by Simon Wright

Created on: August 12, 2008

When we recycle, our primary intention generally is to help the environment. However, it is also often possible to achieve a cost saving. In this time of credit crunches and rising inflation, many consumers are finding themselves having to tighten their belts, so any savings that we can eek out are much appreciated. In this article, therefore, I'll outline some ways that you can save money whilst also being environmentally friendly.

Most will be focused on savings that individuals can achieve although there are also opportunities for businesses to save money.

Personal opportunities to save money by recycling:

Re-use of paper:
Most of us these days have computers and have occasion to print out documents. Sometimes, we only need the information that we've printed for a short period of time, after which we bin the paper. Rather than doing this, you can make use of the other side, either by putting it back into the printer or for scribbling phone messages, etc. Then when both sides are full, you can put it in the paper recycling bin. By doing so, you will need to buy new printer paper much less frequently.

Ink cartridges for your printer:
My local store offers a service where they will refill my printer ink cartridges. This works out as cheaper than buying new ones and is of course also good for the environment.

Re-use of shopping bags:
Many supermarkets have started to charge for the use of their plastic bags. When my wife and I go shopping we therefore bring our own plastic bags with us. It's amazing how many plastic bags the average household accumulates and it makes sense to re-use them. We keep a store of them in the boot of the car so we don't forget.

Re-use cardboard boxes:
I moved house quite recently and, to prepare for the move, my wife and I had to pack up all our belongings to be transferred to our new house. We could have bought plastic storage containers from a store but an easier and more environmentally friendly option was to use cardboard boxes. We already had some lying around in the apartment and were also able to get some from our local supermarket. It saved us quite a lot of money and many of those boxes are still being used to store books, CDs, etc in our new house.

Re-use material from old clothes:
There are several ways that we can get more value out of our old clothes. For example, you might have a pair of jeans that you no longer wear but you might be interested in turning them into a pair of shorts. With some knitted items, it's also possible to unravel the wool and re-use it on new garments.

Business opportunities to save money by recycling:

My office buys pencils that have been recycled from plastic cups. I'm not quite sure how that happens but it sounds impressive!

We also have drinks vending machines that have a refill' function whereby you can refill your old cup or even a plastic bottle. This cuts down on the number of plastic cups that are dispensed and this will in turn create a cost saving for the business. The cost saving might be quite small but in a large organisation every small saving can add up to quite a lot over time.

That's just a very small snapshot of some of the items that you can re-use to achieve cost savings, whilst also helping the environment. There are probably hundreds or thousands of other items that you can find a new use for. We live in a throw-away society but the wastefulness of this hurts both our wallets and the climate. With just a little thought, we can all start to reduce our weekly outgoings and do our little bit towards ensuring that future generations have a better world to live in.

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