If you can't recycle your waste, then reuse it.

If you can’t prevent waste, you can try to get the most out of it by reusing items or giving them to someone else that can reuse them. Reuse means using items as many times as possible, which helps to save resources. For example you can take your unwanted items to local charity shops to be reused by others.

Tips for reducing waste

• Donate unwanted goods to charity shops
• Buy second-hand goods where appropriate at charity shops or car boot sales
• Sell things you no longer need at a car boot sale
• Look for products in refillable containers
• The Body Shop operates a refill service for their bottles
• Look for products that are available in refillable packages
• Use rechargeable batteries where possible - they will last several thousand uses!
• Reuse old jars, boxes and containers for storage
• Use scrap paper for jotting notes and reuse suitable envelopes
• Reuse carrier bags and refuse unnecessary ones
• Use supermarket 'bag for life' schemes
• Make gift tags from greetings cards
• Reuse mobile phone batteries and toner cartridges
• Reuse furniture & white goods – Your Choice Furniture Recycling
• Buy reusable nappies and save yourself money
• Set your printer to print both sides of a sheet of paper and photocopiers to copy documents double-sided
• Sell or donate things you no longer need
• Give magazines to friends or donated them to hospitals, homes for the aged or doctors' surgeries once you’ve read them
• Yarns and cloth scraps, buttons, wallpaper samplers, small boxes, egg cartons, yoghurt containers etc could be used by schools or day care centres