Australia’s plastic – 19% recovery rate with the rest going to landfill.
Waste categories with the lowest recovery rates in Australia were:
- Plastics: 19%, due to high proportion sent to landfill
- Textiles, leather and rubber: 26%
- Hazardous waste: 27%
All plastic types had the worst recovery rates of around 15%. Of 2.5 tonnes generated, 84% is sent straight to landfill.
From the Waste Account, Australia, Experimental Estimates from the Australian Bureau of Statistics: Waste generation, management and economic response by industry and household in alignment with System of Environmental-Economic Accounts (SEEA) Financial Year 18 - 19.
This Waste Account is released under the Common national approach to environmental-economic accounting in Australia. It has been developed in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (DAWE) to help inform Australia's National Waste Policy. For more information on total waste generation and management in Australia refer