5 easy ways to reduce waste (and save money!)

If one of your goals for 2019 is to reduce waste, you are not alone - we are always looking for ways to lead a greener existence, too!

Here are five easy ways we reduced our waste in 2018:

1. Don't throw away food scraps

After hearing that sending food waste to the tip contributes massively to greenhouse gases, I was determined to stop throwing it all away. Sarah has chickens so all of their household food scraps go to them, but we don't have chickens or compost at our place (starting to compost is a goal of ours for 2019!). To that end, we save up all of our food scraps in containers and take them to our friend's farm once or twice a week, to feed their brood of chickens. The best bit? We get lovely, free range eggs in return (which also means saving money). Win win!

2. Use REDcycle bins

Did you know that you can save all of your squishable plastics - think cling wrap, the bags that come inside cereal boxes, bread bags and plastic bags - and take them back to Coles and Woolworths, to be recycled and turned into park benches? It's so cool! We now keep a reusable calico bag in our kitchen and fill it with those plastics throughout the week, then take it to the supermarket to recycle when we do our weekly shop. Too easy!

Plus: since we started giving our food scraps to our friend's chickens, and saving plastics for the REDcycle program, we don't even half-fill our red bin each week, between both Natural Supply Co and our household waste. That is something to celebrate!

3. Say NO to takeaway coffees

This was a big one for me in 2018. If I didn't have my JOCO Cup or Frank Green reusable smartcup with me, I either stopped and had my coffee in the cafe or I waited until I got home to make my own. We use Pod & Parcel compostable and biodegradable coffee pods at home (which are delicious and a sustainable Melbourne business - right up our alley!) so this also meant I saved heaps of money by not buying many coffees on-the-go, too. 

4. Buy quality, multi-purpose and reusable products for your family

We grew our plastic-free offering in a big way in 2018, to keep on top of the growing demand for zero waste living. Yes, it costs a bit to replace the usual suspects with zero waste options, but ultimately you will end up saving money AND the planet, as you won't need to replace these goodies for years and years to come.

Our top picks for zero waste living?

- Use a menstrual cup, and save pads and tampons from ending up in landfill. It doesn't take long to save a bucketload of cash with this, either

- Replace cling wrap, aluminium foil and baking paper with Agreena reusable 3-in-1 wrap

- Take reusable produce bags to the supermarket, and ditch the plastic ones

- Replace disposable sandwich bags with a Stasher Bag

- Take your own reusable coffee cup and water bottle with you when you're out and about

5. Who gives a crap?

WE give a crap! Which is why we love Who Gives A Crap toilet paper; they make 100% recycled toilet paper without any inks or dyes, plus they sink 50% of profits into helping build toilets for those in need - did you know there are more mobile phones than toilets in the world? That's CRAZY! We have a subscription, so our toilet paper is delivered in bulk once every three months - meaning we never run out AND we are not buying 12-packs, wrapped in plastic, every couple of weeks. 

We hope this helps give you some ideas for living a greener life in 2019. If you've got some tips to add, please comment below - we'd love to hear them!