Reduce your waste

Being a conscious consumer means you think about the purchases you make every day. By choosing to buy less and creating less waste you are keeping valuable materials out of landfill and in use for longer.

These actions help contribute to a more sustainable future.

Below are simple, practical actions you can take today.

Tip 1: Avoid creating waste 

Avoiding waste is the most effective way to reduce your environmental footprint, it often saves money too. Everyday ways to avoid waste include:

• Choose products with little or no packaging.
• Pick fruit and vegetables that come loose rather than wrapped.
• Follow our guide to avoid food waste here.
• Bring your own produce bags and shopping bags
• Before buying something, ask yourself: Do I really need this?

For more inspiration on reducing plastic waste, visit Plastic free July. 

Tip 2: Reuse 

Before throwing anything away, consider whether it can be reused. Everyday ways to reduce waste include:

• Carry reusable water bottles, coffee cups, containers and cutlery.
• Repurpose jars for storage or lunch prep.
• Repair items wherever possible.
• Explore swapping, borrowing or sharing instead of buying new (e.g. clothes swaps, libraries, borrowing from friends or neighbours).
• Donate items you don’t use to friends, neighbours or charity shops.

Reusing keeps items in circulation longer and reduces waste going to landfill.

Tip 3: Recycle right 

Recycling is an important step, but it comes after avoiding and reusing. Remember we only want household packaging made from paper, cardboard, steel, aluminium, glass and hard plastics in your kerbside recycling bin.

• Learn more about our recycling tips.
• Not sure if something can be recycled? Use Recycle Mate to find out what to do with your waste. This is useful when trying to dispose of something that can’t go in your bins at home. 

What happened to soft plastics recycling?

Soft plastics are things like chip packets, lolly wrappers, cling film and plastic bags. 

In November 2022, REDcycle announced it was suspending its soft plastics collection program.  

Soft plastics are a challenging issue for Council and the recycling industry. It takes a lot of energy to recycle soft plastics and the end product is very low in quality. There is no demand for this low quality recycled soft plastic product. If no one wants to buy the product, then the recycling process isn't complete. Australia is working on new programs and better recycling systems at a national level. However, at this stage please place any soft plastics in your general waste bin.

The best thing you can do is to avoid soft plastics when you can. Choose items with less packaging or packaging that can be easily recycled.