Environment Minister Stephen Dawson chaired a roundtable on waste today, where key stakeholders shared ideas and experiences on how waste could be better managed across the State.
Representatives from industries including packaging, mining, construction, hospitality and beverages took part in the roundtable as well as environmental organisations and local and State Government representatives.
The roundtable was established to hear the views of a wide variety of stakeholders on key waste generation and management issues. Their views will inform the State Government’s new waste strategy. A consultation paper, which proposes new directions for the waste strategy, was released last month and is open for public comment until March 1, 2018.
The State Government has demonstrated its commitment to waste management, introducing a number of waste reform and recycling initiatives – including banning lightweight plastic bags from next year and introducing a container deposit scheme – to help boost recycling rates across the State.
Recycling has positive economic benefits – creating more jobs than sending waste to landfill. For every 10,000 tonnes of waste landfilled, 2.8 full-time equivalent jobs are created compared to 9.2 jobs when the same amount of waste is recycled.
In 2014-15, each Western Australian generated an average of 2,623 kilograms of waste – the highest rate of waste generation in Australia per capita and 19 per cent above the national average.
To find out more and to have your say on the review of the State’s waste strategy please click here.