- About 35% (7 million tonnes) of building waste goes to landfill each year in Australia, so minimising and recycling building waste can have a big impact. Between 2016 and 2017, more than 6.7MT of this waste went into landfills across The rest is either recycled, illegally dumped, reused, reprocessed or stockpiled. But with high social, economic and environmental costs, sending waste to landfill is the worst strategy to manage this waste. China introduced its “National Sword Policy” and restricted waste imports, banning certain foreign waste materials and setting stricter limits on contamination. So, Australia’s need for solutions to landfill waste has become urgent. In Australia, the main strategy to reduce the waste sent to landfill is the use of levies. But the effectiveness of levies has been questioned in recent years by experts who argue for smarter strategies to manage waste from construction and demolition. They say that imposing a landfill levy has not achieved the intended goals, such as a reduction in waste disposal or an increase in waste recovery activities. www.rmit.edu.au/news/all- news/2019/jul/construction-industry-waste-landfill.
