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Electric mowers emit about one third of the greenhouse gas of a petrol-fuelled mower and don’t release other harmful pollutants.

Food, Garden, Packaging and Materials

Food production generates greenhouse gases from a variety of sources:

Food and garden waste

When food and garden wastes break down without fresh air, they create a mixture of gases including the very active greenhouse gas, methane. Save about one kilogram of greenhouse gas for each kilogram of food or garden waste avoided.
Compost non-meat food scraps or feed them to a worm farm: most councils can advise on composting techniques, and some even collect food scraps with green waste for commercial composting.
For grass clippings and leaves—let them break down naturally in the open air, compost them, feed them to a worm farm or put them in a green waste collection bin.
Ensure your compost heap or bin has plenty of fresh air: turn the material over regularly or use a compost tumbler. If the compost smells, there is not enough air and it is producing greenhouse gases.

Reduce mower fuel use by using a hand mower, mowing less often, or using a more fuel-efficient mower (4-stroke models often use less fuel): save 2.8 kilograms of greenhouse gas for each litre of fuel saved.
Avoid over-watering gardens and wasting water: treating and pumping water uses energy and generates up to 0.6 kilograms of greenhouse gas per kilolitre for treatment and, in hilly areas, up to two kilograms of greenhouse gas per kilolitre of water for pumping.
Plant trees to absorb greenhouse gases. But be careful: if your prunings and leaves go to landfill instead of composting, they will decay without oxygen, generating more greenhouse gas than was stored in the plant material as it grew.

Refuse	excess packaging and materials.
Reduce:	the amount of materials you use by buying in bulk, repairing appliances and furniture instead of replacing them, and avoiding disposable products.
Re-use:	containers, building materials and clothing: repair and sell things you no longer need and consider buying second-hand.
Recycle:	everything you can’t refuse, reduce or re-use. Check with your local council or state environmental authority to find what and where you can recycle.

Illustration of a Man Putting Food Scraps in a Compost Bin

When out walking, collect discarded containers (for example, bottles and aluminium cans). Recycling a shopping bag full of containers saves at least five kilograms of greenhouse gas and reduces litter.
Large amounts of fossil fuel energy are used, and a lot of greenhouse gas is produced, when making the materials we use to build our homes and to make appliances and cars. For example, making a kilogram of aluminium in Australia generates more than 15 kilograms of greenhouse gas and a kilogram of greenhouse gas is generated for every three house bricks. Re-using and recycling these materials can recover much of this greenhouse gas.