With the climate crisis and the cost of living crisis making regular headlines, it is easy to feel that we are at the mercy of circumstances beyond our control.
But in fact there are ways to reduce your living costs and benefit the environment at the same time.
For example, food prices have soared in recent months. But in the local area there are various initiatives for redistributing surplus food from supermarkets, preventing it from being thrown away. Not only does this save people money and reduce food waste, it also means the energy, labour, transport and packaging involved in getting the items on to the shelves has not been in vain.
The SAVE food hub collects perfectly good, end-of-date produce from shops in east Devon and gives it out free at collection points in Seaton, Sidmouth, Axminster, Axmouth and Colyton. At most of the collection sites anyone can turn up and take what they want, but some use the Olio food sharing app in which people request particular items. For information on the locations and times of these drop-in sessions, visit the SAVE Food Hub website.
Honiton’s Foodsave project does much the same as SAVE. Jake Bonetta from the team said: “Foodsave is here to support everyone in the local area. Whether you have been struggling to make ends meet for a long time or are only recently feeling the extra bills that little bit too harshly, anyone is always welcome to claim food from us without the stigma of questions and financial eligibility checkers. All the food we receive are donations of surplus food that would otherwise end up wasted and in the bin, and we want to continue to save the tens of thousands of food items lost in Honiton and the surrounding areas annually by putting it to good use wherever or whenever it may be needed.
“Foodsave has seen an influx of new service users as well as the return of households that we have not seen for a long time. We've also seen a reduction in the volumes of food we've been receiving from supermarkets due to supply issues. Nevertheless, we strongly encourage all people to get in touch and use our service - whether you have a specific financial need or just forgot an item in your weekly shop."
Repair cafes are another way of reducing waste and saving the cost of buying new items. Broken or damaged computers, bicycles, clothing and textiles, toys, garden tools and household appliances can often be repaired by a skilled fixer, instead of going to landfill- and it’s free of charge. Axminster’s Repair Café has its next session on Saturday, May 7 at the Guildhall from10am until 1pm; there are plans to open a Repair Café in Honiton’s Community Use Building in the near future, and another is planned for Kilmington. In the meantime, Sidmouth has a monthly Repair Café at the Manstone Youth Centre from 10am until 1pm; the next is on Saturday, April 30.
Keeping children entertained can be an expensive business – but there is an eco-friendly way of saving money on that, as well. The Axminster community interest company No Toy Left Behind sells ‘preloved’ toys, games and books which have been cleaned and revamped to make them look like new.
Director Beth Steele said the aim is to keep the items in circulation rather than being thrown away, and save local residents money.
She said: “Adults can have a bit of a hang-up about second-hand things, and what we want to do is challenge that a little bit. If you come into the shop you can see how exciting and colourful and bright and interesting it looks, everything’s clean and nothing smells musty, so hopefully grown-ups who might feel a bit reluctant to buy something second-hand as a present because they might think it would feel a bit cheap or tatty, they can see that it’s a good thing for a gift, wrapped up nicely in a nice bag – and the kids just don’t care, they’re excited by something that’s new to them.
“So that’s one side of what we’re doing, but the reason we’re doing it is because our culture is to buy more and more stuff, and I feel that our culture of consumerism is something that as a society we need to start being really mindful about, and to be putting the brakes on that.”
No Toy Left Behind is at the Pippins Community Centre, open from 1pm until 4pm, closed Tuesday and Sunday.
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