FACTSHEET – JURISDICTIONAL WASTE PROFILES
AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY (ACT)
Policy framework
Legislation
The Environment Protection Act 1997 (EP Act) aims to prevent environmental degradation and adverse risks to human health and the environment. The EP Act provides the regulatory framework to help reduce and eliminate the discharges of pollutants into the air, land and water .
Related acts include the Clinical Waste Act 1990 , which relates to the storage, transportation, treatment and disposal of clinical waste in the ACT.
The Waste Minimisation Act 2001 (WM Act) further embeds waste minimisation objectives and principles into how waste is to be managed. The WM Act provides the legal framework for the management, regulation and reduction of waste. The Act allows for Industry Waste Reduction
Plans and the supply of waste management services and waste disposal facilities.
The Litter Act 2004 (Litter Act) aims to enhance the natural and built environment by regulating deposits of litter, or other material that may become litter, and to facilitate the removal of litter.
Littering of any kind is illegal under the Litter Act.
It is an offence under the Litter Act to dump rubbish in a public place. If the rubbish contains hazardous waste, it is also an offence under the Dangerous Substances Act 2004 .
Policies/strategies
The ACT Waste Management Strategy 2011 –2025 , released December 2011, sets a clear direction for the management of waste in the ACT towards 2025. The Strategy encompasses wastes from the household, commercial and industrial, construction and demolition sectors and biomass from wood and garden waste.
The goal of the Strategy is to ensure that the ACT leads innovation to achieve full resource recovery and a carbon neutral waste sector.
More information on the strategy is available at http://www.environment.act.gov.au/waste .
Waste diversion targets
The ACT is targeting full resource recovery by 2025 i.e. no materials that can feasibly be recovered, and for which markets exist, are sent to landfill. These targets are further defined as follows. The rate of resource recovery increases to:
- over 80 per cent by 2015.
- over 85 per cent by 2020.
- over 90 per cent by 2025.
To achieve these targets the ACT Government has identified the need for at least two new material recovery facilities (MRFs) and either a local energy from waste or a facility making process engineered fuel(s) for a site outside the ACT, such as a cement kiln.
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Levies
The ACT Government owns the only operational landfill in the Territory which is managed under contract by Remondis Australia Pty Ltd. While the Territory sets the fees and charges for this landfill there are no levies as such. Current fees can be found at: http://www.tams.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/356041/Guide-to-Wastes-Disposal-
Charges-Brochure-2013.pdf
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Classification trees
Figure 1 ACT waste classification system
Infrastructure
The following flow diagram outlines the existing waste treatment system in the ACT and possible new pieces of waste infrastructure.
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Figure 2 The ACT’s waste management system with potential options for greater resource recovery .
The two Construction and Demolition (C&D) Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) are located at Pialligo and Mugga Lane, Symonston. The two sewage treatment plants are at Fyshwick and Molonglo. However, all biosolids are incinerated at Molonglo. The Clean MRF is in the
Hume Resource Recovery Estate (HREE) beside the Mugga Lane Resource Management
Centre (MLRMC).
The only putrescible waste landfill is at the MLRMC. Planning is well underway to expand this landfill to provide capacity to beyond 2030. A closed landfill exists at Belconnen. This site continues to receive some non-putrescible waste including contaminated soils.
A site for the new Commercial MRF has been leased to SITA Australia in the HRRE. The ACT
Government is presently conducting market sounding on options to recover resources from biomass and residual waste. Any infrastructure procured via this process is likely to be located
Mugga Lane-Hume resource management complex.
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Waste and recycling data 1
Per capita waste generation and resource recovery rate
In 2010 –11, the ACT generated 2.6 tonnes of waste per capita (see Figure 3), which was the equal highest (with WA) in Australia. This high rate is consistent with the pattern of more waste per capita where incomes and urbanisation are high.
Figure 3 per capita waste generation by management by jurisdiction, 2010-11
The ACT also had Australia’s highest resource recovery rate at around 79 per cent (see percentage above relevant bar in chart). This is 19 per cent above the national average and reflects on ACT having:
- well-developed resource recovery infrastructure.
- high landfill fees that are equivalent to having the second highest landfill levy in Australia 2 .
- well established policy directions to increase resource recovery, targeting 80 per cent by
2015.
- relatively compact size, with most of the population and business activity concentrated in
Canberra.
Total waste generation
Around 930 000 tonnes (kilotonnes, or kt) of waste was generated in the ACT in
2010 –11, lower than all jurisdictions except the Northern Territory and Tasmania
(see Figure 4). The ACT waste figures are for ‘fly ash excluded’ only, as there is no fly ash generated in the ACT.
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The content in this section is taken from Waste generation and resource recovery in Australia , chapter 6.
2 The ACT Government owns the only landfill in the jurisdiction and so, unlike other jurisdictions, does not need to apply a levy that is separate from the gate fee .
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Figure 4 ACT total waste generation by management, 2010 –11
Waste streams (MSW, C&I, C&D) by material type
The ACT does not collect data on the source streams of recycled material so waste streams analysis is not included here.
