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, Northern Tasmanian Waste Management Group, and Southern Tasmanian Regional Waste Authority in partnership with the Tasmanian Government.

About Us

Did you know?

In 2020/21, residents and businesses in the Launceston council area diverted 11,200 tonnes of waste from landfill through composting and 8,334 tonnes through recycling.

The City of Hobart has experienced a steady decline in waste to landfill over the past 15 years. Historically between 50,000 and 60,000 tonnes of waste were buried at the McRobies Gully Landfill. In 2020/21, less than 20,000 tonnes of waste were landfilled for the 4th consecutive year (19,485 tonnes).

Residents and businesses in the Cradle Coast recycled 6,796 tonnes of reusable steel, aluminium, paper, cardboard, plastic and glass, up 1.8% on the year before.

Contamination makes up about 5% of the kerbside bin contents in food organics and garden organics (FOGO) waste in Tasmania and between 5 – 15% of kerbside recycling bin contents.

5,204 tonnes of food organics and garden organics (FOGO) waste were collected and composted in the Glenorchy City area in 2020/21, with the most collected in the quarter from October – December (1744 tonnes) and the least in April – June (981 tonnes).

935 tonnes of concrete, 71 tonnes of paint, 18 tonnes of tyres and 612 tonnes of steel were recycled via special recycling programs in the City of Hobart area in 2020/21, in addition to the 11 tonnes of ‘hard to recycle’ items collected via the Recycling Hub and processed by TerraCycle.

Break O’Day Council Brighton Council Burnie City Council Central Coast Council Central Highlands Council Circular Head Council Clarence City Council Derwent Valley Council Devonport City Council Dorset Council Flinders Council Georgetown Council Glamorgan Spring Bay Council Glenorchy City Council Hobart Huon Valley Council Kentish Council King Island Council Kingborough Council Latrobe Council Launceston Meander Valley Council Northern Midlands Council Sorell Council Southern Midlands Council Tasman Council Waratah-Wynyard Council West Tamar Council West Coast Council

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.

5 Jun

World Environment Day

8 Jun

World Oceans Day

News Updates

B-cycle Battery Safety Awareness Campaign

2023 Household Hazardous Waste Collections

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

Will Plaister is an inspirational Tassie Good Sort. He has a keen eye for reusable items and a strong motivation to reduce waste across the University of Tasmania campuses. Will and his team installed their first Recycling Wall in a central location at the Sandy Bay campus at the end of 2019 because the University wanted to provide staff and students with the option to deposit ‘difficult-to-recycle’ items which could not be placed in co-mingled recycling bins.

Brought to you by Tasmania's Local Councils in partnership with the Tasmanian Government