Six Ways to Reduce Your Waste

Date Sep 23, 2020
Blog category Power
By Staff Writer
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When it comes to reducing pollution, New Zealanders have a high level of personal responsibility which is combined with the lack of desire for taxpayer-funded initiatives. Kiwis believe that the government isn’t doing enough to reduce pollution but also suggest that everyone is accountable.

Recycling is a popular option to reduce household pollution. In a survey by the Ministry for the Environment, 62% of Kiwis are committed to recycling, but aside from this what else can we do as an individual to reduce pollution? Here are six ways that you can do to reduce your waste.

1. Buy only the right amount of food

The Auckland Council suggest that reducing food scraps is effective when it comes to decreasing pollution because most of our lives are hinged on eating, and sometimes we buy a little too much to consume. True enough we produce no less than 122,547 tones of food waste in a year; in addition, that costs us $872 million in landfill. 

Before you head over to the grocery store, plan ahead on the food that you’ll buy and stick to it. Don’t overbuy and make sure to check the shelf life so that you can sort out what you need to eat first. Saving on food helps decrease pollution in NZ by reducing the waste that goes to the landfills.

2. Avoid single-use plastic

“Single-use plastics” are the kind that we only use once. The danger of using single-use plastic is that once you throw them away, it takes a long time before they decompose. They pile up in our landfills and increase the tones of waste that we have on a daily basis. This is why it’s important to use recyclable materials even when buying goods. 

There’s never a small gesture when it comes to reducing your waste. For example, you can use your own bag when shopping at the supermarket or ask for a paper bag instead of a plastic bag.

3. Buy in bulk

When you buy things, say baking soda, in individual packages they create more additional waste as compared to a single large packaging. Aside from reducing your waste, you also reduce costs because buying in bulk is cheaper than buying individual items

4. Going paperless

Going paperless in many transactions is one of the brighter sides of technology. Thanks to online shopping, billing, and the like, we can move away from the traditional paper-based transactions and reduce the clutter at home. If your utilities provider uses an app for billing, then it’s best to stick to that option rather than letting them send you a paper-based receipt. 

5. Donate things that you don’t need 

When you have things in your house that are still in good shape, you can donate them instead of throwing them away. Doing so clears the clutter and also breaks the habit of heavy consumerism. 

6. Switch to a better power company 

Power companies lessen environmental pollution when they utilize renewable resources. The likes of Mercury Energy and Electric Kiwi provide sustainable solutions for the increasing demand for electricity. Electric Kiwi, among others, feature a free Hour of Power wherein Kiwis save energy during peak hours by lessening the demand for national electricity and increasing the use of renewable energy such as solar power.

Want to practice sustainable living?

Assess your lifestyle - are you consuming more than saving resources? How effective are you managing your household waste and energy consumption? Be a smarter and environmentally-friendly Kiwi by switching to a power provider that makes use of renewable energy. Find a list of power companies at CompareBear, and learn how they build their plans around maximizing the use of renewable energy.