State of the Environment Report 2007
Waste is a by-product generated by, and discarded close to, human settlements. It may present threats to the environment and public health and amenity, but this depends on the type of waste and the way it is managed. Wastes are classified in many different ways including by the activity that generates them (i.e. waste stream) or by their nature (e.g. inert, putrescible, hazardous or liquid). The focus of this section is largely on solid waste generated from the municipal (including household waste), commercial, construction and demolition waste streams.
Increased consumption results in greater waste both directly from disposal and indirectly from production processes (see 'Population and Consumption'). Waste is produced in a diffuse manner across settlements, but management and disposal tends to be concentrated at nodes to achieve economic and engineering efficiencies. Most solid waste generated in WA ends up in landfill sites. Poor waste management practices at landfill sites can lead to land contamination and pollution of surface and groundwater resources. Landfill sites also generate methane, a major greenhouse gas, and litter problems. Landfill fires are also potentially environmentally damaging and may generate potentially toxic fumes. Communities living adjacent to landfill or waste treatment facilities can be particularly anxious about potential health effects arising from accidents or poor management practices.
Small scale recycling efforts have been in place for several decades. Until recently, most waste streams have generally not been considered useful and little effort has been made in recovering resources for future use. 'Resource recovery' involves retrieving resources (materials, products or waste) from waste that have potential value and can be used to make new products.
The State's Vision is to work "Towards Zero Waste" (Department of Environment & Waste Management Board, 2004), to be achieved by:
Information on waste disposed to landfill is currently only collected for the material generated in the Perth metropolitan area. The total amount of waste disposed to landfill in Perth annually ranged between 1.8 and 3.2 million tonnes (Mt) between 1997 and 2005. In 2005, solid landfill comprised 25% municipal waste, 21% commercial and industrial waste, and 55% construction and demolition waste (Figure HS 5.1). Waste disposed to landfill decreased in 2001, due to the impact of the new taxation system on the construction industry. Since 2001, there has been a steady increase in the amount of construction and demolition waste disposed to landfill due the rapid increase in the level of building activity over this period. As construction and demolition waste constitutes over half of all waste disposed to landfill in Perth, the trend in building activity influences the overall trend in waste generation in Perth.
The impacts of waste generation are not well quantified in WA as waste related data is not reported by all waste generators.
![Figure HS5.1: Solid waste disposal to landfill by waste stream for the Perth metropolitan region, 1997–2005. [Data source: Department of Environment and Conservation.]](/site/files/images/Figure-HS5.1_Large.jpg)
Municipal waste generation in Perth has been fairly steady since 2001 at just over half a tonne per capita (Figure HS5.2). There is a decreasing trend in the quantity of waste going to landfill per capita, which is mirrored by a slight increase in the level of recycling in Perth. It appears from 2005 data that the increase in recycling is not keeping pace with disposal to landfill. There is insufficient data beyond the metropolitan area to make similar observations for all Western Australian settlements.
![Figure HS5.2: Municipal waste disposed to landfill and recycled per capita per year, Perth metropolitan region, 2001–05. [Data source: Department of Environment and Conservation.]](/site/files/images/Figure-HS5.2_Large.jpg)
There is no agreed definition of what constitutes hazardous waste. However, the quantity of liquid wastes tracked under the Environmental Protection (Controlled Waste Regulations) for 2005-06 was 82 000 tonnes (GHD, in prep). This estimate includes clinical and pharmaceutical wastes, pesticides, paints and resins, solvents, other organic materials, acids, alkalis, chromium, cyanide, inorganic chemicals, photographic wastes, low strength waste water and miscellaneous wastes. In addition to this, approximately 42 000 tonnes of solid materials have been discarded to class IV or V landfill.
