Waste Reduction Ideas
Waste Warriors of the Copper Coast
In a bid to reduce waste and increase recycling, Council has started a video series called "Waste Warriors of the Copper Coast".
In this series, we explore the wealth of different waste initiatives individuals, groups, businesses and organisations in our community have in place to help reduce, reuse and recycle. Sharing these ideas will give those in our community some tips on things they can implement in their everyday lives.
Individuals, groups or businesses who wish to feature in our videos can register their interest by filling out the following form - https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Film4FOGO
Avoid, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Tips
We all need to do our part!
The responsibility to minimise the waste production due to the ongoing long-term effects it has on our environment is for all individuals (residents and visitors) and businesses. Council is committed to increasing the level of recycling within the Region, reducing the amount of waste going to landfill, ensuring responsible management of waste facilities, and minimizing the cost of waste management to ratepayers.
The Waste Hierarchy - How can we minimise waste production?
The waste hierarchy provides fundamental steps to decreasing waste production. It is important to deal with waste in the correct order of preference to ensure that every step is being taken to minimise waste and its effect on the environment.
You can make a difference by:
- Prevent Waste - Avoid creating waste all together. Take steps to Reduce the quantity of waste you create (eg reduce food waste and take left overs for lunch; carry reusable bags shopping with you at all times; buy in bulk to reduce packaging)
- Preparation for Reuse - Reuse items that can be used more than once. Purchase products that can be refilled, rather than disposable products.
- Recycle and Compost – Materials are reprocessed into new items – Recycle as much as possible. Creating a compost bin to put all food scraps, shredded paper, lawn and garden clippings
- Use Other Recovery Methods - Repair items where possible.Repurpose items into something else. On-forward it – Someone’s trash maybe someone’s treasure.
- Dispose of Waste – At the last resort, only send to landfill what cannot be reused or recycled.
Waste Reduction – Simple Tips
Shopping
Smart shopping means making smarter choices about the products you purchase in store and online, to avoid buying items that you will only throw away and possibly reduce your shopping bill at the same time.
- Don’t just Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – it’s important to RETHINK!
- Prepare a weekly menu and write a list and stick to it when shopping.
- Don’t go shopping when you are hungry.
- Buy products in bulk as it is cheaper and reduces packaging. Set up buying groups, consider sharing with friends and family.
- Buy fresh food (not frozen) direct from the grower.
- Buy locally produced and stocked products.
- Buy products that are made from recycled materials and sustainable practices – Being a good recycler is one thing, but you can be a great recycler by buying things made from recycled materials. Close the loop by buying products with recycled content in things like plastic containers, packaging, boxes, toilet paper, wrapping and copy paper.
- Buy products with low or no packaging; avoid over-packaged products
- Look for products that have compostable packaging
- Buy refills and refillable products
- Buy long lasting products instead of disposable or single use items like batteries, nappies, disposable razors, disposable nappies, plastics plates and cups.
- Buy natural and safer alternative household cleaners, read the labels, and avoid the more toxic products.
- Buy concentrated products as it reduces packaging and energy when transported
- Use reusable fruit/vegetable bags and shopping bags. Ensure you have plenty of bags with you or take your own basket, backpack or trolley to reduce the unexpected need to buy and use plastic bags.
- Decide if you actually need the product in the first place, avoid impulse shopping.
- Consider sourcing alternatives – like repairing the old one or buying second-hand, hiring, renting or borrowing an item that you only need to for a once off or short period.
- Shop ethically – the consumer has the power to make an impact on the manufacturer. Where and how you spend your dollar is your vote/voice.
At School and Work
- Teach students about the importance of waste minimisation
- Use both sides of the paper and reuse items such as envelopes
- Educate staff and students to be responsible consumers
- Promote recycling and litter control
- Carry lunch in a reusable container instead of wrapping in plastic
- Compost or worm farm
- Donate unwanted furniture and clothes to charity stores
- Encourage students to share their learnings with family and friends
At Home
- Establish waste separation bins with your home (organics bin, soft plastics bin, recycling bin, receptacle container bin)
- Label bins and place on the fridge the Council separation magnetic brochures.
