Reduce

Every piece of plastic ever made still exists somewhere with single-use making up almost half of the plastics we throw away. It’s threat to the natural environment and our health is an ever increasing concern. The best solution is to reduce what we can and ask businesses to rethink their need to use the material in the first place.

Food waste and food packaging take up most of our bin, in and outside the house. See our Rot/Compost page for compost tips to tackle food waste. 

Reduce food packaging by:

  • shopping at bulk food stores where food like pasta, flour, oils, chocolates, peanut butter, beans, nuts, cleaning products, beauty products and more is unpackaged for the customer. You simply take your own clean jars, containers, bags to fill up.
  • choosing plastic-free fruit and vegetables, and bagging them with a reusable produce bag.
  • Take BYO containers to deli and butchers for more information see BYO Containers.
  • Take your own reusable shopping bags, coffee cup, drink bottle and cutlery. 
  • Making a list before you head to the shops can prevent impulse buying and over purchasing. 
  • Put together a zero-waste kit to use out and about. This could be a reusable shopping bag, coffee cup, drink bottle, and cutlery. 

Connect

  • Beach Patrol  – BeachPatrol is a Victorian based litter collection volunteer group spread over many postcodes. Data is placed into their Litter Stopper app and is used to help advocate for change. 
  • BYOContainers – To help you locate businesses that allow you to bring your own containers to reuse and refill.
  • Green Caffeen – FREE for cafes and coffee drinkers – Scan, swap, drink, return. Green Caffeen is a FREE reusable coffee cup system for eco-focused cafes and coffee lovers across Australia. Cafes love it, coffee drinkers dig it and the planet high fives you for it.
  • Love Our Street – Love Our Street aims to bring people together as a community to look after our environment, to keep our streets beautifully clean and stop litter getting into our creeks, canals, on to beach or in the ocean.
  • Plastic and Waste-Wise Initiatives for parents and families.
  • Take the Plastic Free July challenge.
  • Tangaroa Blue – an Australia-wide not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the removal and prevention of marine debris: one of the major environmental issues worldwide.

Watch

  • A Plastic Ocean
  • Junk Raft by plastic pollution researcher, Dr Marcus Eriksen (an amazing story about his journey on a raft made from plastic bottles across the Pacific and more!).

Read

  • EcoCentre’s Clean Bay Blueprint Project – a three year project (2017-2020) analysing the microplastics and litter in the Birrarung/Yarra River and Maribyrnong River.
  • Marcus Eriksen has a great resource through his research institute website. – 5gyres.org
  • Plastic Free: ​ The Inspiring Story of a Global Environmental Movement and Why It Matters by Rebecca Prince-Ruiz and Joanna Atherfold Finn.

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