Make zero waste your goal

The creation of waste can be a nightmare during barbecue season, and as our awareness about our environmental footprint grows, so too does the desire to do something about it.

Plastic food wrap, plastic straws, plastic plates, plastic cups, plastic cutlery and plastic rubbish bags, chip packets and soft drink bottles are all too often piled into the rubbish after a day of entertaining.

But there are plenty of ways to start cutting down how much of your outdoor party goes straight to landfill, and you can even aim for zero waste if you take a bit of extra time and care with what you buy.

Zero Waste Network chair Marty Hoffart said the best starting point was to tell everyone invited that you were trying to make the event or barbecue zero waste.

‘‘They’re likely to jump on board and might have some good ideas to share. Have a think about what filled up your rubbish bin after your last barbecue or party, and tackle the biggest waste stream first,’’ he said.

Hoffart said food waste made up 30 to 40 per cent of household rubbish, so that was a good place to start.

‘‘If you’re having a pot luck barbecue, suggest what each person might bring to avoid double-ups. Encourage everyone to take their leftovers home to eat the next day, or pop leftover salads and meat into separate containers which your family can eat for lunch or dinner,’’ he said.

Hoffart said zero waste could cost a bit more initially but in the long run would save money.

‘‘It just takes a little bit of time to change our habits, but avoiding plastic and food waste makes a really big difference to the environment and the climate,’’ he said.

For those drinking alcohol, avoiding plastic altogether saved energy and materials from being used in the first place so even though glass and

PET plastic were recyclable, a better alternative would be kegs of refillable glass riggers, Hoffart said.

He advised sourcing cutlery and crockery from second-hand stores, getting friends to bring extra over, using camping gear instead of buying disposables, and renting boxes of glasses from liquor stores.

A lot of packaging was associated with the snack foods eaten at the start of a barbecue, Hoffart said.

He said chip packets were tricky so it was a good idea to replace these with nuts or salty snacks from bulk bins, or make pre-barbecue snacks at home.

‘‘If it is a pot luck, you could ask one or two people to bring a plate of zero waste snack foods such as crackers from the bulk food bin, tinned treats such as stuffed vine leaves, olives and sundried tomatoes, as well as cut up veges, fruit or deli foods in your own container,’’ he said.

Hoffart said the Zero Waste Network encouraged people to plan for zero waste rather than simply replacing one disposable item with another.