Reducing waste - reusing rubbish

This blog is about real waste not perceived waste.

Every year we throw millions of pounds worth of rubbish which could be recycled away. 1248 kgs of waste is thrown away in a year and in a week 24 kg are thrown away in a house with three or four people, estimates of whole populations are that we throw about 24 million tonnes of recyclable materials away each year which are either incinerated or put in landfills.

The sheer amount of waste and lack of recycling is an environmental hazard raised not just by pressure groups such as Friends of the Earth but also by local councils struggling to cope.

There are various networks online and in communities which do incredibly valuable work in reusing waste and making sure we do not fill landfills and cause further damage to the environment.

Last week SAMS won the Environmental Champion of the year award in the Selnet Enterprises in Society awards.

SAMS is a scrapstore that collects a range of materials that would otherwise be destined for landfill and offers them for re use. This is not rubbish, but surplus materials no longer of any value to the company or individual who own them but of great use to others. This could be A3 paper over-ordered by a client, a fabric manufacturer with a load of off-cuts of materials or a box full of plastic bottles that were ordered ages ago and have never been required.  All these things are still completely usable but would be sent to landfill or left on a shelf gathering dust and being counted at every stock take!

Materials collected are sorted by our small army of volunteers and made available to our members. These could be local schools or voluntary organisations, childminders, art students or individuals that enjoy craft.

Members are able to obtain sustainable resources for a fraction of the price they would have paid to source them another way.  Items are sourced as locally as possible and re used by local people.

Re-use differs from recycling in that the materials re-used do not have to be transported, converted and re manufactured therefore use less energy and resources.  It is much kinder to the environment reusing things in their original form.

The Outcomes of SAMS

• Reduce the amount of perceived waste being sent to landfill
• Offer an inexpensive alternative way of sourcing art and craft materials
• Facilitate creative learning
• Educate about re-use and recycling
• Improve your corporate image (hopefully by you supplying us)
• Reduce production and the associated use of raw materials and energy
• Act as a community focus for a number of different organisations
• Provide a hub and boost the imagination for Play activities

SAMS and the other national scrapstores up and down the country, make a significant contribution to reducing the UK’s carbon footprint by an immeasurable amount.  Can you help too?