The EPA collects data under legislation through the Waste and Resource Recovery Portal (WARRP). The introduction of the WARRP and supporting regulation reform, requiring mandatory reporting for most resource recovery facilities, has significantly improved the quality of data collected and published in NSW, ensuring its reliability through controls outlined in the 2022–23 Data Quality Statement. Note the total figures may not represent the sum of the component numbers due to rounding.
Key findings
The overall recycling rate in NSW for 2022–23 was 66%. This is an increase on the 2015–16 baseline (63%) however has remained consistent with the five-year average of 65% from 2018-19 to 2022-23.
Figure 1
The 2022-23 recycling rate is calculated based on the diversion of 14.7 million tonnes of waste from landfill, out of a total of 22.4 million tonnes of waste generated during the year. Figure 1 illustrates the total tonnes recycled and disposed from 2015–16 to 2022–23.
The waste generation of 22.4 million tonnes in 2022–23 was above the five-year average of 21.9 million tonnes. The increase in total tonnes generated reflects an increase in the waste streams of commercial and industrial (C&I) and construction and demolition (C&D) waste generated. Municipal solid waste (MSW) generation saw a slight decrease compared to 2021–22. Figure 2 illustrates the tonnes of waste generated, by waste stream for the 2015–16 to 2022–23 financial years.
Figure 2
Recycling performance in NSW
In 2022–23, the overall recycling rate for NSW was 66%, an increase of 1% on the previous year. The recycling rate has plateaued while waste generation has continued to increase since 2015.
Figure 3 illustrates the recycling rates for each stream compared to the overall recycling rate. MSW peaked with a recycling rate of 49% in 2022–23. This was 6% higher than 2021–22 and included increases in the proportion of both organics and plastics being recycled.
C&I and C&D recycling rates have remained steady over the five-year period from 2018–19 to 2022–23. In 2022–23 recycling rates were 51% for C&I and 78% for C&D. There was a nominal decrease in the rate for C&D (down from 80% in 2021–22), which was offset by increases in the MSW and C&I recycling rates.
Figure 3
Figure 4 illustrates the tonnages of each waste stream and the portion of each stream that is recycled and disposed.
Figure 4
Figure 5 shows the waste recycled, by waste category and waste stream for the 2022–23 reporting period.
Figure 5
Waste generation per capita
Total waste generated in NSW per capita in 2022–23 was 2.68 tonnes, an increase on the 2.53 tonnes per capita in the previous financial year. Over the five-year period to the end of 2022–23, the total waste generated per capita has fluctuated between 2.53 (2021–22) and 2.75 (2018–19) tonnes per capita.
MSW generation per capita remained stable over the five-years from 2018–19 to the end of 2022–23. There was a slight increase in 2020–21 (0.60 tonnes per capita), possibly due to public health orders for the COVID-19 pandemic, before returning to pre-pandemic levels in 2021–22. This continued through 2022–23, where 0.54 tonnes per capita were generated in this stream per year.
C&I waste generation has increased over the same period from 0.55 tonnes per capita in 2018–19 to 0.62 tonnes per capita in 2022–23.
C&D waste generation was 1.52 tonnes per capita in 2022–23. This was a notable increase on the past two years where waste generation reflected pre-pandemic levels after dropping to 1.40 tonnes per capita in 2021–22.
Figure 6 illustrates the waste generation per capita, in total and across the three waste streams for the 2015–16 to 2022–23 financial years.