Why reduce waste?

Scottish households each produce over a tonne of waste every year!

It contributes to climate change, causes pollution, and costs millions of pounds to process.

Energy and resources

Lots of energy and natural resources go into making and transporting everyday objects - much of which goes to waste if we simply dump them into holes in the ground when we're finished with them.

For example, the energy saving from recycling just one glass bottle could power a washing machine for 10 minutes.

Recycling saves us money too - to landfill a tonne of glass costs around £55 while a tonne of glass sent to recycling via a bottle bank saves around £15 in materials, landfill and collection costs (figures from The British Glass Manufacturers' Confederation).

Added to that, the world does not have an endless supply of raw materials. Getting hold of them, for example, through mining for metals or drilling for oil, can cause further environmental damage.

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Our rubbish and climate change

Energy is needed to transport and process our waste.

Meanwhile, as our waste rots away in landfill sites it releases methane gas.

According to the International Panel on Climate Change, methane is about 21 times more powerful than CO₂ at trapping heat from the Sun in Earth's atmosphere (the cause of global warming).

Visit the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) website

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Landfill pollution

As well as releasing the greenhouse gas methane, landfill sites also produce liquid pollution called leachate.

This mix of compounds, released as rubbish breaks down, can be lethal to animal and plant life, especially if it gets into streams and other water courses. It can also pollute water supplies.

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