Waste Management in Australia | Green Bins

From home renovations to business cleanouts, you can hire a skip bin for most of your waste management needs. While you may be aware of how you can—or can't—use skip bins, some facts about waste management in Australia are worth learning more about. Read on to learn a few new noteworthy things about the waste management industry.

Recycling efforts have been focused on more the last several years. And these efforts are coming from more commercialized angles rather than individual avenues. Circular economies have come about with the end goal of turning recycled materials into a profit while eliminating excess waste.

For example, consumers are seeing more recyclable materials in product packaging in stores, and many large corporations aim to have all their products use recycled materials by 2030. Other organisations are working with the government to create solutions for materials that are difficult to recycle so these items can be used more widely.

Several solutions are in the works to help reduce the total amount of bin waste. For example, some companies are discovering how to recycle used nappies to reduce their high waste and environmental impact. Others are working on converting waste into energy, while others still are developing food de-packaging technology to remove food from its packaging for improved recycling.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australia produced nearly 80 million tonnes of waste from 2018 to 2019. 8 million tonnes came from hazardous waste, about 15 million tonnes from organic waste and nearly 3 million tonnes from plastic waste, with the difference stemming from other sources across residential and commercial sectors. And of these types of waste, large portions of it were disposed of improperly.

Specifically, almost 2 million tonnes (25%) of hazardous material, over 6 million tonnes of organic waste (42%) and 227,000 tonnes (9%) of plastic waste were recycled. Likewise, Australians waste almost $4,000 per year. Likewise, supermarkets add to the amount of organic waste significantly, with some studies reporting that supermarkets dispose of up to 40% of food products that then end up in landfills.

While organic waste, including food and plant clippings, decomposes and can be turned into mulch or fertiliser, improperly disposing of these items can wreak havoc on the environment. Too much food waste piled up in landfills can increase greenhouse gas emissions. And leaving lawn clippings scattered on the ground can create issues with water supply and distribution.

Additionally, some reports indicate that improperly disposed waste can even lead to health detriments. According to Tearfund, a charity organisation, between 400,000 and 1 million people die annually in developing countries because of waste that has been poorly managed and disposed of.