Recycling fan Kate Willoughby is keen to win war on waste

Ms Willoughby runs Orange Eco and wants her obsession to catch on across Orange.

"Since watching that show, for me it is the plastic waste everywhere. I just can't unsee it," she said.

She now gives recycling advice and runs workshops, looks at every way she can to limit rubbish going into her yellow recycling bin, and runs a shop selling sustainable items from her garage.

Ms Willoughby said she wanted recycling to become part of mainstream life in Orange.

"There is a huge section of the community that don't give a damn. But there's a growing part of the community who are aware," she said.

Ms Willoughby said she hoped more people would recycle rather than throw out items.

She said she tried to buy food from shops that allowed her to fill her own containers and concentrated on buying goods in tins and cans rather than plastic as the metal was recyclable.

Ms Willoughby said she tried to make her food from scratch, rather than buying ready-made products, and was using beeswax wrap instead of food plastic wraps.

She said she had become a "hoarder" by collecting everything from plastic bottle tops to the elastic bands wrapped around bunches of broccoli and other vegetables.

Ms Willoughby said the bottle tops were donated to the Envision company which used them to make prosthetic limbs for children.

She also is also starting to use rechargeable batteries.

Ms Willoughby said used batteries could be dropped off at the Ophir Road Resource Recovery Centre instead of being put in the bin.

She said she did not put any cardboard or paper in the recycling bin. Instead she used it as garden compost.

Her Orange home has solar power and a water tank, she has a vegetable patch and chickens to provide eggs.

Ms Willoughby said the items she sold at markets and from her home were all sustainable and with zero waste.

They range from toilet brushes made from wood and coconut husks to handwoven carry bags made in Ghana from elephant grass and natural dyes.

Instead of shampoo in a plastic bottle she sells shampoo as a cake of soap made from natural materials.