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The Australian Government is working with industry to make inroads into waste minimisation in several areas, including packaging, paper, organics, construction and demolition, finance, automotive and electrical industries. For example, the reduction of organic waste from waste streams is important because it could reduce Australia's greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 3% and significantly reduce the volume of landfill (Department of the Environment and Heritage 2004a). In addition, the adoption of the National Packaging Covenant in 1999 is a significant initiative aimed at improving the management of used package materials (Department of the Environment and Heritage 2004b).
This section examines environment management in the form of the waste management industry. Waste management services include the collection, transport and/or disposal of refuse (except through sewerage systems) generated by Australian households and businesses. Details of the composition of income generated by waste management businesses, and the nature and volume of waste quantities involved in 2002-03 are provided. Information is also provided on waste management and environment protection in the mining and manufacturing industries. These industries are typically the largest consumers of environment protection goods and services.
Waste management industry
During 2002-03 almost 1,100 private and public trading sector waste management businesses generated $2,684m in total income (table 24.10). The collection and transport of waste was the major source of income generating $1,595m (59.4%) followed by the treatment/processing and/or disposal of waste ($534m or 19.9%) and income from recyclables ($227m or 8.4%). Businesses providing waste management services were predominantly small employers, with 74% of all businesses employing 0 to 4 persons.
There were slightly more than 600 general government organisations undertaking waste management related activities. This sector generated $181m from the treatment/processing and/or disposal of waste and $61m from the collection and transport of waste during 2002-03.
24.10 INCOME OF WASTE MANAGEMENT BUSINESS(a), By source - 2002-03
|
 | | | Businesses
at end June(b) | Income | Proportion of
total income |
| | | no. | $m | % |
|
| Collection and transport of waste | | | |
| Solid waste | | | |
| | Domestic and municipal | 551 | 435.0 | 16.2 |
| | Commercial, industrial(c) | 629 | 999.1 | 37.2 |
| | Other | *32 | 9.9 | 0.4 |
| Liquid waste (incl. sludge) | *149 | 151.4 | 5.6 |
| Total | 1,034 | 1,595.4 | 59.4 |
| Treatment/processing and/or disposal of waste | | | |
| Solid waste | | | |
| | Domestic and municipal | *76 | 125.8 | 4.7 |
| | Commercial, industrial(c) | *69 | 307.7 | 11.5 |
| | Other | 14 | 8.9 | 0.3 |
| Liquid waste (incl. sludge) | *45 | 91.7 | 3.4 |
| Total | *143 | 534.1 | 19.9 |
| Recyclables | | | |
| Collection and transport(d) | *134 | 132.5 | 4.9 |
| Treatment/processing(d) | 22 | 53.9 | 2.0 |
| Sales of green waste/organic material | **31 | 11.5 | 0.4 |
| Sales of other recyclables | *98 | 28.7 | 1.1 |
| Total | *231 | 226.6 | 8.4 |
| Activities related to renewable energy(e) | 8 | 0.7 | - |
| All other income(f) | n.a. | 327.4 | 12.2 |
| Total | 1,092 | 2,684.2 | 100.0 |
|
(a) Private and public trading sector businesses.
(b) As businesses may have had more than one source of income, the counts of businesses for each income source do not sum to the total.
(c) Also includes construction and demolition.
(d) Includes green waste/organic material.
(e) Includes sales of landfill gas, sales of electricity generated from landfill gas and sales of waste for use in power generation schemes.
(f) Includes rent, leasing and hiring income, interest income and other income.
Source: Waste Management Services, Australia, 2002-03 (8698.0). |
During 2002-03, 5.2 million tonnes of waste was received and disposed of at landfills in New South Wales (table 24.11). Commercial, industrial, construction and demolition waste comprised 68% of the total, while the remaining 32% was from domestic and municipal waste.
Of the 5.5 million tonnes of waste received at landfills in Victoria in 2002-03, 51% was comprised of commercial, industrial, construction and demolition, with domestic and municipal accounting for 39%. Another 10% was reported as other 'prescribed waste'.
Queensland recorded a higher proportion of domestic and municipal waste to landfill (39%) than commercial, industrial, construction and demolition (26%). Other waste, which comprised cover material and regulated waste, accounted for 35% of the total 2.8 million tonnes reported for Queensland.
