Effective waste management strategies contribute to the creation of a cleaner, less wasteful and more sustainable society.
Overview
Management of waste is a basic requirement of ecologically sustainable development.
In an effort to reduce adverse environmental effects, it involves waste material:
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monitoring
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collection
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transport
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processing
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disposal.
Waste materials can originate from a variety of sources and include industrial, agricultural, commercial and domestic activities.
Many governments and organisations are adopting ‘zero waste’ policies.
These waste materials include:
Effective waste management strategies assist in minimising or avoiding adverse impacts on the environment and human health, while allowing economic development and improvement in the quality of life.
The aims of waste management are to:
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conserve resources of water, energy, raw materials and nutrients
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control pollution of land, air, water and sediment
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enhance business performance and maintain corporate social responsibility
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improve occupational health and safety.
Many governments and organisations are adopting ‘zero waste’ policies.
This whole-of-system approach aims to reduce waste at the source through product design and producer responsibility.
It also includes waste reduction strategies further down the supply chain such as:
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cleaner production
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product dismantling
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recycling
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repair
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reuse.
CSIRO solutions
CSIRO works with a variety of industries, both rural and urban, to deliver cost-effective and environmentally sustainable waste management solutions.
Our expertise assists better management of agricultural discharges, industrial emissions and urban wastes.
Our researchers are helping solve waste management challenges by:
Collaborative approach
CSIRO manages the Australian Waste Database project in collaboration with the Australian Government’s Department of Environment and Heritage.
Information on waste quantities and composition are collected in the database to monitor the achievement of waste reduction targets and objectives in Australia.
CSIRO is also a key contributor to the Centre for Sustainable Resource Processing (CSRP) and also leads two major national collaborative partnerships that are tackling waste management issues:
CSIRO's Centre for Environmental Contaminants Research (CECR) brings together our extensive expertise in the chemistry, environmental fate and environmental impacts of contamination in water, soils and sediment. CECR has highly sophisticated analytical capabilities for sampling and analysis.
Learn more about CSIRO’s work in Waste Treatment and Utilisation.
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