Fashion

Recycled fashion has become the trendiest way to add a touch of style to your wardrobe whilst helping the environment at the same time by reducing some of the 26.25 million tonnes of household rubbish created in the UK each year.

So if your fashionable friend likes things that are a bit unusual why not give her a funky handbag made from plastic bottle tops? If your Mum loves jewellery give her a necklace made from recycled beer cans – or how about a stylish fleece made from recycled plastic bottles for the man in your life?

Campaigners for ‘Rethink Rubbish’, a nationwide initiative to encourage people to minimise their rubbish, have highlighted that 60% of our dustbins’ contents can be recycled and have chosen a variety of attractive and eye catching clothes and fashion accessories, to showcase the wide range of stylish items which are made from recycled products. Using rubbish to make new products is an excellent way to recycle, so everyone can do their bit for the environment with very little effort by purchasing eco-friendly items that are high on quality and competitively priced. There is a range of fashion accessories for all occasions, which we can guarantee, will give the “wow factor”.

In addition to recycling, the Rethink Rubbish team suggest we reduce (buy less packaged or disposable goods) and reuse (find an alternative home to the bin for things that are no longer wanted) our rubbish.

We can’t eliminate rubbish altogether but there are many ways in which we can cut down on what we throw away.

Tips to Make Rethinking Rubbish Easy for the Fashion Conscious

• How to Rethink Rubbish:
  • Remember fleeces can now be made from recycled plastic. Just by recycling you can cut the amount of rubbish you throw away by a third. Most supermarkets have recycling banks for newspapers, magazines, food and drink cans, and glass jars and bottles, so remember to take your recycling with you when you do the weekly shop.
  • After a shop till you drop session, re-use plastic shopping bags or better still use a ‘bag for life’. At present we get through 150 million plastic carrier bags a week - each one will take 500 years to decay in a landfill site!
  • When buying makeup buy refills rather than new products.
  • Look out for the increasing range of products made from recycled materials, including anything from bin-liners to kitchen roll to fashion accessories.
  • Take unwanted clothes to the nearest charity shop/jumble sale so that somebody else can make use of them.
  • Re-use paper for shopping lists and notes.
  • Donate old magazines to doctors and dentists.