Waste Account, Australia, Experimental Estimates methodology

The Waste Account is produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and released under the Common national approach to environmental-economic accounting in Australia. These experimental estimates have been developed in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (DAWE) to help inform Australia's National Waste Policy.

This account is part of a suite of environmental-economic accounts produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) based on the United Nations System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA). The SEEA framework extends the boundaries of the System of National Accounts (SNA) framework to include environmental resources, which occur outside economic production boundaries measured by the SNA.

The SEEA Central Framework uses a systematic approach to organise environmental and economic information. It covers, as completely as possible, the stocks and flows relevant for analysis of environmental and economic issues. This framework applies accounting concepts, structures, rules and principles of the SNA. Environmental-economic accounts deliver important extensions to SNA accounts. These accounts may include physical supply and use tables, functional accounts (such as environmental expenditure accounts), and asset accounts for natural resources.

For this account the physical supply and use tables align with the SEEA Central Framework where possible. However, it does not identify a separation between residual flows and product flows, or flows to and from the environment.

Solid waste supply and use:

• Physical supply table presents the total supply of solid waste products within the economy (including imports).
• Physical use table presents the total use of solid waste materials within the economy (including exports).

The SEEA framework (paragraph 3.269) defines solid waste as:

"...discarded materials that are no longer required by the owner or user. Where the unit discarding the materials receives no payment for the materials then the flow is considered a residual flow of solid waste. Where the unit discarding the materials receives a payment but the actual residual value of the material is small - for example in the case of scrap metal sold to a recycling firm - this flow is considered a product flow of solid waste."

Waste materials considered out of scope were primary production waste, waste managed entirely on-site (own use of waste), liquid waste, radioactive waste, waste-water (untreated effluent, sewage water and trade waste) and emissions.

The National Waste Report was developed by Blue Environment Consulting for DAWE and is a key data source for this account.

The National Waste Report compiles solid waste data provided by the states, territories and industry by financial year. It presents data on solid waste sent for recycling, energy recovery from solid waste, and the disposal of solid waste to landfill. The report presents data by material category and material type.

The Environmental Indicators Survey is a small-scale survey run by the Australian Bureau of Statistics that collects information about key energy and water consumers and their consumption of and expenditure on energy. Approximately 5,000 businesses in Australia were surveyed, which produced new waste generation data to better inform the estimated industry proportions.

The Environmental Indicators survey provided data for the following key industries: mining, manufacturing, electricity gas water and waste services, construction and transport (transport data was disregarded due to high levels of imputation). Data items included waste generation by industry, recycling intentions by industry, and expenditure on waste management services by industry.

ABS trade data provided imports and exports of waste products, which are components of the physical supply and use tables. Through consultation with the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, waste imports and exports were identified and classified using the Australian Harmonized Export Commodity Classification (AHECC) and Harmonised Tariff Item Statistical Classification (HTISC). These reference codes are used to calculate amount of waste (physical and monetary) entering and exiting Australia. Further assumptions were made to incorporate the ABS trade data with the National Waste report data (detailed in methods).

• Australian Industry, 2018-19 
• Australian National Accounts: Input-Output Tables (Product Details), 2017-18
• Australian National Accounts: Input-Output Tables, 2018-19
• Australian National Accounts: Supply Use Tables, 2018-19
• Australian System of National Accounts, 2018-19
• Energy Account, Australia, 2018-19

ANZSIC Division A: The agriculture, forestry and fishing industry includes units mainly engaged in growing crops, raising animals, growing and harvesting timber, and harvesting fish and other animals from farms or their natural habitats. The division makes a distinction between two basic activities: production, and support services to production. Included as production activities are horticulture, livestock production and aquaculture, forestry and logging, and fishing, hunting and trapping.

Aluminium is a chemical element and a soft, ductile metal.

The solid remains of fires and refers to all non-aqueous, non-gaseous residues that remain after something is burned. In this publication, ash from coal-fired power stations refers to fly ash, a pre-consumer waste generated during the combustion of coal for electricity generation.

A sticky, black, and highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum, also known as bitumen.

The Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) is a classification that provides a framework for organising data about businesses by grouping business units carrying out similar productive activities.

The ANZSIC is a hierarchical classification comprising four levels, namely Divisions (the highest level of the classification), Subdivisions, Groups and Classes (the lowest level of the classification).

The amount receivable by the producer from the purchaser for a unit of a good or service produced as output, minus any tax payable plus any subsidy receivable on that unit as a consequence of its production or sale; it excludes any transport charges invoiced separately by the producer.

