Helping Tasmanians to avoid, reduce, reuse and recycle
Welcome to Rethink Waste Tasmania
This is the go-to place for information, waste management services and resources to help you Avoid, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle waste in our beautiful island state. ARRR!
Research shows that Tasmanians generate over 900,000 tonnes of waste each year. Most of this waste ends up in landfill, which is the least favourable outcome. Much could be reused, or treated differently to be reduced, recycled or even avoided altogether.
When we each rethink waste and choose to Avoid, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle then together we can achieve a lot. Rethink Waste will show you how.
Rethink Waste Tasmania is an initiative of the Cradle Coast Waste Management Group, Circular North, and TasWaste South in partnership with the Tasmanian Government.
Did you know?
Avoid
It’s no secret that the easiest way to cut down on waste is to avoid it in the first place. You’ll also be helping to save energy and resources by choosing to refuse excess packaging.
Reduce
When it’s impossible to avoid waste, there are plenty of ways to keep the amount to a minimum. Start at the source. It’s easier than you think to create better habits when buying products and food.
Reuse
Choose products you can use many times, rather than single-use, and buy the best quality you can afford so items last longer. Challenge yourself to find new ways to use or repair items you’d otherwise throw out.
Recycle
After using, recycle what you can. Recycling services are improving all the time, making the most of the valuable resources already used to manufacture items.
At Home
Tasmanians throw out over 451,000 tonnes of waste each year. About one third of this is household waste disposed in our kerbside bins. There are a range of free or low-cost reuse, repair and recycling services that can help us all to reduce waste. By learning about and using the services available, Tasmanians are taking another step towards positive change.
At Work
As a business manager, deciding to make a difference in your community by adopting better waste management practices can be very rewarding. An efficient waste management system could save you money in the long run by reducing your commercial waste collection costs, reducing your purchasing costs, or providing you with additional income streams.
At School
Rethink Waste aims to improve our efforts at reducing, reusing and recycling in schools in order to protect our environment and decrease the amount of waste that ends up in landfill. Your school can make a difference. The free Rethink Waste activities, information and resources designed for Tasmanian schools are here to help.
Out & About
With access to incredible wilderness, beautiful beaches and so many ways of enjoying the great outdoors, Tasmania’s unspoiled beauty needs to be protected. Rethinking what we do with our waste when we’re out and about is one way to help minimise our footprint on the great outdoors.
Landfills
Landfills are the oldest and most common form of solid waste disposal.
Originally, they were just open holes in the ground where we dumped our rubbish. Old landfills were unmonitored, attracted disease-carrying pests, and created contamination.
Things had to change.
Today, Tasmanian landfills are precision-engineered structures. They’re designed to protect the environment from pollutants and are managed under strict regulations.
Let’s take a closer look at how they’ve improved.
Recycling
Recycling is more than just reducing the amount of waste being sent to landfills.
It’s also about getting the most value out of our existing materials and reducing the need to extract more resources from the planet.
But how many times have you thrown something into the recycling bin with the best intentions, without knowing where it’ll end up?
Unfortunately, this can cause more problems than it solves.
So what’s the best way to maximise your recycling effort? Firstly, understand how to avoid contaminating your recyclables. And, secondly, get familiar with the different services available, including those for recycling plastics in Tasmania.
In other words, successful recycling starts with being a Good Sort.
Composting
Composting is nature at its best.
Organic matter – anything that has once been alive – will decompose over time into natural fertiliser, known as compost.
It’s a win-win situation. You add food scraps and garden clippings, your waste is kept out of landfill, and you end up with the best soil you’ve ever had.
Yet almost half the waste we currently send to Tasmanian landfills is compostable.
We’re actually paying to dump waste that could be boosting our gardens.
If you’ve ever thought about composting at home, what are you waiting for?
Tasmanian Good Sorts
University of Tasmania - Recycling Walls
An initiative by...
Brought to you by Tasmania’s regional waste management groups in partnership with the Tasmanian Waste & Resource Recovery Board using the state waste levy.