Waste avoidance

Buy Smart

Every year each person in Australia generates about 800kg of rubbish, one third of this is rubbish from packaging. Australians are second behind Americans for the amount of rubbish we create. It is true that some packaging is necessary for health and shelf life reasons, but some manufacturers tend to get carried away and over-package products. Excess packaging costs you money and has an adverse impact on our environment.

You can help by;

• Buying goods without packaging or with the least packaging;
• Avoid single serve items;
• Buy bulk;
• Buy concentrates like fruit drink mixes, cleaners and detergents;
• Complain to store management if you think that products you wish to purchase are over packaged. Write to the manufacturers and complain, your opinions count. If manufacturers receive enough feed back from disgruntled consumers they will change their packaging; they have done so in the past; and
• Avoid buying cheap throw away items - look for quality goods that will last longer.

Chooks, compost and worm farms

Chooks are a wonderful way of recycling food waste and diverting organic waste from landfill. Eggs from home chooks are tasty, chemical free and cheap. Be aware that roosters are not permitted in any townsite.

Refer to the green waste section on this site for information on worm farming and composting.

Donate or sell unwanted items

Give away or donate unwanted household goods that are still in good condition. St Vincent de Paul and opportunity shops are always looking for suitable items. Conduct a garage sale, post items on Facebook buy and sell or post an item at the local supermarket community notice board. Suitable items can be accepted free of charge at all waste disposal sites.

Small contributions to the way we buy and use goods have a large impact on waste disposal costs in our community and can have a big impact on preserving our environment. For more information please contact the Waste Management Officer on 08 9771 7777.