Waste Retention

What is Waste Retention and why is it important?

It's keeping your waste at home and therefore keeping it OUT of the 'waste stream' which saves money and benefits the environment

Once we have reduced the amount of waste we generate, we can try to deal with as much as we can at home. This means less waste material in our dustbins AND our recycling bins, which in turn means the refuse lorries do not need to take as many trips to the tip and the recycling centres as they would otherwise have to do. This means less lorries on our roads leading to less congestion and producing less pollution and less noise. It also means less money needs to be spent on disposing of waste or recycling it (both options are expensive)

How can we be expected to keep the stuff we normally throw away?

The easiest way of retaining your waste is to start a compost bin and put all your garden waste and grass cuttings in it, along with some kitchen waste such as fruit and veg peelings. You could also use a 'digester' to dispose of your kitchen scraps including bones, meat, fish and dairy products. If you don't have a garden, you could try a wormery which you can feed food waste too, and you get a fine compost and plant food too. If you don't have the room for either a compost bin or a wormery, you could install an under-the-sink waste disposal unit (its not strictly retaining waste, but it does keep it out of the waste stream).

If any of these options appeals to you, the Council can help with subsidies and offers.

• Compost Bin Offers
• Wormery Offers
• Digester Offers
• Undersink Disposal Unit Offers

We have also put together lots of informative information on home composting and we have a website dedicated to waste minimisation called www.wastemissionimpossible.org.uk

So, we've REDUCED, RE-USED and RETAINED. Whats do we do with the waste we have left?

Click here for the next step, RECYCLING