FACTSHEET – JURISDICTIONAL WASTE PROFILES

SOUTH AUSTRALIA (SA)

Policy framework

Legislation

The two key legislative instruments that govern waste management in South Australia are the Environment Protection Act 1993 administered by the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and the Zero Waste SA Act 2004, administered by Zero Waste SA (ZWSA).

The EPA regulates the management of solid and liquid waste in South Australia, including the transport, handling, storage, treatment and disposal of waste, as well as activities that produce certain types of waste.

In 2010, the EPA introduced the Environment Protection (Waste to Resources) Policy (EPP). The objective of the EPP is ‘to achieve sustainable waste management by applying the waste management hierarchy consistently with the principles of ecologically sustainable development set out in section 10 of the Environment Protection Act 1993.

Zero Waste SA’s primary objective is to promote waste management practices that, as far as possible, eliminate waste or its consignment to landfill, and advance the development of resource recovery and recycling.

Zero Waste SA provides strategic policy advice, guidance and leadership to government and stakeholders to bring about change. Zero Waste SA establishes programs and projects that maximise waste reduction, and promote recycling and ecological sustainability.

Policies/strategies

South Australia’s Strategic Plan (SASP) is a comprehensive document outlining 100 targets that government, community and business can work towards, across a range of priority areas, including waste and recycling.

South Australia’s Waste Strategy is the government’s leading non-legislative policy tool for reforming waste management. The Zero Waste SA Act requires the preparation of a waste strategy for South Australia every five years.

South Australia’s Waste Strategy relates in particular to SASP target 67: Zero Waste – which aims to reduce waste to landfill by 35 per cent by 2020 and reach a milestone of 25 per cent reduction by 2014.

South Australia’s Waste Strategy 2011-2015 informs ZWSA’s annual Business Plan over the five year term, guides state and local government activities, and those of business, industry and the wider community.

The Strategy’s long term objectives are to

- avoid and reduce waste and

- to maximise the useful life of materials through re-use and recycling.

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National Waste Reporting 2013

The Strategy sets targets for each sector (municipal solid waste, commercial/industrial waste, and construction and demolition waste streams) and includes long term strategic objectives and priorities for action.

The Environment Protection (Waste to Resources) Policy 2010 (EPP) is a tool for South Australian industry and government to better manage waste through its requirements for suitable waste from metropolitan Adelaide to be subject to resource recovery processes and prohibiting the disposal of certain waste to landfill.

Since 1 September 2012, suitable waste produced in metropolitan Adelaide is required to be subject to resource recovery processes prior to being able to be disposed of to landfill. Certain materials are also generally banned from disposal to landfill under the EPP.

To support the effective administration of these requirements, the EPA has developed guidelines on approvals for resource recovery facilities, and resource recovery processing.

Waste diversion targets

South Australia has proposed a waste diversion target in the SA Strategic Plan 2011 of a 25 per cent reduction in landfill disposal from 2002–03 level by 2014. The State Waste Strategy has been developed to achieve this and has set an additional target of a 5 per cent reduction in waste generation per capita by 2015. To achieve these targets and improve waste management in SA, the changes to rates of diversion from landfill set out below are proposed in the SA Waste Strategy. Zero Waste SA produces an annual recycling activity report which surveys recyclers and re-processors and reports on progress towards these targets.

Table 1 SA waste diversion targets

South Australia’s Waste Strategy 2011-2015 (Zero Waste SA)

Year Metropolitan ( per cent diversion)

Non-metropolitan

Municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill diversion targets

2009 (baseline)* 55 Not applicable

2012 60 Maximise diversion to the extent practically achievable

2015 70 Maximise diversion to the extent practically achievable

Commercial and industrial (C&I) landfill diversion targets

2009 (baseline)** 60 Not applicable

2012 65 Maximise diversion to the extent practically achievable

2015 75 Maximise diversion to the extent practically achievable

Construction and demolition (C&D) landfill diversion targets

2009 (baseline)*** 80 Not applicable

2012 85 Maximise diversion to the extent practically achievable

2015 90 Maximise diversion to the extent practically achievable

Estimated from Recycling Activity Report 2008–09: assumes 30 per cent MSW disposed to landfill; also supported by ZWSA-funded kerbside audit data of 3-bin system from 2008 and 2009 with collection frequency (all tenements) of weekly residual waste, and fortnightly co-mingled and fortnightly green organics: these audits typically find diversion in mid-50 per cent range ** Estimated from Recycling Activity Report 2008–09: assumes 43 per cent C&I disposed to landfill *** Estimated from Recycling Activity Report 2008–09: assumes 27 per cent C&D disposed to landfill

