2.4 million tonnes of waste recycled in 12 months: Waste and recycling in Western Australia report

Sixty-five per cent of all waste generated in Western Australia was recycled in the 2023-24 financial year, according to a new report.

The newly released 2023-24 Waste and recycling in Western Australia report shows the state is making continued progress towards a cleaner, more circular economy.

Of the 7.4 million tonnes of waste generated, 4.8 million tonnes were recycled, with an additional 0.05 million tonnes of waste recovered as energy and 2.5 million tonnes disposed to landfill- a six per cent increase in waste generation from the previous year (seven million tonnes) and an increase of 23 percentage points since the baseline year in 2014-15.

Matthew Swinbourn, Western Australia Environment Minister said, the state is making progress in cutting waste and boosting recycling.

“Achieving a 65 per cent recycling rate is a significant milestone, but we know there is still more to do – particularly in the municipal and commercial sectors,” said Swinbourn.

“FOGO is the single most effective thing a local community can do to reduce household waste and improve recycling outcomes – and the results speak for themselves.”

According to the report, the Perth and Peel regions are on track to meet the state government target of sending no more than 15 per cent of waste to landfill by 2030, with a current diversion rate of 28 per cent in 2024-25, reflecting the collective efforts of households, businesses, local governments and industry to reduce waste and recover valuable materials.

Additionally, the report outlines areas where programs aimed at driving improved recycling performance should be directed, including the municipal solid waste (MSW) and commercial and industrial (C&I) streams.

Fifty-one per cent of all waste generated came from the construction and demolition (C&D) stream, 29 per cent from the commercial and industrial (C&I) stream and 19 per cent from the municipal solid waste (MSW) stream.

Overall waste generation and generation per capita has increased 18 and five per cent respectively since 2014-15.

In contrast, MSW generation per capita has declined from 625 kilograms in 2014-15 to 481 kilograms in 2023-24. The report states this is likely driven by the move towards digital media consumption and lighter weight products and packaging.

Tonnes of waste recovered has increased 81 per cent from 2.7 million tonnes in 2014-15 to 4.8 million in 2023-24. This is driven by increases in C&D recycling.

The continued rollout of the three-bin system, introducing a food organics and garden organics (FOGO) service, across local governments throughout Perth and Peel is expected to boost MSW recovery in future reporting years.

Local governments collected 1.5 million tonnes of domestic waste from their residents and reported a 32 per cent recovery rate, down from 34 per cent in 2022-23, according to the report.

The best performing kerbside system for material recovery was the three‑bin system, which had an average recovery rate of 58 per cent, compared with 14 per cent for two‑bin systems.

In 2023-24, the 16 local governments in the Perth and Peel region that had the FOGO system recovered up to 69 per cent of their domestic waste during the reporting period.

The Department of Water and Environmental Regulation has completed a C&I landfill audit which will provide valuable data to inform future programs to help recover more recyclable materials generated by this industry, diverting them from landfill.

The full report is now available online in an interactive, web-based format.

For more information, visit: www.wasteauthority.wa.gov.au