- Avoid plastic bags in rubbish bins by using :
- biodegradable bags for the general waste bin,
- compostable bags for your organics bin.
- Wrap your food waste in old newspaper.
- If you do use plastic bags, repurpose them as bin liners in the general waste bin
- Reuse glass jars and plastic containers to store leftovers and other household items
- Set up a home composting system
- Set up a home worm farm to make use your scraps and green waste to make liquid and granule fertiliser
- Use both sides of the paper and reuse items such as envelopes
- Donate unwanted furniture and clothes to charity stores
- Recycle and repurposes whenever and wherever possible by utilising the kerbside three waste stream collections and local recycling services,
Ask yourself…
- Can I reuse this product? If no……
- Can it go in my home composting system or worm farm? If no……
- Can it go in the Organics/FOGO Bin? If no…...
- Can it go in the Recycling Bin, if no……
- Can it be recycled elsewhere, if no……
- Is it a hazardous waste product, if no…..
- THEN if no other option, place it in the General Waste Bin.
Other Tips
- Cancel junk mail to reduce paper wastage – place a sticker on your letterbox NO JUNK MAIL. Access catalogues online.
- Cancel phone books being delivered to your home through Directory Select (This external link will open in a new window)
- Donate boxes and containers from margarine, ice-cream and even egg cartons to your local schools or childcare for craft activities
- Donate books and magazines to schools, hospitals, charity book stalls or second hand booksellers
- Cut up wood for kindling
- Take unwanted or empty makeup containers to Priceline stores for recycling
- Take scrap steel to scrap metal yards (Copper Triangle Scrap - 10 Kennett Street, Kadina)
- Take cans, bottles and wine bottles to the local YP Recyclers (100-104 Port Road, Kadina)
- Take printer cartridges to Australia Post, Newsagencies and Stationery Shops
- Take mobile phones to Telstra shop
- Take unwanted medicines to local Chemists
- Take reading glasses to local optometrist stores who donate glasses to the Fred Hollows Foundation, to eradicate avoidable blindness both in Indigenous Australia and around the world and also Lions Recycle for Sight Program.
- Use glass jars and bottles –for storage of pantry items, buttons, nails, screws etc
- Use low-energy fluorescent light bulbs which last longer and cost less over time. Takeused globes to your local Mitre 10
- Deconstruct old mattresses thatcannot be donated and to reduce disposal costs, cut around the edge and you'll find the internals can be recycled
- Take your coffee mug when ordering a takeaway coffee, or choose the Café that uses compostable disposable cups and containers
- Carry a cutlery set with you when having takeaway –to avoid using disposable cutlery
- Use cloth or a nappy service wash service instead of disposable nappies
- Undertake repairing and maintenance short courses
- Hold garage sales
- Donate unwanted items to charity
For more ideas refer to the EPA Reducing Waste: What You Can Do | US EPA
How to Make Compost at Home
About half the household waste in Australia is made up of food and garden waste. Most of this material could be composted to reduce landfill, improve soil condition and provide fertiliser in the garden at no cost.
Composting is the method of breaking down waste organic materials in a large container or heap. The decomposition occurs because of the naturally occurring micro-organisms, such as bacteria and fungi.
Learn how to compost at home:
Top tips for Food and Green Organics recycling | Cleanaway
Composting benefits:
- Assist to create healthy gardens;
- Reduce the germination of annual weeds;
- Reduce water loss through evaporation;
- Lower extreme soil temperatures in summer and thus alleviate plant stress;
- Reduce soil erosion;
- Enrich poor soils; and
- Reduce the waste that goes to landfill, and greenhouse emissions flow-on.
What can I put in home composting?
- vegetable and fruit scraps;
- fallen leaves and fruit;
- tea leaves and tea bags;
- coffee grounds;
- vacuum cleaner dust;
- dead flowers;
- soft stems of plants;
- egg shells;
- old newspapers (shredded);
- lawn clippings;
- sawdust, and small amounts of wood ash or lime; and
- tissues.
