Human beings are going to drown in our own waste. This is waste that has been accumulating over the past 50 years caused by our conversion to a lifestyle of convenience, consumerism and planned obsolescence.
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We have adapted so comfortably to a ‘throw-away’ society that we can’t image living without ‘stuff’ that 95 per cent of the time we only use once. This conditioning has blinded us to the growing waste problem we have and the significant detriment it is having on our environment.
We produced so much waste in Australia last year that, if we had have spread it across the ground, it would have covered Victoria. It’s not just the products we purchase and dispose of that needs to be taken into account. Before it has even reached our household it has left a trail of industrial waste behind it, contributing to global warming on its journey.
Convenience has comes at a price but I don’t believe we need to give it up; we just need to tweak how we live. So here are five tweaks I’ve adopted that are making a difference in our household, even with a teenage son in residence.
Solution One: Take responsibility for my own waste
This begins with purchasing decisions – taking responsibility for my own waste makes me more conscious about the choices I make when buying new ‘stuff’. Buying in bulk, composing food scraps and recycling everything I can really has reduced the contents of our landfill bin. We only need to put it out for collection every two three weeks instead of weekly.
Solution Two: Avoid ‘disposables’
A great example of disposable is the coffee cup. Did you know it isn’t recyclable? Only some lids, my friends, can be recycled. I love my latte as much as the next person but I cannot abide the waste this innocuous activity is causing. I’ve bought a Keep Cup; in fact I have a few now, covering home, the car and the office. It is one of the easiest things you can do while continuing to enjoy our wonderful coffee culture. If you don’t have time to spend chatting with a friend over a latte at the café, have your Keep Cup available. I’ve also found that some cafes will reduce the cost of your coffee if you provide your own cup.
Solution Three: Reuse
Wherever I can, I reuse instead of buying new. Here are some quick reusable tips: Avoid buying bottled water, instead buy a reusable bottle; Have a supply of reusable shopping bags always available; Reuse food scraps and make compost for the garden; and need a new outfit, go op shopping and find yourself a pre-loved garment
Solution Four: No more plastic
A lot of plastic can be recycled but there is a lot that can’t. Like the disposal coffee cup, plastic has become such an insidious part of our lives that we don’t know how to live without it. I have found this the most challenging, as it is really hard to avoid. Plastic packaging is everywhere. So on top of what I’ve introduced above I also avoid plastics that can’t be recycled – they are numbers 3, 6 & 7 in the triangle on the plastic container, avoid frozen convenience foods and refuse to use coffee pod machines as the pod is not recyclable - 350 million of them ended up in landfill in 2014
Solution Five: Buy less
Do we really need more stuff? I’ve been asking myself, “Do I need it or do I want it?” When I ask myself these questions when the urge to buy comes on, it is amazing how you can make do with what you’ve got. We survived happily prior to being manipulated by corporations through their clever marketing that we need the latest and the greatest. By taking back control of our purchasing decisions, we start putting pressure back onto them to change their ways. It will then make it easier for us to continue to live a life of convenience and enjoy the simple pleasures gained from being resourceful and not wasteful.