7 R’s of Conscious Consumption

R E P A I R

R E C Y C L E

R E P U R P O S E

R E F U S E

R E D U C E

R O T

R E U S E

The term 'refuse' is quite clever because the word means saying 'no' and means garbage. This section will focus on saying 'no'. There are two elements to refuse: Refusing to purchase an item in the first place because after careful consideration, we don't need it, andRefusing to buy things with excessive or unnecessary packaging.These two elements of refusal can be considered in the home and at work.

The Story of Bottled Water (8:04)

Refuse

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What Really Sparks Joy? (3:19)

WORK

HOME

Select “Work” or “Home” to find out more

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In the office, we can challenge the standard consumable products that every business uses, from toilet paper to coffee capsules, to achieve a more sustainable outcome.For those business units that need to spend the remainder of their budget before the end of the financial year, there is a considerable temptation to stock up on products, even if they aren't needed, which can lead to waste.The waste generated by social events like catered morning teas or conferences, like uneaten food, disposable coffee cups, and food wrappers, should be considered part of the event planning. There are plenty of alternatives available if we take the time to investigate.Individual office bins are convenient but tend to dissuade people from appropriately separating their landfill waste, food waste, and recyclables. To this end, the contents can all end up as landfill waste. Centralised waste bins may mean extra steps for staff but allow for the conscious separation of waste into the appropriate receptacles.

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The ease of buying online has created access to products from around the world at any time. Email notifications bombard our inboxes around the clock and encourage us to buy at reduced prices or experience the fear of missing out. With delayed payment options replacing credit cards, we don't even need to have the cash available at the time of purchase. Despite this constant temptation to buy, we need to consider each purchase carefully.Holidays and birthdays provide exciting opportunities to refuse to purchase physical goods and take the challenge to give vouchers and charitable donations instead of presents.Discounts for multiple purchases like two for one can tempt us to buy goods we don't need so that we can access a perceived saving. In Norway, there are campaigns aimed at ending this practice to reduce over-purchasing.Adding additional products to your cart to access free shipping can tempt us to purchase goods we don't need.

Vivienne Westwood.

Reduce

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"BUY LESS CHOOSE WELL"

Reduce means using less so we have less to throw away. One prominent example is purchasing more food than we need and serving too much food which then needs to be thrown away. One enjoyable challenge is to create recipes that will use the excess or leftovers. The conscious decision to reduce the use of harmful, wasteful, and non-recyclable products will mean sending less waste material to landfills.

In the 'Rot' section, we will explore how food waste can be composted at home.

Food Standards Australia New Zealand. 'Use by and best before dates' https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumer/labelling/dates/Pages/default.aspx

Select a title to find out more.

Food Waste

OzHarvest was founded in 2004 by Ronni Kahn AO in Sydney after noticing the enormous amount of food waste generated by her events business. She set out to fix an obvious problem with a simple solution rather than establish a charity. Ronni Kahn commenced rescuing food and delivering it to local charities that fed the less fortunate, starting with just one van. OzHarvest has become a leading food rescue organisation on a mission to 'Nourish our Country' by preventing quality food from going to waste and delivering it to charities to feed people in need. The distinctive yellow vans can be seen in the community every day, collecting quality surplus food from a network of contributors, including supermarkets, cafes, delicatessens, restaurants, corporate kitchens, airlines, hotels and other food businesses. OzHarvest now operates nationally with offices in Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Cairns, Canberra, Melbourne, Newcastle, and Perth from modest beginnings in Sydney. The model has also been replicated in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and South Africa. OzHarvest's statistics tell a fantastic story of waste reduction. OzHarvest delivers food provided by 3253 donors to 1462 charities and has given a staggering 180 million meals to the needy.

