People across the UK are being urged not to throw away unwanted gifts or post-Christmas clutter over the coming weeks to help prevent a surge in unnecessary landfill. Instead, they’re being encouraged to embrace the circular economy and find new homes for items they no longer need as part of a #SkipTheTip campaign.
The campaign is calling on British families to re-gift any unwanted items to dramatically reduce the 100 million bags of Christmas waste that is sent to landfill each year and introduce sustainable habits into households across the UK.
#SkipTheTip is being led by circular economy platform YoungPlanet, an app which quickly helps find new homes for good quality children’s items and toys to stop them from heading to landfill. Instead of loading up the car and heading to the tip, decluttering Brits are being asked to think more sustainably about where things end up.
It comes as the latest report from the National Infrastructure Commission warned that the environmental impact of landfill will stop the UK from reaching its target of becoming net-zero by 2050, causing climate catastrophe.
Second-hand is not second best; it’s a vital part of creating the sustainable, circular economy our planet needs.
With children in particular being the focus at Christmas, it is estimated that the average child will have received up to 16 gifts this year. This typically results in over £42million worth of unwanted toys being thrown away, creating a huge carbon footprint despite most items still being in good condition.
Following the UN ‘code red’ report and ambitious targets set at the COP26 summit, the urgency for families to embrace sustainable habits has never been more prominent.
YoungPlanet was founded by parents Jason and Emma Ash, who grew concerned over the amount of waste involved in parenting their three children. The app works by allowing parents to regift children’s items that they no longer need; creating a cashless, circular economy of giving and receiving that prevents waste. Over 20,000 items have found new homes to date through the app. Emma comments, “The need for climate action is universal and the past year has seen some progress in the right direction. But we can all do more. Post-Christmas is a classic time for people to get the house straight and have a good clear out, but we’re asking them to skip the tip this year. Instead, we should all look to re-gift toys and items that other people might want or need. Second-hand is not second best; it’s a vital part of creating the sustainable, circular economy our planet needs. As we head into the New Year, now is the perfect time to set new habits and seek out a better way of dealing with the items our children have grown out of or no longer need. With this campaign, we want to kick-start a long-term shift in our relationship with our things.”
By encouraging these circular, cashless transactions, YoungPlanet has already helped over 80,000 parents save thousands on children’s essentials and prevented over 20,000 items from going to landfill.