Waste audit

Bring the whole household on the journey by sharing the findings of your waste audit and get their ideas on how to reduce your waste. Start by using the following questions to help you identify areas needing improvement and to brainstorm solutions:

1. What is your biggest waste type?
2. What waste bothers you the most?
3. What waste can you address right now to reduce it?
4. What actions will make the most difference to reducing your waste, but you are not able to accomplish right now?
5. What can you recycle, sell, or give away instead of throwing away?

Check out the tips below on ways to reduce your waste.

For help, check out the A to Z disposal search on the DCC website for information on what can and cannot be put in your kerbside recycling bins and ways to reduce, reuse and recycle some other items.

Contact the Waste Minimisation Officer at Dunedin City Council. They can provide you with advice on minimising your waste waste.environmental.solutions@dcc.govt.nz.

Reducing your waste in the kitchen

• Use reusable food containers, reusable silicone food bags or beeswax wraps instead of cling wrap and single-use plastic food bags.
• Make a list of food items you can buy using your own re-fillable containers at local refill stores such as Bin Inn and Taste Nature, or perhaps your local supermarket has a refill station. For example, products you can purchase at refill stores include:
  • flour, grains, dried beans, dried fruit and sugar, etc.
  • dishwashing powder and dishwashing liquid.
• Make your own cleaning products. There are plenty of recipes online for natural cleaning products such as dishwashing powder, all-purpose cleaning spray and oven cleaner.
• Make your own soft drinks using a soda stream to reduce buying single use plastic bottles.
• Make your own alternative milk to reduce buying packaging made from liquid paper cardboard.
• Make your own yogurt to reduce single use packaging.
• Try to avoid individually wrapped food items. For example, buy a large bag of chips and divide it into smaller reusable food bags.
• Swap from buying milk in plastic bottles to buying milk in glass swap bottles. Check out Holy Cow, Windy Ridge and Farm Fresh who sell milk in glass swap bottles.
• Swap tea bags for loose leaf tea.
• Use reusable kitchen cloths instead of paper towels.
• Collect butter wrappers to use as baking paper when baking cakes, muffins, and slices.
• See the section below on how to reduce your food waste at home.

Reducing your waste in the laundry

• When purchasing laundry pegs buy metal or wooden pegs.
• Make a list of laundry items you can buy using your own re-fillable containers at local refill stores such as Bin Inn and Taste Nature, or perhaps your local supermarket has a refill station. For example, products you can purchase at refill stores include:
  • laundry powder
  • fabric softener
  • stain remover.
• Make your own laundry powder, liquid laundry detergent, stain remover and fabric softener.
• Swap laundry powder for compostable soap nuts.
• Turn old clothing into rags for cleaning.

Reducing your waste in the bathroom

• Make a list of bathroom items you can buy using your own re-fillable containers at local refill stores such as Bin Inn and Taste Nature, or perhaps your local supermarket has a refill station. For example, products you can purchase at refill stores include:
  • body wash
  • shampoo and conditioner
  • cleaning products
  • toothpaste tablets.
• Make your own deodorant, dry shampoo, body wash and bathroom cleaning products.
• Swap to solid shampoo and conditioner products.
• Swap to reusable razors.
• Swap to reusable cotton pads.
• Use reusable nappies and reusable sanitary products.

Reducing food waste helps to lower greenhouse gas emissions and your food bill! Here are tips for minimising your food waste at home.

Write a weekly meal plan. Love Food Hate Waste (link to external website, new window) have developed four simple steps to better meal planning:

1. Check your week – Identify busy days and plan meals accordingly.
2. Check what you’ve got – see what’s in your fridge, freezer, and pantry before shopping.
3. Choose your meals – opt for flexible recipes that allow leftovers to be used creatively.
4. Create your list – stick to a shopping list to avoid impulse buys and food duplication.

You can find more information and more helpful tips at Love Food Hate Waste.

