Paromita Mitra
10/11/2020 3:37 PM
There are 3 major landfills in Sydney, Australia. Sydney is home to more than 200,000 residents and 437,000 employment opportunities. In the next decade, these numbers are about to increase by 60,000 and 120,000, respectively reaching about 5.8 million people in 2030. Rubbish generation in Sydney is growing at a rate that is 6x faster than its population growth.
The city generates more than 5,500 tonnes of rubbish each day and on the daily average, Sydney is estimated to have around 1.2 million residents, students, workers and visitors combined. Each person produces around 1 kg of wastes daily and 2 tonnes of rubbish yearly. These wastes contribute to approximately 8% of the city’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, the city also faces the challenge of collecting around 4,000 tonnes of illegally dumped wastes every year.
Sydney Rubbish Numbers
Sydney is home to more than 200,000 residents and 437,000 employment opportunities. In the next decade, these numbers are about to increase by 60,000 and 120,000, respectively reaching about 5.8 million people in 2030. Rubbish generation in Sydney is growing at a rate that is 6x faster than its population growth.
The city generates more than 5,500 tonnes of rubbish each day and on the daily average, Sydney is estimated to have around 1.2 million residents, students, workers and visitors combined. Each person produces around 1 kg of wastes daily and 2 tonnes of rubbish yearly. These wastes contribute to approximately 8% of the city’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, the city also faces the challenge of collecting around 4,000 tonnes of illegally dumped wastes every year.
Landfills
- Sydney has three major landfill sites: two are used for organic or putrescible waste while the last one is for non-organic junk.
- Of the 5,500 tonnes of rubbish produced daily in Sydney, more than 2,000 tonnes still end up in landfills.
- In 2015, the Environment Protection Authority estimates Sydney’s spare landfill space to be 2.1 million tonnes per year.
- More than half of the rubbish ending up in landfills comes from the city’s accommodation and entertainment industry. Other major landfill wastes generator is the commercial offices which account for 21% and the retail sector which accounts for 13% of wastes in landfills.
- The city’s community, medical and healthcare facilities, and the industrial division, together with other subsectors each dispose of 3% of the residual wastes in landfill sites while the remaining 1% comes from the educational sector.
- The city of Sydney aims to convert 26% of its waste into energy in the year 2030. Together with the rubbishes processed in recycling and organic recovery facilities, the city intends to cut down its landfill wastes to only 3% by that year.
Recycling Centres
- Sydney launched its Zero Waste campaign in 2010 with the goal to improve and expand on its recycling services. Since then, 69% of the daily rubbish generation in the city is recycled. Similarly, 63% of the total waste generated in NSW is recycled.
- In 2016, approximately 28% of the overall residential wastes are processed in the recycling centres of the City. This means that around 18,000 tonnes of Sydney’s MSW is segregated at source and diverted from landfills.
- Sydney targets to achieve 70% waste diversion from landfills and 35% recycling at source in 2021 up to 2030.
- In contrast to source-separated recycling, Sydney also processes mixed recycling which amounts to 23% of the city’s total waste. In 2021, they aim to increase mixed recycled wastes by 2000 tonnes.
It takes roughly 10 years to go from conception to a landfill site being ready to get it's first tonne of waste. The waste situation in Sydney is unlikely to get better before 2030 (provided the current plans can be actioned). The overall recycling rate has increased in the past decade & currently sits at 63%