National Waste Reporting 2013
FACTSHEET – JURISDICTIONAL WASTE PROFILES
NORTHERN TERRITORY (NT)
Policy framework
Legislation
The Northern Territory governs waste under the Waste Management and Pollution Control Act
(WMPCA). The objectives of the WMPCA are to:
1. protect, and where practicable to restore and enhance the quality of, the Territory
environment by:
a. preventing pollution
b. reducing the likelihood of pollution occurring
c. effectively responding to pollution
d. avoiding and reducing the generation of waste
e. increasing the re-use and re-cycling of waste
f.
effectively managing waste disposal.
2. encourage ecologically sustainable development.
3. facilitate the implementation of national environment protection measures made under
the National Environment Protection Council (Northern Territory) Act.
The WMPCA specifies activities that require environment protection approvals and
environment protection licences including:
1. constructing, installing or carrying out works in relation to premises for disposing of waste
by burial, other than:
a. domestic waste generated by a domestic residence and disposed of on the land
on which the premises are situated
b. domestic waste from temporary construction camps
c. waste generated by pastoral activities that is disposed of on the land on which
the pastoral activities are carried out
d. waste rock, rubble and other inert materials used for the purpose of reclaiming
land
e. waste of a prescribed class.
2. constructing, installing or carrying out works in relation to premises, other than sewerage
treatment plants, for the storage, recycling, treatment or disposal of listed wastes on a
commercial or fee for service basis.
3. operating premises for the disposal of waste by burial that service, or are designed to
service, the waste disposal requirements of more than 1000 persons.
4. collecting, transporting, storing, recycling, treating or disposing of a listed waste on a
commercial or fee for service basis, other than in or for the purpose of a sewerage
treatment plant.
5. operating premises, other than a sewerage treatment plant, associated with collecting,
transporting, storing, recycling, treating or disposing of a listed waste on a commercial or
fee for service basis.
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Policies/strategies
The Northern Territory is working toward developing a strategic plan for waste management.
Waste diversion targets
Nil.
Levies
Nil.
Classification trees
Figure 1: NT waste classification system
Infrastructure
The Northern Territory has eight licensed landfill facilities located in metropolitan and regional
centres and three licensed transfer stations. There are numerous waste disposal facilities
servicing regional and remote communities.
Recycling and alternative waste treatments are limited in the Territory with the majority of
recyclable waste transferred interstate for treatment.
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Waste and recycling data1
Per capita waste generation and resource recovery rate
In 2010-11, the per capita rate of waste generation in the NT was about 1.3 tonnes (see
Figure 2) which was the second lowest (above Tasmania) in Australia. NT had Australia’s
lowest resource recovery rate at around nine per cent, which is around 51 percentage points
below the national average. This suggests a low level of resource recovery infrastructure in the
NT compared to other jurisdictions, and significant difficulties transporting recyclables to
markets. The reliability of the data used for this report also needs to be considered (see
footnote 1)
Figure 2 Per capita waste generation by management by jurisdiction, 2010-11
Total waste generated
Figure 3 suggests that about 300 kt of waste was generated in the NT in 2010-11. This is
lower than any other jurisdiction, consistent with the NT’s low population and GSP. No fly ash
was generated as there are no coal fired power stations.
Figure 3 Total waste generated by management
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No waste data were available for whole of the NT. The data presented here is derived largely from the landfill and recovery
centre that receives most of Darwin’s waste (Shoal Bay). It is assumed that waste generation per capita in the Territory is the
same as for the Darwin area and that no recycling occurs outside Darwin. Other recycling may well be occurring elsewhere in the
NT, so recycling levels may be under-reported.
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Waste streams (municipal solid waste [MSW], commercial and industrial [C&I],
construction and demolition [C&D]) by material type
Waste streams
Figure 4: Total waste generation by waste stream and management
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MSW generation was an estimated 140 kt with a resource recovery rate of 17 per
cent, which is 34 percentage points below the Australian average.
-
C&I waste generation was an estimated 41 kt with a resource recovery rate of eight
per cent, which is 51 percentage points less than the Australian average.
-
C&D generation was an estimated 120 kt with a resource recovery rate of one per
cent, which is 65 percentage points below the Australian average.
These figures reflect socio-economic factors, low population density over vast areas, and the
lack of established resource recovery systems due to logistics costs and poor economies of
scale.
See the overview on national waste stream profiles for more information on the MSW, C&I and
C&D waste streams.
Material Categories
The available NT data (see Figure 5) is not able to support analysis of material categories
data. Likewise, insufficient data is available to support analysis of NT trends 2006-10.
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Figure 5: Total waste generation by material category and management
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 – NT Container Deposit Scheme
The Territory Government is taking firm action in the fight against the Territory’s litter problem
through the Container Deposit Scheme (CDS) initiative to protect the Territory’s unique and
precious environment.
The Territory is the first jurisdiction in Australia to commit to a CDS since the South Australian
Government introduced its legislation in 1975.
The Environment Protection (Beverage Container and Plastic Bags) Act 2011 passed through
the NT parliament in February 2011. The CDS on regulated beverage containers is an
extended producer responsibility program to recycle, and reduce litter. The scheme started on
3 January 2012.
A steady growth in accessibility to the scheme for Territorians is seen through the growing
number of collection depots, including mobile collection depots.
The NT CDS provides for the public to get a 10 cent refund on each eligible container that is
returned to an approved collection depot. Over 70 million containers have been returned to
collection depots since the beginning of the scheme.
There has been a steady increase in participation in the scheme since its commencement in
January 2012, as can be seen by the increase in the first quarter of 2013 (See Figure 5).
Figure 5: Containers accepted by collection depots since January 2012.
The NT Container Deposit Scheme is aimed at reducing the volumes and types of litter
collected throughout the Northern Territory.
The Container Deposit Scheme links to strategies 1 and 3 of the National Waste Policy.
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