Tip 1: Compost food items and other biodegradable waste

As much as half of the waste collected in rubbish bins each week could be recycled as compost and garden mulch, reducing the amount of ‘mucky’ waste in the bin and saving $$. 

Read about the many advantages of compost and the  ‘Easy Guides’ to...Composting, Mulching and Worm Farming.

Tip 2: Where possible buy products with minimal packaging

Suggestions:

• buy in bulk
• avoid buying mega-sized packets containing numerous smaller packets (e.g. potato crisps, biscuits)
• buy 2 litre or larger bottles of fruit juice and decant into drink bottles at home rather than buying quantities of the small ‘tetra-paks’
• avoid buying fruit and veg on plastic covered polystyrene trays

Tip 3: Think of practical uses for everyday items that you might otherwise discard

Suggestions:

• empty margarine & ice-cream containers are ideal for food storage
• meat trays make good seed beds
• wash ‘snap lock’ plastic bags to re-use over and over

Browse http://recyclingnearyou.com.au/education/25-things-to-re-use.cfm for more great ideas.

Tip 4: Make use of other avenues for recycling goods 

Suggestions:

• Many Australia Post Offices will accept used mobile phones and printer cartridges for recycling
  
• Donate used clothes, books and household goods to charity, secondhand shops or community fundraising stalls; local salvage merchants will accept a wide range of hard refuse including electrical items, scrap timber and iron.

• Council’s Waste and Recycling Service