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Recycling in Victoria

Victoria's diversion of waste material from landfill for reprocessing for the 2007-08 financial year decreased to 6.28 million tonnes. This represents a decrease of approximately 1% on the previous financial year and equates to an overall resource recovery (recycling) rate of 61%.  Solid waste being disposed to Victorian licensed landfills increased to 4.01 million tonnesPTPTPT, up 2% from 3.92 million tonnes.

Waste generation and recovery rates, Victoria 1998-99 to 2007-08

 Waste generation and recovery rates

Highlights in 2007-08

  • Victoria's current reprocessing capacity is predominantly local, with 88% of waste material recovered in 2007-08 remaining in Victoria to be converted into new products by Victoria's reprocessors. The remainder was exported interstate or overseas for reprocessing

  • The large increase in timber, sawdust and other forestry residuals in 2006-07 were not repeated in 2007-08. The total quantity of organic waste material recovered and diverted from landfill in Victoria during the 2007-08 financial year dropped to approximately 605,000 tonnes, down 20% from the previous year.
  • The total quantity of glass recovered for reprocessing in Victoria in the 2007-08 financial year was almost 174,000 tonnes, a decrease of 14%
  • Plastics recovery increased by 7% to around 119,000 tonnes
  • Metal waste recovered in 2007-08 increased by 7% to 1.35 million tonnes. There was an increase in both the export of steel and metal waste recovered for reprocessing locally.
  • Eighty three percent of the material received for reprocessing during the 2007-08 financial year was sourced from industry (commercial and industrial and construction and demolition)

  • Lifecycle Analysis (LCA) modellingPTPTPT has shown the environmental benefits from reprocessing all material recovered in Victoria during 2007-08 would be equivalent to:

    • saving more than 82 million gigajoules of energy

    • preventing 4 million tonnes of greenhouse gases being emitted into the atmosphere.

    • saving 47 thousand megalitres of water

    • Victoria's reprocessing industries contributed more than $85 million to the state's economy during 2007-08 through capital investment and expenditure on research and development (R&D)

    In the 2007-08 financial year waste generation per capita remained below 2 tonnes and waste generation relative to Gross State Product (GSP) also decreased for the second consecutive year.

     

    Total waste generation relative to economic and population trends, Victoria 1999-00 to 2007-08

    Total waste generation relative to economic and po

    Note: projected figures for GSP and population reported in previous years have been rebased with updated information.

    Further information


    Top | Last updated 27/08/2009

    icon - tickAnnual Survey of Recycling Industries

    Download Victorian_Recycling_Industries_Annual_Survey_2007-082.pdf Victorian Recycling Industries Annual Survey 2007-08 (786KB)

    Victoria recovered 61% of the total solid waste stream in 2007-08, and the quantity of waste sent to landfill increased by 2%.

    Recovery of material in Victoria for the 2007-08 financial year decreased for the first time since the 1999-00 period. The recovery of almost 6.28 million tonnes was 1% less than what was reported in the previous financial year.

    Waste recovery fact sheets

    Download CD_waste_recovery_2007_08_FS.pdf Construction and Demolition waste recovery 2007-08 (290KB)

    Download Glass_waste_recovery_2007_08_FS.pdf Glass_waste recovery 2007-08 (267KB)

    Download Metal_waste_recovery_2007_08_FS.pdf Metal_waste recovery 2007-08 (285KB)

    Download Organic_waste_recovery_2007_08_FS.pdf Organic_waste recovery 2007-08 (283KB)

    Download Paper_waste_recovery_2007_08_FS.pdf Paper_waste recovery 2007-08 (273KB)

    Please note, these documents require a pdf reader such as Adobe Reader version 5.0 or later. Please visit the Adobe website to update your version.