Our village’s newest High Street shop is leading a 31 day challenge to reduce our negative impact on the environment. The Bottle Top is supporting the global campaign “Plastic Free July” by producing a “Low Waste Starter Pack” for anyone to download and follow.
When husband and wife team Anthony and Alex Preston brought Ruddington’s former greengrocers’ shop back to life in May 2019 as a specialist off-licence, they also promised a range of products not previously available in our village. These include fresh produce and goods without all the plastic packaging, recyclable items and other eco-friendly products, and initiatives such as their “zero waste station”. Now, this month long campaign takes things a stage further.
Alex explains: “Throughout the challenge we encourage people to make low waste swaps and to think about their waste. By the end of it we hope to have a number of businesses in the area signed up to low waste initiative such as refill and food sharing. What we hope from the challenge is to raise awareness and to show people how simple changes can be made.
The comprehensive 46-page pack begins by explaining ‘The Six Rs’ – Remember to Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rot. However, perhaps surprisingly, Recycle is towards the bottom of the list. “If you have seen the ‘War On Plastic’ episode by the BBC you will understand some of the issues with recycling” says Alex. “In a nutshell 90% of what we call ‘recyclable’ is not actually recycled and often ends up in illegal dumpsites in countries like Malaysia. Recycling is very much a last resort due to its ineffectiveness.”
So what are the best ways to help our planet? Well, Alex and Anthony’s specially produced pack suggests a different goal to achieve each day on your “31 Days to Low Waste”. It begins with taking stock of how much waste your household produces and how to start reducing it. After getting together your ‘Low Waste Starter Kit’, there are tips on decluttering your home so others can reuse your unwanted items. Ruddington benefits from THREE charity shops (below) which are a great way to do this – and support good causes at the same time – whilst shopping locally reduces our carbon footprint.
Repairing rather than replacing, reusing our shopping bags, going paperless, cutting down on fast food and switching to steel straws and bamboo toothbrushes are all highlighted in the new pack. It points out we can eliminate plastic tubes and containers by making our own toothpaste, shampoo and cleaning products. As well as tips for growing our own food, there’s even a recipe for vegetable stock made by saving veggie scraps!
You can join The Bottle Top’s ‘Low Waste July Support Group’ on Facebook to keep up to date day by day on Alex and Anthony’s progress (and also see how others are faring) >>HERE<<.
If you’d like to know more, and get yourself off to a flying start, The Bottle Top is hosting it’s very first ‘Refill and Reuse’ evening on Wednesday July 3rd from 6pm to 9pm. Here you can refill your containers with pantry staples such as rice, pasta, spices and nuts. They also have household refills to fill up your old bottles with washing up liquid, shampoo and other supplies. The full list of what will be available to purchase on the night can be found >>HERE<<. Secondhand adult clothing, and a selection of goody bags will also be on offer, giving plenty of time to browse their shelves and to see how their ‘low waste station’ works.
The Ruddington Children’s Clothing Library – set up last year by village resident Sally Dyson to help both the environment and low income families here – will be there to showcase the clothes available to borrow. Sally tells RUDDINGTON.info: “I got involved with this event as I thought it might tempt people who thought the Library was a good idea, but weren’t sure about the quality of the clothes. I’ve been calling it ‘RCCL Live’!”
Alex adds: “Protecting our environment is becoming more and more crucial to the survival of our planet and thankfully, due to a series of high profile initiatives, low waste living is getting easier. Although radical change is needed, we advocate that small changes in our consumerism and our attitude to waste can create, and in fact be the catalyst for the bigger changes needed. We want to show how easily changes can be made that benefit the environment and that every single one of us IS in the position to change at least some of our damaging habits and make a difference to the wellbeing of the earth we live on.”
You can download/view a copy of the “Low Waste Starter Pack” on your mobile device or computer by clicking on the image below. (We don’t advocate printing it out, unless absolutely necessary.)
Read more about The Bottle Top >>HERE<<.