We are OzHarvest

Copied Under s113P. https://asset-cdn.campaignbrief.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/04091132/OzHarvest20Report20p27.jpg, 22/11/2021

Case Study

Case Study

OzHarvest. 'Who We Are'. https://www.ozharvest.org/who-we-are/

OzHarvest

Food waste is one area where we can substantially impact the amount of waste we throw away. One-third of food produced globally for human consumption is lost or wasted, so there is plenty of room for improvement. Sometimes food is sold in packets or bundles, which are more than we need, but we are attracted to the economy of scale of purchasing more than we need to achieve economic savings. Sometimes we buy with the best intentions of using all the products. Still, life gets in the way, and the food slowly deteriorates in the fridge and eventually gets thrown out – this is where menu planning can help, so products are purchased with a specific meal in mind. Most foods are marked with either a 'use by' date or a 'best before' date for health and safety reasons. The 'use by date' indicates that food items should not be eaten after the date because they may pose a health or safety risk. The 'best before date' suggests that the item may have lost some quality after that date.

Food Waste

1426755029 / Iisheva Maria / shutterstock.com

Ground coffee in a French press/plunger instead of coffee capsules

Some simple reuse ideas include:

Non-plastic straws instead of single-use plastic straws

Just look around any supermarket, and you will see a fantastic array of foods wrapped in single-use plastic. Whilst there has been a growing movement to ban single-use plastic shopping bags, there is still a long way to reduce the plastic for food packaging. In the past decades, single-use plastics have fostered a 'throw-away' culture, and our consumer behaviour of only using products once has become normalised. Our plastic problem has become one of the significant environmental challenges. The concept of 'reuse' relies on investing in products that can be used multiple times, preferably indefinitely. Implementing the idea of reuse can be as simple as replacing single-use eating utensils, plastic water bottles, Styrofoam cups, and plastic plates with compostable or reusable alternatives. Being a conscious consumer means making choices to reuse items instead of throwing them away. Following is some simple reuse ideas. What disposable items do you use? How could you replace them or better yet reuse them?

Handkerchiefs instead of tissues

Refillable water bottle instead of single-use bottled water

Reusable jars at bulk stores instead of single-use plastic/glass jars

Reusable coffee cups instead of disposable cups

Safety razors instead of disposable razors

USB charged appliances instead of disposable batteries

Reuse

Material shopping bags instead of single-use plastic shopping bags

Loose leaf tea in a teapot or diffuser instead of teabags

753661597 / SewCream / shutterstock.com

The beauty of repurposing allows applying some do-it-yourself skills to everyday items to create something new. Repurposing is also referred to as "upcycling" since the materials are recycled for different use. Here is another link from Bored Panda, providing you with 30 Creative Ways to Repurpose and Reuse Old Stuff.

Repurpose

The concept of repurposing provides a fun challenge by finding another use for an item. Some products cannot be refused, reduced, or reused, but you can try repurposing them. It requires some creativity, but the possibilities are endless. You can use old newspapers and other papers for arts and crafts, glass jars for holding food or planting new seeds, coffee mugs for holding pens and other items. There are many ideas available on the web of how to repurpose things. Here is one example providing you with 58 ways to repurpose empty jars.

The concept of repair is about getting items fixed when they stop working or get damaged. Unfortunately, many of the products we purchase are not designed to be repaired and are destined for landfills. Frequently, we do not possess the technical skills to repair items, and it can be cheaper to replace than repair – think household appliances. On occasion, a little research will find local shops and individuals who can mend clothing, resole shoes, fix furniture and other appliances. When making purchasing decisions, it should be worth considering the warranties attached to products and the item's durability. Furniture and electrical items used to last a generation, but now we consider ourselves lucky if our appliances last a few years. There are local community 'men's sheds' in Australia, where you can get various items repaired and acquire technical skills and information.

1871763151 / RutySoft / shutterstock.com

Australian Men's Shed Association

Repair

E-Waste

Please read the following ABC news article titled ‘ Right to repair ’ This article speaks of a growing movement in Australia, as Apple and others design products with shorter lifespans.

BBC – Future. 'Here's the truth about the 'planned obsolescence' of tech’ https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160612-heres-the-truth-about-the-planned-obsolescence-of-tech

E-Waste is a significant problem because many phones, tablets, computers, and printers have a relatively short life and require frequent upgrading by purchasing new models. Obsolescence associated with technology, coupled with a ravenous consumer appetite for owning the latest product model, means that items are thrown away even though they still work.

Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. As one of the 7Rs, it is one way to prevent the waste of potentially useful materials and reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials. Unfortunately, the concept of recycling does not reduce the production of the items; it just provides a method of preventing more landfill items. The effectiveness and efficiency of recycling have been questioned in recent years with the ban on exporting recycling items to overseas countries. Depending on market prices, recycled materials can often be more expensive than using virgin materials – this leads to manufacturers preferring cheaper raw materials whilst the recycled waste languishes in warehouses. Sorting recycling items where they are used or emptied is vital to ensuring that the right things end up in the correct recycling streams. Domestic recycling has been a feature of Australian waste management for decades, and most Australians have enjoyed a choice of bins: landfill and comingled recycling. Some councils provide a third organic bin for food and garden waste.

Recycle

Sadly, only 2% of Australia's annual 3,300 tonnes of lithium-ion battery waste is recycled, so there is plenty of room for improvement. We seem to be forever changing disposable batteries (like AA, AAA, C, and D batteries) in devices; however, these used batteries should never be put in the recycling bin or the landfill bin. Rechargeable batteries and lithium-ion batteries are hazardous and could produce sparks that may start a fire in the trucks or recycling facility. Batteries in laptops, mobile phones, power tools and cameras are also hazardous. Aldi supermarkets offer a free battery recycling service at all their Australian stores. Any brand of AA, AAA, C, D and 9V batteries (both rechargeable and non-rechargeable) are accepted – all you need to do is drop your used batteries into the dedicated bins in-store. There are also other battery collection points, including Woolworths supermarkets (battery and mobile phone collection points), participating Battery World retail outlets (all battery types), and Officeworks (in some stores). You are advised to call ahead to ensure these outlets can accept your batteries for recycling. Workplaces that want to recycle batteries can order a collection box with a pick-up service through Batteries 4 Planet Ark.

Every year, Australia produces an estimated 75,000 tonnes of ground coffee waste – that's about one and a half times the weight of the Sydney Harbour Bridge (52,000 tonnes).

Hairdressers Waste

Empty laser and Inkjet cartridges can all be recycled, including cartridges used in printers, photocopiers and fax machines. Printer cartridges can be dropped off 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. Printer cartridges from the six participating brands: Brother, Canon, Cartridge World, Epson, HP and Kyocera, are accepted in the Cartridges 4 Planet Ark program and also includes inkjet cartridges, laser cartridges, toner bottles, fuser and drum units, fax rolls, print heads, waste hoppers/containers collectors and kits. So far, the program has recycled more than 45 million cartridges via 30,000 businesses and over 3,5000 retail outlets. The Cartridges 4 Planet Ark program is an innovative example of an extended producer responsibility program because the producers take responsibility for the cartridges they manufacture. The participating brands pay for the collection and recycling of their cartridges.

Sustainable Salons. 'Making Salon Waste History' https://sustainablesalons.org

Recycling Near You. 'Batteries' https://recyclingnearyou.com.au/batteries/BrisbaneQLD

Recycling Near You. 'Printer Cartridges' https://recyclingnearyou.com.au/cartridges/BrisbaneQLD

Bridgeclimb Sydney. '21 Facts about Bridgeclimb Sydney’ ‘https://www.bridgeclimb.com/news/21-facts-about-bridgeclimb-sydney#:~:text=6.,steel%20was%20imported%20from%20England.

1704608767 / Dmitrii Pridannikov / shutterstock.com

1717806721 / Vladimir Sukhachev / shutterstock.com

Printer Cartridges

Batteries

Coffee Grounds

Cigarette butts are the most littered item in Australia, with about seven billion butts being littered annually. Although the filters feel like natural fibre, they are made from cellulose acetate, a plastic made from paper and rayon. The filters will never biodegrade without human intervention – they break into smaller and smaller pieces and end up scattered across the landscape. Thankfully, there is a solution because, believe it or not; cigarette butts can be recycled. The filters can be turned into plastic products, and the paper, ash, and tobacco can be composted.

1427939969 / Chanon Massayakong, 1816146512 / Stanislav71, 378206935 / mipan, 1704608767 / Dmitrii Pridannikov / shutterstock.com, 108257617 / sutichak / stock.adobe.com. Copied Under s113P, https://waster.com.au/product/beauty-products/, 16/11/21.

