Use less and choose to re-use and re-home

It's easy to get started!

You are here: Individual, Home & Workplaces > Use less and choose to re-use and re-home

If each one of us made a small change it would make a big difference! Could you repair something that has broken or find your unwanted items a new home? Or swap to a reusable cup and help stop the millions of single-use coffee cups and water bottles that are thrown away in the UK everyday.

Take a look below for more ways to take action.

  • Get a re-usable bottle or cup and remember to take it with you
  • Repair what you can and recycle what you can’t
  • Rehome your unwanted items or take them to a charity shop
  • Remember your re-usable shopping bags
  • Switch to re-usable nappies
  • Grow your own food and use up your leftovers
  • Upcycle and repurpose items
  • Buy only what you need and shop local
  • Buy second-hand rather than new
  • Find a plastic free shop near you

Plastic Free GM

PlasticFreeGM asks businesses, organisations and individuals to pledge to take action to reduce avoidable single-use plastics across Greater Manchester. It offers practical advice and guidance to help you make the right choices, whether that’s choosing to remove some products (always the best option), choosing a re-usable alternative (next best option) or switching to easily recyclable items.

Find out more

Find out more

How do I waste less?

From clothes to food to packaging, crafting to composting, find out how making small changes can help you to waste less and save money.

View
Pre-loved items for you, your home and garden

We’ve opened three Renew shops in Greater Manchester. These shops sell pre-loved household items at an affordable price and are located at three of our recycling centres.

View
Repair Cafés

Repair Cafés can help you make any repairs you need – on clothes, furniture, electrical appliances, bicycles, crockery, appliances, toys and more. Find a Repair Café near you, volunteer or start your own café.

View
Leave a book, take a book, share a book

Little libraries are popping up all over Greater Manchester. It’s a great way to share books in the community, reading and reusing books instead of throwing them in the bin.

View
Pass it on!

Reduce the amount you throw away by giving your unwanted items a new home. There are lots of Community Waste Savers Groups in Greater Manchester, offering a free place for local people to donate the things they no longer want and for others to request them.

View
Grow your own food

From growing fruit and veg in pots and hanging baskets, to helping out at local community gardens and allotment sites, there’s lots of ways to get started with growing your own food.

View
Save your food from the bin

Over a ¼ of waste in the general rubbish bin at home is food. Keeping food out of the bin is not only better for the planet but it’s better for your pocket too. Take a look at the simple things you can do to reduce food waste.

View
Find your nearest re-use organisation

Find a furniture re-use organisation, bike re-use project and plastic free shop near you.

View
The Boiler House: Community Workshops

The Boiler House is a friendly community workshop space dedicated to making and mending, just a mile from the middle of Manchester. They offer access to a wood workshop, DIY workshops, and space for events.

View

Although we set out with a simple mission to reduce plastic waste, we’ve quickly realised that it’s just one piece in the sustainability puzzle. One of the biggest, but most easily attainable actions we can achieve is to look at where our goods come from and reduce the carbon footprint needed to get a product from manufacturer to consumer. Many of the products we stock are made by local, independent manufactures, who provide us with a wide range of things from reusable face wipes, wax food wraps, face coverings, soap bars, plant pots, kitchen cloths/sponges and butty bags.

Carl from Lentils and Lather

Our aim is to start changing the habits of families in Greater Manchester by getting them to ‘borrow’ rather than ‘buy’ brand new toys. We’re making sure that toys can be reused again and again by children who need and want them – and they are not just sitting in a cupboard or under someone’s bed.

Kim from That Toy Thing

The best part of upcycling is that old furniture is often better made than the equivalent flat-packed furniture we get today and with a little bit of time, love and care, you can create a completely unique piece of furniture for your home that no one else will have. I also love that these pieces of furniture have a history of their own and through transforming and updating them we can breathe a new lease of life into them.

Hannah from Tread Softly

The Green Recovery Challenge Fund is providing a further boost to the ambitions of the Great Manchester Wetlands Partnership to create a thriving, inspirational and connected landscape. It supports the recovery of wildlife through habitat creation and improvement as well as community recovery through providing opportunities for local people to develop skills, knowledge and beneficial connections to their local natural environment.

Jo Kennedy, Coordinator of the Great Manchester Wetlands Partnership

The reason I signed up to the Green Homes Grant scheme was two-fold, selfishly the measures will add value to the properties and make them more valuable in the future. But more importantly it benefits the tenants, keeping them warmer and prevents problems like damp and condensation. Ultimately measures like external wall insulations should keep tenants happier and ensure they remain in the house for longer.

Neil, Rochdale property owner

We used to think we didn’t have enough time to shop on our local market because we were working; how wrong we were?  We discovered it is an amazing place to shop for plastic free. We swapped tea bags for tea leaves and coffee jars for beans which we buy from The Market Grounds on Ashton Market – well worth a visit as the homemade cakes are delicious. All the stall holders have been amazing, not one of them minds us taking our containers to be filled with meat from the butchers. We get our bread, cheese, fruit and veg from the market too.

Julie from Ashton-under-Lyne

Kat Mulhall, Events Manager at Victoria Baths Trust in Manchester

Although becoming carbon neutral is important to our organisation, it’s a lot of work for a small team to put the measures into place. The Journey to Net Zero course has given me practical, step-by-step advice that has made it easy for me to lay the foundations for our organisation to be able to take action and achieve our goal of becoming carbon neutral.

Kat Mulhall, Events Manager at Victoria Baths Trust in Manchester

Kat Mulhall, Events Manager at Victoria Baths Trust in Manchester

The Business Growth Hub has given us focus and extra knowledge. They’ve helped us form the base to grow sustainably and work efficiently as a team while making us conscious of our environmental impact as a business.

 

Ollie Birchall, Founder of Nutri Bar

I’ve not really been a cyclist throughout my life, more of a runner to be honest. And certainly not commuted. But I just thought if I’m going to change, surely now is the moment to change. I’m feeling the personal benefits of doing it. You just feel better when you come into work. It clears your head. There are benefits of cutting congestion, cleaning up the air. Everyone benefits when people cycle.

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester

We think our water fountain is INCREDIBLE, it’s the perfect place for people to ‘refill’ and help themselves to any of the free edibles we’ve got growing in Market Place. We’re so grateful to all the organisations that helped make this happen. Alongside the plastic free motion that was passed by council and helped us achieve our first Surfers Against Sewage objective and in turn our Plastic Free Community status, it shows real commitment in reducing plastic waste and supporting our community.

 

Pete Fillery, Plastic Free Rammy and Incredible Edible Ramsbottom

I guess I’ve always been what you would call a conscious consumer. I’ve always detested plastic bags, all of my skin care products at home are plastic-free, vegan, and sustainable. My toothbrush is made of bamboo, there’s no plastic anywhere in the house. Everything in the salon has to be vegan – that was the first rule for me. We started with one brand of haircare products that was vegan, organic, and Fairtrade, but the distributor in the UK was wrapping all of the deliveries in plastic, and it felt really needless, so we ditched them.

 

Rachael, Gronn eco-salon in Bury

Although becoming carbon neutral is important to our organisation, it’s a lot of work for a small team to put the measures into place. The Journey to Net Zero course has given me practical, step-by-step advice that has made it easy for me to lay the foundations for our organisation to be able to take action and achieve our goal of becoming carbon neutral.

 

Kat Mulhall, Victoria Baths Trust, Manchester

GM Green City Logo