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

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

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

Further information

• What is recycled in Victoria
• Where does the material come from?
• Sustainability: the benefits of recycling
• Read previous surveys

Top | Last updated 27/08/2009