Black Country Rubbish Challenge

What's in it for me?

The Black Country Rubbish Challenge is encouraging you to reduce the amount of rubbish you produce. Whilst there are a large number of community benefits there are many personal benefits you will also enjoy. When you think about reducing rubbish you may well ask what’s in it for me? Why should I bother? It won’t make a difference! I pay my council tax: I can make as much rubbish as I like, but the more rubbish you produce, the more you can expect to pay in Council Tax. In reality, you do make a difference because you are one of the 425,000 households in the Black Country. If every one of these households reused two of their plastic bags a week, this would save over 44 million bags a year going to the rubbish tip.

One of the biggest personal benefits is saving money. Reducing the amount of rubbish you produce is about living more efficiently. It’s about being choosy about the things you buy and what you do with them after you’ve finished with them. It’s about buying quality items that last longer and enjoying the money you save. The other benefit you’ll find is personal convenience. “What?”, I hear you cry :” It can’t be more convenient that just putting things in the bin.”  In reality, the things you can do won’t cost more money or take more time.

Once you’ve reduced the amount of rubbish you’ve produced you might want to recycle a large proportion of the rest. Kerbside collection schemes mean you simply wash it and put it in a different bin. You might take it to a recycling centre at a supermarket and you can simply take it with you when you shop rather than making a special journey.

Wouldn’t it be nice to stop the inconvenience of getting rid of junk mail? There’s a section on this site that shows you how to stop annoying mail coming through your letterbox.

So come on – give it a go and get involved in the Black Country Rubbbish Challenge. Try one of the many top tips, save some money and improve your local environment all in one go.