Eco School

Reduce Reuse Recycle

Food waste tips for home

Did you know that in the UK we throw away the equivalent of 24 meals a month? Or that nearly a fifth of household waste is packaging?

The good news is there are some simple steps we can take to minimise the amount of food waste and packaging we produce – just remember the 3Rs.

Here are some ideas to share with your family:

Reduce

Help plan family meals so food gets used up in time.

Freeze extra food (e.g. bread and meat – even cheese and butter can be frozen).

Buy fruit and veg loose, rather than in lots of unnecessary packaging.

Don’t put too much on your plate – you can always have seconds!

Eat leftovers the next day or freeze portions to have another day.

Reuse

Become a wizard at using leftovers.

Reuse plastic bags – not just for shopping, but also muddy football boots, covering school bags in the rain, etc!

Jam jars don’t have to be thrown straight into the recycling bin; they can be turned into containers for raisins and other foods, vases for flowers or holders for tea lights.

Recycle

Always check packaging before you throw it away to see if it can be recycled.

Visit recyclenow.com to find out what your council collects and what recycling facilities you have locally.

Stick the list of items you can recycle by the bin, so everyone in the family knows what packaging they shouldn’t be throwing away.

Have you heard of Terracycle? They specialise in recycling things that have traditionally been hard to recycle (e.g. biscuit wrappers, ballpoint pens and wet wipe packets). Visit www.terracycle.co.uk/en-UK/ and they’ll direct you to where you can recycle these tricky items near you.

Consider composting, even if space is tight. It’s a great way to get rid of things like teabags and veg scraps, and the result will be rich soil you can use for window boxes, if nothing else!

Saving Energy

Save energy waste by switching off electrical items when not in use.

Click on the link below to play the exciting new energy game. 

Join  Zingy on his school energy patrol. Whizz through the levels switching off lights and avoiding hazards – answer questions about energy to win more time on the clock!  Can you make your way to the top of the leader board?

https://jointhepod.org/games/power-patrol/index.html

Recycle

Recycle our plastics, old clothes, paper, card, glass and tins.

Up cycle our unwanted items.

Click on the link below to play the exciting new recycling game. 

Join Zingy on an outdoor adventure. Collect recycling as you whizz through the levels and climb up the leaderboard – but beware of the black bin bags and avoid the penalty hotspots. At the end of each level, either sort the rubbish correctly or answer bonus questions to gain extra time on the clock. Good luck!

https://jointhepod.org/games/zingys-recycling-adventure/index.html