Dec

How to Manage and Reduce Your Household Waste

Household waste is an inevitable part of our daily life. Throwing the trash away is as important as cleaning, and yet more and more families are finding themselves with large piles of garbage mainly due to the increased consummation of processed foods and packed items. The increasing amount of waste has put the local authorities under pressure, and in some areas local councils have increased the length between rubbish collection to save money, leaving households with more trash than ever.

Waste management reduces the harmful impact of the litter on the environment and human health. There are many methods for managing waste but three of them seem to enjoy high popularity – waste reduction, waste reuse and recycling. Each of these three methods reduces pollution, saves energy and keeps landfills from expanding. Here are a few simple tips on how best to manage your household waste.

Reduce the Trash You Make

It may sound simple, but you can face a lot of difficulties before managing to reduce your household waste as something as normal as food shopping can produce large volumes of packaging, plastic bags, wrapping, food waste, etc. Here are a few tips on how to reduce the trash you make:

Avoid buying packed items; if you have no choice, check if the packaging is recyclable.
Go for bulk packages if possible. A large bottle of juice or detergent will serve you for long period of time, and you will produce less trash once it has finished.
Prepare your own food instead of purchasing such. You still will end up with garbage from wrappings, but it will be significantly less than if you had a takeaway.
Drink more tap water. If your tap water is drinkable, you have no reason to purchase bottled water unless you are outdoors. That way you will considerably reduce the amount of plastic in your garbage.

Reduce the Garbage You Throw Away

Do not simply throw things away when you don’t need them anymore. There a lot of things you could do with an item instead of tossing it out. Here are some tips you could use to reduce the trash you put out:

See if an item can’t be recycled before throwing it away. The amount of your garbage will drop significantly if you recycle whenever possible.
Take good care of your possessions to reduce their turnover.
Repair broken items or have them repaired instead of tossing them out.
Organize a garage sale for items you don’t need or want. You could also donate these items to charity organizations.
Compost garden and food waste.

Reuse Things You Don’t Need

Reusing items will also help reduce your overall household waste. Here is a list of things you could reuse:

plastic bottles
shopping bags
paper

Recycle and Compost

Most of the things we throw away can be either recycled or composted. Composting is used to turn biodegradable material into natural fertiliser. You can use your compost to improve the structure and overall health of the soil in your garden. Examples of items you can use for compost are:

coffee grounds
tea leaves
fruit peelings
vegetables
meat
cleaning fluids
nappies
household chemicals

As for the recycling, all you have to do is to sort your rubbish into relevant containers according to its type, the rest will be done by your council.

Private Rubbish Collection Companies

The council might not be able to pick up your trash as often as you would like. In such case, private rubbish removal companies are also an option along with renting a dumpster or DIY at worst.. These companies can collect your rubbish at any time convenient for you. By hiring such a company, you won’t need to sort through your trash, as they will do it for you, making the entire process of recycling much easier.