• Bring your own shopping bags or make do without a shopping bag.
• Bring your own produce bags to the supermarket or make do without produce bags.
• Bring your own containers to refill food stores.
• Try to buy products with no wrapping or in recyclable packaging.
• Keep a small kit of reusable cutlery and service ware in your car or bag to use when you order food on the go.
• Carry a reusable cup with you.
• Refuse single-use items such as bags, coffee cups, soy sauce packets and paper straws.
• Refuse brochures or business cards and take a photo of them instead.

More tips on reducing your waste

• Browse second hand stores before shopping at stores which only stock new products to see if you can purchase what you want second hand.
• Consider renting, borrowing, or sharing things rather than owning them. For example, rent a dress for a special occasion or borrow camping equipment from a friend.
• Use local exchange networks to source what you need and to re-home what you no longer need.
• Do a ‘No buy new month’.
• Repair damaged furniture, clothes, and appliances instead of replacing them with brand new items.

• Place your recycling bins beside the general waste bin.
• Put signs above each bin that clearly explain what goes in each bin.
• Make sure you have the correct recycling bins at home (yellow, blue and green). If your property is not eligible for kerbside recycling, you can drop your household recycling off at an Inner-City Recycling (for CBD residents) or the Green Island Resource Recovery Park (for all Dunedin residents) for free.
• Take any household batteries and selected e-waste to Green Island Resource Recovery, Cargill Enterprises, or Phoenix Recycling.
• The DCC website’s A to Z disposal search gives you information on what can and cannot be recycled in your kerbside recycling bins and some options to reduce, reuse and recycle other items.
• See the ‘Recycling in Ōtepoti’ Facebook page for recycling initiatives for items you cannot recycle through kerbside collection in Ōtepoti.

When looking for ways to reduce your waste a great framework to follow is the waste hierarchy. The waste hierarchy promotes the efficient use of resources to help minimise waste. Reducing waste is as much about design and planning than it is about creating systems for diversions.

Waste hierarchy examples at home

Reduce, rethink, redesign - minimise the amount of waste at its source. This involves designing products and processes to use fewer resources to avoid creating waste in the first place. For example:

• consider the materials that are being used. Are there recycled or repurposed options available?
• when purchasing a product consider its total life cycle. Is it better to invest in a higher quality product that will last longer, is easily repairable or recyclable?

Reuse, repair, repurpose - extend the life of items by using them again for either the same or new purposes without significant reprocessing. For example:

• instead of throwing away damaged or broken furniture, appliances or clothing try repairing them instead. Look out for clothing repair and upcycling workshops at Stitch Kitchen.
• choose reusable products such as fabric produce bags, beeswax wraps and reusable service ware instead of single-use alternatives.

Recycle, compost, anaerobic digestion - reprocess items, so that their materials can be used again. For example:

• food scraps can be recycled to make compost which is used to grow more food and increase soil health. Look out for Dunedin City Council funded composting workshops.
• household items that cannot be recycled in your kerbside recycling bin, such as gas bottles, whiteware, batteries and scrap metal can be taken to Green Island Resource Recovery Park for recycling.

Recover value - extract energy or materials from waste that cannot be recycled without increasing emissions. For example:

• gold, copper, and silver can be extracted from e-waste, reducing the need for mining of these raw materials.

Dispose - permanently dispose of materials to landfill. This option is the least preferred and should be reserved for waste that can no longer be used in any other way.

When looking for ways to reduce your waste a great framework to follow is the waste hierarchy. The waste hierarchy promotes the efficient use of resources to help minimise waste. Reducing waste is as much about design and planning than it is about creating systems for diversions.

Reduce, rethink, redesign - minimise the amount of waste at its source by designing products and processes to use fewer resources in the first place. For example:

• consider the materials that are being used. Are there recycled or repurposed options available?
• when purchasing a product consider its total life cycle. Is it better to invest in a higher quality product that will last longer, is easily repairable or recyclable?
• incorporate waste minimisation into your purchasing policy to reduce your waste, increase demand for low/no waste products and influence others to act similarly.

