Reducing rubbish

Comments

We held a conference a couple of years ago - 150 people attended over three days. We ended up with one single black rubbish bag not even full of rubbish. We were very proud of ourselves.

Here's what we did:

• Chose a caterer who was committed to being waste-free and who seperated compostable rubbish from other waste (this made a huge difference)
• Provided lots of empty 20-litre buckets for compost (in the kitchen and in the dining areas)
• Took the compost to UNITEC where they kindly added it to their giant composting system
• Put paper towels and paper rubbish bags in all the toilets, with clear instructions that only paper products could go in (also able to be composted by UNITEC)
• Local staff brought their curbside recycling bins in, and we took advantage of them for cans, glass & plastic which was then taken home. Pprobably not a favourite technique of the local council but... you know... ;)
• We had paper recycling bins on site, and shredders for confidential paper. We then took the shredded paper to the local pet store (we put signs on the shredders explaining why we didn't want any staples in the paper!)
• We encouraged people to take home whatever rubbish they produced that couldn't be dealt with on site.

  And finally, in a radical move, we didn't provide a single "rubbish bin." When people came looking for rubbish bins we would say "you mean a bin to go to the landfill? We don't have any of those!"

  This created a few grizzles, but people grudgingly took their landfill waste home with them. The half-bag of rubbish we ended up with consisted mainly of food wrappings from the kitchen and the odd un-recyclable item that was put in one of the recycling bins by attendees.

Submitted by Lindis on 12 February 2008 16:18:54

Yea,i saw that story on cambell live;it was very inspiring!

Its awesome that so many people are commited to creating less waste, but i wish big buisnesses would jump on the band wagon and help us help the planet!

Watties in particular are very annoying at the moment. They seem to be OBSESSED with thess so called "convinient" foods that come in the worst possible packaging...thick, unrecyclable plastic. Are we really so lazy that we cant even mash our own potatoes or cut up vegetables anymore? I mean, for goodness sake! Its just rediculous.

Thats why ive decided to make our household a Watties-free zone, unless it comes in a recyclable can or packet (next time your in the shops, have a look. You'll find that very very few of their products do.)

Come on Watties, get your act together!

Submitted by rachael309 on 2 May 2008 11:53:16

Packaging can be a nightmare! It's amazing when we bring our groceries home (in our re-useable grocery bags) and as soon as we start unpacking, our rubbish bin fills up incredibly fast with all the extra packaging.

We try to make wise choices. For example when we buy mushrooms we have the option of buying them loose in a paper bag or pre-packed in a plastic tray and covered in clear plastic wrap. We would then take them all out of the package and put them in a paper bag for storage anyway! So we choose the paper bag option, then put all the vege peelings etc in the bag when we've finished the mushrooms and put the whole bag into the worm bin. No rubbish!

We also shop at the Farmer's Market whenever possible and put the veges etc straight into our cloth bags.

Unfortunately dried goods like rice, pasta, lentils etc inevitably come in plastic bags so as soon as we transfer them into jars at home, the bags go in the bin. Even toilet rolls come wrapped in plastic or in coated paper which can't be recycled.

I have considered saving up all non-recyclable packaging and at the end of six months returning it to the manufacturer with a note saying "I believe this belongs to you!"

Submitted by Lindis on 6 May 2008 11:17:06

I buy quite a lot of my dried fruit, nuts and pulses from the bulk section, so I try to reuse the snap-lock style bags that you buy them in. Since I buy a lot of red lentils and sultanas (two of my major food groups!) I have a snap lock bag for each of those that I take back to the supermarket. They already have the number written on them and when I get home I transfer the contents to my jars and put the bags away to be reused - just like my canvas bags :)

Submitted by Sarah on 6 May 2008 14:43:49

That's a good idea, Sarah. I might just try that myself. Unfortunately the bulk bins don't have the organic options that I prefer, but it looks like it's going to have to be a trade-off between buying organic and reducing waste! A bit of an irony there.

Submitted by Lindis on 8 May 2008 12:55:14

Just recently I had to replace a fluorescent tube. I took the old tube back to the retailer and they were happy to take it back & dispose of it.

Submitted by yasi on 12 February 2010 05:21:00