Tips for Waste Reduction

So what's the issue?

Twelve percent of the weight of the average rubbish bag is packaging. Because packaging rubbish is mostly very light plastic, it takes up a lot of space - sometimes up to half of the rubbish bag.
What can I do about it?
To reduce the rubbish in your rubbish bag, take a look at how much of it is packaging - by shopping environmentally you can reduce this amount. Here are some ideas to get you started...

1. Say no to plastic bags
   Sometimes you need a plastic bag, but there are times when you don't. If you don't need a plastic bag, don't take it.
   You can also take your own bag to the shops - buy some reusable cloth bags or baskets or use cardboard boxes.
   Buy products with less packaging or recyclable packaging
   Buy economy sized products, concentrates and refills - these give you more product for less packaging. Less packaging means less rubbish.
   Buy products packaged in cardboard, paper, glass, cans or type 1 and 2 plastics - these can usually be recycled. 
2. Compost all green waste; have a worm farm or feed leftovers to the birds - this will mean that the waste in your    waste bin is just "dry" waste and won't need a bin liner.
3. Recycling all your packaging: means less rubbish.
4. Buy products which contain recycled material    
   For recycling to work properly, it has to be made into new products and we have to buy them.
   Lots of everyday products contain recycled material such as glass and plastics - this helps reduce our use of raw materials. Often it takes less energy to recycle something than to start from scratch with raw materials. This is also good for the environment.
   

Don't believe us? Well, did you know...

• 25 plastic bottles can be recycled to make an ecofleece top.
  
• A styrofoam vending cup can be made into a pencil or a pen.
  
• Steel cans that have contained anything from baked beans to fruit cocktail, pet food or soup can be recycled to make new cars and bridges.
  
• Empty glass bottles and jars can be recycled to make things like decorative paving, as well as new glass jars and bottles.
  
• Paper and cardboard can be recycled to become new toilet paper, newspapers and magazines or paper packaging.
  
• Plastic bags and containers can be recycled into garden furniture, decking and fencing.
  
• An empty aluminium drink can be recycled for other uses again and again.
  

Want to do more for the environment while you shop?
Support companies that design their products to be easy on the environment or run their business to reduce their environmental impact.
Products with the Environmental Choice label have to comply with a set of criteria designed to ensure that they are easy on the environment. The Environmental Choice eco-labelling scheme is endorsed by the New Zealand Government.