Did you know that just about all waste that goes into landfill (your local tip) never actually ‘breaks down’?
For waste to ‘break down’, it has to be exposed to oxygen, moisture and sunlight (in some cases), none of which are readily available underground in landfill. This includes anything from soft or hard plastics, paper, cardboard or food waste and everything in between. Even if biodegradable, photodegradable and compostable types of waste are put into landfill, they will not break down the way they’re meant to or in the timeframe that they should.
Landfills are just that, ‘land fill’. Storage areas for waste. How long can that go on for? Surely it’s not sustainable, you’re right! It's not sustainable. The problem is that we humans seem to suffer badly from 'out of sight, out of mind'. Once we chuck our waste into our bins, it's collected by our councils and that's the last most of us ever think about it. But that doesn't mean it just disappears from Earth.
Every time you chuck something into the rubbish to go to landfill, just think, it’s gone to a tip to be 'sorted' (that's another whole story for another day), but more than likely, most of your waste will end up in landfill, sitting underground for a very, very long time. Not breaking down and potentially leaching all sorts of chemicals into the ground.
Plus, what will happen when we run out room to store landfill? Will you be happy to live on top of a rubbish tip that's been covered with dirt?
So how do we get around this problem?
Moving forward, it's essential we start making smarter choices. Take the extra few seconds at the store, to choose the right product that can be composted at home. Find the extra time to make that snack you want, rather than buying it at the store in plastic packaging. Invest some time into creating your own recycling, repurposing, reusing, composting system at home and send less and less to your council bins to go to the tip.
If we all make small changes every day, between millions and billions of us CAN make a REAL change! Start with one small change today by getting yourself an Aussie Bread Bag and never use plastic bread bags again.