Recycling & Reducing the Prices of Concrete Products
From Concrete, Steel, Aluminium to Copper – Our War on Waste
ABC’s War on Waste got us thinking about waste and recycling here in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire and Campbelltown. We deliver and pick up skip bins in these areas almost daily. The rubbish is sorted and recycled wherever possible – but what about all the waste we don’t see? How much could be repurposed into products at lower prices than virgin materials? Statistics from the NSW government say that we produce more and more waste every year, with only 64% being recycled(*1).
Haven’t seen ABC’s War on Waste? Here is a short clip from the show.
Repurposing Waste & Reducing the Environmental and Economic Prices we Pay for Landfills – One Skip Bin at a Time.
The statistics are definitely not looking good, but the positive thing is that we have the resources and technology to recycle and repurpose.
What is Meant by Repurposing?
When we repurpose materials, we are reducing our reliance on finding virgin materials (which are becoming increasingly costly). Local councils and landscaping businesses in particular benefit from recycled concrete materials that have been repurposed into gravel and aggregate.
Benefits of Using Recycled Materials
• Protects our beautiful environment, including green spaces and water areas we like to visit on holidays – and our natural ecosystem.
• Reduces the likelihood of illness and disease as fewer people need to live near landfills(*3).
• Helps reduce land prices’ inflation as habitable land becomes scarcer(*4).
• Keeps property owner’s rates bills from increasing to cover waste storage costs.
Our War on Waste in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire, Campbelltown, and Other Sydney Suburbs
All the rubbish we collect in our skips goes to our Wetherill Park depot. It is then sorted in a similar way to how the presenter sorts the waste in the clip above. However, our waste sorting is much larger because we supply skip bins for commercial, industrial, and residential projects. Some of the skips are filled with concrete or building debris. Others have a mixture of general waste (or things that could have been separated for recycling or repurposing). Many people hire skip bins for backyard clean-ups, so we also receive green waste that can be turned into mulch.
Meet the crew at the Quick Skips depot and see rubbish sorting in action in this video.
Help us Increase Recycling in Sydney!
As a skip bin company, we are a key part of the waste economy, which is why we are committed to responsible waste management. Click here to view the map showing the areas we deliver our skip bins in Sydney.
Help us take on the challenge to recycle, repurpose more, and reduce Sydney’s waste levels! Hire skip bins at affordable prices and know you are doing your part in directing waste away from landfills around Sydney.
Waste Statistics
• The average individual creates 9% more waste yearly (*3). Aussies are massive plastics consumers and unfortunately, we throw away 81% of our household plastics (most of which is recyclable). Much of this is being leaked into our green areas, waterways, and oceans. As a nation, every hour, we dump the equivalent of 1,280 kilograms of plastics into our oceans(*3).
• Overall, Australia’s waste levels are increasing by 17% each year!(*3)
• Recycling rates are sitting at 64%(*3,4).
• The construction and demolition industry is leading the way in recycling. They recycle 76% of their waste materials through companies like ours, which have the equipment to process and repurpose masonry waste(*4).
References *1. Njoku, PO, Edokpayi, JN & Odiyo, JO. Health and Environmental Risks of Residents Living Close to a Landfill. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Vol. 16. No. 12. 2019. *2. Pamintuan-Jara, N. Scarcity drives up residential land prices. Smart Property Investment. 2022. *3. NSW Environment Protection Agency. NSW State of the Environment 2021. NSW Government. 2021. *4. NSW Environment Protection Agency. Waste Performance Data. NSW Government. 2021.