| Picture the humble cardboard box, how many | | | | package recycling - household packaging is |
| times has it helped you move house, clear out | | | | responsible for only 3 per cent of all waste that |
| your car or acted as emergency storage for all | | | | ends up in landfill sites and the Government has |
| those household bits and bobs that would | | | | set strict industry targets that will ensure that this |
| otherwise be under the bed? It's a great reusable | | | | number is translated into commercial and business |
| and recyclable invention but all too often once | | | | packaging terms too. |
| we've used it, we throw it away. | | | | Why should you recycle? |
| Think back to the last item you received in the | | | | It's simple really, think Slumdog Millionaire - if the |
| post, whether it was something that came in a | | | | scenes from this film weren't a wake-up call to |
| cardboard box, a letter, large household item or | | | | the horrors of human waste, what is? Living on |
| something completely else, what did you do with | | | | waste sites and landfills could happen, we need to |
| its packaging? The term 'packaging' covers | | | | take responsibility for exactly where our waste |
| everything from bubble wrap and cardboard | | | | materials end up, starting today. |
| boxes to envelopes, polystyrene chips and brown | | | | Recycling isn't an arduous, time consuming task - |
| parcel tape, chances are if you've sold anything | | | | supermarkets, councils and the Government have |
| on the internet or have ever received anything | | | | made sure that most, if not all, of us in the UK |
| via home delivery, you've seen all of these items | | | | have access to a local recycling centre and by |
| and more and you've more than likely ummed | | | | recycling just one aluminium can at your local |
| and aahed over what to do with it. | | | | supermarket or recycling centre, you could save |
| Packaging plays a huge role in today's society, | | | | enough energy to power your television for three |
| from food packaging and worldwide parcel | | | | hours. |
| delivery to online shopping and international | | | | It is important to point out that not all packaging |
| shipping; we wouldn't know what to do without it. | | | | materials can be recycled but there are always |
| And while companies are becoming more and | | | | alternatives to the bin. Take the humble |
| more socially aware of their responsibility to | | | | cardboard box we mentioned earlier for example |
| reduce food and product packaging, less is being | | | | - the perfect reusable item. You'll find that a friend |
| said about what to do with that enormous | | | | who is moving house talks about cardboard boxes |
| cardboard box and those endless pieces of | | | | and bubble wrap like a mother talks about her |
| polystyrene that your brand new shiny fridge | | | | new born child - there's nothing more precious. |
| arrived in - gloriously scratch free. | | | | Cardboard can also be composted and used in |
| To put our dependence on packaging into | | | | other environmentally friendly activities such as |
| context, around 10 million tonnes of packaging are | | | | growing your own vegetables or cultivating a |
| used each year to protect all the goods that | | | | window box to attract the declining bee. Bubble |
| businesses and consumers purchase. While that | | | | wrap and polythene sheets can obviously be |
| sounds like (and is) a lot, approximately 60 per | | | | reused to send a parcel but they can also be |
| cent of these 10 million tonnes is recovered and | | | | used to keep weeds and pests at bay in the |
| either reused or recycled. | | | | garden - the opportunities are endless as they |
| Overall, the numbers are looking good for | | | | say. |