Refuse Reduce Reuse Miriam Adcock Consumer Campaigns Project

Refuse, Reduce, Re-use Miriam Adcock Consumer Campaigns Project Manager

The waste hierarchy … also more commonly talked about as the 3 R’s – Reduce, Re-use, Recycle Source: European Commission

Agenda • Revolve • Re-use Line • Re-usable menstrual campaign • Single-use plastics • European Week for Waste Reduction • Pass it on Week

Scotland’s national reuse quality standard

In a recent survey … - 45% of Scots said if they could be assured of quality, safety and cleanliness of products, they’d be more likely to shop second hand - 71% of Scots recognize that shopping second hand is important to save the planet

National marketing campaign PR and social media - Stunts (lookalikes) - Highlighting stores - Normalising re-use - Topical

And it’s growing … Transition Stirling became the 150 th store and show it’s not just traditional reuse stores that can be certified

What can you do? - Promote your local stores - Visit your local stores - Follow and share social media on facebook, twitter and Instagram - Visit www. revolvereuse. com

Re-use Line changes Online directory to replace the phone line 0800 0665 820 • Phoneline and donation form are not staffed after 30 Aug 19 • New directory of organisations that collect in your postcode. • Embedded the directory on your website – easier to access • Donate items using reuseline. com

Re-usable menstrual product campaign Announced by First Minister in Feb 19 To encourage consumers to switch from disposable period products to re-usable ones by raising awareness and providing useful information on the re-usable alternatives available (e. g. cups, cloth pads, pants)

The stats … It’s been estimated that the average woman will dispose of 11, 000 sanitary products in her lifetime 23. 2 million packs of tampons and 84. 5 million packs of sanitary towels were bought in the UK in 2016 8% of all waste that enters the waste treatment works comes from period waste according to Water UK Marine Conservation Society data shows that 4. 8 pieces of litter identified as menstrual waste are found per 100 m of beach in the UK.

What’s happening Currently doing in-depth consumer research Next steps will be working on campaign messaging and creative development Channels; PR, social media, website, stakeholder/community engagement More information coming soon – sign up to our ‘Reduce, Reuse, Repair ezine’ and follow us on social media

Single-use plastics

The controversial bit – plastic is not bad! • Plastic is neither inherently bad or good. It is just extremely long lasting. • This is great for re-usable materials • It is really problematic for disposable items

Plastic is great at preventing waste Keep cups, re-usable Tupperware, bags for life, re-usable water bottles, re-usable menstrual products are all plastic items which can significantly reduce plastic waste and pollution

But it’s really bad for disposable items • 3 seconds in your cup. • 500 -ish years in landfill/sea/environment. • Massive waste of resources and energy

Our throwaway society is the real problem…

‘Anything but plastic = better than plastic’ No! Some alternatives that are becoming common: • Paper straws • Compostable cups, plates, bowls etc • ‘Biodegradable’ plastic

Substituting plastic for other materials can be worse for the environment Paper straws • Trees are cut down to make these. Deforestation is a major cause of climate change. • They are rarely recycled, so mostly go to rot in landfill. This creates methane just like food waste. This is another major cause of climate change.

Compostable/biodegradable packaging • Compostable packaging needs to be sent to an industrial composting facility to break down. Most food waste is sent to anaerobic digestion plants, most of which would not break down these items. • Even in industrial composting plants, the majority of compostable packaging is picked off the line to ensure no non-compostable plastic packaging ends up in the end product through contamination. The compostable packaging is usually landfilled or burnt. • Because it is organic matter, it may create methane like food waste, which contributes to climate change.

What is the most sustainable approach? • Reduce – stop using certain things altogether. • Re-use – use items that can be re-used time and time again. • Recycle – if an item really can’t be removed or re-used, make sure the disposable alternative is recyclable and recycled.

So what should we do instead? 3 Rs for single use items: • Straws – unless you really need one, don’t use them. Carry a re-usable one. • Coffee cups – Wait till you get home. Sit in. Take a keep cup. Deposit cups. • Plastic bottles – Stop buying on the go drinks. Remember water bottle. Deposit Return System.