Copied Under s113P, https://waster.com.au/product/cigarette-waste-zero-waste-box/, 16/11/21

Keep Australia Beautiful WA.' Cigarette Butts’ https://www.kabc.wa.gov.au/resources/litter-information/cigarette-butts#:~:text=Cigarette%20butts%20are%20the%20most,the%20Western%20Australia%20litter%20stream Waster.com.au. 'Cigarette Butt Recycling’ https://waster.com.au/cigarette-butt-recycling/

New Text

378206935 / mipan / shutterstock.com

Thankfully, coffee grounds can be collected from cafes and turned into an excellent enhancement for compost and worm farms, full of essential nutrients. Companies like Reground provide a service so that community gardens and home gardeners can request full van loads of coffee grounds, free of charge, that are delivered straight to their door. Cafes pay a small fee to have their coffee grounds collected.

Cigarette Butts

A considerable volume of waste is generated in the beauty industry as beauty product containers are emptied. Workplaces can order a TerraCycle Zero Waste Box (various sizes) and fill it with makeup and cosmetics packaging, brushes, hairbands, clips, shampoo and conditioner bottles (does not include: sharp utensils, nail polish or nail polish remover, aerosols, perfume or hair dye).

Everyone who imports, designs, produces, sells, uses and disposes of products has a shared responsibility to reduce the environmental and human health and safety impacts of those products. Product stewardship schemes support the environmentally sound management of products and materials over their life. This includes at the end of their useful life. These arrangements may be voluntary, mandatory or shared with industry. Examples of good product stewardship are when: people recycle products, and their packagingcompanies design their products for easier recyclingcompanies use more recycled materials and less resources to manufacture their productscompanies limit the hazardous materials their products contain.Here are several recycling opportunities you may not have thought of; select each image to find out more.

1816146512 / Stanislav71 / shutterstock.com

Reground. 'Coffee ground collection for cafes, coffee roasters or offices of any size' https://www.reground.com.au/coffee-grounds

Have you ever considered the amount of waste that hairdressers and barbers produce? Although hair is biodegradable because it is a natural product, a lot is collected in plastic bags, so it goes straight to landfill. Fortunately, there are various recycling streams for the waste materials generated by salons: Salon metals. There is a range of metal salon products like foils, cans, and colour tubes that can be donated to charities so the items can be recycled as scrap metal.Ponytails can be donated to create medical wigs for those with leukemia and alopecia areata.Waste Hair. Hair collected from the salon floor is upcycled into hair booms which soak up oil spills on land and water. So far, Sustainable Salons has collected 28,700kg of hair for hair booms.

Workplaces can order a TerraCycle Zero Waste collection box (various sizes) and fill it with all parts of extinguished cigarettes, filters, cigar stubs, outer plastic packaging, inner foil packaging, rolling paper, and ash.

Beauty Products

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New and innovative uses for coffee grounds include mushroom growing, building materials, and reusable coffee mugs. For more information have a look at these two websites: https://huskee.co/https://www.reground.com.au/coffee-grounds

BATTERIES

HAIRDRESSER WASTE

PRINTER CARTRIDGES

CIGARETTE BUTTS

COFFEE GROUNDS

BEAUTY PRODUCTS

Composting takes advantage of the natural decomposition process of nature to manage organic resources like food scraps and garden waste. When these materials decompose in a controlled environment, they convert into compost, a quality soil enhancement that can improve gardens and soil quality and create energy. Compost is a cheap and efficient way of investing in soil productivity as it helps plants retain moisture and gives them beneficial nutrients. Various compost methods range from simply starting a compost heap in your garden to purchasing a composting tumbler. Composting isn't just an outdoor activity – there are now indoor composting solutions available.

Rot

Turning food waste into energy to power homes.

Select the image to open the "Residents Guide to Home Composting" (PDF 843KB) to learn how to create and maintain a healthy home compost system.The following website links illustrate how organic waste can be turned into Energy.

Generating energy from waste: how it works.

