Cut waste, cut costs, help the planet A Sustainable Swanage guide to local repairs and recycling

To quote Sir David Attenborough “Avoiding waste is the one thing we can all do to help save the planet”. Every bin bag has a cost, in money and in carbon. Repairing, sharing and reusing what we already have cuts both. It means fewer fresh resources dug up, grown or manufactured. Wasting less is one of the simplest ways to save.

Nonetheless, we still throw away huge amounts. The average Swanage household throws away just under one tonne of stuff every year*.

Here’s Dorset Council’s most recent analysis** of our black bins:

• Food is the single biggest thing we throw away at 19% of the bin. 55% of that was avoidable, meaning it could have been eaten, and one in five discarded food items was still in its packaging.
• Sanitary waste is the second largest category at 16%, unusually high compared with national figures.
• Plastics make up 17% of the bin between plastic film and denser plastics, and plastic accounts for two-thirds of all packaging thrown away.

So, what more can we do to reduce waste? The simplest thing is to check that you are using the correct waste bin. Around a third of the contents of an average black bin (32%) are misplaced. They include dry recycling (paper, card, glass, metal cans and plastic bottles and tubs), food waste or garden waste that the existing kerbside collections already accept.

The next section details other options that are currently available. After that, there are details of how you can get involved to reduce waste further.

What we're working on

Library of Things

The Repair Café is currently investigating the practicalities of setting up a Library of Things. If you have any previous experience of setting up or running a library, or would like to volunteer, please contact repaircafepurbeck.chair@proton.me.

A Library of Things is a community-run lending service that allows members to borrow tools, appliances and equipment for a nominal fee or free of charge, rather than purchasing them. Operating on a circular economy model, it helps residents save money, reduce household clutter, and minimise environmental waste by sharing items that are typically bought for one-off tasks or infrequent use.

Common items available in a Library of Things include:

• DIY & home improvement: cordless drills, sanders, jigsaws, tile cutters, step ladders, stud finders, wall chasers, and socket sets.
• Gardening & landscaping: lawn mowers, hedge trimmers, garden shredders, pressure washers, leaf blowers, rotavators, and pruning saws.
• Cleaning & home maintenance: carpet cleaners, steam mops, commercial dehumidifiers, thermal imaging cameras (to check home heat loss), and drain rods.
• Events & hosting: pop-up gazebos, trestle tables, folding chairs, projectors, projection screens, PA speakers, fairy lights, and large catering equipment (hot water urns, punch bowls).
• Camping & outdoor leisure: tents, sleeping pads, car roof boxes, portable camping stoves, cool boxes, stand-up paddleboards, and outdoor yard games (giant Jenga, boules).
• Hobbies, crafts & kitchen appliances: sewing machines, overlockers, musical instruments, specialised baking tins, food dehydrators, pasta makers, and ice cream makers.

Sustainable Swanage

Our steering group was first set up to win Plastic Free Town status for Swanage, under the initiative run by Surfers Against Sewage. In July 2019 we became the fourth town in Dorset to achieve it, and have made good progress since. The Town Council prohibits the use of single use plastic across all the events held on its land including Sandpit Field and Prince Albert Gardens. This includes more than 100 events each year.

However, there is still much to do. So, we are looking for volunteers to join our project team. Examples of initiatives include helping local businesses cut single-use plastics, and helping residents deal with the surplus re-usable plastic bags they have accumulated. There is a link to the national Plastic Free campaign here.