Story Title: The Waste Hierarchy
Episode: Six
Date: November 8th 2009
Presenter: Neville Passmore

Australians generate about 690 kilograms of waste per year per person, making us the second highest generators of household waste, behind the USA. But WA’s largest waste management authority Mindarie Regional Council is on a mission to change that forever.

About Mindarie Regional Council

• MRC caters for the 500,000 residents of Cambridge, Stirling, Perth, Joondalup, Vincent, Victoria Park and Wanneroo, the final destination is the landfill facility at Tamala Park.
• Operated by Mindarie Regional Council (MRC), WA’s largest waste management authority, the landfill receives some 350,000 tonnes of municipal waste generated each year.
• It has taken 5 million tonnes of waste since it opened in1991.
• The amount of waste received unfortunately is on the increase. The MRC’s vision is to set and achieve the standard for minimising the impact of waste on the environment.

The Waste Hierarchy

• The Waste Hierarchy triangle is a guideline for waste management.
• Historically, the disposal step occupies the largest step, while some recycling and recovery occurs and only smaller amounts of effort have been put into trying to reduce the amount of waste we produce. The future of waste is to try and rotate the hierarchy around, placing a greater emphasis on reducing waste NOT disposing of it.

• Avoid
• Avoid cheap products and built in obsolescence that encourages us to buy more. We need to rethink the ‘throw away’ society. Buy only what we need and avoid excessive packaging.
• Reuse
• Give products a second chance in life. Visit and use second hand shops, recycling centres, swap meets and consider repairing and renewing old items. Think, can someone else find a use for that product?
• Recycle
• Recycle by taking useful material out of the waste stream so that it can be used again often in a different form. Use your yellow lid recycling bin and other recycling programs like ones for mobile phones, printer cartridges and dry celled batteries. Avoid contamination of these bins by ONLY placing the items requested for recycling.
• Recover
• This is the state of the art Resource Recovery Facility in Neerabup where the organic part of 100 000 tonnes of household waste per year is turned into compost. This is doing a great job but we need to recover as much organic waste at home by getting into composting and worm farming for example. We should aim to send no garden or kitchen food waste into the bin. 
• Dispose
• Dispose wisely and responsibly. If it does have to go to the bin, put it in the correct one and some items shouldn’t go in any bin at all. Take household hazardous waste such as paints, gas bottles, fluoro tubes and globes, pesticides, herbicides and other household chemicals to special collection centres.

Contact
Tamala Park
1700 Marmion Avenue, Mindarie WA 6030
PO Box 538, Joondalup WA 6919
Ph: (08) 9306 6303
Fax: (08) 9306 6399
Email: reception@mrc.wa.gov.au
Website: www.mrc.wa.gov.au