It’s time for “waste” to get a better publicist: many items we constantly discard can find new life and purpose right in our back yard.
Australia generated 75.6m tonnes of waste in 2023, according to government data, and landfills are not keeping up. With recent reports that Sydney’s landfill capacity is projected to run out of space by 2030, there’s renewed urgency to rethink our approach to waste and find resourceful ways to see its value.
Teresa Day, masterclass coordinator at Sustainable Gardening Australia, says we need to stop using the word “waste” and start using the word “material”. She suggests reframing the idea of waste and considering: “What am I going to do with this material, what can it be used for next?”
The benefits of repurposing or rehoming materials extends further than just reducing landfill. Longtime gardener Olwyn Smiley runs a permaculture garden consultation business and has found plenty of gems both kerbside and in local Buy Nothing groups.
As Day’s late grandmother used to say, “waste isn’t waste until you waste it”. There are numerous ways to turn common household waste into valuable resources for the garden.
Find garden gold on the verge and in household rubbish
Our modern lives are rife with consumables, creating a consistent and dependable supply of items waiting to be reimagined. Egg cartons can be used to raise seeds, metal cans can be used to grow spring flower bulbs, and wooden chopsticks can be repurposed to stake enthusiastic seedlings.
Day’s top pick from her household rubbish is the unassuming toilet roll. “A lot of gardeners struggle with transplanting seedlings you get at garden centres,” Day says, as many are grown in a punnet, with roots tangled together.
“If you can plant different vegetables individually into cardboard tubes and then put those tubes in the soil, you’re not disturbing them.” Add a bit of water, and they quickly break down when planted. “It increases the success completely.”
Daily newspapers and other paper-based materials, too, translate to a multitude of uses in the garden. In Smiley’s back yard, they are used under mulch to suppress weeds, create seedling pots and line the food scraps bin.
Oven trays can be used to cure homegrown garlic and onions before long-term storage, providing ventilation. Simply spread freshly harvested crops on to trays, and allow them to dry in a sheltered spot away from direct sunlight for two to four weeks.
Security doors, laundry drying racks and old ladders are often seen piled up on nature strips. These items can be used as valuable climbing support for plants such as raspberries, pumpkins or cucumbers.
With the addition of netting, such finds can also be used to create a structure to protect crops from pests such as Queensland fruit fly. Smiley has done just that, using a wrought iron frame (hard rubbish) at each end of a garden bed, with two steel poles from an original Hills hoist clothes line (Buy Nothing) across the top to create a frame for insect exclusion netting to protect her tomatoes.
Building scraps such as old fence posts, palings, corrugated iron offcuts and plywood are also worth keeping an eye out for. Smiley’s chook house is entirely constructed of these types of materials, with the only outlay being “some nails and screws”.
When it comes to knowing what’s worth picking out of the hard rubbish, look for metals, ceramics or timber “anything that’s robust and can’t be broken down,” Day says.
When reclaiming timber pallets, Day advises to look for a stamp. “If it’s got HT on it, it means it’s heat treated … and safe to use.” If it’s unlabelled or unclear, it’s best to err on the side of caution, as some timber treatments can contain heavy metals that may be unsafe to use around veggie patches.
Materials to avoid in the garden
When searching for your next upcycle, it’s best to stay away from anything that’s not built to last, Day says.
An example is old polystyrene boxes which are commonly picked up and used in container gardening. “In a way, they’re perfect because they’re light, they’ve got beautiful drainage in them, great volumes, great depth,” Day says. However, she advises to refrain from using them, as when polystyrene is exposed to sunlight and the elements, it can start to degrade, contaminating the environment with microplastics.
Five ways to upcycle a milk bottle
If you want an exercise in creative repurposing, consider the humble milk bottle: a simple item that can be reinvented in a multitude of ways for use in the garden.
Nail a few holes into the lid to make a fine spray watering can for young seedlings. Cut long rectangular strips from the flat sides to make your own propagation labels. Make a diagonal cut across the bottle to make a soil scooper with a handle.
Cut off the bottom and you’ve got yourself a cloche for protecting young seedlings from snails or the frost. Cut the bottle in half, nesting the top half (lid off) in the bottom half to make yourself a self-watering pot.
Seeing an empty milk bottle in this way will surely kickstart the adventure of seeing waste in a new light.
Alongside her finds, Smiley says she has found it’s also helped with “meeting and getting to know people in your neighbourhood, which bolsters a sense of community and belonging.”
