As a society we are very wasteful when it comes to food, clothing, plastic and more and all of this waste is choking our environment. We recently asked our wonderful community for tips on reducing waste and we got lots of ideas we want to share with you.
Instead of leaving them on Instagram and Facebook to disappear into the ether we’ve decided to pull them all into this blog and we'll keep adding to it.
Reducing Food Waste
Does anyone end up putting food in the fridge only to throw it out? If that sounds like you we love this tip. One lady uses the left crisper drawer for old veggies and the right one for new veggies so she uses the older ones first and she has wasted much less.
A few people use the scraps of veggies, and not so fresh veggies, to make veggie broth and someone freezes it in an ice cube track so you have mini veggie stock cubes. Love that!
Fruit and Veg creates a lot of gas if not composted properly and if put in general waste. Lots of people compost and there are mini composters for units and apartments and larger outdoor composters.
Have chooks, rabbits, pigs and other animals to help eat the food scraps and continue the cycle of life.
Write a shopping list and don’t shop hungry (that’s our contribution from experience!)
Reducing Plastic and Packaging
One customer uses her Civilisation Bag which is a cloth bag and includes a KeepCup, Cutlery Set, metal straws and cloth napkin and takes it with her to help minimise her impact on the environment. She also has a second set for work which also has a coffee filter bag that sits on her KeepCup.
Many people are embracing avoiding plastic bags for veggies in the supermarket. Thousands are now using Onya’s Reusable Produce Bags and also someone uses old rubber bands to tie her beans together to avoid using plastic bags.
Take your own shopping bags to the supermarket and avoid the plastic ones.
Buy in Bulk from places like The Source Bulkfoods. You can take your own container and fill it up saving on packaging.
Don’t use takeaway cups for coffee, use reusable coffee cups like KeepCups. Also there is a website, Responsible Cafes, where you can find coffee shops that accept reusable coffee cups; not all do which is very disappointing.
Either ditch using straws or use reusable straws. Each day, in the US alone, 500 million plastic straws are thrown into landfill so if that’s not an incentive…
Choose reusable sanitary items like reusable sanitary pads or menstrual cups to save on landfill and your pocket.
Use soapnuts to wash your clothes; once you are finished with them you can use them to create cleaning liquid then compost them.
Billions of plastic toothbrushes go into landfill each year so choosing bamboo, biodegradable toothbrushes helps eliminate the need for all that plastic in landfill.
Avoid nasty cling wrap with reusable vegan wraps that are compostable at the end of their life.
We throw away plastic water bottles everyday which costs us and the planet. Lose the disposable plastic and choose reusable water bottles.
Reusing and Recycling Stuff around the home
Someone uses old material scraps for curling ribbon and ‘Who Gives a Crap’ toilet paper wrapper to wrap presents and bath bombs she makes. We use Pure planet toilet roll which is also great.
Wash your veggies in a large bowl, instead of having the tap running. It’s amazing how much water you’ll save then use that water in the garden, instead of tipping down the sink.
Another tip is to put a bucket in the shower and use that water for the garden and plants.
Keep your showers short and only use appliances like the washing machine and dishwasher when it’s full.
Reusing Coffee Grinds in the garden and as a body scrub in the shower gives them a new lease of life.
Something that is very important that someone mentioned is to continue to educate yourself and help others on the journey. We are on a journey so let's help everyone get there and be that advocate of change.