What can’t I put in home composting?
- meat, fish and dairy products (they attract rats and vermin and can smell);
- large branches (they won’t break down);
- timber products treated with chemicals;
- magazines; and
- diseased plants.
Best composting conditions
- The correct ratio of carbon to nitrogen (roughly equal amounts of browns and greens)
- The correct amount of water (feels like a damp sponge)
- Sufficient oxygen (turned with a fork often)
In these conditions, bacteria and fungi feed and multiply, giving off a great deal of heat. In well managed heaps, the temperature can reach up to 60ºC, which is sufficient to kill weed seeds and organisms that cause disease in plants and animals. When the temperature drops, invertebrates enter the heap from surrounding soil and complete the process of decomposition.
Choose a shady area of the garden so the sun won’t dry out the compost. Put the materials all in together or layer them: grass clippings, leaves, food scraps, shredded newspaper. The best place to compost is in:
- a pile on the ground;
- an enclosure made of wood or mesh;
- a large metal drum with no base and holes drilled in the sides to let air in;
- a commercial compost bin; and
- a rotating compost barrel.
How can I help the process?
To increase the material to break down:
- mixing/turning it over regularly to allow air in;
- making sure it is moist;
- keeping it well drained; and
- breaking up materials into small pieces before adding them.
Note, that adding compost worms to speed up the process may not be successful (compost heaps that generate very high temperatures will kill the worms).
Compost troubleshooting
Problem | Cause | Solution |
Rats or Mice | Attracted by uncovered food and or warmth of heap | Cover each additional of food with a layer of soil. Place the bin on a layer of fine wire mesh. Set traps around the bin. |
A lot of slaters or ants | Heap is too dry | Add water or some moist organic materials. |
Spiders under the lid | Attracted by invertebrates, most likely small flies. | Have a handle on the top of the lid. Wear Gloves. Cover each addition of food with a layer of soil. |
Compost takes too long to break down | Too Dry. Not right mix of greens and browns. Not enough Air. | Add Water. Add equal amounts of greens and browns. Turn more frequently. Add worms. Punch holes in container. Place length of slotted pipe in the heap. |
Smelly | Too Wet. Too Acidic. Insufficient Air | Add some wood ash or dolomite to neutralise the heap. Turn more often. Rebuild with some dry materials. |
Flies | Most of the flies in and around a compost heap are small vinegar flies, which are quite harmless. If the flies are houseflies or blowflies, then they are being attracted by meat, dairy foods or manure. | Cover organic waste with a thin layer of soil, grass or leaves. Avoid adding meat, dairy foods or manure |
If the material to be composted is very woody (ie lacking nitrogen) add a small amount of manure. If it is dry add water or materials high in moisture; if it is too wet add straw, wood chips or other dry organic materials (i.e. not soil).
Worm Farms
Recycling your organic waste with a worm farm is far more beneficial for both your garden and the environment. Residents can turn their organic waste into rich fertiliser to feed your garden. It's a fun and rewarding way to get the kids actively involved in the environment.
By starting a worm farm and passing them our food waste, each household can support the commitment to reduce their carbon footprint, while pampering their plants with the wonderful worm tea (worm wee) and vermicasts (worm poop) they produce!
So how do we keep worms?
We need to imitate the environment that worms inhabit naturally; cool, moist and dark spaces. The best worm farms give the little wrigglers room to roam, while allowing us easy access to worm waste products (both the worm tea and vermicasts) as well as sufficient drainage so the worms don’t drown.
Worm farms are made up of a stackable boxes that provide levels for different worm activity (either home made from polystyrene boxes or a readymade worm farm from the garden or hardware shop). Position is everything, choose a spot that is not affected by extreme temperature fluctuations or gets too much direct sunlight. The bedding material is important and should be prepared before the worms are placed in! Worm bedding should consist mainly of carbon-based materials (eg shredded newspaper), mixed together with aged cow manure and lightly sprinkle with water, enough to dampen the contents.
