Buying Recycled

10.08.00am GMT Tue 9th Feb 2010

Sainsburys make their own recycled loo rolls

It's important to remember that the more people that buy recycled products, the more will be made available and the more the price of the goods will drop.

Buying recycled goods reduced the amount of materials being sent to landfill.

The manufacture of recycled goods often uses less energy and resources than making new products and the recycling industry creates jobs and vocational training opportunities.

It's not always easy to know if you are buying recycled goods and sometimes it's only a percentage of the new product which has come from recycled products. Loo rolls, kitchen roll and plastic refuse bags of different kinds, are usually labelled well, particularly in Sainsburys. Various internet sources state that 83,000,000 loo rolls are produced each day : over 31 billion rolls per year which allegedly equates to 616.4 million trees per year. With the average length of toilet paper being 50 metres that means the toilet paper we use each day can encircle earth over 100 times.

There are numerous websites to investigate if you want to buy recycled : www.planettrash.co.uk and www.greatgreengoods.com amongst them.

Buying recycled products is a question of a little detective work and, ultimately, choice. Without a market for recycled products there's little point in recycling in the first place though, so why not become a detective and choose wisely!