Waste management, disposal and reporting
The Lord Howe Island Board (LHIB) is responsible for the management and disposal of waste generated on the island. Waste is managed through the Board's Waste Management Facility (WMF) located near the Aerodrome. The WMF operates under a licence issued under the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 No 156 (POEO Act) by the NSW Environment Protection Authority.
The LHIB is required to publish monitoring data that has been collected as a result of the licence conditions in accordance with Section 66(6) of the POEO Act.
- Monitoring Results 2021/22 (PDF)(230.05 KB)
It is also required to prepare and publish a Pollution Incident Response Plan.
- Pollution Incident Response Plan - Version 1 Revision 9 - June 2023 (PDF)(607.67 KB)
Waste disposal
The island has no land fill capability so all waste which is not able to be composted or used on the island is shipped to a Material Recovery Facility on the mainland for recycling, reuse or land fill disposal.
Waste received at the WMF is sorted into different waste streams:
- Compostable materials including food waste, paper/cardboard, bio-solid and green waste;
- Recyclable materials including glass, aluminium, plastics, concrete/masonry rubble, scrap metal, oils, paints, photocopy/printer cartridges, batteries, whitegoods, tyres, plus others;
- Re-useable materials including building materials and unwanted household items including furniture, toys, books etc;
- General waste materials including household refuse, nappies, treated timber, mixed waste and other non recyclable waste;
- Incineration materials being untreated wood.
Reuse, reduce and recycle
Lord Howe Island does not have a garbage collection service so residents are responsible for delivery of waste to the WMF.
Residents and visitors to the island are asked to assist with waste management on the island by sorting waste prior to delivery to the WMF or using the proper bins conveniently located in public areas around the island.
Waste management is a significant cost to the small Lord Howe Island Community, so we ask everyone to reuse, reduce and recycle.