Find out what you are throwing away

A rubbish audit is a good way of showing you what you’re throwing out and helps you identify how to reduce your rubbish.

Simple steps to auditing your rubbish:

1. Collect a week’s worth of your household rubbish.
2. Spread the rubbish out on a tarp on the lawn. Remember to wear rubber gloves.
3. Separate rubbish into piles, such as:
   • Food scraps
   • Paper and cardboard
   • Plastics
   • Clothes/textiles
   • Cans
   • Bottles
4. Look at each pile and consider the following questions:
   • How much could be reused for something else (e.g. paper for packing material, clothes as rags?)
   • How much is organic matter that could be composted?
   • How much could be recycled? (e.g. paper, cardboard, bottles, cans)
   • How much needs to go to landfill? Can we use less of this?
5. See if there are any changes you can make to your home to make it easier to reduce your rubbish. For example having an easy accessible separation area in your kitchen and locating recycling and compost bin near the rubbish bin will make it easy to reduce your rubbish.

See Composting your rubbish for more details.