Have you ever done a bin audit? This may seem like opening Pandora’s box but taking a look at your rubbish is eye opening and empowering as it shows you the reality of your waste and identifies any opportunities for change. Categorize your items into similar materials – food scraps, paper, plastic, glass, aluminium. Find out what you can recycle and what can’t be recycled in your area (your local council should have info on this).
Examine your buying habits – is your rubbish mainly food waste? Could you set up a compost for scraps? Is it mainly take away packaging? Could you take your own containers or cook more meals at home and freeze them for something fast and easy? What do you buy most frequently and if there is wasteful packaging – is there an alternative? Think about the simple swaps you could make to replace your disposables with reusables and reduce the amount of rubbish you’re producing. Another thing to think about is your bin liner – lining the bin with plastic bags mean these only end up in landfill where the bags and their contents release greenhouse gases. If you have to use a liner, consider alternatives like newspaper instead.