What a Load of Rubbish

September 27th, 2006 | Category: Environment

We all contribute to landfill by throwing out rubbish. We all do it and probably always will but you can help this overflowing problem by reducing the amount of rubbish you throw out. The three ways you can do this is by reducing the amount of rubbish you create, reusing as much as you can, and recycling as much as possible.

You can reduce the amount of rubbish you have by buying products with less packaging. For example, buy loose fruit and vegetables rather the prepackaged ones. You can also reduce your waste by composting a lot of material rather than throwing it out. Sometimes it is handy to have a plastic bag for items such as meat. It is fine to use plastic in this instance just be sure to reuse the bag each time rather than getting a new one. Recycling in Australia is very easy as we all have recycling bins. I keep a cardboard box in my kitchen to collect my recyclable rubbish which I can easily throw out once a week. It is really easy to do once you get in the habit. Do forget to also recycle your unwanted clothes. These can be donated to local charities which will benefit people in need as well as saving on landfill.

It is important to stick to the reduce, reuse, recycle theory as much as possible because a lot of products won’t break down in a landfill. Even if you buy biodegradable plastic bags, they only break down in sunlight. That is not likely to happen at the bottom of the rubbish tip. The same goes for other biodegradable or organic products such as newspapers and food. They need oxygen to break down and this can’t happen when it’s packed down with other rubbish. This is why we all need to prevent our waste and rubbish from getting to the tip in the first place.