Per capita waste generation
Key Finding
Queensland households generated an average of 514kg of waste per capita in 2018–19.
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 12-year average generation rate for household waste is 600kg per capita per year. Across Queensland the average ranged from 398kg per capita in the Cairns region to 601kg in the Townsville region during 2018–19.
Since 2014–15, this has included annual averages of 264kg per capita of mixed kerbside bin waste (typically sent to landfill) and 67kg per capita of paper and packaging (sent to recovery).
Green waste and domestic self-haul quantities are more variable, surging particularly after disasters. The amount of green waste is also affected by rainfall (declining during dry times).
More information:
Relevant Sustainable Development Goals’ targets
Download data from Queensland Government data
Metadata
Household waste generated per capita from 2007–08 to 2018–19 financial year. 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.