2016-03-07 General Committee - Item 1 - Draft Waste Reduction and Recycling Plan - ATTACHMENT 1

3.3       Waste Hierarchy
The waste hierarchy ranks waste management options from most preferable to least preferable.




Fig 3: Waste and resource management hierarchy
Source: Qld Waste Avoidance and Resource Productivity Strategy (2014-2024)



Avoid and reduce is the highest priority and encourages the community, industry and government
to reduce the amount of virgin materials extracted and used. The aim is to maximise efficiency and
avoid unnecessary consumption through behaviours such as:
     choosing items with the least packaging or that require the fewest resources to produce
     Avoiding single-use materials or disposable goods
     Purchasing products that are recycled, recyclable, repairable, refillable, re-usable or
       biodegradable
     Composting leftover food rather than throwing it away.

Re-use, recycle, and recover are the next most
preferred options. Many household and industrial
items can be repaired, re-used, sold or donated to
charities.

Recovering resources keeps materials in the
productive economy and benefits the environment
by decreasing the need for new materials.

Where further recycling is not feasible, it may be
possible to recover the energy from the material
where this is acceptable to the community.

Treat and Dispose is the least preferred option but
the waste hierarchy recognises that some types of
waste, such as asbestos or dangerous chemicals               Fig 4: Bulk Recycling Bins
cannot be safely recycled.



Waste Reduction & Recycling Plan - Page 6