All kinds of organic garden waste can be put in the garden organics bins supplied by your council including leaves, grass clippings, weeds, branches, hay, flowers, sawdust, woodchips and bark. Food should not be placed in garden organics bins.

Many councils provide their residents with garden organics bins to prevent this waste from being sent to landfill where it would produce potent greenhouse gases as it decomposes.

You can reuse shower water (known as greywater) in the garden, provided it’s done safely. Do not reuse water from toilets or the kitchen. It is not safe to use water from the shower on any plants you will eat. It is also not safe to store used shower water.

If you are keen to reuse your shower water in the garden to save water, the simplest (and cheapest) way to do this is by placing a bucket in your shower while you are using it to catch any excess water. If you’re looking for something more high-tech, you may like to think about installing a greywater diversion system or greywater treatment system (speak with your local council for more information).

Be sure to consult with the relevant people (such as your local council or a registered plumber) if you have any questions around approvals or impacts on human and plant health, and especially before altering any plumbing in your home.

Depends on what your council says – therefore, check with your local council to see if they are happy for you to place your plastic plant pots in your household recycling bin. You can also check with your council to see if they collect them for recycling at one of their recycling facilities.

You may also be able to take your plastic plant pots back to a local nursery for reuse and/or recycling if they have a collection point through PP5 (a recycling service for plastic plant pots that operates in many major cities across the country).

If you can’t find a recycling option for your plastic pots, you could try donating them to a local community garden or council nursery for reuse.

If your local council does not accept plastic plant pots for recycling, you might like to try a local nursery or garden centre. A good first point of call is the nursery where you purchased the plants. Alternatively, you can search for collection points through PP5 (a recycling service for plastic plant pots that operates in many major cities across the country).