The development of new legislation and the introduction of a landfill levy is a long-term approach by government for improving waste management and resource recovery in Tasmania and supporting the move towards a strong circular economy.
In addition to establishing the levy, the Waste and Resource Recovery Act 2022 (the Act) and Regulations outline operational and data reporting requirements for material movements into and out of landfill and resource recovery facilities.
Why do we collect waste data?
By understanding how much waste is produced, where it comes from and what it contains, we are able to make better decisions about how to manage it, including how to reduce, re-use and recycle it. Accurate and timely data on waste helps government to formulate policy and the private sector to make informed investment decisions.
Each state and territory in Australia, including Tasmania, also contributes data to the National Waste Report, which is released every two years and provides a broad picture of waste management across Australia. A National Waste Data Standard is being progressively adopted by each jurisdiction for their reported data to ensure that the information collected from around the country is comparable. Tasmania's new data collection system has been designed in accordance with this standard.
How has waste data been collected in the past?
Prior to the commencement of the Act, waste data was only collected from some waste facilities, as required by their environmental or planning permits. This data was mostly collected annually, and some data was collected on a voluntary basis, making it less reliable.
How does the new waste data system work?
In accordance with the Act, a streamlined system for collection, storage, analysis and publishing of data from waste facilities is being developed. Each facility is required to keep records of all inward and outward waste material movements and to submit the aggregated data to the Waste Industry Levy Integration System (WILIS) operated by NRE Tas. The data, which is submitted monthly is then used to calculate the levy payable by each landfill facility and to inform government policy settings.
What is a waste facility?
There are two types of waste facility under the Waste and Resource Recovery Act 2022:
A Landfill Facility is a facility or place where waste is disposed of into or onto land. There are currently 21 Landfill Facilities reporting monthly waste movement data.
A Resource Recovery Facility (RRF) is a facility or place where resource recovery takes place. Resource recovery is recycling, re-use, energy (or other resource) recovery or sorting or preparation for any of these activities. Around 20 “Class A" resource recovery facilities are currently reporting monthly waste data. These facilities each process over 10,000 tonnes of waste per year. “Class B" resource recovery facilities process between 1,000 and 10,000 tonnes per year and will commence reporting waste data on 1 July 2024.
How often will the data be updated?
Data published to the website is currently updated annually.
What is the benefit of the new waste data system?
The data collected under the new system will provide much more accurate and up-to-date information on waste and material flows than has previously been available and will accelerate progress in creating a more sustainable, circular, and low emission future for Tasmania.
2022-23 Waste Data
The below graph shows the total waste movements each month into and out of landfill and resource recovery facilities from July 2022 to June 2023.
Material received by category
The below diagrams show the tonnage and percentage of the various waste "categories" received at landfill and resource recovery facilities. The Australian Standard for waste and resource recovery data and reporting specifies this set of waste categories, which are used nationally to describe the content of waste materials.
Material received by source stream
Waste "source stream" describes the industry sector from which the waste arises and includes "mixed waste" (from mixed source streams) and "other facilities" where waste is received from another waste facility.