SA records Australia’s highest diversion rate

South Australians have recycled, reused and recovered their way to the best diversion rates on record, with 83.8 per cent of all waste diverted from landfill in 2018-19.

According to the state’s latest Recycling Activity Survey, this is a record result not just for South Australia but the country, with no other state or territory able to match the rates reported for 2018-19.

“In the 2018-19 financial year, the South Australian landfill diversion rate increased for the seventh year in a row,” the report reads.

“While the state’s total recovered tonnes decreased by three per cent from the 2017-18 financial year, there was also a five per cent reduction in tonnes sent to landfill.”

When observing differences in material recovery from 2017-18, the biggest increases were seen in masonry, up 43,600 tonnes when not including soil, and glass, which increased by 14,000 tonnes due to an increase in demand for recovered glass in bottle manufacturing and road base.

The market value of recovered resources in 2018-19 was $348 million dollars, with recovered metals the highest contributor at $174 million.

Organics remains the second greatest contributor at $96 million, followed by cardboard and paper at $39 million.

“Our diversion and recovery rate means 1.31 million tonnes of greenhouse gases are not being released, the same as planting two million trees, or taking 302,000 cars off the road each year,” the report reads.

South Australia continues to recycle most of the materials it recovers within the state, with just seven per cent sent interstate and another seven per cent sent overseas.

“Exported materials mainly included metals and cardboard and paper, with a small amount of plastics also sold to overseas recycling markets,” the report reads.

According to Environment and Water Minister Davis Speirs, waste generated by South Australians dropped, with 4.34 million tonnes generated. This is down from 4.49 million tonnes in the 2017-18 reporting period.

“We are committed to transitioning to a circular economy to continue to capture and convert recycling into resources right here in South Australia, with 86 per cent of all materials recovered are reprocessed locally in South Australia,” he said.

“We have no intention of resting on our laurels and there is still more room for improvement, with as much as 40 per cent of material being sent to landfill able to be diverted through the green organics bin.”

Speirs added that the South Australian Government is committed to growing the state’s waste and resource recovery industry, which currently employs 4800 people.

“This is why the state government is investing $23 million to modernise material recovery and kick-start kerbside collections,” he said.

“This is paying dividends, with the industry reporting sales revenue of the recovered resources at $662 million for the state, with an average value of $93 per tonne.”

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