Where to pick your own pumpkins in Yorkshire

With Halloween just around the corner, autumn festivities are in full swing.

Nothing says autumn like creamy hot chocolate, pumpkin spice lattes, and fallen orange leaves — except maybe a visit to the pumpkin patch. Wrapped up warm and wandering through a muddy field to find your perfect pumpkin really sets the autumn mood.

Here are some great places to go pumpkin picking in Yorkshire that you can visit and find your perfect pick.

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Plastic free kitchen swaps

The kitchen is the heart of the home and often where we use and generate the most plastic waste. In fact, since its creation in 1907, plastic use has consumed much of the UK.

You’ll find plastic in many kitchen items, from single-use plastic packaging to plastic utensils, cling film, Tupperware, and plastic-infused tea bags.

In the UK, 82% of adults want to reduce the amount of single-use plastic they throw away. However, standing in a kitchen surrounded by plastic can feel overwhelming.

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Plastic Free July: Who produces the most plastic waste?

Each year, Plastic Free July encourages companies and individuals to analyse how much plastic they throw away. The campaign highlights the benefits of environmentally friendly packaging and reusable containers and prompts shoppers to reconsider their buying habits and purchase zero-waste products instead.

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Five eco-friendly Christmas cracker alternatives this festive season

Wearing your paper hat and sharing a festive-themed joke is a classic pastime around many a Christmas dinner table. Despite concerns around their impact on the environment, here in the UK, we pull over 154 million Christmas crackers each year, proving that the snap of the season is here to stay.

Yet there are ways to ensure our Christmas crackers are more eco-friendly. Recyclable and plastic-free crackers are now easy to find in stores and online, while many people have even taken to making their own eco-friendly Christmas crackers.

Take a look at Forge Recycling’s favourite eco alternatives to Christmas crackers for you to enjoy this merry season.

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Reduce food waste in your restaurant or café in just 10 easy steps

WRAP estimated that the UK created around 9.5 million tonnes of food waste in 2018, with 70 per cent of that total intended to be consumed by humans. This total doesn’t include the waste redistributed as animal feed or via charity and commercial routes.

While the 2018 figure was down from 10 million tonnes in 2015, I think we can all agree that action urgently needs to be taken to dramatically reduce the volume of food waste being created in this country.

Hospitality and food service contribute 12 per cent of the country’s total food wastage, which costs the sector approximately £682 million annually.

This blog post will explore why food waste in restaurants and cafes needs to be reduced and how that can be achieved.

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The ultimate guide to eco-friendly gift giving

Eco-friendly gifts are not just for Christmas. We give each other presents all year round for birthdays, anniversaries, Valentine’s Day, Easter, and many more celebrations.

By choosing sustainable gifts and eco-friendly wrapping paper, you can make sure the presents you give your friends and family don’t have an adverse impact on the environment.

Here’s our ultimate guide to the best eco-friendly gifts for different occasions throughout the year and how you can give them in a more environmentally friendly way.

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How to be a zero waste festival goer

As the UK continues to emerge from the most severe phase of COVID-19 restrictions cautiously, it looks like festivals are back on the menu, along with other crowded events like full-capacity sporting fixtures, cinema and theatre.

But with large crowds comes lots of litter. Waste is an unfortunate inevitability of all major events.

Festival waste management is a particular challenge as there are often relatively few places to dispose of litter while the event is going on.

For a truly sustainable festival, you want to leave no waste behind.

This article will look at ways to host and attend a zero-waste festival, including how organisers can cope with waste clearance and how individuals can reduce the amount of rubbish they generate.

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