Quantities of waste received at liquid treatment plants (excluding sewage plants) operated by waste management businesses ranged from 263,000 tonnes in New South Wales to 166,900 tonnes in Victoria. Quantities of waste received for disposal at facilities (other than liquid or sewage treatment plants, transfer stations and landfills) totalled 41,500 tonnes and 41,300 tonnes in New South Wales and Victoria, respectively (table 24.12).
24.11 SOLID LANDFILL WASTE QUANTITIES(a)(b), By waste type - 2002-03
|
| | NSW | Vic. | Qld | SA | WA | Tas. | NT | ACT |
| | '000 t | '000 t | '000 t | '000 t | '000 t | '000 t | '000 t | '000 t |
|
| Domestic and municipal | 1,657 | 2,132 | 1,108 | n.a. | 741 | n.a. | n.a. | 82 |
| Commercial, industrial, construction, demolition | | | | | | | | |
| Commercial and industrial | 2,358 | n.a. | 522 | n.a. | 420 | n.a. | n.a. | 98 |
| Construction and demolition | 1,193 | n.a. | 200 | n.a. | 1,535 | n.a. | n.a. | 27 |
| Total | 3,551 | 2,790 | 722 | n.a. | 1,955 | n.a. | n.a. | 125 |
| Other | - | 545 | 986 | n.a. | - | n.a. | n.a. | - |
| Total | 5,208 | 5,467 | 2,815 | 1,252 | 2,696 | n.a. | n.a. | 207 |
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(a) Received by private and public trading sector waste management businesses. (b) Data as reported by state and territory government departments and Environment Protection Authorities across all industries. Refer to Technical Notes in 'Waste Management Services, Australia, 2002-03' (8698.0) for more details about the data, including differences in scope across states and territories.
Source: Waste Management Services, Australia, 2002-03 (8698.0). |
24.12 WASTE QUANTITIES OTHER THAN LANDFILL(a) - 2002-03
|
| NSW | Vic. | Qld | SA | WA | Tas. | NT | ACT | Aust. |
| '000 t | '000 t | '000 t | '000 t | '000 t | '000 t | '000 t | '000 t | '000 t |
|
| Received at liquid treatment plants(b) | *263.6 | 166.9 | 172.3 | n.p. | n.p. | n.p. | n.p. | n.p. | 698.1 |
| Received for disposal at other facilities(c) | 41.5 | 41.3 | 24.5 | n.p. | n.p. | n.p. | n.p. | n.p. | 123.5 |
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(a) Received by private and public trading sector waste management businesses.
(b) Excludes waste received at sewage treatment plants, landfills and transfer stations.
(c) Excludes waste not handled by waste management services businesses and waste disposed of at landfills.
Source: Waste Management Services, Australia, 2002-03 (8698.0). |
Mining industry
In 2000-01, 65% of businesses in the mining industry incurred current environment protection expenditure. These businesses spent $284m on payments to government, payments to private organisations and other expenses. Current expenditure on environment management comprised less than 1% of total current expenses for this industry. The largest current expenditures were on minesite rehabilitation ($98m) and solid waste management ($54m) (graph 24.13).
Total capital environment protection expenditure was $107m, or 2% of total capital expenditure. Approximately 28% of all mining businesses undertook capital expenditure to protect the environment in 2000-01.
In 2000-01 mining operations had 39,347 hectares (ha) of newly disturbed land, 34,972 ha of land under rehabilitation and 12,695 ha of land rehabilitated to its pre-mining condition. Current expenditure on current and finalised minesite rehabilitation projects was approximately $2,050 per ha and $145 per ha for capital expenditure.
The metal ore mining subdivision ($154m) reported the highest current environment protection expenditure in the mining industry in 2000-01. Metal ore mining had major expenditure on minesite rehabilitation ($50m) and reducing air emissions ($34m). Coal mining was also a significant contributor to minesite rehabilitation ($36m) (table 24.14).
24.14 CURRENT ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION EXPENDITURE, Mining - 2000-01
|
| Minesite rehabilitation | Solid
waste | Liquid
waste(a) | Air
emissions | Other | Administration | Total |
| Industry subdivision | $'000 | $'000 | $'000 | $'000 | $'000 | $'000 | $'000 |
|
| Coal mining | 35,800.2 | 21,219.4 | 6,274.4 | 3,957.3 | 5,772.8 | 9,400.3 | 82,424.5 |
| Oil and gas extraction | 1,798.4 | 3,267.2 | 6,227.1 | 947.3 | 3,512.3 | 7,781.6 | 23,534.0 |
| Metal ore mining | 50,160.0 | 24,648.4 | 11,367.8 | 34,116.6 | 7,690.8 | 26,440.1 | 154,423.8 |
| Other mining | 9,903.5 | 4,705.6 | 941.0 | 1,472.7 | 1,997.0 | 4,426.0 | 23,445.8 |
| Total mining | 97,662.1 | 53,840.7 | 24,810.4 | 40,493.9 | 18,972.9 | 48,048.1 | 283,828.1 |
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(a) Includes waste water.
