Use this page for information about national and local waste and recycling campaigns.
We work with residents, community groups, schools, universities, and other organisations to deliver a wide range of campaigns and waste education initiatives.
Our mission is to prevent and reduce waste across Bath and North East Somerset. Our Waste Strategy explains this in more detail.
Learn below about our Reduce, Reuse and Recycle campaigns and how you can get involved.
We can all help prevent waste by avoiding over consumption, making the items we already have last longer and considering more sustainable options when buying.
The Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has calculated that 36 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions could be prevented by saving food from our bins in UK homes. As well as environmental benefits, reducing food waste can also save people money and time.
Love food hate waste
For food waste reduction tips WRAP's Love Food Hate Waste campaign offers valuable information such as:
- Plan your meals and portions for the week. Make sure you leave flexibility to incorporate 'use up' days to use up any leftovers and to make sure food doesn't go to waste.
- Make a shopping list before grocery shopping, so you only buy what you need.
- Store food correctly and keep an eye on fresh food to make sure you don't miss any use by dates.
- Make use of your freezer, bread is a great one to go in the freezer as you can defrost it when you need it.
- Eat every edible part of your food. For example, keep skin on potatoes and carrots.
Love your clothes
The volume of raw materials used to produce garments has a negative impact on the environment. There are lots of ways you can make the most of your clothes and help ‘slow down’ fashion:
- Repair garments when possible. There are regular repair cafes around Bath and North East Somerset which can help to sew rips and fix zips for free.
- Buy and donate second-hand clothes at charity shops.
- Buy and sell second-hand clothes at online second-hand shops or car boot sales.
- Organise a clothes swap. You can swap clothes with friends and family as a fun and free way to freshen up your wardrobe.
Refill
Refill is a campaign which promotes reducing reliance on single use plastic and encourages people to use less packaging, by promoting places people can refill their containers, reusable coffee mug or reusable water bottle.
We have worked with Refill to provide awareness of the locations anyone can refill their water bottle in Bath and North East Somerset. We also installed some refill stations with Wessex Water, which have saved the equivalent of 33,956 500ml single use plastic bottles. You can also download the Refill to learn more.
Student Community Partnership
The Student Community shares key student move in and move out advice. We work closely with the two universities in Bath through this partnership.
The partnership's Moving In Checklist offers student move in advice. During student student move in we do door knocking and attend ‘Freshers Fairs’ to share tips about reducing waste, promote sharing household items and buying second hand to save money, and provide recycling information to ensure students can recycle as much as possible.
The partnership's Moving Out Checklist offers student move out advice. During student move out the Student Community Partnership work in partnership with British Heart Foundation, to offer bring bank sites for students so they can easily donate household items to charity.
You can make small changes to your daily habits to benefit the environment by reusing. For example reusing the same carrier bag or refilling a reusable water bottle. Think whether an item can be donated, loaned or repaired and fixed rather than thrown away.
Share and repair
Share and Repair is a charity in Bath and North East Somerset which helps local residents save money, and helps the environment through reduce, repair and reuse.
In Bath, you can attend one-to-one repair sessions with talented and skilled volunteers who can help fix broken items at the 'Share and Repair' 'library of things'. The shop also includes a wide range of equipment that members can borrow including irons, steam cleaners, garden equipment, and more.
You will find the 'Share and Repair' repair centre at 3 York Buildings, George Street, Bath BA1 2EB.
| Day | Hours |
|---|---|
| Wednesday | 10am to 1pm |
| Thursday | 1pm to 4pm |
| Friday | 10am to 1pm |
| Saturday | 10am to 1pm |
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