Our traditional attitude to rubbish is to throw it in the bin and forget about it. We are producing increasing amounts of waste each year, which means we are using natural resources at a faster rate than ever and putting more strain on the environment's capacity to deal with our waste products.

The majority of household rubbish is disposed of in landfill sites. As the waste decomposes, it produces two dangerous substances:

• Methane gas, which contributes to the greenhouse effect causing climate change;
• Leachate, which can seep from older landfills into our water supply causing pollution.

There are 2,300 landfill sites in the UK. Existing landfills are predicted to be full within 5-10 years. Rubbish from cities is often transported many miles by large lorries burning lots of fuel and creating more pollution.

So what about burning our waste? Sending waste up into thin air sounds like the perfect solution for getting rid of it and the energy that comes from sending waste up in smoke can provide us with electricity. Unfortunately, incineration can cause problems of its own. Burning waste can release a range of pollutants into the atmosphere including heavy metals, gases that cause acid rain and gases that contribute to climate change. The ash that is left over is often toxic and has to be disposed of in landfill sites. Incinerators need lots of rubbish to run economically, meaning recycling can be squeezed out of local markets.

We need to stop thinking of rubbish as a problem to be buried in landfill and start thinking of it as a resource to be used. Many plastics, for example, need quantities of oil to produce them - what will happen when the oil runs out? Living within the limits of the earth's natural systems will mean using less and being more efficient.

Things are changing for the better. The recycling rate in England and Wales is increasing and there is agreement that reducing, reusing and recycling makes much more sense than sticking our rubbish in landfill - it also saves resources, energy and creates more jobs.

A large proportion of your bin can be recycled; how to recycle different products is explained in more detail on our page on Waste - what you can do.

According to a piece of research conducted by WRAP in 2002 the average contents of a bin in the UK consist of: