Keep Britain Tidy has repeated urgent calls for government, businesses and councils to support people to reduce the environmental impact of their buying habits as we move into the time of year when we purchase the most ‘stuff’.
As national media coverage of household waste going to incineration prompts environmental concerns, the charity is highlighting the link between the excessive amount of things we buy and what we send to incineration or landfill, contributing to the production of greenhouse gases and, ultimately, to climate change.
It comes ahead of the charity’ s third ‘Buy Nothing New Month’ campaign to support people to choose alternatives to buying new items and play their part in the country’s efforts to achieve its goal of net zero – no longer adding to carbon emissions by 2050.
With Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas, a YouGov poll of UK adults on behalf of the charity revealed 28.4 million UK adults (53%) acknowledge they are contributing to climate change by ‘buying stuff’ and more than 39 million agree not enough is being done to help them prevent waste.
Keep Britain Tidy's chief executive Allison Ogden-Newton said, ‘We know people want to reduce their waste and with growing concern about the carbon produced from waste incineration, the time is now for solutions. Buy Nothing New Month draws a line by encouraging us all to play our part in reducing the rubbish we generate.
‘The opportunity to educate our communities about the link between what we buy and the resulting environmental harm has never been more important in the light of this new analysis.
‘Research we released just two weeks ago shows almost 35 million (65%) of people are confident they could buy less – in fact, around two thirds (67%) are motivated to reduce the amount of waste their household produces. But 76% of UK adults agree manufacturers and retailers are not doing enough to help the public reduce wasteful purchases.’
Throughout November, Keep Britain Tidy and sustainability experts will share tips on how to resist the lure of ‘discounts’ that aren’t always genuine or gifts people maybe can’t afford, and highlight alternatives such as shopping locally for preloved goods, reusing, repairing and borrowing items – with the added benefit of being good for our finances in a month when money is tight for many.
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