New research suggests that British consumers are increasingly recycling, reusing or reselling old items instead of disposing of them, according to an Ipsos MORI poll.

The survey, commissioned by the Climate Week campaign, found that 94 per cent of respondents do not throw away old clothes, with the majority (61 per cent) choosing to donate them to charity. Similarly, 96 per cent of those questioned do not dispose of their old mobile phones, with 65 per cent saying that they recycle, resell or give them away.

Although the prevalence of food waste has been under the spotlight recently the poll goes on to suggest that just five per cent of people throw food away on a daily basis. According to the data, 55-75 year olds were the least likely to simply dispose of food, with only two per cent of respondents claiming to do so.

In the broader picture, 63 per cent of people expressed a desire to help prevent climate change, whilst 83 per cent of those questioned saying they recycle on most days.

Speaking of the findings, Kevin Steele, CEO of Climate Week, said: “Our survey clearly shows that people in Britain want to protect the environment and are taking action every day that helps to do so. This picture is confirmed by the half a million people around the UK who are attending events run for Climate Week.”

Climate Week

Climate Week officially got underway on Monday (4 March) at an event held at the House of Commons to raise awareness of the effects of climate change and what can be done to tackle them.

The winners of the eight categories in the Climate Week Awards 2013 – which showcase the 'most innovative, effective, and ambitious organisations, communities and individuals' in combating climate change – were also announced, incuding Best Artistic Response, Best Local Initiative and Best Campaign, among others.

The winner of Best Campaign was ‘Size of Wales’, a campaign which was launched after the founders decided that the frequent use of quantifying deforestation to ‘the size of Wales’ (just over two million hectares) was unfair to the country. Their resulting campaign to raise enough money to support the protection of an equivalent amount of rainforest –reached its target last Friday (1 March).

Climate Week Challenge

As well as the Awards, the campaign encourages local communities to think about how they can help combat climate change through a series of events as well as through a national competition, the Climate Week Challenge, which its organisers claim is ‘Britain’s biggest environmental challenge’ (with around 130,000 people entering the competition each year).

Aimed largely at schools and workplaces, the challenge comes in two forms ­– an hour long challenge or a one-day challenge – with groups of four to six people set tasks aimed at ‘tackling real-life environmental issues’. Those interested in this year’s challenge must first register online.

Other activities running in Climate Week include ‘Climate Week Swaps’, where people can trade their unwanted possessions with other people, thereby encouraging people to reuse items and save resources and ‘Eat Green’ workshops, which provide recipes and information about how people’s dietary choices can help lessen their carbon footprint.

The campaign also invites people to sign its ‘Climate Week Declaration’, ‘urging the UK government to do more to prevent climate change’.

In addition to this, it calls on government to include a decarbonisation target in its Energy Bill. An amendment to such an effect was proposed in December 2012 and is currently being scrutinised in Parliament by the Public Bill Committee.

Climate Week is sponsored by Headline Partner Andrex® Eco and Supporting Partners Crown Paints, Ecotricity, NAPIT and Shields Environmental.

‘Reputation boost’

However, Climate Week has come under criticism from some quarters over its choice of past sponsors. One such sponsor of Climate Week 2012 was EDF Energy, which campaign group No Dash for Gas (NDfG) describes as ‘the second worst of the Big Six energy companies in terms of investing in renewable energy’.

Indeed, NDfG put forward their October 2012 occupation of EDF’s West Burton gas-fired power station (in protest at government plans to expand gas usage through its Gas Generation Strategy) for nomination in this year’s ‘Best Campaign’ award.

Speaking to the Guardian, Sam Merton of NDfG said: “Big energy companies like EDF aren't friends of the climate, they're part of the problem. They're not just pumping out pollution, they're lobbying governments to twist energy policy in their favour, and against the interests of people and a safe climate. It's difficult enough to challenge their power, wealth and political influence without the likes of Climate Week giving them an easy reputation boost”.

EDF was only removed from Climate Week’s list of sponsors in January 2013, despite its sponsorship officially ending in June 2012.

Find out more about Climate Week.