BLOG: Why we need to rethink our waste habits this year
A lot of household items can be given a new lease of life through recycling. Liverpool City Council’s Cabinet Member for Communities, Neighbourhoods and Streetscene, Cllr Laura Robertson-Collins discusses the urgency of waste reduction and the important changes people can make in 2025.
January is the perfect time for lots of us to start new habits. As well as the classics, like kicking off a new fitness regime or making time for that new hobby, I’m suggesting one we should all be getting involved in.
The truth is that we could all be a little bit better at bringing down the amount we throw away, and it just takes a few small changes to make a big difference.
Recycling is a great way to make a change, but reducing the amount of waste we create in the first place is just as important.
Making a shopping list and checking your cupboards before heading out can help make sure you only buy what you need. And, when it comes to throwing old bits out, handing them over to community groups and charity shops can be a fantastic way to give things a new home.
The less waste we create in the first place, the less we have to manage when it comes to our bins.
At the moment, Liverpool recycles only 17.9% of the waste that goes in the City’s bins.
While not everything can be recycled, we’re quite a long way behind the national average.
Over 30% of what we throw in our purple bins could have been recycled.
We must work collectively to minimise waste and do recycling the right way. With every passing year, this goal becomes more and more urgent.
For starters, it’s useful to know what you can recycle. Plastic bottles, paper, cardboard, cans, tins, and glass jars are all examples of things you can put in your blue bin. If you’re ever unsure what goes in the bin, Recycle Right has a useful search feature for all sorts of household items.
It isn’t just about what to recycle, but how to recycle as well.
A lot of people are doing the right thing, but may not be aware of contamination, which can affect whether items can be recycled.
Almost a quarter of what’s going in our blue bin can’t be recycled due to contamination. By contamination, we mean things like putting recycling in plastic bags instead of left loose in your blue bin, or food still stuck at the bottom of the tin. Simple changes like washing out food containers before throwing them away can help us to lower that number significantly.
Our blue bins aren’t the only way to give a new home to unwanted goods though. Any used gadgets, clothing or objects around the home can often be donated to a number of charities across the city. If something is too big to take to a shop yourself, you can book a free bulky item collection. We’ll take away large items like fridges or sofas off your hands for free.
Items that can decompose like garden waste or food waste can be put in a home composting bin, which doesn’t just help the critters that break them down but gives you a great product to use in your garden.
Why should you recycle?
Every step we take to preserve our planet is going to help our children and grandchildren in the years to come. And for now, recycling can help us to save a lot of taxpayer money.
By our estimate, we could potentially save £1.6 million a year if we brought our recycling rate in line with the national average. That’s money that can be spent on improving lives and services around the City.
National changes to the way in which we recycle are coming in 2026 and beyond, but this upcoming year is one in which we must take action for the good of our present and our future.
We need to all work together to make changes to our consumption and waste habits to make our City a greener, cleaner place to live, work, and visit.