Waste generation accompanies all human activities in the form of solid, liquid and gaseous waste and comes from households, building and demolition sites and the industrial sector.

Waste is expensive to deal with and has a damaging impact on the environment, affects people’s health and can even influence trade in the economy. The volume of waste that a society produces is an indicator of resource use and of the by-products of consumption, determined by production and consumption patterns.

No headline indicator is available for this dimension.

For a more in-depth discussion about how waste relates to progress and whether it is improving in Australia, please see the Waste chapter in Measures of Australia’s Progress, 2010 (cat. no. 1370.0).