So what should we do instead? Single use items: • Any single-use crockery – re-usables for deposit (bring your own in meantime? ) • Plastic packaging – buy loose fruit and veg. Stock up at packaging free shops for dried items. Recycle your packaging. • Sachets and stirrers – Quit sugar. Shops can use dispensers and real spoons. Complain if they don’t.

So what should we do instead? Other items: • Clothes – increasingly, clothes are made of plastic. Polyester, nylon, acrylic etc are now about 60 percent of the material that makes up our clothes worldwide. Choose natural fibres where you can, buy clothes to last. Buy second hand clothes. Wash in net that catches microplastic fibres. • Scourers – these shed microplastics down the drain too. Use dishcloths made from natural fibres. • Inflate your tyres – car tyres are now up to 60% plastic and shed significant proportions of microplastics by washing off roads into drains and into the ocean. Keeping tyres inflated and braking gently all reduce this. • Switch to loose leaf tea – the majority of tea bags contain plastic. Loose leaf tea is much less wasteful – compost the stewed leaves. • Ditch wet wipes

One more ‘R’ Refuse – refuse things. Refuse a handful of napkins/sauce/sugars. Refuse pointless giveaways. Refuse bags. Refuse flyers.

In summary • Plastic is not evil – it’s just absolutely NOT DISPOSABLE • All disposable items are a problem, not just ones made of plastic • Refuse, reduce, re-use and as a last resort recycle. • Avoid landfilling disposable items at all costs. • By following these principles, you can avoid harming marine life with plastic pollution AND help tackle the climate emergency • All of these measures sound small, but when we all do them it makes a massive difference

EWWR 2019 • Funded by Life+, a programme of the European Commission, and organised in Europe by ACR+, The Association of Cities and Regions for Recycling and Sustainable Resource Management • Zero Waste Scotland is the official coordinator of the week in Scotland • In 2018, over 14, 000 actions took place in 30 countries • The theme is “Waste education and communication for behaviour change”

EWWR 2019 – what can you do? • Organise an event (workshops, packaging reduction initiatives, food waste reduction events, competitions etc) • Educate and communicate about waste reduction • Win an award (registrations open in September)!

EWWR 2019 – what will we/EWWR do? • Provide ideas and resources – see www. ewwr. eu and www. zerowastescotland. org. uk/ewwr. • Organise PR and social media • And a possible idea (feedback please) was to offer cascade sessions across the week on single -use plastics, re-use, food waste, textiles, the Circular Economy, litter prevention, Deposit return etc – if there’s enough interest and I can get a free venue? ? ?

Pass it on Week 7 -15 March 2020 • Scotland’s annual celebration of re-use – whether it’s swapping, donating, sharing or repairing. It’s all about making things last! • www. passitonweek. com • Following on from previous years where theme has been things like • • #The. Big. Electric. Amnesty (2017) The musical instrument amnesty (2018) The Big Declutter (2019) 2020 will be the year of …

Pass it on Week 7 -15 March 2020

Pass it on Week 7 -15 March 2020 • We will work on PR and social media to generate interest and to make it easy for you to share • We will produce an ideas guide and resources such as posters, digital banners etc that you can use • You can get involved by organising events – they can follow theme of ‘The Great Toy Rescue’, but anything that is about re-use is welcomed. • Check out www. passitonweek. com nearer the time and sign up to our ezine/social media for more information.

Further information and ways to get involved … Follow us for updates; - Websites; - Zero Waste Scotland (corporate channel) - Recycle For Scotland (consumer channel) - Resource Efficient Scotland (business channel) - Love Food Hate Waste (food waste) - Revolve (re-use) - Social media - Zero Waste Scotland; facebook, twitter, linked in - Recycle For Scotland; facebook - Love Food Hate Waste; facebook - Revolve; facebook, twitter, Instagram Or contact; Miriam. Adcock@zerowastescotland. org. uk