Reuse, repair, repurpose - extend the life of items by using them again for either the same or new purposes without significant reprocessing. For example:

• instead of throwing away damaged or broken furniture, appliances or clothing try repairing them instead.
• choose reusable products such as fabric produce bags, beeswax wraps and reusable service ware instead of single-use alternatives.

Recycle, compost, anaerobic digestion - reprocess items, so that their materials can be used again. For example:

• food scraps can be recycled to make compost which is used to grow more food and increase soil health.
• items that cannot be recycled in your kerbside recycling bin, such as gas bottles, whiteware, batteries and scrap metal, can be taken to Green Island Resource Recovery Park for recycling.

Recover value - extract energy or materials from waste that cannot be recycled without increasing emissions. For example:

• gold, copper, and silver can be extracted from e-waste, reducing the need to mine for raw materials.

Dispose - permanent disposal of materials to landfill. This option is the least preferred and should be reserved for residual waste that can no longer be used in any other way.

1. What is your biggest waste type?
2. What waste bothers you the most?
3. What waste can you address right now to reduce it?
4. What actions will make the most difference to reducing your waste, but for some reason cannot be accomplished now?
5. What waste can you recycle, sell, or give away?
6. How can your waste management provider help you? E.g., are you renting all available recycling bins?
7. Have you come up with a waste minimisation project or initiative to help combat your waste? You could consider applying for a Dunedin City Council Waste Minimisation Community Grant to support any of your waste minimisation projects or initiatives. Find more information at Waste minimisation funds.

Check out the waste reduction tips below.

For help contact the Waste Minimisation Officer at Dunedin City Council who can provide you with advice on minimising your waste waste.environmental.solutions@dcc.govt.nz. Don’t forget to check out the A to Z disposal search on the DCC website to find out what can and cannot be recycled in your kerbside recycling bins and some options to reduce, reuse and recycle other items.

• Provide a ‘library’ of reusable cups, crockery, and containers that people can use for takeaway meals and coffees.
• Go paperless by utilising digital technology.
• Collaborate with nearby organisations to help minimise your waste. For example, create a shared composting facility for food scraps, share resources instead buying new and buy in bulk to reduce packaging.
• Replace your common room coffee capsule machine with either plungers or a machine that uses beans. Compost the coffee grounds or offer these to people for use in their gardens.
• Consider renting, borrowing, or sharing equipment rather than buying it.
• Swap from buying milk in plastic bottles to buying it in glass swap bottles or, for larger volumes, opt for a refillable keg service. Check out Holy Cow, Windy Ridge and Farm Fresh who sell milk in glass swap bottles.
• Include waste minimisation information as part of inductions, so that people understand how the organisation lives out its sustainability principles.
• Source from suppliers that have a sustainable approach. Include this as a criterion in tender processes. Ask for no or less packaging and if they cannot help you, seek alternative options.
• Opt to receive email correspondence instead of printed mail where possible.
• Swap paper towels for an energy efficient hand dryer in bathrooms, and in the common room replace paper towels with reusable cloths.
• Buy used office furniture rather than new.
• Switch from disposable to reusable products, e.g. refillable toner cartridges and whiteboard markers, and reusable cups and hand towels.
• Repair old furniture and office equipment.
• Recycle batteries and e-waste at Green Island Resource Recovery, Cargill Enterprises or Phoenix Recycling.
• Compost food scraps using a bokashi system or worm farm.
• Set up a system for single-sided paper to be reused for notepaper.

• Always place recycling bins beside general waste bins. Create a waste station with these bins: general waste, mixed recycling, glass, and food scraps (if you have a method of composting the food scraps).
• Put signs above each bin which clearly explain what goes in that bin.
• Create an education campaign about correct recycling practice to share with your organisation. These could include:
  • Weekly quizzes
  • Weekly emails about top tips on recycling
  • Create posters with short and sweet messaging about proper recycling to hang up around communal areas.
• Set up a collection system (if not managed by a cleaner). Who will empty the bins and how often?
• Create a map with the locations of all the waste stations, so that people can easily locate the bins.
• Place waste stations in visible and easily accessible areas. If possible, try to have waste stations in or near the same location on each floor, so that they are easy to find.