Waste and Recycling Overview

• Inefficiency

• Lost resources/opportunities

• Environmental impact - greenhouse

gases & other pollution

Why focus on waste?

Kerbside waste collection

56% garbage 30% recyclables 14% food scraps and garden waste

490 kg garbage per house per year199 kg per person per year

490 kg

Kerbside recycling

65% paper

28% glass and cans

7% plastic containers

Australian annual plastics recycling rates

Plastic Carry Bags

• Australians used 3.92 billion bags in 2005

• That’s 3,920,000,000 bags

• Approximately 180 bags per person

An easy solution

Over-packaging

Some of the things households throw away

The waste hierarchy

2 Reusing materials

3 Recycling & reprocessing materials

4 Energy recovery before disposing

5 No conservation of resources

1 Maximum conservation of resources

Waste packaging (recyclable)

Recycling factory

New products delivered to

shops

Supermarket

Kerbside recycling collection

Products consumed at

home