What Actually Helps Families Reduce Household Waste?

Hi everyone!

I'm a university student in the UAE currently studying Sustainable Communities. One topic that has interested me is how families can make simple changes to reduce household waste.

I've been learning about the importance of reducing, reusing and recycling. However, I feel that recycling alone isn't enough. We also need to think about how much waste we create in the first place.

Simple habits like using reusable shopping bags, avoiding unnecessary packaging, reusing containers and separating recyclable materials can all help reduce household waste. I've also attached a poster I created to share some practical ideas.

But I wonder how easy it is for families to maintain these habits in everyday life. I'd love to hear about your experiences!

1. What simple changes have you made to reduce waste in your household?
2. What has been your biggest challenge when trying to maintain a low-waste lifestyle?
3. What advice would you give to families in the UAE who are just starting to reduce their household waste?

I'm particularly interested in practical ideas that have worked for you.

Thank you for sharing your experiences!

A couple of things that come to mind right away:

- instead of using paper towels, use cloth towels. We have a system where we have many cloth towels, and there is always one hanging on the stove handle, and somewhere else in the kitchen, so they are always readily available. They get put in the laundry once they have a not-so-fresh smell to them. When that is, depends on the amount of people using them and what foods get made in the kitchen.  We have many so that it is easy to switch them out when necessary.

- instead of paper napkins, cloth napkins. It has gotten to the point that I always have a fresh one even in our car for when we are on the road.

- instead of toilet paper, cloth wipes. I found a perfect size basket to fit on our toilet tank. I made many cloth wipes, all the same size, that fit in the basket beautifully. We also have a sprayer that is attached to the toilet tank. Once the cloth is used, it gets put in a little garbage can that has a swinging lid so that it is very easy to put the used cloths into it. Whenever we do laundry, we automatically toss the cloths in the machine with the rest. We've been using this system for over 5 years now. It's been wonderful! It's also much better for the septic system.

- no plastic bottles for water. We don't use them not only for environmental reasons, but also health reasons. We always use stainless steel or glass that we bring with us when we go on longer drives or outings.

- compost instead of throwing away food scraps. It doesn't have to be complicated or fancy. Just having a dedicated pile a little away from the house is enough. Sooner or later it will turn back to earth and all that food that has turned into rich soil can then be used for outside plantings or mixed in with house plants if one doesn't have any outside planting space. If nothing else, one can always just put it under a bush or tree in a park.

- wear only natural materials so they, too, can be composted when they've truly reached the end of their life and have become completely tattered.

- cook from scratch and meal prep. It is amazing how much packaging goes into convenient, ready-made foods that only need to be heated or boiled, etc.

- And last, but certainly not least, become less of a consumer in general. Have a life with less stuff. It's also been shown to be healthy for mind, body, and soul.

I think the most important lesson I've learned is that avoiding waste takes resources:

You need to have time, energy and/or money to really minimise waste.

I know it can sound counter-intuitive.

But a lot of what goes into minimising waste it me experience is planning - which needs time - plus time & energy to sort potential waste into usable parts - or, if you're short of time & energy, the money to pay for equipment and other people to help with the planning and sorting.

For example, having time & energy to plan and prepare meals, and having the money to pay for good kitchen facilities including refrigerator & freezer, or pay a cook (!) can avoid a lot of food waste!