Western Australian waste strategy: rethinking waste

The traditional linear ‘make, use, dispose’ economy drives economic growth but also creates waste in vast quantities. Western Australia’s (WA) waste production was estimated at over 2.4 tonnes per person in 2014-15. WA is not only a very high producer of waste on a per capita basis, we are also well below the national average when it comes to recycling waste. Most waste produced in WA ends up in landfill, largely due to the perception that it is a relatively cheap disposal option. However, landfills also produce toxins that can leach into the soil and groundwater, and methane, a greenhouse gas that is 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide. The damage this does to our environment means the real cost of landfill is far more than most of us realise. Addressing this risk requires us to become better at avoiding waste production. Pay as you go programs, which provide financial incentives to decrease waste are emerging. These incentives will see us starting to treat waste as we do utilities like electricity and water