In the 2004-05 financial year a total of 972 600 tonnes of waste material was recycled in Western Australia, with 59% recycled locally (Hyder Consulting, 2006). Recycling of construction and demolition material accounts for most of the recycling activity in Western Australia (42% by weight), while the municipal sector represents 25% and the commercial and industrial material represents 33% (Figure HS5.3).
About one third of material recovered for recycling in Western Australia is concrete, sand, brick and rubble (Figure HS5.3). Metal, organics and paper products make up much of the remaining recycling in the State, although most of this material is transported either interstate or overseas for actual recycling. Over 362 900 tonnes (37%) was exported for recycling, largely to Asia. This is due to the limited recycling infrastructure and ease of access to Asian export destinations. Materials sent interstate for reprocessing accounted for 4% (42,930 tonnes) of total recovery.
Once biodegradable material is disposed to landfill, it decomposes to produce methane. This methane can be used for energy production. Whilst not totally efficient at capturing all methane, energy production is considered the best practise at landfills. In Western Australia, nearly all major landfill sites now capture methane to produce electricity.
![Figure HS5.3: Proportion of materials recovered for recycling by source sector and type of material in Western Australia, 2004–05. [Data source: Hyder Consulting, 2006.]](/site/files/images/Figure-HS5.3_Large.jpg)
As of March 2005 there were 309 licensed or registered landfills in WA. Landfills are owned and operated by local governments, communities and specialist waste companies, as well as large companies whose core business is not waste management. In the Perth metropolitan region and large regional centres, landfills for generally putrescible wastes (the component of the waste stream likely to become putrid e.g. food waste) are owned and operated by local governments, and inert landfills tend to be operated by waste companies. In rural and remote areas, landfills tend to be operated by the local government or community, although there is at least one privately owned and operated putrescible landfill outside the Perth metropolitan region. Private landfills are often operated on remote mining or pastoral leases.
Most Perth metropolitan local government authorities provide a kerbside recycling service to urban households. However there are some local governments with semi-rural areas that do not offer a service e.g. parts of Swan, Wanneroo, Mundaring, Rockingham and Serpentine-Jarrahdale. Many urban locations outside the metropolitan area also have access to recycling services. The effectiveness of various recycling systems in recovering resources from waste is influenced by socio-economic factors and access to markets for recovered resources.
Household recycling services generally include collection of dry recyclables such as newspaper, cardboard, glass containers, aluminium and steel cans, plastic dairy and soft drink bottles, and liquid paperboard dairy cartons. Green waste is collected in separate bins by only two metropolitan and one rural council. Many councils collect green waste through bulk verge-side waste collections or at drop-off areas provided at waste disposal facilities. A number of local governments have separate arrangements for recovery of specific items such as batteries, chemicals and waste oil. Councils provide a range of recycling collection systems including extra recycling bins, crates or bags in which households deposit recyclables for separate collection. The City of Stirling collects recyclables and waste in one bin, for mechanical separation at an alternative waste treatment facility. The Southern Metropolitan Regional Council operates an alternative waste treatment facility at Canning Vale which composts the materials in the waste bin used in the region - this integrated collection system includes a dedicated recycling bin as well. Some small regional local governments only provide drop-off facilities at landfills or transfer stations.
Strong links exist between waste generation and economic growth. Not surprisingly, total waste generation in Western Australia tracks economic growth with an associated increase in affluent lifestyles and demand for more consumables (see 'Population and Consumption').
The current situation in Western Australia is one where materials are consumed and then disposed of to landfill. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the standard of landfills and landfill operation in WA varies considerably, from world best practice to substandard. Almost every town or community has and needs its own landfill, but many rural and remote local governments do not have the resources required to operate them at appropriate standards. Some very small landfills in WA are open to the public with little or no supervision. The number and remoteness of many landfills, with minimal enforcement capability, means that many rural/remote landfills have not been inspected for a number of years.
