Tips to reduce waste

Arm yourself with a reusable water bottle, a couple of grocery bags, a few cloth bags and reusable jars and bottles.

Get your 5Rs right: Refuse what you do not need; Reduce what you do need; Reuse what you consume; Recycle what you cannot Refuse, Reduce or Reuse; and Rot (compost) the rest.

Welcome alternatives to disposables (paper towels, rubbish bin liners, wax paper, aluminium sheets, disposable plates, cups). Swop paper towels for reusable rags; sandwich baggies for kitchen towels or stainless containers, drop rubbish bin liners all together (wet waste is mostly compostable anyway).

Shop at the farmer’s market: they’ll take the egg carton and the berries baskets back for reuse. Your veggies will also most likely be free of plastic and stickers.

Learn to love your tap water.

Reinvent your leftovers before they go bad. Go through your recipe binder/ box and only keep the recipes that can be achieved with zero waste in mind.

Invest in a pressure cooker (halves the cooking time).

Let houseplants absorb toxins and clean your air. Open a window instead of plugging in an air freshener.

Dry washing on a line when possible.

Cancel your phone directories, and sign up for electronic bills and statements.

Reuse single-side printed paper for printing or making notepads held by a metal clip, reuse junk mail response envelopes and when buying new paper, choose recycled and packaging paper. – from Johnson’s website www. zerowastehome.com