Australia’s primary industries, including agriculture, fisheries and forestry, generate a significant amount of waste and by-products. Management of theses waste streams involves a range of practices, from stockpiling, landfilling, burning and burial to reuse, recycling and recovery.
Being able to participate in the latter options is constrained by access to services, distance to markets and high cost relative to other disposal methods. However, there are many improvements that can provide environmental benefits for growers, fishers and foresters, as well as improve efficiency and resilience.
This report details current waste management activities and captures existing or emerging options that have been changing, or can change, management of waste for the better. The report presents the findings from an options analysis and includes an assessment of four preferred options to manage specific waste challenges and insights on the barriers, risks, costs and opportunities for implementation; and a SWOT analysis of an additional 60 options that provides direction and ideas for many other avenues that can be investigated, trialled or implemented.
