In 2024–25, 144 local governments and regional councils in WA reported to the department on the waste services they provided to their residents, and the quantities of waste they collected and recovered.
Cost
Local governments reported that providing waste and recycling services to their residents cost them $409 million in 2024–25.
Waste collected
In 2024–25, local governments collected 1.53 million tonnes of waste from their residents and recycled 35 per cent of the collected waste. The amount of waste collected from households by local governments in WA has remained relatively stable since 2014–15. However, there has been a steady decline in the weight of waste collected per capita, from 599 kg in 2014-15, to 516 kg in 2024-25.
By weight, waste was collected from:
- Kerbside bins - 66 per cent
- Facilities where residents dropped off their waste - 25 per cent
- Vergesides (bulk waste collections) - seven per cent
- Other collections - two per cent
Regions
Seventy-four per cent of the waste collected by local governments was collected in the Perth and Peel regions. The amount of waste collected per capita by local governments outside the Perth and Peel regions was higher (690 kg) compared to local governments within Perth and Peel (474 kg). The additional waste per capita in the regions was mostly associated with waste dropped off by residents at local government provided facilities and may be, at least in part, related to how the source of waste is recorded at these facilities.
Kerbside waste
Local governments collected 1.0 million tonnes of waste from kerbside bins in 2024–25 and recycled 0.4 million tonnes (32 per cent) of this waste. Local governments diverted 0.1 million tonnes of waste from kerbside bins to waste to energy, contributing to a kerbside recovery rate of 40 per cent.
In 2024–25, 98 per cent of the population had access to at least one kerbside waste service, and 95 per cent were provided with a comingled recycling service (yellow‑lid bin). Twenty-four per cent of the population was provided with a FOGO bin and 32 per cent with a garden organics (GO) bin.
In 2024–25, the majority (65 per cent) of waste collected from kerbside bins was transported directly to landfill (from red‑lid bins), suggesting substantial opportunities for further recovery of resources from this service category.
The best‑performing kerbside system for recycling in 2024–25 was the three‑bin system that enabled recovery of FOGO materials. Three‑bin FOGO systems had an average recycling rate of 55 per cent, compared with only 21 per cent for two‑bin systems without organics composting.
During 2023-24 and 2024-25, FOGO collection and processing was disrupted for some local governments outside of the Perth metropolitan region, with contamination a major contributing factor. These local governments have been excluded from the assessment of FOGO performance.
Local governments reported collecting 0.19 million tonnes of waste from co-mingled recycling (yellow-lid) bins, with 0.14 million tonnes of this waste recycled.
Dashboard 8: Local government waste services
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