Starve your trolley

When you're out shopping, keep recycling and reducing rubbish in mind and you may find that as well as helping the environment you can save yourself money.

Before you go shopping

If you start to change your habits when shopping, you can have an impact on the amount of waste you produce in the long term. Think about what kind of recycling services are available in your area and buy products in packaging that you know you can recycle.

• Write a shopping list before you set out. This will help you plan how much you actually need to buy, and may make you less likely to impulse-buy items you don't really need.
• Take shopping bags with you. Many supermarkets now make a charge for providing plastic bags, so it makes sense to have strong carrier bags that you can reuse them each time you go. Most supermarkets sell ‘bags for life’ – when they do fall apart, the supermarket will replace them for free.
• Invest in a strong canvas or string bag, or even use a rucksack or trolley with wheels to carry your shopping home.

Think about what you buy

• Try to choose products which do not have lots of packaging. Buy loose fruit and vegetables instead of pre-packaged ones on plastic trays and wrapped in plastic – this will cut down on the packaging waste.

• Only buy as much as you need, so that you don’t end up throwing food away. Plan meals to avoid waste.

• Buy one get one free - do you really need two? Only buy if you are sure you will use it. And for food items, check to see if you can freeze one of them.

• Check the use by dates on food items in the shops, and only buy items you know you have a realistic chance of using in time - see our guide to best before and other dates on food packaging.

• Buy in bulk if you can, to cut down on the packaging.  Buying one big bottle of washing-up liquid, for example, will use less packaging than two small bottles. Could you buy a big box of cereal instead of individual mini cereal boxes? Or a large pot of yoghurt instead of several small ones? This can save you money too.

• Buy concentrated products which are smaller but last just as long, so use less packaging.

• Buy refills. Some products now come in packaging that can be refilled. Refills are then sold in lighter, smaller packaging – by refilling your old containers you save packaging waste.