Creating an open system in resource management: A study of waste minimisation in the prison system

Waste management is a process that has been increasingly associated with the disposal of rubbish to landfill. However, in the last 15 years there has been a growing belief that waste represents a potential resource that can be diverted from landfill and either recovered, recycled or reused. It has also been acknowledged that, ultimately, waste may be avoided through the production of goods with minimal or recyclable packaging. Australian prisons represent a unique institutional setting where waste management usually involves the collection of waste and its disposal to landfill, with some limited processing such as paper shredding of documents. All materials leaving a prison have an associated security risk, and therefore waste generation, as well as its disposal, is an issue that prisons need to address on a daily basis. A study of Beechworth Prison, north-east Victoria, indicates that alternative approaches to waste management can be developed successfully, with significant environmental, economic and social benefits to both the prison and the broader community. This article describes the processes of waste management within a prison context, and uses the case study of Beechworth as a model for new practices of waste minimisation and resource recovery.