cost of rubbish bags proposed to increase

I got the LTTCP (Long Term Council Community Plan) proposal in the post yesterday and have read some of it since. It was a shock to see a proposal to increase the price of each rubbish bag from $1.30 to $2!

My family usually fills up one bag every 2 weeks and we might not be too affected by this possible increase. My thoughts are mainly for families who use 2 or more on a weekly basis. Each collection would cost them at least $4 per week. That's $208 for an entire year!

Recycle, recycle, and keep recycling
If you're not doing it you will incur more costs throwing all that stuff away in the rubbish. If you don't have a recycling bin, get one from your local council now. It's free. Chuck all papers, cardboards, bottles, and cans in your recycling bin. You will be surprised by how much you can recycle on a daily basis. This way of waste organisation benefits those individuals who mostly eat packaged food in cans, boxes, etc.

You don’t have to throw all of the items listed below into the recycling bin. You can re-use them! Simply clean them up properly and use them, especially jars, for storing items like pasta.

What can you recycle?

• Plastics
• Glass
• Paper and cardboard
• Textiles
• Furniture
• Food and drink cans
• Some chemicals and used oil

For more information on recycling, please go to Reduce Rubbish’s website.

Compost, compost, and keep composting
You can reduce rubbish bags cost by composting your food and garden scraps. You can dig a hole in your back yard to chuck in your food and garden scraps and cover it up. You can also get a compost bin available in many shops such as The Warehouse and Bunnings. They are worth the cost in the long term.

Read more on composting. Don’t forget to contact your local council for your composting options.

Fill your rubbish bag

There’s going to be always things to throw away. Make sure you fill your rubbish bag as how you would fill up your tiny suitcase when you travel on limited number of luggages. Always remember that each rubbish bag has its cost. You’re not throwing rubbish for free.

Freecycle

We are members of a group called Freecycle. I strongly suggest you register yourself. Your unused item may be of use to others. This is the channel to post your unused item that you don't want to sell instead of throwing them away. On the other hand, you may just score an unused item that you would like to get for yourself but can't afford.

New Zealand is pushing for Zero Waste and they are getting people to play their part actively. The new proposal to increase our local area’s rubbish bag by $70c is not cheap but it aggressively gets people to re-think their waste disposal ways.