Effective waste management in Western Australia is inhibited by the small, often highly dispersed population and the vast size of the State. Logistics issues combined with a relatively low capacity for generating sufficient feedstock subject the reprocessing industry to pressures not felt in most developed parts of the world. There is also a general failure to properly account for direct and indirect landfill costs associated with loss of resources, contingent liabilities for possible contamination clean-up, landfill closure and rehabilitation, and the price of land, facilities and future replacement. In the case of landfills operated by local governments, the charge for disposal is often distorted by differential pricing structures.
Finding alternatives to disposal of wastes can impact upon sustainability and environmental issues in several ways. The energy required to extract raw minerals or materials, process these into products, transport, collect and dispose to landfill is greater than the amount used in the collection and recycling of materials. Disposal of materials to landfill means that these finite resources are effectively lost.
Encouraging waste reduction by recycling and waste recovery presents a challenge for a state as large as WA. Recycling in WA is made difficult by reliance upon global markets, the cost of transportation of relatively small, dispersed quantities of material from remote areas, the competitive relative pricing of products made from virgin raw materials and the relatively low cost of disposal of material to landfill.
Waste Management Board: was established by the State Government in 2002 to provide advice on waste management issues and for developing a sustainable framework for dealing with waste. The Board is promoting a shift away from focusing solely on reducing the amount of waste to landfill, towards managing the whole lifecycle of every product and its wastes.
Waste Management and Recycling Fund: is a trust fund established for the Landfill Levy. Money from this fund is used for programs related to the management, reduction, reuse, recycling, monitoring or measurement of waste. The fund also provides financial support to WA-based projects for infrastructure, research or demonstration of best practice through incentive schemes managed by the Department of Environment and Conservation.
Statement of Strategic Direction for Waste Management in WA: is a strategy developed by the Waste Management Board that established a 'towards zero waste' vision for WA. It does this by promoting the reduction of waste generation, improving resource recovery and recycling, and disposing waste in an environmentally safe manner.
Core Consultative Committee on Waste (3C): was established by the Waste Management Board to develop and implement a stakeholder involvement program that would advise on the establishment of new and better hazardous waste treatment facilities in WA. The 3C provided its advice to Government in late 2006. Government is due to provide its response to the 3Cs recommendations by mid 2007.
Zero Waste Plan Development Scheme: provides financial support to local government and to industry for the development and implementation of a waste management plan. The Zero Waste Plans will reward effective use of synergies between other local governments or organisations to work toward best sustainable solutions to waste management. The Resource Recovery Rebate Scheme has now finished and an interim scheme currently ensures that recycling data is collected until Zero Waste Plans for Local Government and online reporting of performance is in place.
As the State's population grows, generation of waste will increase unless major achievements are made in the areas of waste minimisation and resource recovery. Our continued reliance on landfill as the principal means of dealing with waste in WA is imposing an environmental, social and economic liability on future generations, through resource loss, increased greenhouse gas generation, and potential contamination of groundwater and surface water supplies. In recent years there have been a number of waste related incidents and events that highlight the fragility of current waste management and resource recovery practices in WA. These have contributed to increasing community concern about the need to better manage waste. These include the Bellevue fire in 2001; closures of the Brookdale waste management facility and the AVI WA glass processing facility in 2003 and 2004 respectively; and the collapse of the Recycling Company of WA in 2005. As a result of these events and other potential problems from poorly designed and/or managed waste facilities, plans to establish sites in or near urban environments are now often met by community opposition. This is particularly true for hazardous wastes and for thermal processing.
7.22 Develop and implement a State policy and program for waste prevention and recycling in both the private and public sectors.
7.23 Implement a more strategic approach to use of the landfill levy and other economic instruments that will act to progressively discourage reliance on landfill and move towards more sustainable practises.
7.24 Consider waste and recycling in the broader sustainability context, looking at full life cycle impacts of products and disposal methods.
7.25 Continue to implement bio-solid disposal, the solid waste from wastewater treatment for beneficial uses in agriculture, horticulture and domestic gardening.
