There are lots of ways to prevent waste and celebrate sustainably during the Christmas and New Year period.
Savvy spending and saving
- Buy second-hand gifts that save items from going to landfill and puts money directly into people’s pockets
- Find unwanted new or near new items on Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree, op shops, charity stores and second-hand bookstores
- Sell or donate unwanted gifts.
Save on festive food waste
- Shop at local small businesses or head to your closest farmers market
- Plan for leftovers by making storage room in your fridge or freezer and send guests home with leftover food
- Avoid disposable cutlery and plates. Use washing-up time to chat with family and friends.
Christmas Compost
Use the correct bin and recycle right:
- Leftover food waste goes into your green lid food and garden waste bin
- Fruit and vegetable scraps can be home composted, along with napkins and paper towel.
Minimising Landfill
- Check it before you chuck it. Look for the Australasian Recycling Label on packaging to get the right thing in the right bin
- Sell or pass-on updated electronic devices. Do not put them in your household waste or recycling bin. Search for a recycling option on the Recycling Near You website
- Clean, dry aluminium foil can be scrunched into a ball and recycled
- Beer bottle tops can be put in a steel can with the top pinched closed and recycled
- Opt for reusable napkins, crockery and cutlery that can by washed and used again
- Save wrapping paper, gift bags and ribbons for next year. Paper gift wrap and Christmas cards can go in the recycling bin
- Place recycling loosely into your recycling bin, no plastic bags of any kind are allowed.
Learn more about what goes in each bin
Give Thoughtful Gifts
- Cook someone a dinner or gift them home-made pickled vegetables, jams, relishes or sweet treats
- Gift an experience
- Buy a gift from a fairtrade shop
- Adopt a platypus, turtle or koala
- Donate to a charity on behalf of someone
- Plant a tree.
Decorations
- Swap your decorations with family or friends instead of buying new ones
- Store decorations correctly to reduce tangling and breakages
- Use pinecones, gumtree branches or popcorn as decorations instead of buying them. Use an indoor plant as a Christmas tree.
