My daughter, Maia, co-founder of the Permayouth (https://permayouth.org) talks today about one of the ideas they’ve been talking about in the Permayouth weekly online gatherings … What can you do with the waste that is created in your home?

How about ditching the bin bag unless absolutely necessary, and then choosing a compostable (not degradable, because these often aren’t as good as you think) bag.

Maia and the Permayouth, invite young people (11-17yo) who want to learn about permaculture and sustainable ways of living to join in. Check out the Permayouth website and get involved: https://www.permayouth.org/

What have been your best tips for cutting the waste that ends up in your bin?

To learn more about growing a permaculture gardening simply and easily, check out our course The Incredible Edible Garden and learn how to design your own permaculture landscape in our Permaculture Design Course.

Hi! I’m Maia from the Permaculture Education Institute and also from Perma Youth. And this is one of the last plastic free July videos. 

So today I’m going to be talking about bins. So one of my friends Eleni, who lives in Crystal Waters Eco Village as well. She has this thing that she does every time she puts something in a bin. So you ask yourself, can I reuse repair or recycle this? And then you ask yourself, can I turn this into something else? Can I live without this, and is it necessary? And if you can’t answer any of these questions, then it goes in the bin. But this is just a good way of filtering out things that you should and should not put in bins.  Also, another thing you can do is, not use bin liners because most of the time you don’t really need them, unless there’s something sloppy in there.

Which you can just either put it in your garden, the compost Bokashi bin or just wrap it up in paper, and put it in the bin if you really don’t want to put it outside. And then after that you just put it in a big bin, and then take it down to your bin. If you really do need to use a bin liner, then you can use compostable bin liners. But don’t use degradable ones, because they just break down into tiny little micro plastics. Microplastics are really bad for the

environment, because when they get washed into the ocean, they can accumulate in marine animals and then subsequently end up in us when we eat them. So it’s best not to use degradable bin liners. When you are going to put something in the bin, just remember to ask those questions and also think about whether you really needed it in the first place. And whether next time you go out shopping, you could not buy it. And also think about how you’re dealing with the rubbish from your household. So remember, there’s only a few days left of plastic through July and come back tomorrow for another tip about how to reduce your plastic consumption.