Prevent your leftovers and food scraps becoming landfill waste by using a kitchen caddy.
For Unley residents, a Kitchen Caddy kit including compostable liner bags and instructions can be collected from the Civic Centre, Community Centres and Libraries.
The kitchen caddy takes all kinds of food scraps, including bread, meat scraps and bones, egg and oyster shells, cheese, seafood and even tissues, paper towel and hair. The container is sealed to minimise smells or liquids and can sit on your bench top or under the sink. Once the kitchen caddy is full, both the compostable bag and contents can be placed directly into your green organics bin.
To reduce food waste and save money, consider ways you can make the most of every meal and leftover foods. Try the Recipe Finder and select the ingredients that you already have in your kitchen.
Join the war on waste and BYO a Coffee Cup to reduce your waste footprint by ditching the takeaway cup for a reusable cup. Local cafes are signing up to the Responsible Cafes initiative and offering a discount if you BYO coffee cup! Visit Responsible Cafes for a list of local cafes.
If you do use a disposable coffee cup, recycling is a better option than sending it to landfill.
When trying to minimise your waste, remember the 3Rs, first reduce, then reuse and finally recycle what is left.
Avoid waste in the first place
- Refuse junk mail if you don't want to read it
- Share magazines and newspapers or access them free at the library
- Store food in reusable containers
- Avoid packaging that won’t go into your recycling bin, like styrofoam.
Reduce what you throw away
Reduce simply means to make less waste. Reducing the amount of waste you produce, is the best way to help the environment.
There are a number of ways to reduce your waste:
- Reduce the use of ‘single use’ plastic bags (use cloth bags or reusable shopping bags)
- Buy products in bulk with minimal packaging
- Maintain and repair products, like clothing, tyres and appliances so they won’t have to be thrown out and replaced as frequently
- Use both sides of paper
- Minimise food waste and compost any scraps
- Avoid purchasing non-recyclable materials
- Borrow, rent or share items that are used infrequently.
You could also try to choose products that eliminate new waste from being generated or with minimal packaging.
Reuse materials in an innovative way
When purchasing products, look for items that can be refilled or reused. Try and repair items instead of replacing them or purchase items that can be used more than once. Even if you don’t want to use them, you can always donate them to charities.
There are a number of ways to reuse materials:
- Reuse glass and plastic containers
- Reuse gift wrapping paper and ribbon
- Buy refillable containers where possible
- Use rechargeable batteries
- Refill your own drink bottle
- Donate unwanted clothing, furniture and whitegoods.
Recycle and compost to save natural resources
This enables the materials you throw away to be used again by making them into new products. If you can, compost your garden waste and vegetable peelings.
By recycling products, you will cause less waste to be sent to landfill.
There are a number of ways to recycle materials:
- Buy products made from recycled materials
- Get a compost bin or worm farm for food scraps
- Recycle suitable containers
- Paper and cardboard
- Buy products with packaging that can be recycled.
Have you ever wondered what happens to your waste, recyclables and organic materials after they are collected from your kerb?
To find out, join a FREE community tour for City of Unley residents.
Sites visited may include, but are not limited to:
- Jeffries Group composting / Peats Soil and Composting
- Adelaide Resource Recovery
- VISY Recycling and
- Electronic Recycling Australia.
These full-day tours are scheduled twice each year in April/May and October/November and are conducted by KESAB Environmental Solutions on behalf of the City of Unley.
To register your interest for the next available tour please contact KESAB Environmental Solutions on 8234 7255.
Visit the What to put in your 3 bins webpage for a list of common items.
Do you have an item that is not listed? Visit the Which Bin website, type in your suburb and the item for disposal. You’ll find out which bin to use or alternative disposal methods.
Search on Which Bin
The City of Unley offers several options for recycling and waste disposal including kerbside collections, hard rubbish collections and a range of other services and education programs to support our community.
This work is guided by the Waste Management & Resource Recovery Plan(PDF, 2MB) which includes activities to provide innovative and responsive waste management practices that promote recycling, composting and reducing waste to landfill. It incorporates best management practices to manage the waste Council collects.
Key initiatives include:
- Domestic Waste – education, re-use, reduction, organic to compost, recycling, hard rubbish
- Commercial Waste – organics, construction material recycling
- Council demonstrating leadership in waste management – alternate recycling options, reduction in waste from operations
We recommend ringing ahead to confirm what goods are accepted by each op shop.
Aggies Op Shop - St Augustine's - 183 Unley Road, Unley - Ph. 8123 7372
Monday to Friday 9.30am - 4pm
Saturday 9.30am - 1pm
Rotary Thrift Shop - 130 Unley Road, Unley - Ph. 8172 0900
Monday to Saturday 10am - 4pm
Vinnies Parkside - 98 Glen Osmond Road, Parkside - Ph. 8357 3796
Monday to Friday 9.30am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 4pm
Salvation Army Store Kings Park - 307 Goodwood Road, Kings Park - Ph. 8271 9366
Monday to Thursday 9am - 5.30pm
Friday 9am - 7pm
Saturday 9am - 5pm
Stop By Op Shop - 318 Goodwood Road, Clarence Park - Ph. 8272 2564
Tuesday to Friday 9.30am - 3.30pm