Countdown 2030: Rethinking rubbish

‘Throw it away’ When we no longer need something or it appears broken, we tend to throw it away. But there is no ‘away’. Precious metals captured within electronic equipment are sent to landfill or incinerated, single use plastics are collected through Horsham’s waste recycling scheme and sent to Europe for incineration and use as fuel, and unwanted clothes are dealt with similarly.

Can you join us as we Rethink?
Can you REFUSE to buy something that is packed in single use plastic and buy something else instead?

Can you use REUSE something rather than replace it?
For example, go along with your containers to a local refill store for toiletries, household cleaning products or dried food? You can see your nearest stores on our website e.g. Steyning store and post office has refills for household products

Can you REPAIR it?
Our new Repair Café has a growing number of volunteers who will help you repair anything from a broken zip, toaster, chair leg or lawn mower.

Can you RECYCLE it?
The lifestyle web page on our website has lots of information about how and where to recycle things – from using Freegle or Give Your Stuff Away Day, to bringing specific single use plastics to the Farmers Market in Steyning. We work closely with Sussex Green Living and their Terracycle scheme and also Upper Beeding Primary School.

We have three big bins for:
• Flattened crisp and snack packets, including nuts and popcorn (bread bags are great to keep these flat and together): Also at Upper Beeding primary school:
• Cake, sweet and biscuit wrappers including Kitkats and Cheddars
• Cleaned and dried pet food pouches and dried pet food bags (these are also collected at 41 Breach Close in Steyning)

And 6 other bins for:
• Toothpaste tubes and toothbrushes
• Trigger heads from spray bottles (bottles go in your home recycling bin)
• Plastic bottle tops
• Used pens and pencils
• Used and clean beauty product tubes
• ‘Other’ specific plastic recycling: Cheese wrappers, dishwasher packets, baby food pouches, Marigold gloves, air fresheners and cleaning wipe packets.

No we can’t take coffee packets or anything not on this list as there is no one paying for these to be recycled. But did you know that if a food wrapper is not crinkly and can be stretched, and often says recycle with your supermarket carrier bags, then that’s where you can take these. These are made from polyethylene and are infinitely recyclable. So please take them along to the supermarket collection points.

If you feel inspired, please join us! We are a small group of volunteers who are all trying to do our bit and we really welcome new faces.

Come and chat to us at the Farmers Market and we’ll tell you all about it!