The 5 R's

Reduce

Reducing waste is the most important part of waste minimisation. Reduction avoids unnecessary use of  resources such as materials, energy and water and means there is less waste to manage. The aim of waste reduction is to eliminate waste before it is produced and to reduce both the quantity and toxicity of waste.  

Check out some simple tips on reducing waste.

Re-Use 

The next most cost effective means of minimising waste is to reuse material in its same form. Reusing an item means it doesn't go in the rubbish and end up in the landfill and it also means that you don't have to buy a new product and so you are saving the energy and resources that would have been used to make the new product. 

Check out practical ways to re-use waste.

Recycle

Recycling involves some form of reprocessing of waste materials to produce another product. For example,  recycling plastic to make buckets.

Find out more about recycling. 

Recover

This is the recovery of materials or energy content of a waste without any pre-processing. 

Find out more about waste recovery.

Residual management

This is the final treatment and/or disposal of a waste that has not been reused, recycled or recovered.  In Canterbury residual management is normally disposal to a landfill. Click here to find out more about residual management.