Hire stakes
Britain should become a ‘hire society’ rather than a ‘throw away’ society says WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme), the Government’s waste watchdog.
In a remarkably Generous-sounding report, the first ever study on how cutting waste can help the UK meet ambitious climate change targets, found that ordinary people (that’s you and me) could save a huge amount of carbon dioxide simply by consuming less. And that’s something we’ve been advocating here at Generous for years now.
But what we hadn’t gone onto to do, and what this same report highlights, is to realise that thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide could also be saved by hiring goods rather than buying things brand new. Especially as around a third of all products that are thrown away are still working.
Liz Goodwin, the Chief Executive of WRAP, said that it’s our buying behaviour and waste reduction taken together that are the “secret weapon” in combatting climate change. She goes on: “Until now, making best use of our natural resources has not been high enough on the agenda as one of the contributors to meeting climate change targets.”
We say that it sounds like a government watchdog has woken up to the positive impact that a Generous life can have.
Click here to read more of Louise Gray’s report on the findings in the Telegraph.
Related news
Waste not want not
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There are lots and lots of Generous actions around recycling, re-using and reducing. Just use the ‘Search’ facility on the site to browse through them and sign up. And we’ll try and get an action up soon about hiring not buying.
Flickr photosource – thanks Maol.
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Use your car less in 2009 (walk, cycle or share lifts instead – even just to church!)
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Redditch, GB , 28 Nov 2009
The other (and cheaper) way we might avoid everyone buying a whatever-it-is, just for their own use, is to borrow from each other. Existing groups, such as church groups, social groups, community groups are the ideal seed ground to start such a system. What they will all need to enable it to happen is a simple (online) system whereby individuals can find out who has what and make arrangements to borrow it. Is there anyone willing to devise such a system which could then be downloaded and used by any group who wished to try this out amongst themselves? There will need to be disclaimers and training where required, in much the same way as the hire companies arrange things, but no payment!
Greg.