Why Business Waste Matters
NSW businesses send more than 2.5 million tonnes of business waste to landfill each year. The good news is more than 70 per cent of this could be reused or recycled. Reducing waste is good for business and valuable water, energy and natural resources. By reducing the demand on raw materials you can lessen the impact on the environment and reduce purchasing and waste disposal costs in your business.
Our projects and programs aim to help businesses and consumers avoid and reduce waste and recover more resources to put back into the local economy.
Welcome to Circulate Northern Rivers.
Circulate Northern Rivers aims to inspire encourage and assist local businesses to participate in the Circular Economy. Fostering local connections and solutions, supporting the Northern Rivers shift to a prosperous, sustainable and healthy local economy.
What is the Circular Economy?
The circular economy is a regenerative system in which resource input, waste, emission, and energy leakage are minimised by slowing, closing, and narrowing energy and material loops; this can be achieved through long-lasting design, maintenance, repair, reuse, re manufacturing, refurbishing, recycling, and upcycling.
This is in contrast to a linear economy which is a ‘take, make, dispose’ model of production.
The circular economy aims to maximise the value of resources by keeping products and materials in use for as long as possible. Resources are also recovered at the end of product life for use back into the economy, creating further value.
NE Waste has been working with Northern Rivers business for over fifteen years and has seen the need for a different approach to dealing with end of pipe resource management. This combined with export waste bans, diminishing solutions for recyclable resources and growing consumer awareness, provides an opportunity to take a more strategic approach, based less on waste management and more on avoidance, innovation and connecting business with resources, knowledge and know how.
We have run a number of projects over this time to support and encourage businesses including:
- Business audits and assessments to improve waste management practices Book your assessment here.
- Circular Cafes Project. Visit circularcafes.com.au and read the Project Impact Report here
- Food Donation Projects newaste.org.au/fooddonation
- FOGO and #RecycleRight Campaigns
- NR Circular C&D.
If you would like more information on how to improve your business practice, contact us on:
Jeanie McKillopCirculate Program, NE Wastejeanie@newaste.org.au0421 888 686
This program is supported by the NSW EPA Waste Less, Recycle More initiative funded from the waste levy.
Visit your local Council's website for more info on waste and recycling