How to Make Your Own Worm Farm
What can I Feed my Worms?
- Kitchen scraps like leftovers (cooked vegetables and stewed fruit leftovers),
- Fruit peelings (avoid citrus fruits – the worms find their smell too strong),
- Grass clippings (lightly sprinkled),
- Autumn leaves (small amounts)
- Paper, cereal packets, pizza boxes, junk-mail, (all torn up and soaked in water beforehand)
- Tea-bags, coffee grinds, tea and coffee dregs
- Hair clippings and vacuum cleaner dust
- Vegetable scraps and peelings (avoid onion)
- Crushed egg shells (these are excellent to help maintain the pH of the bedding)
- Aged manures
Worms don’t have teeth, so chop the worm food up before placing it in the worm farm, the easier it is for them to digest the waste, and the happier the worm farm will be!
Worms are low maintenance pets, but not no-maintenance. Don’t forget about them:
- Don’t let the bedding material dry out, this makes them very unhappy. Sprinkle a bit of water into the worm farm every couple of weeks, as this will speed up the worm wee production, and keep the bedding moist.
- Don’t over water them. If it is too wet, the worms will try to get out of the worm farm as the worms are just trying to move to higher ground so they don’t drown. If your farm is out in the weather it may be collecting rain; if not, you are adding too much water in the farm.
- Don’t overfeed the worms. Place small amounts of food more regularly in different spots. Too much food in the farm will start to rot, making life unpleasant for your worms. Grown up worms can eat half their body weight in food each day (most of which is converted to fertiliser and wee). Worms self-regulate their numbers, based on food supply and space, so your worm farm will never be over-populated.
- Ants in the farm indicates low moisture levels, add some soft vegies and a bit of water.
- Do not put meat and dairy products into the farm, whilst the worms will eat these foods, it can attract vermin, including mice and rats.
Worm Tea - Wee
After a few weeks, worm tea (liquid fertilizer) will begin to collect in the bottom box. Worm wee is a lovely dark colour and must be diluted with water to about the colour of tea. This can then be applied to just about any type of plant and is great for the vegetable garden.
Vermicast – The Poop That Worms Do
Vermicast has got to be one of the greatest fertilisers ever. It is strong and needs to be used sparingly! Vermicast will collect in the top bin and does need to be cleaned out every so often. To do this, carefully remove a small amount from the worm bedding. Mound it up into a cone shape. Any worms present will wriggle away from the light and collect in the centre of the vermicast and remaining bedding. Take the cone of vermicast away and put the worms back in to the farm. Then sprinkle the vermicast around your plants and lightly water it in.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I put worm farm worms in the garden?
Compost worms need moist, dark, damp situations in which to survive and thrive, so unless your soil is rich, damp and covered in a nice layer of mulch, don’t bother.
There are flies or maggots in the farm!
Tiny little vinegar flies are occasionally present in worm farms (and compost bins) and are absolutely nothing to worry about. If larger flies or maggots are present, it is generally a sign that food (especially meat) is rotting rather than being eaten by your worms. Avoid meat in worm farms, and make sure you are not over-feeding your new pets. If maggots do turn up, get rid of them by placing a piece of bread soaked in milk on the surface of the farm and remove after a couple of days.
My worm farm stinks!
This will only happen if there is decomposing food and a build-up of waste in the farm. The best thing to do in this situation is to stop feeding the worms for a while, add a handful of garden lime to the top bed and lightly aerate the bedding. This should allow the worms more room to move and a happier home. Start feeding them again when the farm is free of smells.
All my worms died last summer!
Like all of us, worms are able to tolerate a fair range of temperatures, generally from about 10 – 30 degrees Celsius. When the Aussie summer kicks in, we are subject to some really hot days, often well over 30 degrees, which makes both us and the worms unhappy. In this type of weather, consider moving the system into a shady, cool position. Take the lid off and hose down the system (making sure the tap is turned on to allow the liquid to drain out).