Treated sewage sludges.

A building material used to make walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Traditionally, the term brick referred to a unit composed of clay, but it is now used to denote rectangular units made of clay-bearing soil, sand, and lime, or concrete materials.

Also known as fibro, it is a building material used to cover the exterior of a building in both commercial and domestic applications.

The difference in value between inventories or storage of recovered waste materials held at the beginning and end of the reference period by enterprises and general government. For waste accounting purposes, physical changes in inventories reflect the amounts extracted or deposited after supplying domestic business and export market.

A category in the National Waste Report. Waste that is produced by institutions and businesses; includes waste from schools, restaurants, offices, retail and wholesale businesses, and industries including manufacturing. C&I waste does not include waste from the construction and demolition (C&D) sector.

Materials mixed together, such as plastic bottles with glass and metal containers. Commingled recyclable materials require sorting after collection before they can be recycled.

Total remuneration, in cash or in kind, payable by an enterprise to an employee in return for work done by the employee during the accounting period. It is further classified into two sub-components: wages and salaries; and employers’ social contributions. Compensation of employees is not payable in respect of unpaid work undertaken voluntarily, including the work done by members of a household within an unincorporated enterprise owned by the same household. Compensation of employees excludes any taxes payable by the employer on the wage and salary bill (e.g. payroll tax). 

A composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens over time.

ANZSIC Division E: The construction division includes units mainly engaged in the construction of buildings and other structures, additions, alterations, reconstruction, installation, and maintenance and repairs of buildings and other structures.

A category in the National Waste Report. Refers to waste produced by demolition and building activities, including road and rail construction and maintenance and excavation of land associated with construction activities. The C&D waste stream usually covers only some of the generation, disposal and recycling of C&D wastes, as these materials can also be found in the MSW and C&I streams, or as hazardous wastes.

Estimates are valued at the prices of the period to which the observation relates. For example, estimates for this financial year are valued using this financial year’s prices. This contrasts to chain volume measures where the prices used in valuation refer to the prices of the previous year.

Waste that is buried in landfill or incinerated or any other permanent form of removing waste that is not recovered or reused in any way. For facilities other than landfill, quantities disposed refer to waste that is sent to disposal facilities operated by either the same or a different organisation.

A resource recovery method involving the collection and processing of waste for use as a raw material in the manufacture of the same or similar non-waste product. In this publication domestic recycling refers only to the collection and sorting of waste intended for secondary use in domestic production.

Electrical and electronic equipment that is dependent on electric currents or electromagnetic fields in order to function (including all components, subassemblies and consumables which are part of the original equipment at the time of discarding. E-waste may include:

1.  consumer/entertainment electronics (e.g. televisions, DVD players & tuners)
2.  devices of office, information & communications technology (e.g. computers, telephones & mobile phones)
3.  household appliances (e.g. fridges, washing machines & microwaves)
4.  lighting devices (e.g. desk lamps)
5.  power tools
6.  devices used for sport & leisure including toys (e.g. fitness machines & remote control cars).

ANZSIC Division D: The electricity, gas, water and waste services industry comprises units engaged in the provision of electricity; gas through mains systems; water; drainage; and sewage services. This division also includes units mainly engaged in the collection, treatment and disposal of waste materials; remediation of contaminated materials (including land); and materials recovery activities.

The release of a particular gas to the atmosphere as a result of a certain activity. Emissions can be of the following four types:

1. Generated - the gross result of a process or activity 
2. Recovered - the diversion of emissions for use in a secondary process, such as power generation 
3. Sinks - the process of removing carbon from the atmosphere 
4. Net emissions - remaining gas released to the atmosphere after generation, recovery and sinks are taken into account
    

A waste fate in which a substantial portion of the embodied energy in a waste is recovered.

An information system and framework that links the economic activities and uses of a resource to changes in the natural resource base, therefore linking resource use with the System of National Accounts. See also SEEA.

Goods exported (exports) represent the quantity of goods sent to other countries, or for which ownership changes from residents to non-residents.

Metals which contain iron (e.g. cast iron, steel).

Final demand are those products and services sold to units that do not use them as inputs into production. In waste accounting terms these are where recovered goods are traded, and the provision of services where the material is generated as a result of final consumption, or consumption of goods where they are not inputs into production.

Use that finally consumes a product, as opposed to an intermediate use. Final use includes: household final consumption; government final consumption; exports; and changes in inventories.

Unwanted or leftover food scraps and can be classified as 'unavoidable' (non-edible peelings) or 'avoidable' (leftover food).

