The government of NSW has set a target of 75% diversion from landfill by 2021/22 under its Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Strategy (WARRS).

Kurri Kurri company Central Waste Station is doing its best to address this issue and make a significant contribution to waste recovery efforts at a local and regional level.

There are the three main types of waste - C&D, C&I and MSW.

C&D Waste stands for "construction and demolition waste" and is comprised largely of concrete, tile, brick, wood, steel, plasterboard, plastics and other metals, all of which can be recycled effectively.

C&I waste stands for "commercial and industrial waste" and is comprised largely of cardboard and plastic packaging as well as crates and pallets.

These materials typically contain a lot of recoverable content that can be recycled.

MSW stands for "municipal solid waste" and includes household domestic waste, domestic clean-up, furniture and residential garden waste, local council-generated waste from street sweeping, litter bins and parks and commercial waste generated from food preparation premises, supermarkets etc.

During the 2016/2017 financial year over 7 million tonnes of waste was landfilled in NSW.

Notwithstanding this, recycling of waste increased nationally during the last decade by 34%, 31% and 19% for C&D, MSW and C&I waste respectively.

"Central waste currently receives primarily C&D waste," co-owner and director Mick Rogers said.

"We collect waste in our own skip bins from construction, industrial and residential customers.

"We also receive waste from other skip bin operators and from customers who transport their waste to our facility in Kurri Kurri. We also receive dry C&I waste at our facility"

Before processing occurs, waste is inspected to make sure that it is acceptable and contains no hazardous materials.

"We then pre-sort the waste using mobile plant such as materials handlers and excavators," Mr Rogers said.

"Finally, it is fed into our resource recovery plant where it is shredded and sorted using a series of mechanical processes.

"The last stage of processing is a picking line where workers manually 'polish up' the recovered materials and ensure that quality control is maintained."

Central Waste currently recovers an estimated 80% of waste by weight. "If this was not achieved, the material would mostly end up in landfill," co-owner and director Kevin Daly said.

"By diverting material from landfill, we are able to help conserve non-renewable natural resources which in turn helps reduce global impacts."

Central Waste Station is located at 8 Styles Street, Kurri Kurri. For more information visit www.centralwaste.com.au or ring 1800 180 180.