With only 1% of the items we buy still in use six months after they're bought, and the majority going to landfill, it's now more important than ever to take part in Zero Waste Week and limit the amount of environmental damage being caused.
The idea behind Zero Waste Week, which will take place from 1-7 September 2014, began eight years ago when one of the worst rainstorms in British history was unleashed on the village of Boscastle where Rachelle Strauss lived with her husband and three-year-old daughter. After realising that she needed to be part of the solution in the fight against climate change, Rachelle decided to reduce the amount of waste she sent to landfill and make more use of the resources she had.
In 2008, after much public interest in Rachelle and her family's endeavours to reduce the amount of waste they sent to landfill, an annual Zero Waste Week was born!
To take part in Zero Waste Week, you sign up to the mailing list with your email address and make a pledge. Each year there's a theme, and this year the theme is 'One More Thing', so people who make a pledge are asked to answer the question: 'What one more thing could you do to reduce landfill?'
Ideas for pledges include:
If you're just getting started, you could swap a disposable carrier for a reusable one, however if you already take an interest in your waste, you could attempt to go completely zero waste for the week. Even if households and businesses reduces their waste by a tenth it will reduce the 177 million tons of waste sent to landfill every year.
Sign up to Rachelle’s Zero Waste here, and follow the campaign on Twitter using #zerowasteweek.