Figure 5 shows the composition by material category of ACT’s waste. The majority of ACT’s waste consists of recovered organics, masonry materials, and paper and cardboard. This reflects the high levels of green and timber organics collection at ACT’s landfill and transfer stations, and also the low levels of industry (apart from construction and demolition) in the
ACT. The estimated recovery rates for plastic (seven per cent) and metals (37 per cent) are well below the national average suggesting a lack of plastics/metal recovery infrastructure and/or a lack of end market for the lower grade plastics and metals.
Figure 5 ACT total waste generation by material category and management, 2010 –11
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Trends in waste generation and management 2006-07 to 2010-11
Figure 6 shows the trends in per capita waste generation and management for the period
2006 –07 to 2010–11 in the ACT.
Figure 6 ACT trends in per capita waste generation and management, 2006 –07 to 2010–11
Note: Graph relies on interpolation for 2007-08 data
Over the five-year period the following per capita trends are illustrated:
- Waste generation in the ACT fell until 2009 –10, then increased significantly, resulting in an overall increase over the five years of 18 per cent. Analysis of the data suggests the increase is partly the result of a large increase in garden organics recycling in 2010 –11, from 167 to 272 kt. The increase may have resulted from several factors: the ending of the drought and consequent increases in plant growth; waste management facility upgrades; and improved reporting from organic waste processing facilities.
- The resource recovery rate remained almost unchanged at around 79 per cent.
- Recycling in the ACT increased by 21 per cent, which the data suggest is associated with the increase in garden waste recycling.
- Waste used for energy production decreased by around 23 per cent due to an apparent decline in landfill gas recovery over the period.
- Waste disposal in the ACT fell until 2009 –10, at which point it increased, resulting in an overall increase of 16 per cent.
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Figure 7 shows the trends in total waste generation and management for the period 2006 –07 to 2010 –11 in the ACT.
Figure 7 Trends in total waste generation and management, ACT 2006 –07 to 2010–11
Note: Graph relies on interpolation for 2007-08 data
Over the five-year period, the following trends in total waste tonnages are illustrated:
- waste generation tonnages were relatively stable until 2009 –10 when they increased significantly, resulting in an overall 27 per cent increase.
- recycling increased by 31 per cent.
- energy recovery decreased by about 17 per cent.
- disposal increased by 25 per cent.
ACT waste reuse data 2006
–07 to 2010–11
The ACT provided some data on waste reuse (listed as salvage and reuse) from the sales of materials and products from the landfills/transfer stations for reuse, which is included in the table below.
Table 1 ACT waste reuse data
Year 2006-07 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11
Tonnes 2312 1177 1672 928
Sourcing of data
Information on policy frameworks and infrastructure were provided by the government department responsible for waste management and resource recovery in their state and territory.
Unless otherwise specified, waste generation and resource recovery data for this factsheet were sourced from Blue Environment and Randell Environmental Consulting’s
Waste Generation and Resource Recovery in Australia (2013). It is important to note that the data (from this report) will not always reconcile with publicly reported data from the states and territories. The differences in data result from differences in scope, method of compilation, and assumptions used in Waste generation and resource recovery in
Australia. The workbooks provide transparency so that differences between the reported data sets can be reconciled if necessary.
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Case study – ‘No nappies in your recycling bin’
In 2012, ACT NOWaste designed and implemented a community education campaign aimed at reducing the number of disposable nappies in household recycling bins.
Developed in response to data showing that approximately 2800 disposable nappies arrived amongst recycling at the MRF e very day, the ‘No nappies in your recycling bin’ campaign utilised a variety of media to convey the message to the public including bus advertising, commercial radio and traditional print media.
In a more targeted approach, ‘No nappies in your recycling bin’ magnets were attached to information cards and distributed in ‘Bounty Bags’, a marketing tool of APC Magazines.
Bounty Bags are distributed to all new parents in the ACT through maternity hospitals, child and family health centres, paediatric wards and day care centres.
Some 4500 magnets were distributed in Bounty Bags to new parents in the ACT over 12 months. A further 500 magnets were distributed by ACT NOWaste at community events.
The ‘No nappies in your recycling bin campaign’ was supported and paid for through a recycling education fund, a component of ACT NOWastes contract with the landfill operator
Remondis (formally Thiess Services).
Post campaign, anecdotal evidence from Remondis suggests the rate of disposable nappies coming through the Material Recovery Facility at Hume has reduced to approximately 160 nappies per day.
ACT NOWaste recognises there is a clear need to continue a focused campaign educating
ACT parents and carers about this issue in order to address what is an ongoing problem.
Community feedback throughout the campaign suggests that new parents struggle with bin space and that this combined with confusion about recycling symbols and nappies advertised as biodegradable are major contributors to disposable nappies being placed in recycling bins.
A revised campaign addressing this feedback will commence in May 2013 with the key message ‘Nappies don’t belong in the recycling bin...that’s the bottom line!’
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