What you can do

Living Sustainably

Waste

Did you know?

Australians are the second highest waste producers in the world, second only to Americans.

Australians now throw away 3.3 million tonnes of food every year – up to a quarter of the country's food supplies. Why? mainly because we purchase too much.

If everyone composted and mulched their green waste, we could slash total waste going to landfill by up to a third.

What can I do?

Do you think about waste when you shop? Are there ways you can cut down the amount you throw out? Do you actively consider reuse?

Easy ways to make a difference:

Do an audit on your unwanted items – could any of these have been avoided by buying differently in the first place?
Give unwanted items to charity or your local secondhand shop – or get together with your neighbours and have a garage sale
Advertise your unwanted items on community noticeboards
Mulch or chip prunings for reuse in your garden or use your green kerbside recycling system
Compost your food and garden waste – anything organic except meat, fish bones and animal droppings can be composted
Separate your recyclables and use the kerbside recycling system
Take larger unwanted household items to your local waste transfer station/tip/waste management centre
Share trips to recycling facilities with neighbours – you reduce the number of car trips while reducing waste
Never put plastic bags, light globes or broken glass into recycling bins – the whole bin will be rejected