The 3 Rs of recycling Reduce, Re-use and Recycle are all ways of reducing the amount of waste to be sent to landfill. They are also known as the waste hierarchy.

Reduce - reducing how much waste we accumulate is the first step.  This can be achieved by selecting items with the least packaging and wherever possible, buying better quality items which last a lot longer.

Reuse - the second step is to re-use items instead of throwing them away.  Passing items on, repairing, or adapting them for other uses.  For example re-using ice cream containers as sandwich boxes or yoghurt pots as plant pots takes materials from the waste stream.  Many items such as clothes or unwanted gifts can be passed on to family and friends or given to charity shops. Unwanted furniture can be given to voluntary organisations. Alternatively, a car boot sale is a good way to re-circulate unwanted items.

Recycle - by always ensuring that what can be recycled is recycled then amounts of waste needing disposal is significantly reduced.  Composting is another natural way of recycling your green kitchen and garden waste.  To make it easy for people in Leicester to recycle, Biffa Leicester provide a range of recycling services, including a Recycling Box Service, Communal recycling bins for flats, Recycling Bring Sites , and Community Recycling Centres.