When friends visit Matthew Luxon and Waverly Warth they make sure they bring food not wrapped in plastic.
Since 2008 the Auckland couple have been on a crusade to reduce their household waste to the council landfill.
Mr Luxon spoke at a public meeting in Rotorua yesterday on sustainable living and ways to reduce rubbish, as part of the Keep Rotorua Beautiful campaign.
The couple began while living in Christchurch by collecting a single bag of rubbish for the whole year. They have continued since shifting to the North Shore.
Recycling and composting household waste was now a habit, said Mr Luxon, an environmental consultant and former social worker.
The single bag of rubbish they throw out each year on the kerbside holds packaging from friends who have brought gifts, or processed food items wrapped in plastic which cannot be recycled.
Their rubbish-free year campaign has gathered momentum to now include a website, www.rubbishfree.co.nz, and regular blogs. Reduce, reuse, re-home and recycle has become the couple's daily mantra.
Being rubbish-free was initially a publicity stunt to raise people's awareness but had now become more of a message on social justice, he said.
More people were now understanding buying new was not the answer and that re-used recycled items still had a life, he said.
While the average household discarded about 1.5 tonnes of rubbish a year, the couple, through composting, recycling, and purchasing local food at markets, threw out about 2kg a year.
The lifestyle change was also good for the wallet, he said.
"We live on the North Shore in a two-bedroom unit and we have two worm farms, a bokashi bin and three composts.
"We have no issue with neighbours disposing waste."
There was a real shift happening and consumers were maturing, setting up recycling centres and understanding the importance of no waste, he said.
"Our rubbish-free year was symbolic but the real value was to highlight the issue."
Rotorua district councillor and sustainable living strategy leader Janet Wepa said the council planned to get feedback from residents on what direction to take to reduce rubbish further.
"We have the recycling centre, which is working very well, and our landfill is proving efficient," she said. "However we want to move on further at reducing waste in our beautiful city."
The sustainable-living strategy was about healthy homes and a healthy community, she said.
"We can do a lot more."