Waste not, want not works for Ella

We've seen it in the oceans and washing up on the beach, how it affects wildlife, the soil and even our health.

But can us making small changes in our lifestyle really have a big impact if governments, big businesses and other countries don't make changes too?

Ella Maesepp believes it can.

She is a landcare officer with Katanning Landcare and with her husband David Potter, built a sustainable, off-grid, hay bale house on their farm.

This evolved into a hobby/small business called the Katanning Eco-House, which includes sharing ways David, Ella and their sons Zavier, 8, and Quade, 4, live a sustainable, minimal waste lifestyle.

Ms Maesepp spoke at the Liebe Ladies Landcare Luncheon in Dalwallinu recently, highlighting how her family gradually implemented ways for them to produce less waste, which in turn had some additional benefits, such as saving money.

Having spent years trying different products, researching recycling and just how recyclable some products are, she loves to share some of her insights to encourage others to have less wastage.

Some of the tips might seem obvious, while others are genius or would raise a few eyebrows - but all are about making the planet a better place to live for future generations.

"It took us five weeks of conscious effort to get our household weekly waste of four people down to half a bread bag," Ms Maesepp said.

"When my husband asked 'what did we used to throw away', I realised we were able to make changes without sacrificing anything.

"It now takes us three weeks to fill our three litre kitchen bin."

Ms Maesepp suggested one of the first places to start was finding more environmentally-friendly substitutes for household items.

These could be using a bamboo, compostable toothbrush and cotton buds, stainless steel pegs instead of plastic ones (which Ms Maesepp said last much longer), rechargeable batteries, machine-washable cloths instead of sponges, coconut fibre instead of steel wool and a shampoo bar instead of bottles.

Once you've made some sustainable swaps at home, then it's time to tackle the grocery shopping.

Ms Maesepp suggested avoiding double packaged items, such as biscuits that have a plastic tray and wrapper, cereal that is wrapped in plastic within a box or larger packet.

Where possible buy in bulk, which will also likely save you money and then reuse the packaging, for example a laundry powder tub can be reused for a worm farm or cleaning bucket.

Ms Maesepp encouraged shoppers to take their own bags for produce and containers for meat, although some businesses might have policies against customers using their own packaging for health and safety regulations, but she has found most small businesses like bakeries and butchers will accept them.

She even washes her bread bags in warm soapy water and dries them on the washing line to reuse them, which the bakery accepts.

If there are multiple items to choose from that are all made from plastic, choose the most recyclable material.

Ms Maesepp rated packaging in the following order from most recyclable:

No container/bring your own container;

Paper/cardboard;

Aluminium;

Steel;

Plastics 1 and 2 (number inside the recycling triangle symbol);

Glass;

Plastics 3 to 7;

Styrofoam or tetra packs.

There are some household swaps that could take others a little longer to come around to, but again provide a sustainable, cost-saving alternative, such cloth nappies and sanitary pads, menstrual cups and period underwear, hankies, beeswax wraps instead of cling wrap and she even makes her own baby wipes by reusing old ones after she discovered they stay in tact after going in the washing machine - simply give them a wash cycle then put in a coffee jar with one cup of boiling water, one teaspoon of coconut oil and a squirt of baby wash, then wash and reuse again.

"Then you need to become aware of what you use when you go out," Ms Maesepp said.

"Do you really need a serviette or a straw?

"If you do, then bring your own.

"In my bag I always have steel straws, a fold out Tupperware container, a spork (spoon and fork in one), hankies and reusable coffee mug."

Once Ms Maesepp felt she had the lifestyle basics down, she was ready to tackle her next challenge - her child's birthday party.

She made the brave decision to not use balloons and in fact no decorations "and no one noticed or cared".

"Kids don't need decorations; they need to be the centre of attention, to have their friends and family around and a cake," she said.

"The last couple of parties I have done have been zero landfill parties.

"And for gifts we now ask for people to bring either something second-hand or homemade and people like that."

Ms Maesepp said second-hand shopping could be a gold mine for anyone and it's important to get more serious about it when trying to be minimal waste.

"Aside from socks and underwear, I have stopped buying new things," she said.

"We buy second-hand bikes, books, clothes and even gifts - you can find some amazing things."

Adopting a minimal waste approach to her life, Ms Maesepp said she also learned and honed in on some other skills, such as cooking and being more crafty and resourceful at fixing things.

Even reaching out to community services such as the library for borrowing books and films.

"Many communities now even have toy libraries which are great because they teach kids about shared responsibility and they always have new toys," she said.

While it may seem like a stereotype, Ms Maesepp has found that for most household's the most difficult part about going minimal waste is getting the husband/male partner on board.

She spoke to families who she knew were involved in low waste in some form and found there were five barriers that made men reluctant to take it up.

"With low waste men think it will involve low taste and low fun and they have a fear of missing out," Ms Maesepp said.

"You need to show them where they will benefit, for example buying in bulk might mean they have the portion size they like.

"It's important to show them they aren't missing out and they are not losing anything, it's just a substitute."

She said being a little sneaky could also help as sometimes ignorance is bliss and it's best not to tell them when you change something if they are unlikely to notice it.

The second barrier between men and minimal waste is that "it has to be easy".

"The men I spoke to were more than happy to do it as long as it was easy," she said.

Using pictures and labels to show where certain recyclables go, having containers easily accessible in the kitchen (eg. for the compost) all help in making it easier and requiring less thinking.

Another concern men had was that it would cost more money.

"Show them the long-term savings and they will probably be pretty surprised," Ms Maesepp said.

Then there was the worry that men would be embarrassed, either around their friends or at places like the shops and having to ask for food to be put in a container.

"I found it helps to go with them for the first time and show them that they won't be rejected - they just don't like initiating the conversation with other people," she said.

"And also tell them about other people who are low waste and then they can bond together."

The final barrier was around education.

"We assume that men are as aware of the situation as us, whereas they might not be," Ms Maesepp said.

"They might not have read the same articles as you or watched the same documentaries or seen the same posts on social media.

"So you need to give them the opportunity to get where you are and show them why it's important to you."

Then for children to adopt low waste, Ms Maesepp said parents had to lead by example as particularly young kids would observe and learn from them.

"Set the tone of what you want to achieve as a household - set the values and let children know what's expected of them," she said.

"Don't underestimate how much they understand - let them learn and give them information when they need it.

"And make it fun and admit when things don't work."

Ms Maesepp said individually or as a family we are only a drop in the ocean, but there is such a thing as people power - whereby each doing a small amount, we make a big difference.

She said rather than being bogged down about mismanagement of waste by governments, companies and other countries, perhaps focus on what you can do - that's the power we have.

"Going forward I believe that to tackle waste as a society we have to be doing it at the household level," she said.

"Recycling is not the solution.

"Instead of cleaning up the mess we made, how about we stop doing it in the first place - that's what being minimal waste is all about."