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Reducing
Rubbish around your home
Papakura District Council is committed to
reducing waste.
Waste is something we do not have a use for anymore, it is a resource
that we throw away. Papakura District Council is aiming to have zero
waste, which means we all need to reduce, reuse and recycle our
resources and not waste anything.
By reducing your rubbish you can:
-
reduce the amount you pay for rubbish disposal each week
-
reduce demands on natural resources
-
reduce the amount of material disposed of in landfills
-
reduces the amount of rubbish incinerated, so we have cleaner air
-
reduce future disposal costs to the city, and ratepayers, for
landfills
-
save
money on weekly grocery bills (some products with less packaging cost
less)
-
use
products you’ve recycled yourself instead of buying them, like compost
and paper.
Or if you want to know what to do with
perfectly good items that someone else may need? Go to the www.donatenz.com
to donate good quality goods to genuine charities.
Easy steps to reduce your rubbish
Help save our natural resources
Avoid Landfills
Become
a smart shopper
Available
to download is the Council's guide for household rubbish and recycling. Please note, you will need Adobe
Acrobat Reader installed on your computer to view these documents. If you
do not have a copy installed, you can
download
it here.
Easy steps to reduce your
rubbish
Th e
following steps can dramatically reduce what ends up in your rubbish bag
each week:
-
buy
products that use less packaging (economy size, refills or
concentrates)
-
buy
products packaged in recyclable material eg: paper, cardboard, glass,
aluminium, tin or plastic containers - not plastic film
-
avoid
or reduce the use of disposables (razors, pens, plates and cups)
-
when
buying only one or two items, tell retailers "No bag please" and bring
your own cloth bags to the supermarket for groceries
-
buy
products with recycled content in them, this means less on natural
resources are used and there is less waste produced in the long run
-
reuse
boxes and jars for storage, and keep wrapping paper and ribbons for
future use
-
think
before you throw something away - donate reusable toys, books and
clothing to charities or your local ‘Op Shop’
-
take
old appliances, furniture and bikes to a second hand shop, rather than
the transfer station
-
collect
and bundle clean flat paper and cardboard for the weekly recycling
collection
-
use your green recycling bin for glass bottles
and jars; aluminium and tin cans; plastic bottles and containers from
the kitchen , laundry and bathroom with recycling numbers between 1
and 7 on the base
-
if you
have a garden you can compost your grass clippings and tree prunings,
as well as fruit and vegetable scraps
-
if you don’t have room to compost use a worm
farm to dispose of kitchen scraps
Visit
our
www.creatyourowneden.org.nz website to find out all you need to
know about composting and worm farming.
You can help to save our natural resources
Natural resources are ingredients, like trees (renewable) and minerals
(non-renewable) that make up all the products that we use, like paper
and aluminium cans. If we reduce the amount of things we buy and reuse
them as much as possible before throwing them away we use less renewable
and non-renewable resources, which saves us money and is good for the
environment.
If we recycle what we can’t use anymore, we save resources because the
recyclable materials replace some of the natural resources including
water and energy, which we use to make new products.
Avoid landfills
A landfill is a piece of land where rubbish (solid waste) is compacted
(squashed) and buried. It should be designed and managed so that no
liquid or gas can harm our environment (landfills used to be called
dumps or tips). Our District’s rubbish is usually taken to the
transfer station at Inlet Road Takanini or Wirri Station Road (local
drop-off point) first and then transported to one of the three landfills
in the Auckland area. There are many problems with landfills including:
-
finding the right piece of land for the landfill since
no one wants to live next to a landfill
-
preventing poisonous liquid (leachate) from entering our ground water
and streams
-
making sure the landfill does not produce harmful methane gas which
contributes to global warming
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that
the landfill does not attract rats, and is looked after for many years
so that it can eventually be used as a golf course or a park.
Become a smart shopper:
-
avoid junk mail - call
Council on 295 1300 for a free No Junk Mail
sticker if you do not wish to receive junk mail
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choose reusable shopping bags
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buy
products with less packaging (economy size and concentrates)
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buy
products with recyclable packaging
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buy
long life products, not disposables
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buy
products made with recycled content
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reuse products or packaging (refills, wrappings and second-hand
purchases)
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donate or resell used items (clothing, toys, books, appliances,
furniture, sports equipment)
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buy
less toxic products or use natural alternatives (cleaners and
pesticides)
-
shop
at environmentally aware businesses.
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