Finding ways to avoid, reduce and reuse waste
The three regional Waste Management Groups have created an awareness raising program to encourage Tasmanians to avoid , reduce and reuse waste.
Tasmanians are pretty good at recycling and although this is a great way to keep waste out of landfill and our environment, there are many other things we can all do to be good sorts and decrease our waste.
It’s important that we try to find ways to reuse and reduce waste, or best of all to avoid generating waste altogether.
Here are some simple ideas being promoted across Tasmania on TV, in newspapers, on radio and social media. Are there one, two or more things you could be doing to rethink waste?
Avoid waste:
- Take your travel mug for your next coffee
- Refill your drink bottle in place of packaged water
- Take your own shopping bags
- Choose unpackaged food and products over those with excessive packaging
- Use containers instead of plastic wrap for storing left-overs
- Say no to plastic straws.
Reduce waste:
- Plan ahead and only buy ingredients you need for the week
- Choose and maintain household items that will last or can be repaired
- Borrow or hire instead of buying if you only need an item for a short time.
Reuse waste:
- Post unwanted items online for sale or giveaway, hold a garage sale or swap-meet
- Treasure hunt for pre-loved items before buying new – Council tip shops are a great resource too
- Cook up the next meal from left-overs
- Find new uses for every-day items, such sewing old clothes or fabric items into reusable bags.
If you haven’t yet seen the Avoid – Reduce – Reuse – Recycle commercials on TV in Tasmania, you can watch them on our Rethink Waste YouTube channel.
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