Why recycle

The United Kingdom produces millions of tonnes of household waste every year and the majority in Kensington and Chelsea is land filled rather than recycled or composted. Central Government has now set local governments statutory targets for the recycling and recovery of household waste. There are lots of reasons to reduce and recycle your waste.

Save resources

• most of what we throw away is made from products that are slowly running out or cannot be replaced quickly enough because of the amount we consume
• many of the materials we throw in landfill tips have a value and can be used again
• many gardeners use peat as a soil improver - this contributes to the destruction of peat bogs, which are non-renewable habitats for wild flowers and animals
• the use of peat is unnecessary because gardeners can make compost from their kitchen and garden waste to use as a soil improver
• in addition to saving our peat bogs, composting green waste saves valuable landfill tip space which is running out

Save energy

• making new goods out of recycled material saves energy - for example, making new aluminium cans from recycled cans uses 20 times less energy than making cans from the raw material

Protect the environment

• reducing what we use and recycling materials reduces the need to dig up or mine new raw materials, which often damages the surrounding environment

Help charities

• many charities and community groups raise money through reusing and recycling - look around your local high street for charity shops to take your unwanted clothes to or be aware of local groups asking for 'jumble'. (Scope, Oxfam and the Salvation Army all have reuse bins in the borough)

Create jobs

• employment can be provided by businesses involving renovation, repair and recycling
• buying recycled goods is vital to provide the market to encourage and promote recycling
• the Mayor, with London Remade launched the Mayor's Green Procurement Code in June 2001. The Code aimed to boost businesses and public sector use of recycled materials in the capital (this was the first step in developing a London code of practice for Green Procurement and increasing the market for recycled materials. At the start of October 2002, over 130 businesses and public sector organisations had signed up to the Mayor's code.