War on Waste - Amazing positive impact

The War on Waste series on ABC has had a real impact on people, making people more aware of the problem that rubbish and plastics has.

The coffee cups was quite an eye opener for me. I did not realise coffee cups were not recyclable! I drink a lot of hot chocolate at work, and they all come in takeaway containers, which I often take home to grow seedlings (so at least there is some recycling) but it would be better if I didn't have to throw them away at all.

I knew there were reusable options out there and so I decided, along with my sister, to buy some Keep Cups, which are an Australian company started by someone who used to have a coffee business.

Interestingly, since War on Waste aired, Keep Cup has had a MASSIVE jump in their sales. 400% increase! Obviously that is a limited thing because once everyone has a keep cup they won't buy another, but that's great news for the Australian company!

So I couldn't decide which one to buy, so I decided to buy a set and give them away to other fellow coffee drinkers who were keen waste-reducers...

How best to utilize though?

I drink the majority of my takeaway hot chocolate when I am working at the Private hospital, where I can't leave the operating theatre to give my cup to the coffee shop (as they are delivered up). However, I can put one in my handbag so that whenever I am out and about, I will always use my own cup. So I did that, and also put a reusable shopping bag (shaped like a strawberry) inside it so I can always have a backup.

I also put one in my bag for when I work at the public hospital because at those times I CAN go down and take my cup.

The other thing that I didn't know was about recycling soft plastic. Redcycle (which has bins at Coles) does recycle soft plastic. 

Soft plastics like glad wrap, bubble wrap, plastic bags - basically scrunchable plastics - can be recycled! Chip packets, cereal packet inners are also included in that as well.

So now that I've segregated all those items, my landfill rubbish has reduced. I was quite pleased about that. It was a long time ago since I was so conscious about rubbish - which was why I used cloth nappies in the first place - to reduce my household rubbish.

So big thumbs up to War on Waste, by inspiring people to change, using humour instead of a lecture and also giving us practical solutions. I feel annoyed at myself for sliding away from the conscious reduction of rubbish - though I do have worm farms, a compost bin and chickens to help reduce the amount of food thrown into the bin - but I could do just a little bit more. Starting with my hot chocolate fixes.