What you can do to prevent litter

Bin it

Bin your butts

7.2 billion cigarette butts are littered annually in Australia¹ – just think of all those chemicals leaching into the ground and waterways.

Bin your cores

An apple core can take around 2 months to decompose and a banana peel can take up to 2 years.² While decomposing, food waste also creates a breeding ground for insects and rats.

Can the paint

Latex and acrylic paint is basically liquid plastic with pigments added. Washing your paintbrush in a sink sends billions of micro and nano-scale plastic particles down the drain.³ Dispose of your paint at your local Community Recycling Centre.

Find a Community Recycling Centre

Get your steps up and find a bin

Walking that little bit further to find a bin makes a huge difference. If you don’t dispose of your rubbish correctly, you never know where it could end up or who might eat it (it could even be you).

Reuse it

Use a travel cup

In one year, you can save 126 trees from being chopped down by using a reusable coffee cup instead of disposable ones.

Bring your own bottle

A single 1 litre drink bottle could break down into enough tiny pieces to stretch 1.6 kms down a beach. Buy glass instead of plastic or bring your own reusable bottle.⁴

Go eco with your groceries

The average working life of a plastic shopping bag is about 12 minutes before it’s discarded. These bags take up to 500 years to break apart where turtles and other marine animals mistake them for food.⁵ Take a reusable bag to the shops next time.

Bring your own container/utensils

Take away food containers are over 30% of littered items in NSW.⁶ Reduce your impact by using your own container and utensils for your takeaway snack.

Recycle it

Recycle your e-waste

E-waste is responsible for 70% of the toxic chemicals, including lead, cadmium, and mercury, that ends up in landfill.⁷ Currently, Australia generates 700,000 tonnes of e-waste per year, with each household producing about 73 kilograms.⁸

Return and earn

By collecting eligible beverage containers (and keeping the labels on), you can take them to a return point to claim a deposit, or donate to charity.

Find your local return and Earn point

Refuse it

Say no to plastic items

By saying ‘no thanks’ when offered a plastic bag, straw, plastic cup or lid, you can make a difference.

Go topless! Refuse a lid

Whether it’s for your smoothie, salad bowl, or morning coffee, saying no to a lid will reduce your consumption of unnecessary packaging.