Source: OCSE

5. Circular economy and waste


5.3 ACT trends

This section looks at trends for waste in the ACT.

The ACT’s waste generation varies a lot year to year. Between 2012-13 and 2021-22, the total waste generated in the ACT annually ranged from 844,000 tonnes to 1.2 million tonnes. That’s between 1.9 and 2.6 tonnes per person in the ACT.

The good news is that most of the waste we generate in the ACT is not sent to landfill. We have a high rate of resource recovery in the ACT. In most years, 70-80% of resources are ‘recovered’ – meaning they are reused or recycled. This is shown in the graph below.

This graph shows the amount of waste generated in the ACT that is recovered or sent to landfill (based on the average from 2017–18 to 2022–23). The amount of resources recovered is high at nearly 80% of the total waste generated.

Data sourced from: Transport Canberra and City Services.

A large proportion of waste generated in the ACT comes from households. Household waste can contribute more than half of the total waste sent to landfill in a single year, as shown in the graph below. This shows how important it is for every household to take steps to reduce how much waste they create at home.

This graph shows the sources of waste sent to landfill in the ACT (based on the average from 2017–18 to 2022–23). Household waste contributes over half of the ACT’s total waste sent to landfill. Commercial and industrial waste is the second largest source of waste sent to landfill, contributing 40%.

Data sourced from: Transport Canberra and City Services.

Fire at the ACT Materials Recovery Facility

On 26 December 2022, a major fire caused irreparable damage to the ACT’s recycling plant. As a result, instead of being processed here in the ACT, our recyclables are now temporarily being transported to an interstate facility. This has impacted both the financial and environmental costs of the ACT’s recycling program.

A new and improved facility is planned to be built on the same site in the ACT.

FOGO – Organics put to good use

Source: Transport Canberra and City Services

Did you know that food organics account for roughly a third of the contents of household landfill bins in the ACT? This means we’re sending around 26,000 tonnes of food waste to landfill each year.

When food waste breaks down in landfill it produces methane – a harmful greenhouse gas. The composting process reduces or prevents the release of methane as the organic matter breaks down and creates a valuable product that can be returned to our soils.

In November 2021, the ACT Government began a FOGO (Food Organics and Garden Organics) bin collection trial across more than 5,000 households in Canberra. Over 174,000 FOGO pilot bin collections have been completed from the pilot’s commencement to the end of June 2023.

Turning food scraps into compost is a great example of using waste as a resource that feeds back into a circular system.

FOGO truck. Source: Transport Canberra and City Services.