Aiming for Zero Waste
Waste comes in many forms – wasted energy, wasted food, wasted materials, and this waste is what exacerbates the environmental issues we have today. Not only does unnecessary waste increase carbon emissions through the manufacture, transport and disposal of goods, but can also create pollution in our seas and rivers, on land and in the air we all breathe.
Waste is a necessary evil of modern living however we can take action on waste by considering what we use and how we dispose of it.
So how can we take action against unnecessary waste in Ampthill?
As individuals, businesses and organisations we can think about:
What we buy: Do we need it, what is it made from, how it is packaged, is it compostable or recyclable?
How we dispose of it: can it be re-used, re-purposed, or recycled?
As a group, we started several projects in Ampthill before COVID-19 hit:
- We started to investigate setting up Terracycle schemes in Ampthill or linking with schemes in other areas with the aim of recycling more of the items that are not collected at the kerbside.
- We started to liaise with CBC with regard to installing recycling bins in the town.
- We started discussions with businesses and event organisers about decreasing the use of single-use cups and food packaging and working towards reducing plastic use in the community
- We started discussions with CBC to work together to measure and reduce the waste generated in the town.
- We have recently registered with the Surfers Against Sewage ‘Plastic Free Communities’ initiative, and hope to become accredited as a Plastic Free community in 2021 by reducing our use of single-use plastic and plastic packaging.
We are continuing to progress some of this work where it is safe to do so and will update the website when we have more news.