How can you reduce the amount of waste that is sent to landfill or burning?

As part of the Waste Management Act passed in 1996, the government made into law that we should follow the European scheme of prevention, reduction, reuse and recycling of our waste. Anything left over is to be incinerated and then as the very, very last option, sent to landfill.

33% of household waste is made up of packaging, much of which arises in the kitchen. Paper, cardboard, metal and glass are easy to recycle however, plastics are difficult to deal with and take up nearly 12% of your bin. Each year approximately 704 thousand tonnes of packaging waste is created each year in the domestic and commercial sector. Only 17.4 % of this is recovered or recycled. The rest is sent to landfill.

You can reduce the amount of packaging you buy, you can recycle cans, papers and plastics, and you can reuse paper, envelopes, boxes and cartons instead of buying new ones.