If one of your new year’s resolutions is to look at ways to reduce your family’s plastic usage our latest blog with tips from Hubbub’s #LeedsByExample campaign should come in handy.
In the UK we’re consuming more and more food and drink on the go, getting through 13 billion plastic bottles, 9 billion drinks cans and 2.5 billion coffee cups every year. Unfortunately, lots of this packaging isn’t recycled because many of us are unsure about what can and can’t be recycled, and contamination of recycling can mean the whole lot ends up being incinerated or sent to landfill.
Plastic was thought of as a ‘wonder’ material when it was first invented in 1869 as a substitute for ivory. Since then 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic have been produced, and because it takes up to 400 years to degrade, most of this still exists in some form. From shampoo to sanitary ware, teabags to takeaway coffee cups and crisp packets to cigarette filters, plastic is now almost everywhere you look.
It can be easy to feel overwhelmed, but if you follow Hubbub’s four R’s you can’t go too far wrong: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Responsible use. #LeedsByExample
Hubbub’s #LeedsByExample campaign aims to boost on-street collection and recycling of empty plastic, cans and coffee cups throughout the city. As well as a new recycling network with 20 new on-street recycling bins, people in Leeds can also look out for recycle reward machines, the Re-Cycler cargo bike, bubble bins and installations.
For the latest on what’s on see: www.LeedsByExample.co.uk
Hubbub is a charity which explores innovative ways to interest mainstream consumers in important sustainability issues, through different ‘hubs’ of activity: Food; Fashion; Homes; Neighbourhoods. Hubbub’s previous campaigns have included #SquareMileChallenge, the UK’s first large scale solution to coffee cup recycling, #NeatStreets to cut litter in UK cities and For Fish’s Sake (#FFSLDN) to tackle litter in the Thames. https://www.hubbub.org.uk/