Please read the following for more information:

Organic Waste

Composting isn’t always an option for a household and some local councils offer a collection service for ‘green’ or ‘organic’ waste. In Australia, these bins usually have a lime coloured lid. Green Organic Bins can be confusing because what you can put in the bin depends on what your local council can process. Some councils will only take garden waste, whilst other councils will take both garden waste and food waste. Some councils even give each household a small kitchen food scrap bin with compostable liners to make collection easy at its source. For residents fortunate enough to live in an area where the council collects food waste, all food (with the exception of hard shells from some seafood) can go in your green bin.

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Organic waste

Plastic waste

Select what you would like to learn about next on the topic or Rot.

Containers for change

Sorting for recycling

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1918044398 / Volosovich Igor / shutterstock.com, 288708788 / artinspiring / stock.adobe.com

Plastic containers (Recycling 1-7)

NOT for your General Waste Bin

Sorting recycling isn’t always as easy as it sounds and as little as 5% of the wrong material can send an entire bin, skip, or load to landfill. Plastics are a particular problem because not all councils can recycle all the different types of plastic. Likewise, disposable coffee cups and plastic lids pose a problem because of the vague disposal instructions on the items. Select the various bins to find out what ought to go where.

Grass Clipping

Food.Plastic bags, bin liners and soft plastics.Clothing.Polystyrene or Styrofoam, including food packaging trays.Tissues, napkins, disposable wipes and nappies.Crockery, blue or white glass, drinking glasses, ovenproof glass.Household appliances and E-Waste.Light bulbs, fluorescent lamps, window or automotive glass.Chemical or oil containers.Building or renovation waste and timber.Bricks, concrete, masonry, tiles, rocks, rubble.Brooms or mops.Green waste.

Paper and cardboard

Flower

Recycle Bin

Branches

Items for your Green Waste Bin

Building or renovation waste (e.g. polyvinyl chloride (pvc) pipes, fixtures and fittings, plasterboard, etc.).Treated timber (e.g. cabinets, laminates, fence palings).E-waste (computers, printers, TV’s, microwaves, etc.).Hot ashes, coals and burnt material.Liquid waste, oil.Hazardous chemicals.Soil.Stumps, large branches.Items longer than 50cms (e.g. broom handles).

Plant

NOT for your Green Waste Bin

Items for your Recycle Bin

Aluminium, foil and cans

General Waste Bin

Food scraps

Not sure? Contact your local council.

Plastic wraps, Styrofoam, polystyrene

ITEMS FOR YOUR GREEN WASTE BIN

Disposable Nappies

NOT for your Recycle Bin

Bricks, concrete, masonry, tiles, rocks, rubble.Treated timber (e.g. cabinets, laminates, fence palings).Plastic bags, bin liners and soft plastics.Brooms, mops, rakes.Plant pots (plastic, ceramic, terracotta, etc.).General waste.Food scraps.Animal droppings or dead animals.Tissues, napkins, disposable wipes and nappies.Garden hoses.Building or renovation waste (e.g. polyvinyl chloride (pvc) pipes, fixtures and fittings, particle board, etc.).

Bagged rubbish

Garden rubbish

Steel cans

Green Waste Bin

Ceramic, china, drinking glasses, ovenproof glass, mirrors, light bulbs

Green waste

Glass bottles and jars

Items for your General Waste Bin

Sorting for recycling

This video takes you on the journey of a plastic bottle, very interesting.

Containers for change

This video will show you how to sign up for the Containers for Change Scheme ID.

Copied Under s113P, https://www.containersforchange.com.au/, 16/11/21

Containers for Change website

Containers for Change collects eligible containers that include most aluminium, glass, plastic, steel and liquid paperboard drink containers between 150ml and 3 litres. There are different container refund points across Queensland. A quick web search will show the locations near you. You’ll receive 10 cents for every suitable container you return, which you can keep or donate. The container refund point operators sort the containers into material types before a logistics provider transports them to be processed. The containers are then prepared for recycling at a processing facility before accredited recyclers purchase the processed materials, which they then transform into new containers and other products. Containers for Change reports that Queenslanders empty 2.7 billion containers each year, so this initiative incentivises recycling rather than allowing all those containers to end up in the landfill.

