Why Reduce Waste

Reducing waste through buying goods with less packaging, repairing, reusing, recycling or sharing items provides many personal, community, economic and environmental benefits such as:

• Reduced costs associated with waste collection and disposal.
• Saving money for the household (extending the life of goods, choosing reusable/refillable rather than single use).
• Reducing household clutter.
• Gaining new skills and knowledge (learning how to repair items or compost).
• Shopping locally and supporting charitable reuse (op shops, markets).
• Community building via neighbourly transactions (borrowing, sharing, garage sales) and community initiatives (repair cafes, clothing swaps).
• Encouraging producers and brands to take entire lifecycle responsibility (like reducing packaging in response to consume demands and making products repairable).
• Lower greenhouse gas emissions by avoiding unnecessary production and waste.
• More sustainable use of the Earth's finite resources.
• Building a stronger circular economy within the region (job creation).

What is a circular economy?

A shift away from our traditional 'take, make, dispose' model, to a system where materials never become waste and nature is regenerated. In a circular economy, products and materials are kept in circulation through processes like maintenance, reuse, refurbishment, remanufacture, recycling and composting.