2. Invest in a reusable coffee cup<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Most of us love kick starting our day with a caffeine hit. But did you know, most takeaway coffee cups can\u2019t be recycled because of hidden plastics in the lining? It\u2019s estimated that Australians use 1 billion disposable coffee cups each year – that\u2019s a whopping 2.7 Million coffee cups thrown out each day, with a large chunk ending up in landfill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s not all doom and gloom though, there are loads of different options when it comes to reusable cups – from glass and stainless steel to tech savvy versions that allow you to pay with the swish of your cup (literally<\/a>). Once you\u2019ve made the switch you can sit back with pride, knowing you\u2019re helping reduce waste – one soy latte at a time!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your cafe might even reward you with a cheeky discount<\/a> for bringing your own cup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We know how convenient straws can be when you\u2019re on the move or wanting to keep coffee off your pearly whites, but did you know that Australians use 10 million straws each day? If you need a visual, that’s about 2 and a half school buses worth of plastic, every single day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re not going to suggest going without a straw cold turkey, but we do want you to sip responsibly. Here are some good alternatives; if you\u2019re feeling that little bit extra, you can get one attaches to your keyring<\/a>. If you\u2019re not into making it rain, you don’t need to spend over $20 for a straw – we reckon $3 <\/a>fits any budget. After all, you\u2019re saving the planet<\/a>, remember?<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s not surprising that plastic is the biggest threat to our oceans and marine life, but what\u2019s shocking is just how <\/em>much we\u2019re using.Even more shocking? only 36% of all plastic bottles are recycled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By choosing a reusable bottle, not only will you be helping save our iconic beaches and waterways – you\u2019ll also be protecting our wildlife and reducing your greenhouse emissions. You can find loads of different reusable bottles online and in store, the Frank Green bottle<\/a> comes with access to their Hydrate mobile app. This handy app lets you track your water for the day, how many $$\u2019s you\u2019ve saved in your pocket and the amount of plastic bottles you\u2019ve saved from landfill – really letting you track your impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leftovers help reduce food waste, but when we wrap them in plastic, it\u2019s not helping the bigger picture. When you consider that Australia produces nearly enough cling wrap each year to wrap the state of Texas, something\u2019s got to give…<\/p>\n\n\n\n A sensational, organic and ethically sourced alternative are beeswax wraps, like the ones over at Bee Wrappy<\/a>. They come in designs that are easy on the eye, are made locally and best of all? can be reused. Good for the environment and your back pocket!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thanks to the big supermarkets phasing out plastic bags, grabbing a canvas tote is second nature to most of us now – but did you know you can recycle plastic bags and sleeves?Plastic packaging and liners (like your biscuit packages, bread sleeves and cereal packets) usually end up in the kitchen bin and ultimately in landfill – where they take hundreds of years to breakdown. Coles offer REDcycling<\/a> bins at each of their stores, where you can drop off your soft plastic packaging and they\u2019ll turn it into new products – including outdoor furniture. It\u2019s as easy as bagging them up and dropping them off the next time you do your groceries – too easy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n From birthdays to baby showers, balloons usually scream \u2018good time happening over here\u2019 – but when the party’s over, they end up in one of two places – the bin or our waterways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Switching up your party decorations is an easy way to help save the planet. For your next big party choose decorations that can be reused or recycled, like tissue paper pom poms, fabric bunting or crepe paper tassels. Not only are all of these options eye catching, but you can DIY them and save some cash too (plus who doesn\u2019t love an excuse to use Pinterest?). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Big life event? How about scattering flower petals, planting a tree or spreading wildflower seed bombs<\/a> – they\u2019re beautiful to look at and also help feed our native bees. Win-win! <\/p>\n\n\n\n Want to keep tabs on your energy usage without leaving the couch? We\u2019ve got you covered with our mobile app<\/a>. You can manage your bills, set up handy alerts and keep track of your usage. Understanding how you\u2019re using energy can help you take control of your usage<\/a> – helping you make more energy-efficient choices and lower your bill in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019ve got the power of change, right in the palm of your hand – so what are you waiting for? Jump over to the App or Google Play Store and download it today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brad works in the Origin Social Media team. When he isn’t chatting with customers and delighting them with banter, he’s working on his blog or smashing popcorn and watching Netflix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Kristy works in the Origin Social Media team and is currently studying a diploma of photography on the side. Outside of work and study, she loves going on weekend adventures, creating short travel vlogs and soaking up the sunshine (when it makes an appearance in Melbourne).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Want to save the world but not sure where to start? See how a few simple swaps can help save your planet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":17166,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[105],"tags":[48,46],"oe_author":[],"class_list":["post-10380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-at-home","tag-customer","tag-sustainability"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.originenergy.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.originenergy.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.originenergy.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.originenergy.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.originenergy.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.originenergy.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.originenergy.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.originenergy.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.originenergy.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.originenergy.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10380"},{"taxonomy":"oe_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.originenergy.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/oe_author?post=10380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}3. Ditch the plastic straw<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
4. Grab a reusable water bottle<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
5. Stop clinging to plastic wrap <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
6. Recycle your plastic bags<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
7. Celebrate without balloons<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
8. Let our app crunch the numbers for you <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nAbout the authors<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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