The National Waste Policy provides a national framework for waste and resource recovery in Australia. It also highlights the importance of working together and outlines the roles and responsibilities for everyone - businesses, governments, communities and individuals.
The policy outlines the five key principles for waste management that will enable Australia to transition to a circular economy. These include:
- Avoid waste
- Improve resource recovery
- Increase use of recycled material and build demand and markets for recycled products
- Better manage material flows to benefit human health, the environment and the economy
- Improve information to support innovation, guide investment and enable informed consumer decisions
The first National Waste Policy was published in 2009. An updated National Waste Policy was published in 2018.
The 2019 National Waste Action Plan drives implementation of our seven ambitious targets, including:
- Regulate waste exports
- Reduce total waste generated by 10% per person by 2030
- Recover 80% of all waste by 2030
- Significantly increase the use of recycled content by governments and industry
- Phase out problematic and unnecessary plastics by 2025
- Halve the amount of organic waste sent to landfill by 2030
- Provide data to support better decisions