What is it?

Think of your next shopping trip, to the supermarket or to buy the latest TV, as a trip to the tip. Because that is exactly what it is. Everything, and we mean, EVERYTHING, you buy will eventually or very quickly become garbage. The plastic bags you transport your shopping in, the cardboard and styrofoam containers holding your take away food, the packaging of the items you buy and indeed the items themselves will, without a doubt, and probably very quickly be thrown away.

This garbage will be transported to the local landfill or blow endlessly across our landscape and into our waterways, where it will rot slowly for one to several thousands of years - poisoning the land, leaching into surrounding surface and groundwater and creating toxic gases and fumes.

Australians are second only to the United States (amongst OECD countries) in per capita waste production. A huge 1.2 tonnes of garbage is created per person, per year in Australia. It is called urban solid waste and is categorized into three sections:

• Municipal (domestic & council) – 40%
• Commercial & Industrial – 23%
• Construction & Demolition – 37%

You and your household are directly responsible for 40% of the waste produced – and therefore are directly able to reduce 40% of the 1.2 tonnes created annually – and indirectly responsible for the other 60% through the products you buy and the services you use. Unfortunately, 95% of Australia’s garbage is wasted in landfills. Landfills are a wasteful and unsustainable method of waste disposal because:

• Landfill sites pollute and render toxic precious land resources
• Garbage contains resources, that can be re-used and recycled, but are currently being wasted
• The wasted resources are creating toxic liquids and gases that are leaching into our surface and groundwater resources and fouling our air supply

Ancient landfill sites are called middens. Archaeologists sift through middens to learn about people and cultures that left little or no written record. We, however, thousands of years later, have been witness to, and enjoy technological advancements beyond the wildest dreams of our ancestors and have a rich and varied written, oral and visual history to give to our descendents. Is it not sad and bewildering then – that despite all our technological and social advancements – we are still disposing of our waste in the same way as our ancestors? Thousands of years later, when we are now, unlike our ancestors, acutely aware of the finite nature of our water, air and land resources, still using landfills and wasting precious resources that could be re-used and recycled.

Sustainable waste management is one of the keys to environmental sustainability. We, and our environment, can ill afford to behave in the same way as our ancestors.

Sustainable waste management is about responsible consumption of products and services and viewing waste as a resource to be utilized and not as a problem to be ignored. It is about refusing to buy products that are disposable and cannot be re-used or recycled, reducing the amount of products and services we buy, re-using products and recycling as much of our waste as possible.

How can you help?

The next time you go shopping think about the products and services you buy in terms of refuse, reduce, re-use and recycle. They are, in order of importance:

• Refuse – to buy products that are disposable and that cannot be re-used or recycled
• Reduce – – your consumption of products and services
• Re-use – – products and the materials they are packaged in
• Recycle – – organic material (kitchen and garden waste), paper and cardboard, glass, plastic and metals

Refuse, Reduce, Re-use, Recycle

REFUSE