It’s something we never really had cause to think about until early this year, when China announced a crackdown on imports of foreign waste. Most of us don’t tend to wonder too much about what happens to all the stuff we diligently sort into the yellow-topped bins that are emptied fortnightly - it gets “turned into something else”, and that’s all we think we need to know.

And as it happens, only a very small proportion of Canberra’s waste is bound for the Asian market - less than 5 per cent. About 40 per cent of what ends up in Canberra’s main recycling facility at Hume stays in the ACT economy, mainly glass that is converted to sand that is used in local projects, as well as the unaccepted material that is disposed to the local landfill.

A further 50 per cent of the material processed is paper and cardboard, which is sent across the NSW border to a paper mill in Tumut. The remaining 10 per cent is sold to "a variety of end users", including those in Asia, based on market demand.

But all this should be by-the-by. The images of bales of compacted waste piled high at the recycling facility should be a cause for concern if only because of the sheer volume of refuse that comes out of Canberra households every year.

It so happens that China’s clampdown didn’t cause the kind of crisis anticipated at the time; other Asian markets have opened up, more than willing to take our waste and turn it into something useful again. But the very fact that a destination we once took for granted - China - proved itself not to be the case should serve as a warning to us that it’s time to change our ways.

Australians each generate around two tonnes of waste a year, with about half destined for recycling. But just because there is a current - possibly temporary - solution for what happens to the waste, doesn’t mean we should remain complacent.

The Hume facility currently processes about 126,000 tonnes of material each year. We have seen how easily we can adapt to new behaviours with the plastic bag ban in supermarkets, and even the introduction of recycling in households in the first place.

Many Canberrans remember the days of stage three water restrictions in the early 2000s, in the midst of a long-term drought and the looming threat of bushfires. Many of opted then - and still do - to observe water restrictions even in times of plenty. It pays to think in advance and be prepared.

Shouldn’t we be doing this when it comes to the waste we produce? Start thinking about how we can drastically reduce the numbers of waste bales piling up at Hume, with waste reduction targets that we can all be invested in, rather than wondering where to send it next?