Understanding Your Household Waste

A simple home waste audit is a great place to start. By taking a closer look at what you throw away over a week or two, you can identify the types of waste and recycling your household generates most, and where changes could have the biggest impact.

For example, you may find that food waste makes up a large part of your waste. In addition to ensuring all food waste is placed in your compost, FOGO bin, or fed to animals so it doesn't go to landfill, you could reduce food waste by meal planning and shopping with a list after checking supplies at home.

If your bin is mostly disposable nappies, you could consider using reusable nappies instead for some or all of the time.

Maybe clothing makes up most of your waste. You could reduce this by mending, donating wearable items, repurposing the fabric or hiring outfits.

Why should I reduce my recycling as well as my waste to landfill?

Recycling and composting is better than sending resources to landfill, but it is not better than reducing waste in the first instance. Avoiding waste has the greatest environmental impact. There are many ways to avoid waste including using reusable products, buying only what you need, selecting items with less packaging and repairing.