10 Ways to Reduce Waste Around the Home

Each year Australians throw away around 21 million tonnes of waste. This includes waste from the bathroom, laundry, kitchen and backyards.

What waste solutions are you using at home?

Image via Shutterstock.

With a population of 22 million, that’s roughly one tonne produced by each person in Australia.

Think about that for a second.

Sure, improvements have been made in our home disposal habits over the years, but there is still much more to be done.

Here are ten DIY ways to reduce waste in your home:

1. Try to buy in bulk. It’s better value and less packaging is beneficial for the

environment.

2. Look for products made from recyclable materials.

3.  Use reusable shopping bags and avoid plastic bags!

4. Rather than buy bottled water, get reusable water bottles. You will avoid

plastic waste and save serious dosh!

5. Get bank statements and bills sent online instead of in the mail. It’s way

more convenient and less mess.

6. Start a compost in your kitchen. Most food scraps can be reused to create

fertile and fantastic soil!

7. Buy an electric razor instead of throwing away all those disposable blades.

8. Water the garden with collected rainwater.

9. Get ink cartridges refilled instead of replaced.

10. Use loose leaf teas instead of tea bags.

Enjoyed reading this post? You might also like this one: Inspirational Sydney: Finding gems in skip bins

10 Wacky Things Thrown in Waste Bins | Bingo Group Blog

Waste bins are a pretty common sight in the back laneways of Sydney’s CBD, or hired by suburban residents on any given weekend. But you’d be pretty surprised at what gets thrown into waste bins. Here are our top 10:

 1.      Famous Architectural Drawings in a Waste Bin: At some point during the 1950s, a New York man found architectural drawings for famous landmarks like Central Park in a Manhattan skip bin. The drawings were from 1860. The man then passed them down to his son, who in 2010, approached Christie’s auction house with them. The rediscovery of the drawings led to Christie’s being sued by the City of New York.

2.      Wads of Cash in a Bin: Earlier this year a man in Tennessee found what amounted to close to $4,000 in a waste bin. It turned out a man had been cleaning his car out and accidentally threw out the cash as well.

3.      A Good Luck Waste Bin: In downtown Los Angeles in 2007, three waste bins at the end of an alley were found filled to the brim with fortune cookies. Some of the cookies were still sealed in plastic.

4.      Watermelon Waste Bin: Another waste bin was found entirely full of watermelons. No explanation has ever been given for this strange occurrence.

5.      Giraffe Coffin or a Waste Bin? When the Rio Grande Zoo in Albuquerque decided to cut corners when their giraffe Kashka died, they got into a lot of trouble. The giraffe had been cut up for the purposes of the an autopsy. It’s standard procedure for zoo animals to be disposed of in landfill, but when given the order to throw away Kashka’s remains, zoo staff simply tossed her into a waste bin on zoo property. The city was outraged.

6.      Family Dining in a Waste Bin: One dumpster diver in America stumbled across an entire set of dining chairs, with a matching table as they searched through a waste bin.

 7.      Waste Bin Reptile House: A 29-year-old man was given a nasty shock when he went to dump some cardboard into a skip outside a Melbourne department store. As he dropped the cardboard in, a brown snake leapt up from the skip bin and bit his finger. Paramedics were surprised by the injury, saying that it’s incredibly rare to get bitten by a snake in the city. Local snake catchers said that throughout any given year they are only ever contacted about snakes in the city once or twice. Maybe someone got sick of their new bush pet?

8.      Prisoner Freedom Via Bin: In May 2003, an inmate from Port Phillip Prison tried to escape by hiding in a skip bin. Even if the man had not been found quickly, he would not have escaped as any security breach means that garbage collection is immediately cancelled. For his troubles, the prisoner was transferred to a high security unit in Barwon Prison.

9.      Divorce By Waste Bin: A woman in the UK discovered that her husband was having an affair. To make it clear to her cheating husband that she was unhappy, she threw away his entire wardrobe and his golf clubs.

10.     Bin Biology Lab: A disturbing find in a UK bin turned out to have simple origins. The discovery of a collection of human skulls and bones was a shock, but the matter became less terrifying when it was revealed that this was just the waste from a biology lab.

Destined for the Skip Bin? Think Again, these Artists have a Way with Waste | Bingo Group Blog

The old adage of “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” has never rung truer. Check out what these artists have done wit your typical household waste bin.

 

The thing about my baby, it don’t matter if you’re black or white… iri5  aka Erika Iris releases the spirit of Michael Jackson with the unravelling of an old cassette.

1. Brian Jungen

This Swiss-Canadian takes your regular mass-produced object and turns it into a thing of wonder. Simultaneously playing around with our cultural perceptions of what is “real” and “fake,” Jungen shows us that even the most benign objects are charged with meaning. The below work shapeshifter (2000) shows the humble lawn chair hacked and resculpted into a museum whale skeleton.

shapeshifter

2000. White polypropylene plastic chairs. 57 x 260 x 52 in. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Purchased 2001.

2. Bernard Pras

Working in the world of assemblage, French artist, Bernard Pras utilises drift wood, rubber, clothes and other items found around the installation site. His artwork often grapples with perspective, his works need to be seen from a particular vantage point in order to form the intended image. It’s a little like a grown up version of those scenes in Art Attack. His portrait of Malian actor, Sotigui Kouyaté, only becomes visible through the lens or Pras’ camera.

3. Erika Iris

Born in St.Louis, USA, Erika Iris is an artist who has been imbued with some kind of magic. In an exploration of nostalgia, memorabilia, music and iconography, Iris uses her mostly donated cassette and film tapes unwinding them into incredibly animated celebrity portraits. Featured in GQ and Marie Claire, this epic recycler was named the official artist of the 55th Grammy Awards. Below The Beatles are unwound from a single vintage cassette tape.