink, bags of crisps, toys, clothes, washing machines and cars which are produced by industry. Responsibility for rubbish must be shared between industry and us, the consumers. In recent years, industry has started to reduce the amount of rubbish it produces by:

• working with organisations such as Valpak and Incpen to increase recycling and reduce packaging
• recycling over 30% of used packaging at a cost of £62 million per year
• designing containers for products that use as little packaging as possible
• providing customers with information on recycling and recycling facilities
• making better use of the rubbish created on their own premises, for example, collecting and sorting rubbish so it can be sent for recycling

Q: How much rubbish have you created today? How much rubbish does your class at school produce each day? Click here for advice on how to carry out a waste check for your school.