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Levies

Section 70 of the Environment Protection Regulations 2009 sets out the levy rates payable for waste sent to landfill and expresses them in fee units. The value of a fee unit is adjusted annually. In 2011-12 this amounted to $35 per tonne in the metropolitan Adelaide area and increased to $42 per tonne in 2012-13. Solid waste sourced from areas outside the metropolitan Adelaide area is charged at half the rate for that of metropolitan area. Table 2 sets out the fees applicable in the 2012-13 financial year.

Table 2 SA landfill levies 2012-13

Fee units 2012/13 $ per tonne

Solid Waste Metro 3.0435 $42

Solid Waste – Non-metro 1.522 $21

per kilolitre

Liquid Waste 0.65 $11.64

M = P x 0.4 ------------

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M is the mass of solid waste in tonnes

P is the population of the area of the council as at the previous 30 June as given by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

For local government councils located wholly outside the Adelaide metropolitan area which produce less than 10 000 tonnes of waste per year, there is the option of reporting by a population formula where the mass of solid waste received during each month at those depots is determined in accordance with the following formula:

Currently the landfill rate is under review and some proposals suggest increases to the levy rate in line with those in other states.

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Classification trees

Figure 1 SA waste classification system

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Infrastructure

South Australia’s current landfill needs are met and there are about 30 licensed operating landfills across the state. Five major landfills service the metropolitan Adelaide which are situated at Inkerman, Dublin, Uleybury and McLaren Vale (2 landfills). In the non-metro areas, there has been a consolidation of landfills with some closures of older landfills and their conversion to transfer stations.

SITA-Resourceco operates a plant at Wingfield that extracts combustible material from commercial waste streams and has the capability to manufacture into approximately 100 000 to 150 000 tonnes in alternative fuel to replace some natural gas at Adelaide Brighton Cement’s plant at Birkenhead.

Table 3 Estimated numbers of licensed recyclers/waste handlers across South Australia

Transfer Stations

Hazardous Waste

Receivers

Plastics E-waste Composters Paper / Cardboard

Metals C&D

133 11 7 4 33 7 20 30-40

A study by Rawtec (2009)1 found that South Australia is well positioned in respect of the availability of current, and near-term anticipated, resource recovery infrastructure to manage the supply of materials presenting for recycling, through to 2019-20.

The report also listed opportunities where further investment offers potential to build on the current positioning and gave four key program areas for investment consideration:

- support to improve the efficiency of primary sorting facilities

- facilities for sorting mixed residual waste prior to despatch to landfill

- support to achieve sustainable markets

- support to improve the quality and quantity of material presenting for beneficiation.

1 South Australian Recycling Industry Investment Review, Priority Investment Opportunities, Rawtec (2009)5

Waste and recycling data2

Per capita waste generation and resource recovery

In 2010-11, per capita waste generation for SA was about 2.4 tonnes (see Figure 2) which was the fourth highest in Australia. This follows the pattern of lower waste generation in jurisdictions that have lower per capita incomes and less urbanised populations.

Figure 2 per capita waste generation and resource recovery rate

SA had Australia’s second highest resource recovery rate at around 77 per cent, which is 17 percentage points above the national average and reflects:

- well-developed resource recovery infrastructure, including large organics recycling operations

- progressive waste management policies (including broad landfill prohibitions for unsorted waste, recovery targets and government investment in resource recovery infrastructure and programs)

- a moderate landfill levy.

Total waste generated

About 3.9 Mt of waste was generated in SA for 2010–11 excluding fly ash, and 4.1 Mt including fly ash (see Figure 3). This is the fourth lowest in Australia, consistent with SA’s ranking in relation to population and GSP.

Figure 3 SA Total waste generation by management, 2010–11

2 The content for this section is taken from Waste generation and resource recovery in Australia, chapter 10.6

Waste streams (municipal solid waste(MSW), commercial and industrial (C&I) and construction and demolition C&D)) by material type

Waste streams

Figure 4 SA Total waste generation by waste stream and management, 2010–11

- MSW generation was around 0.79 Mt with a resource recovery rate of 61 per cent, which is 10 percentage points above the Australian average. SA is targeting a MSW recovery rate of 65 per cent by 2015.

