We all generate waste. Solid waste is generated through consumption, development and renewal of towns and cities.  It is evidence that we are not using resources efficiently.  There are many ways to manage waste, starting with reducing or preventing its generation through to reuse, recycling, recovery and finally residual management or disposal.  This is known as the waste management hierarchy, or the 5 R’s. Read on to find out more about each step and get some useful tips to manage your own waste.

Reduce

Reducing waste is the most important part of waste minimisation. Waste reduction avoids the 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. 

Tips and ideas to reduce waste

• Buy in bulk to reduce packaging.  
• Take a reusable shopping bag with you so you don't have to use a paper or plastic bag from the shop.  
• Choose products that use less packaging.   
• Think before you shop. Can any of the disposable items you buy be replaced with reusable ones?   
• Say “no” to a plastic shopping bag when you only have a couple of items.  
• Stick a "no junk mail" sign on your letter box.    
• Take lunch to work or school in a reusable container.

Look at these alternatives for some common shopping items:

INSTEAD OF:	REPLACE WITH:
Plastic wrap	Reusable containers with lids
Paper napkins	Washable cloth napkins
Disposable nappies	Washable cloth nappies
Disposable batteries	Rechargeable batteries
Tea bags	Loose tea leaves

Reuse

The next most cost effective means of minimising waste is to reuse waste material in its same form. Reusing an item means it doesn't go in the rubbish and end up in the landfill.  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.

Practical ways to reuse waste at home

• Take unwanted toys and books to hospitals, early childhood education centres or schools. 
• Give unwanted clothes to opportunity shops or used clothing bins. 
• Use empty plastic packaging containers for freezing or storing food items. 
• Save wrapping paper and boxes to use again. 
• Use old jars for storage or for homemade jam or preserves. 
• Take old magazines to your local doctors' or dentists’ surgery. 
• Shop at second hand stores or use trading websites and classifieds to purchase items that are unwanted by others. 
• Donate household items or shop at your council’s resource recovery centre.

Practical ways to reuse waste at work

• Donate old computers to schools or community education centres. 
• Use waste packaging on inward goods e.g. boxes and wooden pallets, for storing materials or for dispatching your own product.   
• Make memo pads out of waste paper.   
• Re-use envelopes - purchase reuse labels.   
• Use second hand stores, trading websites and classifieds to buy and sell used items. 
• Register with your local waste exchange programme.

Recycle

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

What can be recycled?

In Canterbury the main products that can be recycled are paper and cardboard, glass, aluminium, tin and plastic containers.

Composting and worm farms are methods of recycling organic waste at home or at work if you have the space.

Buy recycled

As well as recycling your waste products, buy products that are made from recycled materials. This is called “Closing the Loop”. To find out more about what recycled products are available in New Zealand have a look at the Buy it Back Guide.  

Recycling directory

The Christchurch City Council has produced a recycling directory which contains a list of Christchurch businesses and organisations providing recycling services and/or advice on resource efficiency and environmental issues.

Recycling in your district

Different districts collect different recyclables at the kerbside and at their transfer stations/resource recovery parks. Contact your local city or district council to find out what they collect.  See our Waste Facilities section for more information.

Recover

This is the recovery of materials or energy content of a waste without any pre-processing. For example, waste oils that cannot be refined for reuse in vehicles are used for energy recovery.

Source reduction, reusing and recycling wastes are the first steps that should be taken for managing solid waste. But even with our best efforts we may still need means of getting rid of some waste. 

Recovery is a means of recovering energy or materials, without any pre-processing, from wastes that cannot be used for something else.

For example, waste oils that cannot be refined for reuse are used in furnaces. Recovering the energy from waste oil reduces our dependence on coal and imported oil.

Residual management

Residual management is the final treatment and/or disposal of a waste that cannot be used in any other way. Within Canterbury residual management of solid waste is normally disposal within a landfill.  Residual disposal of liquid waste is normally into a sewer or septic tank.

It is important to manage residual solid and liquid waste properly. Waste not disposed of correctly can cause adverse health and environmental effects.