Top Tips To Reduce The Amount Of Waste You Produce

Top Tips To Reduce The Amount Of Waste You Produce

Jan 04, 2019

The earth doesn’t have an infinite amount of inhabitable space on it. As time has passed, more and more land has been dedicated to waste disposal. With the population and need for land showing no signs of slowing down, it’s become evident that we need to find another way to deal with waste, as Australia (and the rest of the world) is running out of landfill sites.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that in a year, Australians sent approximately 2.2 million tonnes of plastic, 1.6 million tonnes of paper and 6.2 million tonnes of organic waste to landfills. The good news is that a substantial amount of the waste we produce can be reduced significantly. Here are a few ideas on how to go about this.

6 Ways To Reduce Waste At Home:

1. Don’t subscribe to junk mail. In Australia, the paper used to produce junk mail amounts to 240,000 tonnes of paper each year – six percent of the country’s total paper usage. Further, reduce your paper usage by requesting tellers not print you a slip unless for a major purchase, and subscribe to email statements for your banking and services where possible to avoid paper letters.
2. Try to avoid purchasing products with non-degradable packaging or find a way to reuse them. Shopping bags will be a precious commodity now that they’ve been banned from our major supermarkets. You can use certain fruit peels to make natural potpourris and deodorisers. Glass bottles can be used as vases for flowers, egg cartons can be used for seed starters, and so on.
3. Compost kitchen scraps. Compost your organic waste instead of throwing it all in the bin and use the nutrient-rich compost to improve soil quality in your garden.
4. Buy multi-purpose cleaning products and toiletries instead of single-use ones to avoid buying dozens of variants in dozens of separate containers. This will also reduce your storage clutter and potentially save you money.
5. Plan your meals ahead of time. This way you will avoid wastage by buying excess food or the wrong kinds of produce, which will end up expiring in your fridge. It will also encourage you to buy in bulk. This will reduce the amount of packaging required and is cheaper. If you can’t do this, frequently visit farmer’s markets to get your products, as often stall owners will let you bring your containers and pay by weight.
6. Repair items in your household such as furniture, clothing and appliances so that they last longer, instead of regularly buying new items. If they have to be replaced, try opting for a higher quality one that will last you longer, instead of working your way through several cheap but low-quality

With each household implementing smart ways to reduce waste, Australians can live a more environmentally-friendly and sustainable life – and help guarantee a better one for the future. For more ideas on better waste management, contact us today.