Source: Environment Protection, Mining and Manufacturing Industries, Australia, 2000-2001 (4603.0). |
Manufacturing industry
In 2000-01, 70% of manufacturing businesses reported current environment protection expenditure. This amounted to $668m in current expenditure (less than 0.5% of total manufacturing expenses). Solid waste management was $284m and liquid waste management was $183m (graph 24.15).
Capital expenditure on environment protection relates to acquisition of plant, machinery, equipment and land, construction and installation of facilities, and capitalised wages and salaries. Purchases only partly used for environment protection purposes are excluded. Environment protection capital expenditure accounted for nearly 4% ($438m) of the total capital expenditure for the manufacturing industry in 2000-01. Over 17% of businesses were estimated to have some capital expenditure. Approximately 40% ($176m) of capital environment protection expenditure was on liquid waste management.
24.16 CURRENT ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION EXPENDITURE, Manufacturing - 2000-01
|
| Solid
waste | Liquid
waste(a) | Air
emissions | Other | Administration | Total |
| Industry subdivision | $'000 | $'000 | $'000 | $'000 | $'000 | $'000 |
|
| Food, beverages and tobacco | 68,489.4 | 57,348.0 | 3,014.6 | 4,984.5 | 30,603.4 | 164,439.9 |
| Textiles, clothing, footwear and leather | 15,710.3 | 17,536.9 | 607.8 | 403.6 | 3,547.2 | 37,805.8 |
| Wood and paper products | 35,482.3 | 15,208.8 | 6,153.9 | 2,565.6 | 7,553.0 | 66,963.5 |
| Printing, publishing and recorded media | 8,951.3 | 3,189.4 | 350.9 | 287.9 | 2,605.0 | 15,384.6 |
| Petroleum, coal, chemical and associated products | 36,705.6 | 37,741.2 | 4,222.6 | 7,451.9 | 24,890.5 | 111,011.8 |
| Non-metallic mineral products | 22,827.7 | 6,305.0 | 5,102.1 | 6,985.6 | 6,679.0 | 47,899.5 |
| Metal products | 56,944.0 | 25,595.0 | 12,451.0 | 6,347.9 | 35,217.0 | 136,554.9 |
| Machinery and equipment | 25,687.8 | 19,336.2 | 1,966.3 | 3,346.3 | 20,522.4 | 70,858.9 |
| Other manufacturing | 13,226.5 | 1,209.1 | 583.1 | 334.2 | 2,177.7 | 17,530.6 |
| Total manufacturing | 284,025.0 | 183,469.6 | 34,452.3 | 32,707.5 | 133,795.2 | 668,449.6 |
|
(a) Includes waste water.
Source: Environment Protection, Mining and Manufacturing Industries, Australia, 2000-2001 (4603.0). |
The main type of waste produced by manufacturers was paper and cardboard derived from inputs into the manufacturing process (52% of all businesses). Of the waste types generated, metal scrap was the most recycled form of waste material, with 82% of all manufacturers with that type of waste reporting metal scrap recycling. Nearly two-thirds (65%) of glass waste generated was also recycled (table 24.17).
24.17 MANUFACTURING BUSINESSES GENERATING AND RECYCLING SOLID WASTE TYPES - 2000-01
|
| Proportion of businesses |
|
|
| Generating waste type | Recycling solid waste(a)(b) |
| Solid waste | % | % |
|
| Metal | 35.1 | 82.0 |
| Glass | 7.9 | 64.7 |
| Plastics | 21.0 | 42.8 |
| Paper and cardboard | 51.8 | 56.4 |
| Construction and demolition | 4.9 | 27.4 |
| Organic | 6.2 | 43.6 |
| Textiles, wood, leather and rubber | 24.7 | 31.1 |
| Other | 7.0 | 36.3 |
| None | 19.0 | . . |
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(a) Non-hazardous.
(b) Of those generating waste type.
Source: Environment Protection, Mining and Manufacturing Industries, Australia, 2000-2001 (4603.0). |
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