Waste Minimisation
Key Understandings
Waste is the assortment of unwanted products of human societies. We all produce it but then face the problem of its disposal.
The total amount of waste per person has increased with time. Certain materials in the waste stream have increased markedly, in particular organic waste and paper.
In addition to the problems of increased garbage, there has been a steady increase in the population of Australia. This means, of course, that there are now more people, each producing increasingly more waste.
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...derived from food and garden waste. Most organic material can be composted in backyard compost bins, or fed to the ever hungry composter worms in a worm farm. Australian households currently produce more than two million tonnes of food and garden waste each year, about 145 kilograms per person. However, only about 200,000 tonnes is currently composted in home composting units or worm farms. (Industry Commission Report Recycling Vol.11 pp179-180) |
Packaging materials make up about one-third of domestic rubbish. We can easily reduce the amount of packaging that we throw into our bins by shopping more selectively and then reusing or recycling the packaging material after the product has been used.
Reuse of a package delays the consumption of energy and natural resources and may reduce the need to produce the item which would otherwise replace it. Recycling minimises the wastage.
There are many examples of recycling in the natural world.
Paper
The recycling of paper saves tipping space and collection and disposal costs. It uses one sixth of the electricity needed for virgin mechanical pulp and may contribute to the conservation of native forests in Australia and overseas.
Glass
Glass can be recycled repeatedly by adding crushed glass to the furnace with a sand soda, lime mixture.
In Australia, about 40% of glass containers (bottles and jars) are collected for recycling. Recycling glass saves energy and the resources used to make glass.
Plastic
About 1,000,000 tonnes of plastic is used in Australia each year. About half of this ends up as waste. Householders throw away 320,000 tonnes of waste plastic each year, most of which is short life packaging materials.
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Reln is one of the largest consumers of recycled plastic in Australia. Post consumer plastic such as car battery cases, and old money notes are melted down into products such as the Reln Compost Bin and Worm Factory. The recycling of plastics saves considerable amounts of energy, and landfill space at our landfill sites. |
Aluminium
Used aluminium products are easily recycled by melting them in large furnaces. Aluminium recycling saves considerable amounts of energy. Recycled aluminium only requires five per cent of the energy required to make aluminium from bauxite. Recycling one tonne of aluminium saves five tonnes of bauxite.
(Adapted from Waste Matters - Gould League)
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