We can still reduce our waste while WFH

by Marly Chen

As we navigate through the challenges of a pandemic and many of us continue to work from home, there is an opportunity to Step Up and minimise our waste contribution.

As we change our ways of working (and living!) in response to the pandemic, it is even more critical than ever to continue reducing our waste. Australia produces 74 million tonnes of waste per year and it it is estimated that 130,000 tonnes of this ends up in the waterways and oceans each year!

COVID-19 has backtracked the progress we have made with waste. With the increase of single-use items such as takeaway containers and disposable face masks, our household waste has soared. However, this is not a reason to give up.

As the workforce shifts and many of us across the nation transition into a home office, there is an opportunity to assess and control what we send to landfill.

1. Reduce & Refuse
Before you make any purchase, ask yourself if you truly need it.. Before heading out to buy furniture and equipment for your home office, consider whether it has to be new - can you repurpose or re-use, buying secondhand? Make sure you check local online listings - it’s excellent for the environment, wonderful for your wallet and brilliant for building a community! Groups such as Pay It Forward, Street Bounty and Freecycle are just a few of many gift and share economies that have sprung up to give strangers a way to give or exchange goods.

2. Appropriately recycle
Always recycle appropriately and keep refreshing your knowledge. Be sure to keep an eye out for products with the Australasian Recycling Label, which provides clear and easy-to-understand instructions on how to correctly dispose of all parts of a product’s packaging. But we know recycling can be super tricky - different communities have access to different recycling facilities, and each facility has unique equipment and capabilities; and is able to process a different set of items. The best thing to do is to check your local council’s website. Chances are, they’ll have an entire section devoted to their waste management program.

3. Soft plastics aren't a hard probem
With so many home deliveries happening at the moment, the REDcycle program makes it easy to keep plastic bags and packaging out of landfill. Simply collect all your soft plastics, ensuring they are dry and as empty as possible and drop them into your nearest REDcycle collection bin at participating supermarkets all around Australia.

 4. Start to compost/wormfarm or bokashi
In Australia, over five million tonnes of food ends up as landfill, enough to fill 9,000 Olympic sized swimming pools every single year. And of course, when food scraps are sent to landfill, they release methane - in fact, if food waste was a country, it would be the third biggest emitter of global greenhouse gases, after USA and China. But when it comes to reducing the amount of food waste we throw out as rubbish each week (which can be as much as a third to half of our household bins), many of us don’t know where to begin and wrongly assume that the solution is onerous, smelly and dirty - and that a big garden or outside space is an imperative. The good news is that it is easy to start - and achievable for apartment dwellers! Get the lowdown here.

5. Wake up and smell the coffee!
For the majority of Australians the morning requires an essential item… coffee! For a while there, many cafés chose to opt out of allowing BYO cups (despite 100 global scientists and health experts signing a statement to say that reusable cups could be used safely simply by employing basic hygiene measures).  However in most places now you should be able to bring your reusable coffee cup and ask for a “contactless pour”. If that's not an option you should always go topless, with no lid.

6. Make your own meals

Not only are you avoiding the unnecessary packaging from takeaway, cooking mindfully can improve your mental and physical health. And did you know up to half of everything in people's household bins, is on average, food waste, with over 7.3 million tonnes of food being wasted every year?  You can help reduce food waste by meal planning, using leftovers and composting rather than putting scraps in landfill. 


7. Cut down on the paper

Admit it, you are sick of getting unnecessary pamphlets and flyers in the mail. Well, good news… you have control! It can be as simple as placing a “No Junk Mail” sign on your letter box. And of course before you even start printing in your home office, ask yourself is it really necessary. If the answer is yes, then make sure you use recycled paper and print on both sides of the page.


8. Tone it down

You can drop off your used or empty toners, laser and inkjet cartridges at all Officeworks stores and participating Australia Post, Cartridge World, Harvey Norman, The Good Guys, JB Hi-Fi, Office National and Office Products Depot outlets. Inkjet cartridges, toner cartridges and toner bottles are accepted. This includes cartridges used in printers, photocopiers and fax machines.


9. Don't go batty

Batteries are fire hazards and should never be put in your recycling or waste bin. When batteries are not properly disposed of, the casing disintegrates and the toxic chemicals inside leach into the surrounding environment. This toxic material can contaminate the soil and groundwater affecting the health of humans, wildlife and the environment. Instead, simply drop your used household batteries into the recycling bin located in every ALDI store - (removing any packaging) - and you're done!


10. Educate yourself about e-waste

Electronic rubbish (which is any item with a battery or a plug, such as a TV or a computer, that is no longer used or working) is growing at three times the rate of any other waste stream, with discarded devices are piling up around the world at a rate of 40 million per year. But did you know 98% of the components in your computer or television can be fully recycled?




Marly is a healthcare marketer who is excited to apply her skillset towards her second passion, environmental sustainability.


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