Tips to reduce waste

To reduce our impact on the environment it’s important for us to consider what we’re putting in our bins and how we can divert waste from landfill.

For some households, we’re able to put our food waste into the grass clipping bin which turns into high-value compost. This is a wonderful initiative to help create a ‘circular economy’ – whereby food scraps are recycled into compost to feed and nourish soil that can in some cases be used to help grow the next generation of crops.

In some areas, food and garden waste bin will now be emptied weekly and general waste bins will be emptied fortnightly. To help with the switch, here are some helpful tips to reduce waste so your bins aren’t chock-a-block on day 13.

Say no to items that will be used once and thrown away. Think water bottles, coffee cups, shopping bags, straws and take away cutlery.
Try and purchase food in bulk to reduce packaging, such as buy a large bag of popcorn and put it in containers rather than buying individual packets
Choose recyclable packaging where possible, that way it can be recycled rather than sent to landfill.
Rather than throwing batteries, light bulbs, old mobile phones, laptops, home appliances etc in your general waste bin, dispose of them via E-waste drop off points. Check your local council for disposable options.
Drop your soft plastics into your nearest REDcycle collection bin to help keep plastic bags and packaging out of landfill. Click here for a full list of soft plastics and to find the nearest drop off point to you.
Compost your food scraps, tissues and paper towel. All of these can go into your Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) bin rather than your general waste bin.
Use reusable containers and jars instead of foil or cling wrap.
Rather than throwing away clothes with holes in it, ask yourself whether they can be mended. There’s also an option to use patches to cover up holes in kids clothing.
Switch to tea leaves instead of tea bags. Loose tea can be composted, unfortunately tea bags are sent to landfill as they contain small amount of plastic to ensure the tea leaves stay intact in the bag while submerged in hot water.
Purchase refill packs, which use less packaging, such as handwash
When making a purchase, think do I really need this? When I’ve finished with this product, where will it end up? This will help avoid purchasing items that are poor quality and perhaps unnecessary. It could save you some cash too!

Got any more tips? Please send them through, we’d love to hear them: jessica@thecompostco.com.au