WORKPLACE lunch rooms across the globe are becoming part of the solution to arrest plastic pollution– will you be part of Plastic Free July by pledging to audit the lunch room garbage bin?
A bin audit does not have to be a grubby affair; it’s simply a way to learn what is being incorrectly tossed. Pragmatically, at the end of the working week, if the bin is full, it won’t be too hard to identify the culprits.
What presents as the biggest struggle is fitting separate bins into our cosy lunch rooms, but with a bit of imagination, there is hope.
Milk bottles are a necessity, until they are empty, and they may end up in landfill if there is not a designated bin or an employee willing to sort through the bin.
One thought is to rinse and return the empty bottle back to the fridge for a volunteer to take it home to their bin.
Another solution is to also rinse the bottle and reuse it for another purpose, such as a storage item or pot plant.
Unlike milk bottles, eligible plastic containers can be taken to a Container Deposit Scheme (CDS) facility where each earns a 10-cent refund, however, for the time and energy this costs, why not use a glass, mug or a reusable water bottle?
H2O is essential to our performance, and tips across Plastic Free July are intended to create awareness about the plastics which end up in landfill and not cause overwhelm or deny anyone from quenching their thirst.
Thanks to users of the CDS, the amounts of single use plastic drinking containers ending up in landfill has been significantly reduced.
In the City of Whittlesea alone, a whopping 22,487,710 containers have been reclaimed since Victoria’s CDS commenced operations in November, 2023.
