There is a lot of community interest and concern about sustainability, waste and litter, particularly in recent years as people witness huge volumes of waste going to landfill and the threat that litter poses to marine wildlife.
With catalysts such as the ABC program ‘War on Waste’ and restrictions on recyclables that could previously be sent to Asia, people at home, at work and at school are looking for ways to reduce their environmental footprint.
At home
We can make a lot of personal choices at home to reduce waste:
buy items with minimal packaging
carefully monitor our food to reduce food waste
re-use things such as clothing, bikes, furniture
donate your pre-loved, good quality items to tip shops, to charity or give them away on Freecycle
take broken items and clothing to your local Repair Café to learn how to repair them
hire items rather than buy them
organise and/or participate in a clothing swap or toy swap
recycle at the kerbside and/or return beverage containers via the Recycle Rewards scheme for 10 cent refunds
say no to plastic shopping bags and take your own instead
bring your own cutlery and crockery to events, to reduce the use of problematic single use plastics
compost our food scraps or put them in the FOGO bin
take used batteries to your nearest
Bcycle battery collection point (remember to put sticky tape on the terminals).
There are so many ways to optimise our resources. To find residential recyclers in your area, see your local council or Planet Ark’s
Recycling Near You. There is also an app called
Recycle Mate where you can take a photo of an item and the app helps you know where it can be recycled.
For householders who want to reduce waste, try
Rethink Waste. Follow
Eat Well Tasmania for ideas on how to reduce food waste at home.
At work
At work there are also many ways to reduce waste:
purchase items that are durable and
where the environment is considered
ensure that paper has recycled content, then that we recycle that paper
collect
mobile phones and phone batteries for recycling
look at what wastes are being produced by your industrial processes and potentially reduce them or put them back through the system
give away clean, inert materials to Tips Shops for use as craft materials
minimise food waste and/or donate food to food rescue organisations
To find commercial recyclers in your area, see Planet Ark’s
Business Recycling Near You.
The
Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association are active in promoting waste reduction in industry in Tasmania, as are
Rethink Waste. Businesses are invited to consider sponsorship of grants funding from the Tasmanian Waste and Resource Recovery Board for activities that reduce waste.
Business Resource Efficiency Program
Through Renewables, Climate and Future Industries Tasmania, the Tasmanian government supports the Business Resource Efficiency Program, which aims to help businesses who want to be part of the solution on waste and climate change. For more information visit the Business Resource Efficiency Program webpage.
At school
Sustainability is now a cross curriculum priority in the
Australian Curriculum.
There are many ways to reduce waste at school, such as:
printing double-sided
recycling in classrooms
composting
bringing minimal packaging to school
investigating the possibility for canteens to go waste-free as much as possible
altering lunch time to encourage kids to eat all of their lunch.
NRE Tas supports waste and sustainability education in schools and can provide advice and guidance for teachers on waste issues.
The Waste and Resource Recovery Board approved $250,000 funding for waste education providers to work with schools and teachers in Tasmania, additional to the waste education in schools provided by Rethink Waste.
Primary school teaching resources are now available on general waste issues for Kinder to Grade 1, as well as litter, paper, plastic and food waste for Grades 2, 3, 4 and 5 students respectively. The Grade 6 resource consolidates learning from previous years and provides activities to stimulate the students to think about their consumer behaviour, their impact on the world and how they can undertake leadership to develop systems for the whole school to reduce waste.
They are aligned with various areas of the Australian Curriculum including Science, Maths, English and the cross-curriculum priority of Sustainability.
At events
When you are at events or festivals, think of bringing your own cutlery or crockery. Alternatively, some events have their own reusables. Alternatively, look for guidance on the ways to correctly recycle, and correctly dispose of other wastes as instructed by the organiser.
Teaching manuals
WASTE A Teaching Manual Kinder - Grade 1 (PDF 30Mb)
WASTE A Teaching Manual Grade 2 - Litter (PDF 1Mb)
WASTE A Teaching Manual Grade 3 - Paper (PDF 2Mb)
WASTE A Teaching Manual - Grade 4 Plastic (PDF 2Mb)
WASTE A Teaching Manual Grade 5 - Food Waste (PDF 3Mb)
WASTE A Teaching Manual Grade 6 - General Waste Issues (PDF 2Mb)
School Food Matters promotes healthy eating and waste reduction in Tasmanian schools.
Keep Australia Beautiful
Keep Australia Beautiful Tasmania (KABTas) work to inspire and educate communities to keep Tasmania clean and beautiful.
KAB Tas celebrates sustainability achievements in rural and regional communities through the Sustainable Communities (Tidy Towns) Awards. The awards encourage, motivate and celebrate the sustainability achievements of Tasmanian grassroots rural and regional communities.
KAB Tas also provide Tasmanian schools with the oppurtunity to apply for up to $2000 towards a project to improve sustainability in their school through the Sustainable Schools Grants Program. In recent rounds, recipient schools recieved grants for initiatives including gardening projects, recycling and even beekeeping.
These programs are assisted through funding from the Tasmanian Government. To submit an application and learn more, visit Keep Australia Beautiful Tasmania.
Out and about
When you are out and about, look for bins to put your litter and recyclables in. Think about storing your drink containers for Recycle Rewards, where you get 10 cents for every eligible container. If you are in the City of Hobart, take your compostable containers home and pop them in your FOGO collection bin.
On holidays, keep up your good recycling habits and use the recycling facilities available.
Useful links
Several organisations around Tasmania promote avoiding, reducing, re-using and recycling. These include Rethink Waste and individual councils such as Kingborough, with their waste ambassador Mamma Rosa.
The State Government provides funding to Rethink Waste and Keep Australia Beautiful Tasmania to encourage people to live sustainably and avoid, reduce, reuse and recycle in various aspects of their lives.