Waste King’s Eight Steps to Being Greener

Waste King, the environmentally-friendly specialist collections, clearance and recycling company which guarantees to recycle over 84 per cent of all the waste it collects, has published its top eight suggestions to help everyone enjoy a ‘greener’ lifestyle.

Waste King’s managing director, Glenn Currie, said: “New Year’s Resolutions are notorious for not being adhered to after the first few days of the New Year. Yet helping to protect our fragile environment and making life better for everyone is something we should all continue to do well beyond the first few weeks of the year!”

Waste King asked its operatives – all of whom are Environment Agency-licensed - for their advice on how to adopt a greener, more environmentally considerate lifestyle. Here’s what they said:
1. Save energy to save money
• Set your thermostat a few degrees lower in the winter and a few degrees higher in the summer to save on heating and cooling costs.

• Install compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) when your older incandescent bulbs burn out.

• Unplug appliances when you're not using them. Or, use a ‘smart’ power strip that senses when appliances are off and cuts ‘phantom’ energy use.

• Wash clothes in cold water whenever possible. As much as 85 per cent of the energy used in machine washing clothes goes in heating the water.

• Use a drying rack or clothesline to save the energy otherwise used during machine drying.

2. Save water to save money
• Take shorter showers to reduce water use. This will lower your water and heating bills too.

• Install a low-flow showerhead. They are inexpensive and the water and energy savings can soon pay back your investment.

• Plant drought-tolerant native plants in your garden. Many plants need minimal watering. Find out which occur naturally in your area.

3. Saving petrol means more money and better health
• Walk or bike to work. This saves on petrol/diesel and parking costs while improving your cardiovascular health and reducing your risk of obesity.

• Consider telecommuting if you live far from your work. Or move closer. Even if this means paying more rent, it could save you money in the long term.

• Lobby your local council to increase spending on pavements and cycle lanes. These improvements can pay huge dividends in improving your health and reducing traffic.

4. Eat smart
• If you eat meat, have one meatless meal a week. Meat costs a lot - and it's even more expensive when you consider the related environmental and health costs.

• Buy locally-raised, humanely-produced and organic meat, eggs, and dairy products whenever you can.

• Buying from local farmers keeps money in the local economy.

5. Don’t drink bottled water
• Use a water filter to purify tap water instead of buying bottled water. Not only is bottled water expensive, it generates large amounts of container waste.

• Have a reusable water bottle, preferably aluminium rather than plastic, with you when at work or travelling.

6. Think before you buy: your purchases have a real impact – for better or worse
• Go online to find new or carefully used second-hand products (to re-use).

• Check out garage sales, ‘thrift’ stores, and factory outlets for clothing and other everyday items.

• When making purchases, make sure you know what is and what isn’t ‘value for money’.

7. Borrow instead of buying
• Share power tools and other appliances. Get to know your neighbours while cutting down on the number of things cluttering your cupboards or garage.

• Borrow from libraries instead of buying books and films. This saves money - and the ink and paper that go into printing new books.

8. Keep electronics out of the rubbish
• Keep your mobile phones, computers and other electronics as long as possible.

• Donate or recycle them responsibly when the time comes. E-waste contains mercury and other toxics and is a growing environmental problem.

• Recycle your mobile phone.

• Ask your local council to set up an electronics recycling and hazardous waste collection event.

“There were other suggestions – such as using Waste King to collect and recycle all your unwanted materials – but merely following these 25 suggestions, grouped into eight categories, should go some way towards making your community a lot greener,” Currie commented.

“And, of course, you could always add: ‘Use Waste King because we guarantee to recycle over 84 per cent of all the waste we collect – and stop it going to landfill unnecessarily’,” he smiled.

End

About Waste King Ltd

A specialist collections, clearance and recycling company, Waste King serves the domestic and commercial markets. It focuses not only on providing a friendly, efficient, cost-effective service but also one which is environmentally friendly. In particular, Waste King’s uniformed, Environment Agency-licensed staff take time to ensure that the maximum amount of waste can be recycled and that all the waste it collects is disposed of in an environmentally friendly way.

Waste King was formed, in 2007, by Glenn Currie and Andy Cattigan, who had experience in sales and IT respectively and were keen to ‘do something to help the environment’.

Waste King Ltd
Unit 13, Frogmore Industrial Estate, Hemel Hempstead, HP3 9RW
Tel: 0800 234 3657/ 01442 216784; Web: http://www.wasteking.co.uk
Contact: Glenn Currie, Waste King Ltd, 0800 234 3657 / 07761 577001; glenn.currie@wasteking.co.uk

PR contact: Bob Little, Bob Little Press & PR, 01727 860405; bob.little@boblittlepr.com

This release was published on openPR.