Per capita waste generation

You are viewing the archived 2015 report.

Return to the current 2020 report.

Key finding

Adjusting for population levels, the amounts of waste landfilled per capita in all regions were roughly comparable. In general the rates of disposal per capita were higher in remote Queensland.

Waste regions (information applies statewide, map locations are for reference only)

Household waste (municipal solid) is waste generated by domestic activities. It includes waste collected from households via kerbside services, from public place bins, or self-hauled by residents to council facilities.

The long term generation rate for household waste has been in the range of 600 to 700kg per capita per year.

Since 2010-2011, this has included an average of 274kg per capita of mixed kerbside bin waste (sent to landfill) and 68kg per capita of paper and packaging (sent to recovery) per year.

The amounts of green waste and domestic self-haul are more variable, surging after disasters. The amount of green waste is also affected by rainfall (declining during dry times).

More information:

Indicator: Tonnage per capita of waste generation

Household waste generated per capita from 2007-2008 to 2014-2015. This is the combined amount of household waste (landfilled + recovered) divided by the (state and regional) population. The population in any particular financial year is the number of residents at June 30 in the preceding period reported in ABS cat 3218.0.

Download data from Queensland Government data