Additional resources

This video showcases a true story about Tom Pirie, better known as 10 cent Tom who has grown a business by collecting approximately 6,000 containers a week from neighbours, businesses and groups in his community.

Plastic waste

In this video Craig Reucassel, is on a mission to uncover how much waste we produce as a nation and what we can do about it.

This video takes you on the journey of a plastic bottle, very interesting.

This video showcases a true story about Tom Pirie, better known as 10 cent Tom who has grown a business by collecting approximately 6,000 containers a week from neighbours, businesses and groups in his community.

Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment. ‘National Plastics Plan 2021’ https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/a327406c-79f5-47f1-b71b-7388407c35a0/files/national-plastics-plan-2021.pdf

REDcycle. ‘FAQs’ https://www.redcycle.net.au/resources/

You are probably aware that the world, including Australia, has a plastics problem. Australia produces a staggering 2.5 million tonnes of plastic waste each year, equating to 100 kg per person. That’s right; we are each creating approximately the same weight as a baby elephant in plastic waste every year. Unfortunately, 84% of plastic is sent to landfills, with 130,000 tonnes leaking into the environment annually. Incredibly, by 2025 it is predicted that 99% of seabirds worldwide will have ingested plastic, and by the middle of the century, the plastic in the oceans will outweigh fish.

The second piece of information is that companies like REDcycle are collecting and recycling soft plastics. REDcycle recovers and recycles over 3 million pieces of soft plastic (bags and packaging) every week by conveniently collecting soft plastics at supermarkets like Coles and Woolworths. Since 2011, REDcycle Group has recovered and recycled over 380 million pieces of soft plastic.

In Australia, there is at least some good news. Australia has published a National Plastics Plan 2021 (select the image to read the plan) to outline the strategy to address the plastic problem.

War on Waste Replas Recycled Waste (2017)

To find out how to distinguish soft plastic from hard plastic, select the image below to read the REDcycle Poster 2017.

National Plastics Plan 2021

How you can turn old clothes into kitchen tiles | Australian Story (2021)

Copied Under s113P, https://www.facebook.com/REDcyclebyREDGroup/photos/if-you-notice-really-full-redcycle-bins-in-your-local-participating-supermarket-/2267283046644378/, 16/11/21

1086143246 / Larina Marina / shutterstock.com

Does recycling work anymore? (2019)

REDcycle

The Change Makers: 10 Cents Tom (2020)

Below are some interesting and informative videos for you to watch.

Recycling Near You. 'Batteries' https://recyclingnearyou.com.au/batteries/BrisbaneQLD

Keep Australia Beautiful WA.' Cigarette Butts’, https://www.kabc.wa.gov.au/resources/litter-information/cigarette-butts#:~:text=Cigarette%20butts%20are%20the%20most,the%20Western%20Australia%20litter%20stream Waster.com.au. 'Cigarette Butt Recycling’, https://waster.com.au/cigarette-butt-recycling/

Composting isn’t always an option for a household and some local councils offer a collection service for ‘green’ or ‘organic’ waste. In Australia, these bins usually have a lime coloured lid. Green Organic Bins can be confusing because what you can put in the bin depends on what your local council can process. Some councils will only take garden waste, whilst other councils will take both garden waste and food waste. Some councils even give each household a small kitchen food scrap bin with compostable liners to make collection easy at its source.

For residents fortunate enough to live in an area where the council collects food waste, all food (with the exception of hard shells from some seafood) can go in your green bin.

Likewise, disposable coffee cups and plastic lids pose a problem because of the vague disposal instructions on the items. Select the various bins to find out what ought to go where.

Sorting recycling isn’t always as easy as it sounds and as little as 5% of the wrong material can send an entire bin, skip, or load to landfill. Plastics are a particular problem because not all councils can recycle all the different types of plastic.

This video showcases a true story about Tom Pirie, better known as 10 cent Tom who has grown a business by collecting approximately 6,000 containers a week from neighbours, businesses and groups in his community.

National Plastics Plan 2021

Containers for change

288708788 / artinspiring / stock.adobe.com

Not sure? Contact your local council.