Report 3: 2020-21

Waste Management – Service Delivery

Introduction and background

Introduction

This audit assessed whether local government (LG) entities plan and deliver effective waste management services to their communities.

We focused on LG waste management and progress towards achieving targets and objectives set in the first Western Australian Waste Strategy: Creating the Right Environment (Waste Strategy 2012) and subsequent Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Strategy 2030 (Waste Strategy 2030). The audit also assessed State Government support for LG entities and followed up on recommendations to State government entities from OAG’s Western Australian Waste Strategy: Rethinking Waste audit completed in 2016.

Background

Waste management challenges

Poorly managed waste poses a threat to human health and the environment. However, if managed well, it can become a valuable material that can be reused, reprocessed or recycled. Solid waste is typically managed as 1 of 3 streams:

  • municipal solid waste (MSW or waste[1]) – waste from households and public places collected by LG entities or their contractors
  • commercial and industrial – waste originating from commercial and/or industrial activities (e.g. metals, paper, cardboard, plastic, food organics, glass, timber)
  • construction and demolition – waste material generated from commercial, government or residential building and demolition sites.

In 2017-18, Western Australian (WA) households produced over 1.5 million tonnes, or about 600 kilograms (kg) per person, of waste.[2] The amount of waste households generated decreased by a reported 26 kg per person from 2014-15 to 2017-182, as did the amount sent to landfill. However, the proportion of waste recovered had not changed. The State’s total waste recycling rate of 53% in 2016-17 for all waste streams was still below the national average of 58%.

Factors such as population growth, environmental concerns and changes in technology and international markets for recycled materials have continued to increase the need for sustainable waste management.

In 2018, China announced it would stop importing contaminated recyclable materials as part of its National Sword policy. This placed additional pressure on LG entities, who had to find alternative solutions for managing recyclable materials. Other countries such as Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam also declared restrictions on importing waste. In response, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed to a phased ban on the export of waste plastic, paper, glass and tyres. This will commence in January 2021.

Waste management is a shared responsibility. All levels of government, business, industry and the community generate waste, and all have a role to play in adopting best practice approaches to manage that waste. The State Government oversees and guides the waste and recycling system in WA (Table 1).

Table 1: Responsibilities of State government entities

LG entities play a critical role in managing MSW, which makes up 34% of the State’s waste.[3] Many LG entities deliver these waste services ‘in-house’, while others use private contractors. Some LG entities have joined to form regional councils as a way of sharing waste management. LG entities can provide a range of waste, recycling and organic material collection services; drop-off facilities; and waste education and behaviour change programs to their communities.

Legislation and waste strategies

The Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Act 2007 (WARR Act) is the principal legislation for waste management in the State. The WARR Act aligns with the key principles of the National Waste Policy 2018: Less Waste, More Resources. It also contributes to Australia’s international commitments, such as the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, adopted by world leaders in 2015. One of these goals focuses on ‘responsible consumption and production’ and another 8 of the 17 relate to improving resource recovery and waste management.[4]

The WARR Act establishes the role of LG entities to provide waste services in line with the waste hierarchy (Figure 1). It also requires the Waste Authority prepare a waste strategy and provides the Chief Executive Officer of DWER with the power to require LG entities prepare waste plans. These plans aim to align LG entities’ waste planning processes with the State’s waste strategy, and to protect human health and the environment. DWER has requested Perth and Peel LG entities prepare waste plans by March 2021.

Source: OAG adapted from the Waste Authority
Figure 1: Waste hierarchy based on the WARR Act

The Waste Strategy 2012 was the first statewide plan developed for WA. It described the cooperative effort needed to reduce waste disposed in landfill and increase resource recovery. It set targets to divert 65% of metropolitan MSW from landfill by 2020 and 50% for major regional centres (MRC). Improving the way we manage waste in WA relies heavily on the choices that individuals make in buying and using products and how they dispose of them.

In February 2019, the State Government released the Waste Strategy 2030. It set targets for the community and waste managers. This strategy was developed in consultation with government, industry and the community. It set a new benchmark for community expectation, shifting the State’s approach to waste management to focus on avoiding and recovering waste, and protecting the environment.

The Waste Strategy 2030 also introduced the ‘circular economy’ model where energy and materials are retained for as long as possible. Instead of ‘waste’, materials became ‘resources’. This was a move away from a linear ‘take, make, use and dispose’ economic model. The Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Action Plan (Action Plan) supported the Waste Strategy 2030, outlining 8 headline strategies and 57 actions.

[1] MSW is collected from households and LG entities through waste and recycling collections, but can also include some commercial waste.

[2] ASK Waste Management (2019). Recycling Activity in Western Australia 2017-18.

[3] ASK Waste Management (2019). Recycling Activity in Western Australia 2017-18.

[4] https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs

 
Page last updated: August 20, 2020

Back to Top