Easy tips that help to reduce waste in your everyday
Making even one small change each day will have a positive effect and help to reduce waste at home. In this guide we offer simple, everyday solutions for everyone including green tips, swaps and low-waste recipes the whole family will enjoy. Start by introducing just one or give them all a go.
01
Plan your meals
Set aside 30 minutes on the weekend to plan your weekly meals. Planning ahead makes grocery shopping more efficient, reduces food wastage, saves money and can ensure healthier weeknight meals.
Meal planning tips
- Check your fridge, freezer and pantry. Plan your meals around produce that needs to be used straight away, then add the missing ingredients to your shopping list.
- Have a leftovers night. You don’t need to cook from scratch every night!
- Plan a takeaway night to keep things fun.
- Don’t forget to keep your menu plans so you can reuse them.
- Menu planning doesn’t mean being inflexible. Swap and change meals as you need so it works best for you.
02
Organise your fridge and freezer
Whether you’re storing produce in the fridge, freezer or pantry, there are certain things you can do to ensure the longevity of your food. First off, check the temperature of your fridge. It should be no more than 5℃. Ideally, your freezer should be at -18℃. Storing food and produce at the correct temperature is the first step to increasing its longevity. Next, create a ‘use-first’ section in your fridge to ensure you use up older food and produce as soon as possible. This small step goes a long way in helping to reduce food waste.
03
Get clever with scraps
Make your veggie scraps go that extra mile with these clever ideas:
- Regrow veggie scraps like spring onion bulbs, celery or lettuce bases in a jar of water. Regrowing yourself means you can sometimes get more than one round of growth!
- Plant seeds from produce like tomatoes, chillies, pumpkins or capsicums and grow your own mini crops. If you don’t have a garden, plant them in a pot on a sunny window sill or balcony.
- Make a delicious vegetable stock with scraps like sweet potato peel, carrot tops, mushroom stems, onion skins, parsley stems and celery scraps.
- Save crusts and stale bread to make bread crumbs. Blend in a food processor then freeze until needed.
- Use leftover parmesan rinds to enrich soups, stews and sauces.
- Preserve the veggies you can’t eat by pickling in vinegar or preserving in salt.
How to make the most of your off cuts
04
Compost whatever is leftover
If you still have leftover produce and you’ve done all you can with it, rather than throwing it in the bin, try composting it. This helps to break down organic matter into a nutrient-dense fertiliser for the garden. If you don’t have a garden, there are countertop or undersink composters available that work just as well. Here are some tips on what you can and can’t compost to get you started.
Do compost
- Fruit and veggie scraps
- Tea leaves and bags (removal staples, string and tag)
- Egg shells
- Grass and plant cuttings
- Damp cardboard
- Shredded newspaper
Don't compost
- Citrus
- Onion
- Cooked vegetables
- Meat or dairy products
- Cooked foods
- Glossy paper (e.g. from magazines or wrapping paper)
05
Plastic-free swaps
While going plastic-free might seem like an impossible goal to begin with, the key is to make small changes every day to reduce our reliance on it. The good news is that there are many excellent eco-friendly alternatives that can help to reduce our plastic-footprint.
Try swapping
- Disposable coffee cups for a reusable coffee cup
- Disposable plastic water bottles for a refillable stainless steel bottle
- Single-use plastic cutlery for stainless steel or bamboo cutlery
- Plastic straws for metal, paper or bamboo straws
- Plastic wrap for beeswax wrap or cotton covers
- Disposable produce bags for reusable cotton or mesh bags
- Plastic takeaway containers for glass, stainless steel or silicone containers
- Plastic toothbrushes for bamboo options
06
Eat seasonally, buy local & choose imperfect produce
Fruits and vegetables peak at certain times of the year. The benefits of seasonal eating are many - the produce tastes better, it’s cheaper and it’s grown locally so doesn’t have to be shipped in.
Another great way to help reduce food wastage is to choose imperfect fruit and veggies with the Odd bunch. Think crooked carrots, twisted turnips, curved cucumbers - they’re all perfectly nutritious and delicious but just a bit misshapen. Shopping the Odd Bunch will not only reduce the amount of edible food going to landfill it will also save you money on perfectly good fresh produce.
See our produce guides to find out what’s in season now
07
Eco cleaning swaps
Make your cleaning regime a little more eco-friendly by swapping chemical cleaning products for natural ones. You can also avoid buying more, and use up ingredients that you might have in your kitchen already like lemons.
Lemons are a powerhouse ingredient for cleaning and they smell great! Try making your own lemon-infused vinegar spray by combining a 50/50 mix of white vinegar and water in a spray bottle. Use it in the kitchen, bathroom or to clean windows. If you’re trying to remove tough grease from stove tops or a stainless steel sink, mixing together a little baking soda and the vinegar spray makes a highly effective scouring paste.