#Even after consistent recycling why is Australia’s overall waste keep growing? Recycling is frequently seen as the answer to Australias garbage issue. However, the data presents a more nuanced picture. Millions of tonnes of core waste are still disposed of annually, despite improvements in recovery techniques.
The National garbage and Resource Recovery Database 2024 is used in this five chart story to illustrate where garbage is increasing in Australia, what happens to it, which industries produce it, which materials are most difficult to recover, and how results vary by state and territory.
Despite the public’s increased awareness of recycling and sustainability, Australia’s core waste has grown over time . The point of this chart is that increases in recycling have not prevented the total amount of waste from increasing.
Although recycling is a major part of Australia’s waste management system, disposal still has a big role to play. The graph shows that despite improvements in recovery, millions of tonnes of core waste are still going to landfill or other disposal routes every year.
We think of waste as coming from our household bins but the data tells a much bigger story. Construction and demolition, commercial and industrial activities create many more core wastes than municipal solid waste.
Not all waste materials are recovered in equal measure. For some high volume materials good recovery rates are achieved,large quantities of others still go to disposal. The size of the bubble indicates disposal remains a serious problem.
Waste outcomes vary significantly between Australian states and territories. Some jurisdictions recover a much larger share of core waste than others, which still rely heavily on disposal. This suggests that there is no single solution that will fix Australia’s waste problem.