Pay as you throw? Environmental tips that will save you money

ENVIRONMENTAL TIP OF THE MONTH ... UNPLUG YOUR MOBILE PHONE CHARGER WHEN NOT IN USE ... Did you know that if you leave your mobile phone charger plugged in to the socket when it isn't in use, it still uses approx 90% of the energy that it would if it was charging the phone? Well it does, so don't... ENVIRONMENTAL TIP OF THE MONTH ... UNPLUG YOUR MOBILE PHONE CHARGER WHEN NOT IN USE ... Did you know that if you leave your mobile phone charger plugged in to the socket when it isn't in use, it still uses approx 90% of the energy that it would if it was charging the phone? ENVIRONMENTAL TIP OF THE MONTH ... UNPLUG YOUR MOBILE PHONE CHARGER WHEN NOT IN USE ... Did you know that if you leave your

If we all adopted one small positive environmental change per month, our collective negative environmental impact would be significantly reduced.

If you have a simple but really useful environmental tip, please send it to us and we will publish it here...

1) Return unsolicited menu's &/or unnecessary packaging back to the takeaways & drive thru's that they came from

2) Send junk mail 'back to sender'

3) If you haven't registered with the Mail Preference Service already, you can do so by clicking here. Give it a month or two and you should notice a difference in the amount of unsolicited mail you receive.

Even if you don't care about the environment (then shame on you), you may be interested in a new idea that is being proposed in some parts of the UK. Pay as you throw - yes, it's true. Those generating more waste could be liable to pay extra.

Whilst cleanercities.co.uk supports sustainable development, we cannot condone a generic, public pay as you throw policy - we feel it would increase flytipping and dumping. The culprits are the large companies such as supermarkets and fast food outlets who don't provide enough local produce, so it has to be packaged for transporting long distances. Not to mention the countless discount shops that persuade us to buy things we don't need or really want. This all creates more and more household packaging that ultimately ends up in our household bin. DON'T BUY OVER PACKAGED PRODUCTS.

By sending out a clear message, we can get the supermarkets and takeaways to mend their ways. In the meantime let them pay as they throw.