Fast Facts

In South Australia

• Solid waste is categorised by source:
• Municipal, which includes household and public place waste
• Commercial and industrial, which includes waste from business, government operations and schools
• Construction and demolition waste.
• More than 69% of recyclable waste destined for landfill is diverted for recycling in South Australia.[i]
• In 2005–06, 2.4 million tonnes of wastes (390,000 tonnes from households and public places) were recycled. [i]
• In 2005–06, 1.05 million tonnes of material was sent to landfill but most of this could be recycled. [i]
• Paper and cardboard, which are very easy to recycle, still contribute up to 30% of domestic waste that ends up as landfill.[ii]
• Household waste makes up about 25% by weight of the waste going to landfill in South Australia.[ii]
• Around 681 kilograms of waste per household per year is collected from kerbsides in the metropolitan area of Adelaide and 722 kilograms of waste in non-metropolitan areas.[ii]

What can be recycled?
Green waste, paper, glass, cardboard, aluminium, steel, rubber, plastics, liquidpaperboard, clothes, timber and some electronic equipment.
Where does recycling go?

• Materials to be recycled are taken to materials recovery facilities or recycling centres where they are sorted.
• Materials are the compacted, baled or binned for transport to reprocessing factories.
• Manufacturers use these materials to make new products.
• While 82% of materials are processed in SA, most paper and steel are sent interstate or to overseas processing facilities.

Benefits of recycling

• Recycling conserves raw materials that would otherwise be used.
• Making products from recycled materials generally produces less pollution, including greenhouse gases, and consumes less energy than manufacture from virgin materials.
• Recycling reduces the need for new waste disposal facilities. This has both economic and social benefits
• Recycling creates jobs in collection, sorting and reprocessing.
• Zero Waste SA’s role is to reduce the amount of waste going to local council collections and on to landfill.
• South Australia’s Strategic Plan 2007, has set a target of reducing waste to landfill by 25% by 2014.
• Zero Waste SA’s  Waste Management Strategy sets the following targets for waste reduction in South Australia by 2010:
• 75% of all waste put out by householders to kerbside collection will be recycled.
• Recycling of construction and demolition waste to double.
• Recycling of commercial and industrial waste will increase by 30%.
• All waste collected in Adelaide will be processed through a transfer station or resource recovery facility to remove recyclable materials before they end up in landfill.

References:
[i] Zero Waste SA. 2007. Recycling activity in South Australia 2005-06.
[ii] Zero Waste SA (2005), Background Paper to South Australia’s Waste Strategy 2005-2010.