MEET THE TEAM			HELPING TO REDUCE LANDFILL IN MORAY We are Moray's original reuse-reclaim facility, offering quality used furniture and goods for the home and garden at affordable prices. Bring us your unwanted items or come along and browse for a bargain.We can now offer a delivery/collection service for bulky items or garden waste within a 30 mile radius of our site for a very reasonable fee.  Please contact us for details. You can find us at the Recycling Centre, on Waterford Road, Forres. Just follow the signs off the A96 at Forres by Whites Removals. We are open six days a week, Monday to Saturday Mon/ Tue/ Thur/ Friday - 8.30am to 3.30pm Wednesday - 10.00am to 3.30pm Saturday - 9.00am to 3.30pm As you will see as you look through our website, we do much more than simply sell pre-owned goods. We produce our own handcrafted goods from reclaimed timber and with the installation of our new purpose-built workshop we have increased that range still further. Our Education Programme and Training schemes have been much admired and we are always coming up with new ideas to improve and expand our range of activities which are aimed at raising public awareness about the need to minimise waste and its impact on our environment. Below are a few hints and tips for making it a less wasteful 2010...
	Ian Longley Company Secretary
	Bob Mulholland Company Manager
	Kay Ford Marketing, Education & Funding Coordinator
	Paul Robinson Transport & Sales

As Christmas and the New Year become a distant memory of over-eating, drinking and mass consumerism, take a few minutes to think about what you bought over the festive period.  How much of it will still be in use this time next year?  So many resources are used to produce things that we don’t really want or need and which then get discarded with barely a second thought. 

It has been estimated that a staggering 80% of everything we buy in Britain will be discarded within 6 months of purchase.  That sounds incredible but when you think about it you can see how it happens - the impulse buys, the must-have gadgets that will languish in a cupboard until your next big clear-out, the have-to-have-it dress which looked so good in the shop but never comes out of your wardrobe once you get it home.  

It is true that this figure of 80% includes food and drink but even there we could save so much by shopping more carefully.  Every month, the average British household throws away approximately £50 of perfectly edible food because of bad planning. That’s £600 a year that could have stayed in your bank account!  Do you make a list before you hit the supermarket?  Or do you wander from aisle to aisle grabbing every two-for-one offer that takes your fancy without knowing what you will do with it once you get it home?  Why not try putting a simple weekly meal plan together before you set out. 

Another top tip to cut waste when food shopping is never shop on an empty stomach - it’s amazing how many tasty but unnecessary extras can end up in your basket just because you’re feeling peckish!

And what happens to all this waste?  It’s true that some of it is reused or recycled but it is nowhere near enough and we still have a long way to go to reduce the volume of goods needlessly ending up in landfill sites with all the attendant evils that this brings to the environment.

So why not make a slightly belated New Year’s Resolution to shop smarter and reduce the amount of waste you produce by next Christmas?  

The planet will thank you – and so will your bank balance! 

MORE TOP TIPS FOR REDUCING WASTE

1. Use a “Bag for Life” - plastic bags are a huge problem for the environment so try to use alternatives such as paper or cotton bags instead.

2. Make a shopping list - it is estimated that in the UK alone 6.7 million tonnes of food are thrown away every year.  That works out at about £50 of food per household per month.  Over a year that is equal to £600.  Just think what you could do with that money instead!

3. All discarded food which ends up in landfill creates methane gas which is 23 times more harmful than carbon dioxide and contributes to global warming so cut down on your food waste by putting all fruit and vegetable waste into a compost bin. Not only does it reduce the huge amount of vegetable and garden waste that goes to landfill but it also creates a nutritious free soil improver for your garden.

4. Reuse things - use both sides of a piece of paper before you recycle it. Pass unwanted items such as toys and clothes on to friends and family or donate them to charity shops.

5. Be creative! Use empty plastic bottles to make planters,bird feeders,cloches to protect young plants or even a greenhouse! Decorate old tiles to make colourful coasters.

6. Use your local Recycling services - for cardboard, paper, cans, glass jars and bottles, plastic bottles, clothes, shoes – check the internet to see what they will take.

7. Donate unwanted household items to a reuse-reclaim centre (how about MORAY WASTE BUSTERS?) so they can be reused by others.

Remember - one person's trash is another person's treasure! 

 

 

UPDATED 01/02/10

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