Australians produce tonnes of rubbish every day, from residential and green waste to commercial and industrial rubbish.
Local councils implement waste management programs and provide curbside bins for waste collection. However, they can only do so much in managing and reducing household and commercial waste.
Businesses and suburbs now carry out proper waste management protocols to utilise waste materials and keep them away from landfills. To ensure safe and efficient waste disposal, Paul’s Rubbish Removal, a rubbish removal team in Sydney, recommends the following ways to manage your household rubbish properly.
Waste Recovery and Recycling
Transforming waste products back into raw materials is probably the greatest feat of effective management. Waste recovery typically converts rubbish into useful products through chemical processes to extract raw materials or energy from these resources.
On the other hand, recycling focuses on converting rubbish into a different product to increase its useful life and minimise the demand for fresh products.
Unlike recovery, recycling focuses more on reducing waste at its source and plays a vital role in the three Rs of waste management, they include Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.
Source Reduction and Reuse
Major industries mostly use waste recovery as recycling is to suburban households. But local councils and the government commonly streamline rubbish reduction at the source and reuse products to reduce overall output.
More often than not, they would make an effort to effectively minimise waste at the source and establish a comprehensive recycling network to treat food waste and industrial waste. This waste management strategy aims to actively participate in conservation by becoming less dependent on non-renewable raw materials.
Composting
Food waste accounts for a massive portion of Australia’s annual waste generated. With that, communities took the initiative to utilise compost pits to decompose waste at home.
Organic farming companies also utilise this method to provide a low-cost and efficient fertiliser that converts food waste into nutrient-rich compost for plants.
Landfills
Landfilling is considered the most common method of waste disposal in Australia. It involves transporting residential/commercial waste to dump in open pits and prevent any odour, leachates, and toxic chemicals from seeping into the environment and water lines.
However, with the rising levels of methane gases emitted by landfills and decreasing land areas, rubbish removal companies such as Paul’s began considering alternative options.
Burning unrecyclable and biohazardous waste at temperatures exceeding 1200°C will effectively reduce it up to 80 per cent of its volume. After the incineration process, the ashes will then occupy the landfills, significantly reducing the stress on these facilities.
Some facilities also use thermal waste treatment to generate energy such as gas, heat, and steam. However, not all materials can be disposed of by incineration, as this only concerns medical, hazardous, and unsalvageable waste.
Final thoughts
Waste management is crucial to keep communities, facilities, & workplaces clean and hygienic. But more than that, streamlining an effective waste management strategy will go a long way in reducing your waste output and conservation.
Companies like Paul’s Rubbish Removal in Sydney actively practice and follow best recycling and rubbish management guidelines. This ensures that the junk they collect (on a daily basis) is filtered through the proper channels in order to achieve environmental sustainability.
It’s important for every Australian household to have in place an effective waste removal plan that will contribute to the Earth’s sustainability.