Waste avoidance and resource recovery in NSW
The waste hierarchy
The waste hierarchy established under the Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Act 2001, is one that ensures that resource management options are considered against the following priorities:
Avoidance
including action to reduce the amount of waste generated by households, industry and all levels of government.Resource Recovery
including reuse, recycling, reprocessing and energy recovery, consistent with the most efficient use of the recovered resources.Disposal
including management of all disposal options in the most environmentally responsible manner.
The highest priority, avoidance encourages the community, industry and government to reduce the amount of virgin matierials extracted and used, to reduce the amount of waste generated and to be more efficient in the use of resources.
Resource recovery maximises the options for reuse, recycling, reprocessing and energy recovery at the highest net value of the recovered material. This encourages the efficient use of recovered resources while supporting the principles of improved environmental outcomes and ecologically sustainable development. Resource recovery can also embrace new and emerging technologies.
An end-of-pipe solution, disposal is the least desirable option and must be carefully handled to minimise negative environmental outcomes.
Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Strategy
The NSW Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Strategy 2003 was a first for Australia.
Achieving a reduction in waste generation and turning waste into recoverable resources is a priority for NSW. To meet this challenge a framework for reducing waste and making better use of our precious resources was introduced. This is known as the Waste Strategy or WARR Strategy.
The NSW Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Strategy 2003 has been superseded by the NSW Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Strategy 2007.
Producing and consuming efficiently to conserve our resources
This paper paints a vision about what each of us would be doing in a world that more actively conserved resources and avoided waste.
It helps us understand our current performance and the challenges we face and identifies possible actions and issues which we all - industry, governments and individuals need to debate and prioritise.
Download
Producing and consuming efficiently to conserve our resources - summary (WasteAvoid_ProdConsEff0304_Rpt.pdf; 103kb)
Producing and consuming efficiently to conserve our resources - full report (WasteAvoid_ProdConsEff0304.pdf; 439kb)
More information
Contact: Sustainability Programs Division.
Note
This page makes reference to materials published by the former Resource NSW. Enquiries regarding Resource NSW, its programs or publications should be directed to the Sustainability Programs Division.