Australians are spending over $10 billion on food that ultimately ends up in the bin. By household, that works out to over $1,000 each. While Australia is a world leader on the paper and cardboard recycling front, we still use over 200kg each of un-recycled paper annually. So, as far as we have come on the rubbish disposal front, we still have a long way to go. Unfortunately, we haven’t been doing things as effectively as we should have over the years. There is all manner of waste disposal methods available today, and understanding each of them will help you make the right decisions with your waste.
Recycling
The best disposal method is recycling. If an item can be recycled it should be recycled because it helps preserve our environment. A wide variety of materials can be recycled, whether it’s paper, cardboard, glass, metal, or another material. Most labels are marked to tell you how best to dispose of the packaging. Why does recycling matter? It keeps rubbish out of landfills and out of bodies of water. More importantly, the item is given new life as something else!
Landfill
The most obvious option for rubbish removal in Sydney is the landfill. And not just in Sydney. It’s the most commonly used waste disposal method the world over. The rubbish is collected, transported, and dumped at a designated landfill where it is buried. Most large cities have a designated space for this, using vacant land to process waste.
The local authority will do their best to ensure the landfill is designed to be as effective as possible. Yet, no matter how hard they try to be economical with the land and manage sanitisation, landfills remain a health and environmental danger. The gases landfills emit are hazardous.
Ultimately, the other disposal methods are a better option than landfills. The landfill should be the last-ditch option if no other methods are suitable for your particular item(s). We have grown too reliant on the landfill option, which is largely down to poor planning in the past. However, this is our opportunity to make up for it. And, a removal expert can help ensure your rubbish ends up in the right place.
Thermal Treatment
Also known as incineration, the thermal treatment uses combustion to eliminate waste. For countries with little land to spare for landfills, thermal treatment is the preferred method of waste disposal. It’s also possible to dispose of many waste varieties using this method. It can be completed on an individual basis or an industrial scale. On an industrial level, the energy that the process creates can be used to generate other streams of energy, such as steam, heat, or electricity.
There is a downside to this method of waste disposal, which is that it can contribute to air pollution. This is particularly true if you incinerate hugely toxic items. So, if you choose to do this on an individual level, be sure you’re burning permitted items. Otherwise, have a removal company deal with it for you.
Compost
The final disposal method is composting. It’s the ideal method if you are dealing with organic waste. Fruit rinds and vegetable peels, as well as shredded paper, make excellent ingredients to mulch your garden. A healthy compost pile should see carbon items outweigh nitrogen, but you want to strike a working balance.
Carbon gives your compost body with items like leaves, peels, branches, shredded brown paper, coffee grounds and filters, and eggshells. Nitrogen is the material necessary to make enzymes. Nitrogen-rich items include food scraps, kitchen waste, manure, green leaves, and lawn clippings.
Carbon
- Wood chips have high levels of carbon. So, use them sparingly.
- Hay/straw
- Shredded paper, newspaper, and cardboard
- Pine needles, cuttings, and leaves
- Dryer lint
- Coffee grounds and filters
- Corn stalks and cobs
Nitrogen
- Tea leaves and table scraps
- Seaweed
- Kelp
- Garden weeds and lawn clippings
- Eggshells
- Flowers and cuttings
- Chicken manure
There are certain items you should avoid using as compost.
- This includes fish scraps, meats, and bones. These can attract pests.
- Don’t compost diseased plants or perennial weeds.
- Do not use pet manure in compost you plan to use on food crops.
- Avoid using orange rinds, bananas, and peach peels, as these are often treated with pesticides.
- Do not use black walnut leaves in compost.
- If you use sawdust, ensure it is clean and scattered thinly.
How Cheapest Load of Rubbish Can Help
At Cheapest Load of Rubbish, we handle rubbish removal in Sydney, and we take recycling seriously. Our team takes the time to sort through everything we remove from your property once we return to our sorting facility. We are passionate about recycling, so we go to great lengths to ensure everything that can be recycled is recycled. What’s left over goes to the landfill, but we go to lengths to make sure it’s as little as possible. Get in touch for a free quote, and we can be with you as soon as today!
