We can send less to landfill by reducing and reusing as much as we can at home.
Top tips to reduce waste in the home
Prevent food from going off by storing food correctly:
- Bread in the freezer
- Potatoes in a dark place
- Vegetables in a sealed container lined with a paper towel
- Store leftovers in a clear container so people can see what’s inside
- Make an ‘eat me first’ section in your fridge and cupboard
Use older foods and eat leftovers:
- Peel, cut and freeze ripe fruit and use them in smoothies e.g. bananas
- Stew older fruits or use them in crumbles or sauces e.g. apples
- Turn stale bread or bread crusts into croutons, breadcrumbs or toast
- Take your leftovers for lunch, which will save you time and money
Before you go grocery shopping:
- Check your cupboards and plan to use leftover ingredients in new meals
- Plan your meals for the week and make a shopping list
Before you put your groceries away:
- Organise your fridge and cupboards to ensure older foods are visible
- Separate food into portions before putting into the freezer
Before and after cooking your meal:
- Be conscious of correct portion sizes
- Use leftover ingredients in new meals or take for lunch the next day e.g. leftover meat on pizzas
- Freeze excess food e.g. pasta, bread and bananas
Top tips to reduce waste in the first place
- Buy in bulk to avoid excess packaging.
- Buy products with a recycled component or in recyclable packaging
- Use a reusable bag when shopping to avoid plastic bags
- Buy second-hand to extend a product's useable life
Avoidance is the best way to reduce waste. When you are considering purchasing a new item, ask yourself:
- Do you really need to buy that product?
- How will you dispose of the packaging?
- What will you do with the old product?
- Can it be composted?
- Can someone else use it?
Avoid, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle - it all starts with your shopping habits.
Top tips to reuse
- Reuse plastic containers rather than throwing them away
- Use a reusable cup for take away coffee or a reusable drink bottle for water.
- Take your cloth bags to the supermarket rather than plastic bags.
Compost
Compost your food scraps at home to keep them from going to the landfill where they can cause adverse environmental effects. There are many systems available for removing organic waste at a household level including worm composting and Bokashi.
Traditional composting factsheet (1.5mb pdf) Worm composting factsheet (1.8mb pdf)
Bokashi composting factsheet (1.5mb pdf)
More information on worm composting workshops.
Top tips to reduce waste this Christmas
Much of what we enjoy using for Christmas that ends up in our landfill can be made at home with existing materials or reused for years to come.
- Make some homemade decorations
- Give experiences instead of unwanted gifts
- Use waste-free gift wrapping
- Shop consciously to minimise food waste
- Make you own Christmas crackers (300kb pdf)