Activities

General

Waste Reduction

The UK produces about 31 million tons of waste every year. By purchasing products packaged with recycled materials, and then electing to recycle, reuse, or compost as much waste as possible, people can take a proactive approach to reducing waste. Communities can encourage recycling, employ strategies designed to convert waste to energy, and compost organic materials for use around town.

Promotion of Local Food Sources

Supporting local farmers and encouraging the production and use of locally grown foods benefits the environment and is important for the economic well being of the community. Access to fresh food is essential to sustainable living and overall health. Moreover, when food is available locally, air pollution decreases due to reduced travel, and the community’s economy receives a boost.

Development of Public Spaces

Community parks and gardens do more than add beauty to the environment. They provide a safe habitat for native wildlife and encourage physical activity. Community gardens stimulate social interaction, decrease crime rates, reduce heat from parking lots and streets, and encourage continued community development.

Pollution Control

Pollution control should be a priority for all developing sustainable communities. There are numerous pollution-control strategies that communities can employ to reduce emissions and pollution, including promoting the use of public transportation or eco-friendly vehicles, constructing sidewalks to encourage foot traffic, and offering incentives to citizens who use green energy sources to power their homes.

Support for Local Businesses

Supporting local businesses directly increases the economic sustainability of a community. When money remains in a community, it is available for use by that community. Plus, when local businesses prosper, new jobs are available to other community members. Communities can support local businesses by providing community members with local business directories, removing subsidies from businesses outside of the community, and instituting campaigns that encourage buying locally.

Educating the community

While most people are aware of the need to protect the environment, many do not realise the impact a single community can have on the planet. Sustainable development can reduce crime, conserve valuable resources, reduce waste, attract viable economic development, preserve natural beauty and culture, and bring communities together.

By educating other members of our community, and by taking action to ensure our local government understands the benefits of sustainability, we can do our part to help the environment, our community, and the future of the planet.

Energy Conservation

An essential part of developing sustainable communities is conservation of energy sources and the use of renewable, clean energy. Making use of solar power, geothermal heating and cooling systems, and wind energy can significantly reduce a community’s reliance on gas, coal, and other forms of energy. For the most cost-effective means of implementing energy conservation practices in a community, planning and construction should take place as early as possible during community development.

Emissions

Switch your engine off when stationary

 
Greener Duns is spearheading a campaign to encourage people to switch off their engines when their cars are stationary to reduce the emissions going into the atmosphere.
 
With global warming and climate change very much in the news, we all need to do what we can to limit carbon dioxide getting into the atmosphere. One very simple thing we can all do is to turn our engines off when our cars are stationary. By switching off, we can cut emissions of carbon dioxide, as well as other pollutants like carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter, all of which contribute to heart disease, cancer, and asthma.
 
As a first step, we are working with Duns Community Council and Scottish Borders Council to have street signs installed reminding drivers to switch their engines off when stationary. These, we hope will be placed in prominent places in Duns, like the Market Square and Coop car park.

Recycling

Why Recycle

  • Recycling reduces the need to grow, harvest or extract new raw materials from the Earth.

  • It is far better to recycle existing products than to damage someone else’s community or land in the search for new raw materials.

  • Making products from recycled materials requires less energy than making them from new raw materials. Sometimes it’s a huge difference in energy.

  • Because recycling means you need to use less energy on sourcing and processing new raw materials, it produces lower carbon emissions. It also keeps potentially methane-releasing waste out of landfill sites

  • It is 6 times cheaper to dispose of recycled waste than general refuse.

  • Recycling paper and wood saves trees and forests. Yes, you can plant new trees, but you can’t replace virgin rainforest or ancient woodlands once they’re lost.

  • Recycling plastic means creating less new plastic, which is definitely a good thing, especially as it’s usually made from fossil fuel hydrocarbons.

  • Recycling metals means there’s less need for risky, expensive and damaging mining and extraction of new metal ores.

  • Recycling glass reduces the need to use new raw materials like sand – it sounds hard to believe, but supplies of some types of sand are starting to get low around the world.

We all need to get into the habit of using less stuff in the first place. And the things we do use ought to be reused as much as possible before being recycled, to minimise waste.