Reducing your Waste

Find out what you can do to make a difference in our environment every day. At home, at work and at school, there are always opportunities to go green by Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling.

In Australia we waste more than 30% of the food we purchase. Australian consumers throw away around 3.1 million tonnes of food each year. Of this, 2.54 million tonnes of food waste was from our homes. Reduce your waste by composting, keeping backyard chickens and planning your meals.

All wrapped up

Use Bees Wax wraps, silicon lids and silicone ziplock bags. These products are great and suit different needs. Buy larger products sizes and portion into small reusable containers or compostable bags. Using these products will enable you to reduce the amount of waste at home and school. 

Reusing and Recycling clothing

What to do with unwanted clothes especially with growing kids is always a challenge. These are a few of the strategies I have used.

• Embrace the hand me downs: I get a constant stream of clothes and shoes from my sisters neighbour. They are usually great quality and as they are older kids the sizes are right for the next year. Most of my sons clothes go to his cousin if they are still in a good condition. 
• If you want to help those in need with your donations make sure you choose your Charity Bin wisely. The National Association of Charitable Recycling Organisations (NACRO) ensures that all the collected goods and proceeds are used exclusively for their welfare programs. The Recycle Near You website has a list of NACRO charities
• Some retailers, including H&M and Zara offer textile recycling bins in their stores where people can deposit any textiles, not just clothing from that brand, to be sent for recycling offshore.
• If it can’t be handed down to family and friends or donated to charity cut them up for cleaning rags.
• Contact you local animal hospitals and shelters to see if they need old sheets and towels. 

Now that I’m not working in the city I went through my wardrobe to find clothes and outfits for Dressed for Success.  They are a registered charity that improves the employability of women in need in NSW. They provide professional clothing, support network and the career development tools to help women achieve self-sufficiency.

I just found this initiative recycling socks. Starts With Socks is taking your old socks and gives them new life. Any pairs that can be up-cycled will be donated to people in need. Socks that can’t be saved will be recycled and turned into new textiles, saving them from landfill.

Discover more about becoming sustainable and how you can make a difference.

• Recycling Near You
• My Year of Sustainability
• Where do your old clothes go when you don’t want them any more?