Reduce your waste
Reducing your waste benefits our community, the economy and the environment. This goes beyond recycling. You can also take steps to avoid, reduce, reuse and compost waste in Nillumbik.
Avoid
To avoid waste, start by only buying items when you really need them and avoiding single-use items.
Single-use items to avoid
Reduce
To reduce waste, you can:
- buy items with less packaging
- choose loose fruit and vegetables over wrapped or shop at local markets in Nillumbik
- reduce your food waste at home using tips from Sustainability Victoria's Love Food Hate Waste campaign
- buy electronic household items that are higher in quality and last longer
- put a 'no advertising' sign on your letter box and follow Clean Up Australia's tips for reducing your junkmail.
Local markets in Nillumbik
Reuse
To reuse items, you can:
Choose reusable and refillable options in Nillumbik
Repair broken items
Try repairing broken items instead of replacing them.
Buy, borrow, sell or give away in Nillumbik
Shop secondhand and sell or give away your good quality household goods or clothes
Find your local op shop.
Donate clothing items in good condition via the clothing bins located in:
- the carpark near Eltham Train Station
- the Coles car park at Diamond Creek.
Use online options for buying and selling secondhand items through:
Try buying, selling or sharing second hand fashion online using:
Instead of buying new toys, visit:
Repurpose
To make unwanted used or broken items into new things, you can:
- offer them to Edendale Farm for use in community art activities. For information about accepted items, contact Edendale Farm.
- repurpose old sheets by cutting up and using as rags or cleaning cloths.
Recycle
When recycling, use our kerbside recycling system correctly and make sure there are no recyclable items in your red landfill bin.
To find out how to recycle or dispose of a specific item, check our A-Z Recycling Guide.
Recycling drop off locations in Nillumbik
Soft plastics
Collect any soft plastic packaging and plastic bags and take to:
- Coles, Diamond Creek
- Coles, Eltham
- Woolworths, Eltham
For more drop off locations, visit REDcycle.
E-waste
Recycle your e-waste (any unwanted item with a plug, cord or battery) at our:
Clothing
Visit Recycling Near You to find locations for recycling clothing.
Edendale Farm
Visit Edendale Farm to find items accepted for recycling.
Going Green Solutions
Visit Going Green Solutions in Hurstbridge to recycle:
For more information, visit: Going Green Solutions
Compost
To recycle your food waste, you can use:
- your green waste bin
- a home compost system
Composting at home in Nillumbik
Composting your food scraps, grass and garden clippings at home provides an excellent source of free garden food. It also reduces greenhouse gases, saves water and creates more space in your green waste bin.
Get a discounted composting products
Compost Revolution
As a pilot program, Nillumbik Shire Council has partnered with Compost Revolution to make it easier for residents to try composting at home.
Nillumbik households are eligible to one compost system at 50 per cent off the recommended retail price, including free home delivery. Products available include a compost bin, worm farm, bokashi bin and helpful accessories.
To order:
- Visit the Compost Revolution website
- Enter your address for verification
- Complete an online tutorial and quiz
- Order your product at the discounted price
This offer is available to Nillumbik residential properties only. Once all discounted stock is sold the program will be stopped and evaluated.
Edendale Community Environment Farm
Discounted composting products are available from Edendale Farm all year round.
For more details, visit the Edendale Farm things we sell page.
Buy recycled
Buy items made from recycled materials, such as gifts, copy paper and toilet paper.
If you have other waste reduction tips or suggested services to add to this page, please let us know:
Provide a waste reduction tip