Plastic free bin liners

David and Gabby Locke and the Entire Tech team receiving their Switched on Business Award from City of Armadale Mayor and Chairperson of the South East Regional Energy Group, Ruth Butterfield. They were joined by Cr Aaron Adams (City of Gosnells / SEREG delegate), City of Melville Business Development Advisor Stuart Tomlinson and Sustainability Engagement Officer Jess Sutherland. Photo credit: City of Melville. 

The plastic bag ban is looming and some householders are wondering how they’ll line their bins without access to free plastic shopping bags. We’ve outlined a few options that could work for you.

Many people have happily made the switch to reusable shopping bags, they are convenient and reduce the need for single-use plastics. On 1 July, all lightweight, single-use plastic bags will be banned by the Western Australian Government, prompting everyone else to make the switch.

The ban targets lightweight plastic bags, like the ones at supermarkets and fast food outlets, aiming to reduce the harm created when they enter the environment.

It’s estimated that five million plastic bags are littered in Western Australia every year, having a devastating impact on wildlife and persisting in our environment for hundreds of years. However, they are often used in homes as a convenient and free bin liner. The Plastic Bag Ban is the perfect time to switch to a more environmentally responsible way of carrying your rubbish to the wheelie bin. Here are a few methods that may work for you.

The naked bin

This method works well for dry waste, for example in your bathroom. If you compost your food scraps, you can probably use the naked bin method successfully in your kitchen too.

Step  1. Put rubbish into your unlined ‘naked’ kitchen bin

Step 2 . Empty it into your wheelie bin

Step 3. Repeat

Step 4. Rinse your kitchen bin out as necessary

Direct wrap

Fifty years ago, it was not uncommon for households not to have rubbish bins in their kitchens. Householders just took the short trip to the outside bin to dispose of rubbish! The direct wrap method is a good compromise. Live without a kitchen bin, and just wrap your rubbish at times when you’re creating a lot of it, like when you’re making dinner.

Step 1. Wrap rubbish in a sheet of newspaper

Step 2. Put directly in the wheelie bin (or store in the freezer until bin day if it contains meat)

Treading my own path – newspaper bin liner

Step 1. Collect a few sheets of newspaper

Step 2.  Place a double sheet in the bin length wise so that about five centimetres is folded over the top, and excess is covering the bottom on the bin

Step 3. Place another sheet overlapping the first by about five centimetres

Step 4. Keep going around the bin until the whole bin is lined

Step 5. Put rubbish into your newspaper lined bin

Step 6. When almost full, fold down the top of the newspaper and tip into the wheelie bin

 Visit Treading my own path for illustrated instructions.