- C&I waste generation was around 1.4 Mt with a resource recovery rate of 89 per cent, which is 30 percentage points above the Australian average. SA appears to have surpassed its C&I recovery rate target of 75 per cent by 2015.

- C&D waste generation was around 1.7 Mt with a resource recovery rate of 75 per cent, which is 9 percentage points above the Australian average. SA is targeting a C&D recovery rate of 90 per cent by 2015.

These data reflect the well-established recovery industry for the MSW, C&D and C&I waste streams in SA. See the overview on national waste stream profiles for more information on the MSW, C&I and C&D waste streams

Material categories

In SA the waste categories that make up the bulk of waste generation are masonry, organics, metals, paper, cardboard and fly ash. The resource recovery rates for most material categories are well above the national average. The high recovery rates for glass and plastics are linked to the container deposit system operating in SA.

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Figure 5 SA total waste generation by material category and management, 2010–11

Trends in waste generation and management 2006–07 to 2010–11

Figure 6 shows the per capita trends in waste generation and management for the period 2006–07 to 2010–11 in SA.

Figure 6 SA trends in per capita waste generation and management, 2006–07 to 2010–11

Over the five-year period the following per capita trends are illustrated for waste in SA:

- waste generation increased by 16 per cent

- the resource recovery rate increased from 69 per cent to 77 per cent between 2006–07 and 2010–11

- recycling increased by 31 per cent

- waste tonnages used for energy recovery increased by 26 per cent, mostly due to the commissioning of the SITA Resource Co facility

- waste disposal decreased by 16 per cent.

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Figure 7 shows the trends in total waste generation and management for the period 2006–07 to 2010–11 in SA.

Figure 7 SA trends in total waste generation and management, 2006–07 to 2010–11

Over the five-year period the following trends are illustrated in relation to total waste tonnages:

- waste generation increased by 20 per cent

- recycling increased by 35 per cent

- waste tonnages used for energy recovery increased by 30 per cent

- disposal decreased by 13 per cent.

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Sourcing of data

Information on policy frameworks and infrastructure were provided by the government department responsible for waste management and resource recovery in their state and territory.

Unless otherwise specified, waste generation and resource recovery data for this factsheet were sourced from Blue Environment and Randell Environmental Consulting’s Waste Generation and Resource Recovery in Australia (2013). It is important to note that the data (from this report) will not always reconcile with publicly reported data from the states and territories. The differences in data result from differences in scope, method of compilation, and assumptions used in Waste generation and resource recovery in Australia. The workbooks provide transparency so that differences between the reported data sets can be reconciled if necessary.

Case studies

Zero Waste SA encourages practices to reduce and avoid waste and advance the development of resource recovery and recycling in South Australia through research, education and grants funding. Zero Waste SA’s approach has seen many achievements: Australia’s first ban on checkout-style plastic bags; household kitchen scrap recycling; new ventures for e-waste, composting, demolition and building material recycling; waste to energy; recycling services to industry; the establishment of the Zero Waste SA Centre for Sustainable Design and Behaviour, a partnership with the University of South Australia; and partnerships with business and industry to improve sustainability and reduce operating costs.

Recycle Right a popular program

The Recycle Right householder education program addresses long-standing issues the recycling industry has faced with householders putting incorrect items in kerbside-collected recycling bins. Since its development in 2009-10 the program has evolved into a recognisable and valued educational program which uses the most up to date social marketing techniques to engage with waste educators, council staff and elected members and the community.

Community group tackles zero waste

Zero Waste SA’s School and Community Grants program recognises the important role the community plays in inspiring people of all ages to recycle and reuse. A grant awarded to the Keith War Memorial Community Centre, in the state’s south-east, has been used to purchase an additional 30 recycling bins to collect beverage containers. The community group is using South Australia’s container deposit scheme to keep cans and bottles out of landfill while raising thousands of dollars for the local hospital.

Infrastructure grants stimulate industry investment

Since 2005 Zero Waste SA’s Metropolitan Infrastructure Program has awarded $4.5 million for 20 metropolitan projects. These grants have leveraged about $10 million in industry investment, stimulated an increase in tonnes of material diverted from landfill, improved efficiencies and the quality of recycled products and, in some cases, resulted in additional employment. Under the Regional Implementation Program, $6.4 million has been provided for more than 100 projects in regional South Australia. Most of these projects are for upgraded and new transfer stations.

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