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Renewables, Climate and Future Industries Tasmania

Fact sheet - Waste and resource recovery

Download the Action Plan Fact sheet - Waste and resource recovery (PDF)

Tasmania’s Climate Change Action Plan 2023-25

Tasmania’s Climate Change Action Plan 2023-25 outlines the Tasmanian Government’s plan for action on climate change for the next two years. It will support Tasmania’s transition to a low emissions economy, to help us reach our target to maintain net zero greenhouse gas emissions, or lower, from 2030.

Action plan priority areas

  1. Information and Knowledge

    We will ensure our businesses, industries, governments and communities can make informed decisions by providing up-to-date, high quality and user‑friendly information about Tasmania’s emissions, our future climate, and emissions reduction, sequestration and adaptation opportunities.

  2. Transition and Innovation

    We will reduce our emissions and increase our carbon sequestration by making the most of opportunities using existing and emerging technologies, and support business, industry and the community through the transition to a low emissions economy.

  3. Adaptation and Resilience

We will manage the risks and take advantage of the potential opportunities from climate change, support planning and decision making, and build the resilience of our communities, environments, industries and infrastructure.

Developing the plan

To develop the action plan, we consulted state and local government, business, industry, non‑government organisations and the community. We used the best available science and were informed by the outcomes of the most recent independent review of the Climate Change (State Action) Act 2008 and the Tasmanian Emissions Pathway Review. The action plan aligns with other Tasmanian Government policies and considers developments in other Australian jurisdictions, including the Australian Government’s climate change initiatives.

Reducing emissions from waste and improving waste and resource recovery in Tasmania

The waste sector is essential to the Tasmanian community, managing the state’s household, commercial and industrial waste and recycling, and the treatment of wastewater.

Greenhouse gas emissions

Emissions from the waste sector are produced when organic matter such as food and garden waste decompose and release methane. The treatment of wastewater also releases methane and nitrous oxide.

The latest data show that in 2021, Tasmania’s waste sector accounted for 4.6 per cent of Tasmania’s emissions, excluding the land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) sector.

Tasmanian emissions from the waste sector - 1990 to 2021

This figure includes an area chart that shows the change in Tasmania’s emissions from waste, which remained relatively constant between 1990 and 2004 (average of 0.57 Mt CO2-e), before dropping to 0.35 Mt CO2-e in 2009, with some small peaks and troughs through to 2021 (0.38 Mt CO2-e). The figure also includes a pie chart that shows waste was responsible for 4.6 per cent of Tasmania’s emissions, excluding LULUCF, in 2021.

More information about Tasmania’s emissions is available in the greenhouse gas report, published annually by the Climate Change Office and available on the ReCFIT website: www.recfit.tas.gov.au/tasmanias_greenhouse_gas_emissions

The 2021 Emissions Pathway Review identified one best-fit emissions reduction opportunity for Tasmania’s waste sector:

  • Reduce landfill methane emissions by diverting more organic waste from landfills and increasing landfill gas capture.

Emissions Reduction and Resilience Plans

We will work with business and industry to develop an Emissions Reduction and Resilience Plan for the waste sector by November 2024. That plan will ensure that we take a practical and balanced approach to reduce emissions from the sector and build its resilience to the impacts of a changing climate.

Taking practical action over the next two years

The government recognises the need to take action on climate change while the sector-based Emissions Reduction and Resilience Plans are being developed.

The government is committed to reducing emissions from the waste sector, and improving waste and resource recovery, and has several initiatives in place including:

  • investing to increase Food Organics Garden Organics (FOGO) reprocessing capacity across Tasmania
  • phasing out problematic and unnecessary plastics in Tasmania by 2025
  • delivering the second round of the Business Resource Efficiency Program
  • supporting the use of recycled materials, such as crumbed rubber from waste tyres in the state road network.

These measures build on recent achievements including the introduction of a statewide landfill levy and the creation of the Waste and Resource Recovery Board in 2022.