The recent election has shown that the environment is a priority for Australians at every level of society and government.

China's decision to no longer accept Australian waste has impacted domestically put the issue squarely on the table in terms of how this country deals with its waste.

The waste hierarchy is a tool used globally to assess the level of sustainability of a practice

In the waste hierarchy, the most desirable outcomes are "prevention" and "minimisation" (of creation of waste), but following these is the "reuse" then "recycling" of waste and this is where resource recovery comes in.

Central Waste provides a full waste disposal and resource recovery service to the construction industry and to local and national waste management groups.

It also operates a collection service with a fleet of skip bin trucks operating around Newcastle and the Hunter.

"We specialise in construction and demolition (C&D) as well as commercial and industrial (C&I) waste," co-owner and director Kevin Daly said.

"Our fully mechanised resource recovery plant has been built using state-of-the art European machinery and is capable of processing up to 800 tonnes of waste in a day.

"Heavy materials such as concrete and brick are crushed and screened onsite to produce a range of construction materials that are sold back into the industry as recycled product.

"We also undertake offsite project recycling initiatives including concrete and rock crushing to recover valuable resources that might otherwise end up in landfill."

Central Waste intends to expand its capacity into the future, implementing the most modern machinery coming out of Europe to increase its recovery rates and to diversify into processing different waste streams and producing different recovered products.

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