The latest national waste and plastics reporting, released today, has revealed improvements in resource recovery, recycling and plastics recovery across Australia in 2024-25, despite an increase in the amount of waste generated.
The National Waste and Resource Recovery report and the Australian Plastics Flows and Fates report provide important insights into the waste Australia generates and where it ends up.
Together, they give governments, industry and the community a clearer picture of Australia’s waste and resource recovery performance and where to focus action to meet our targets under Australia’s Circular Economy Framework.
The National Waste and Resource Recovery Report was previously released every two years, but both reports will now be issued annually, to boost transparency and provide more up to date information on Australia’s recycling goals.
The new reports found that Australia recovered and recycled record volumes of material in 2024-25, with increased recovery across several major materials streams. Nearly all states and territories increased recovery rates.
The reports also found:
- Australia generated 79 million tonnes of waste in 2024-25, equivalent to 2.9 tonnes for every Australian.
- The construction and demolition sector was the largest waste category (followed by organics and ash from coal-fired power stations), and it also recycled the most – over 80 percent.
- Australian households and local government accounted for just 18 percent of waste generation, with around 50 percent of this either recycled or used for energy.
- In 2024-25, 106 kilotonnes of waste was also generated from natural disasters including storms, floods and fires in NSW and Queensland.
- Australia recovered 512,000 tonnes of plastic – a 15 percent increase on the previous year. 16 percent of plastics were recycled or used for energy recovery, with the rest going to landfill. This shows there is more work to do.
The Albanese Government has committed more than $200 million in new and upgraded recycling infrastructure through the Recycling Modernisation Fund. Almost half of the projects support solutions for plastics, including hard-to-recycle plastics.
Minister for the Environment and Water Murray Watt said the new reports are an important measure of Australia’s progress towards a circular economy.
“Australia is recovering and recycling more of its waste, but these reports also show the scale of the task ahead if we are to double the circularity of the Australian economy by 2035,” Minister Watt said.
“We know that there is still a lot more to be done. That’s why the Albanese Government is working with State, Territory and Local Governments to improve access to recycling facilities, boost demand and harmonise systems across the country.
“This includes investing close to $1 billion with industry and state and territory governments to increase our recycling capacity by more than 1.3 million tonnes a year and create about 3,000 ongoing and construction jobs.
“Every Australian has a role to play in choosing sustainable products and disposing of waste in a sensible way. I’d strongly encourage Australians, wherever and whenever they can, to buy packaging with recycled content, avoid single-use products and check the label for proper disposal instructions when it’s reached end of life.”
It comes as Environment Ministers from across Australia met on Friday to advance a shared national agenda, including through a new Circular Economy Roadmap, which identifies priority issues and action to reduce waste nationwide.
Ministers agreed that reform to rules for packaging, including soft plastics, remains an important environmental priority and agreed to work together and with industry to strengthen packaging regulation, including developing a packaging reform plan for the future under the National Competition Policy. This work will include exploring harmonisation of the bans of problematic plastic items where handling currently differs between states and territories.
