Matterdale Zero Waste 2022

DEFRA data shows that "Eden District Council collected an average of 416.9kg of household waste per person from homes in 2021-2022". This is 8kg of waste per person per week, or more than 5 times the weight of a person each year.

As a start, why not try to think how to reuse things which you would otherwise throw away and resolve to avoid packaging altogether by refilling your own containers and using refill stations at shops like Another Weigh and Nature’s Health Store in Penrith. A good initial idea is to make a note of what you are putting in your bin and see how you can find an alternative way of buying or using that item.

To see how well you are doing by setting yourself a target for your roadside household waste in the last week of January and see how small your roadside household waste can be on 29th January eg shoebox size, small carrier bag. Then congratulate yourselves by posting a photo of your reduced waste for collection on that day. Let’s see if anyone can get down to zero!!

Look out on Matterdale Next Door for The Matterdale Zero Waste group where you can share ideas on how to reduce household waste and share your success, and on the Matterdale website for updates and more infromation For extra tips follow the 30 steps at www.another-way.org.uk/30-steps-to-another-way.

Let’s also make it an ongoing monthly challenge starting off 2022 in a better way