The recent GreenHome seminar run by the Australian Conservation Council focused on waste reduction. Topics included composting, worm farming and recycling. There were some interesting topics and the opportunity to win a compost bin or worm farm - none of which I did.

However, I already have four compost bins and a worm farm so am more than equipped in that department. The seminars were useful if you hadn’t really begun a compost or worm farm system or weren’t too sure on what packaging could be recycled.

One new thing I learnt was that pizza boxes can kind of be recycled if you rip the lid off (providing there is no food on it) and place the lid in the bin that takes paper and cardboard.

It also made me look harder at the packaging I buy my products in. Products that come in recyclable or reusable packaging get an even higher priority in my shopping cart now. Good news too, ACF is now extending its Greenhome project to Victoria.

Ok, so I didn’t win the water tank I was hoping for at my first ACF Green home seminar but I did come away with some excellent water saving tips and a fabulous little suction cup water timer for my shower.

What else I gained was an insight into my local community in terms of environmental awareness around the home and how many people over 50 were concerned about this issue. In fact, the majority of people at the seminar were over 50 and totally tuned in to saving water and recycling.

On more than one occasion I did look around the room in dismay searching for some young faces or at least people in my age group (30s). There definitely were some but they were an obvious minority. Whether this was younger people didn’t have the time to attend or they just weren’t that interested in greening their home I couldn’t say, however I hope it was the former rather than the latter.

Some of the top water saving tips I learnt were:

• Aerators on taps help reduce water use by half without losing pressure. They are cheap and easy to install. Aerators are cheap and can be found at hardware stores. If you live in Sydney, check out Sydney Water’s retrofit program, which provides free water saving kits or a cheap service to install them for you.
• Fix leaking taps. A dripping tap can waste more than 20,000 litres of water a year while a leaking toilet can waste up to 96,000 litres of water (and $60) a year!
• When washing vegetables in the kitchen sink do it in a container to collect the water. The water can then be reused on a plant or in the garden.
• If you don’t have a dual flush toilet system then use a toilet cistern weight to control the amount of water used to flush.
• If you don’t have a toilet cistern weight then place bricks of water filled PET bottles in the cistern so that the cistern fills up with less water.
• Install a AAA rated shower head. These keep the pressure and only use 7-9 litres of water per minute, while a standard showerhead uses 15-30 litres.
• A shower timer can also help keep showers short. The timer I recived at the seminar, is worth a megre $4 and helps me keep my showers to four minutes.
• Use a bucket in the shower to collect the water while the shower is heating up. Within three days my bucket at home was full. I use this water on my garden or in my compost bin to keep it moist.
• In the laundry use a front loading washing machine. This is on my wish list for when we can afford a new one. Make sure your machine has a high water rating.
• If your washing machine has them, make sure you use special options such as Eco, Economy or suds saver.
• Mulching your garden can help cut your waste water by 70 per cent. It also reduces weeding and feeds plants much needed nutrients.
• Put water saving crystals in pot plants to keep moisture in the soil longer.
• Native plants in the garden use less water than non-natives.

The Australian Conservation Foundation’s GreenHome program is coming to my local area at the end of June. I have already signed up and am ready to roll.

The program includes six workshops about topics such as how to save water, reduce energy and fuel usage, cut household waste, and create drought-resistant native and vegetable gardens.

At the moment the program is only running in NSW but ACF has plans to roll it out to Victoria next. Find out whether the program is coming to your area by calling ACF on 1800 223 669 or emailing: membership@acfonline.org.au.

Hawkesbury Earthcare Centre serves as a focus and gathering place for people learning and working together for responsible stewardship of the earth.