A clean, uniformly sized, high quality silica sand, used in foundry casting processes. The sand is bonded to form molds or patterns used for ferrous (iron and steel) and non-ferrous (copper, aluminium, brass) metal castings.

Typically garden organic 'wastes' that arise from gardening and maintenance activities, such as lawn clippings and branches.

Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline) solid material. Glass is typically brittle and optically transparent. Glass is produced by fusion, usually consisting of mutually dissolved silica and silicates that also contain soda and lime, as in the ordinary variety used for windows and bottles.

Net expenditure on goods and services by public authorities, other than those classified as public corporations, which does not result in the creation of fixed assets or inventories or in the acquisition of land and existing buildings or second-hand assets. It comprises expenditure on compensation of employees (other than those charged to capital works, etc.), goods and services (other than fixed assets and inventories) and consumption of fixed capital. Expenditure on repair and maintenance of roads is included. Fees, etc., charged by general government bodies for goods sold and services rendered are offset against purchases. Net expenditure overseas by general government bodies and purchases from public corporations are included. Expenditure on defence assets is classified as gross fixed capital formation.

The operating surplus accruing to all enterprises, except unincorporated enterprises, from their operations in Australia. It is the excess of gross output over the sum of intermediate consumption, compensation of employees, and taxes less subsidies on production and imports. It is calculated before deduction of consumption of fixed capital, dividends, interest, royalties and land rent, and direct taxes payable, but after deducting the inventory valuation adjustment. Gross operating surplus is also calculated for general government and it equals general government's consumption of fixed capital.

The value of output at basic prices minus the value of intermediate consumption at purchasers' prices. The term is used to describe gross product by industry and by sector. Basic prices valuation of output removes the distortion caused by variations in the incidence of commodity taxes and subsidies across the output of individual industries.

Hazardous, special, listed or prescribed wastes, that are potentially harmful to human health or the environment, requiring special treatment. Examples include waste oils, organic chemicals, contaminated earth, medical wastes, asbestos, acids, reactive chemicals, pesticides and radioactive material.

A thermoplastic polymer produced from the monomer ethylene. With a high strength-to-density ratio, HDPE is used in the production of plastic bottles, corrosion-resistant piping, geomembranes and plastic lumber. HDPE is commonly recycled, and has the number '2' as its resin identification code.

A group of two or more related or unrelated people who usually reside in the same dwelling, who regard themselves as a household, and who make common provision for food or other essentials for living; or a person living in a dwelling who makes provision for his/her own food and other essentials for living, without combining with any other person.

Net expenditure on goods and services by persons and expenditure of a current nature by private non-profit institutions serving households. This item excludes unincorporated businesses and expenditures on assets by non-profit institutions (included in gross fixed capital formation). Also excluded is expenditure on maintenance of dwellings (treated as intermediate expenses of private enterprises), but personal expenditure on motor vehicles and other durable goods and the imputed rent of owner-occupied dwellings are included. The value of 'backyard' production (including food produced and consumed on farms) is included in household final consumption expenditure and the payment of wages and salaries in kind (e.g. food and lodging supplied free to employees) is counted in both household income and household final consumption expenditure.

Goods imported (imports) represent the quantity of goods received from other countries or for which ownership changes from non-residents to residents.

Intensity is a measure of the environmental recourse consumed to produce one unit of economic output.

Intermediate consumption consists of the value of the goods and services used as inputs by a process of production, excluding the compensation of employees and consumption of fixed capital.

Intermediate use consists of goods and services consumed as inputs by a process of production, excluding fixed assets whose consumption is recorded as consumption of fixed capital. The goods or services may be either transformed or used up by the production process.

A site used for disposal of solid material (i.e. is spadeable) by burial in the ground between layers of earth.

A durable and flexible material created by tanning animal rawhides and skins.

A material constructed from paperboard with layers of plastic, and in the case of long-life products, a thin layer of aluminium foil and used in beverage cartons.

Wastes that are not solid or gaseous. May refer to sludges and slurries, or other liquids discharged to sewer. May also refer to waste water. Liquid waste means any waste that:

1.  has an angle of repose less than 5 degrees above horizontal, or
2.  becomes free-flowing at or below 60 degrees Celsius or when it is transported, or
3.  is generally not capable of being picked up by a spade or shovel.

A thermoplastic made from the monomer ethylene.

ANZSIC Division C: The manufacturing division includes units mainly engaged in the physical or chemical transformation of materials, substances or components into new products (except agriculture and construction). The materials, substances or components transformed by units in this division are raw materials that are products of agriculture, forestry, fishing and mining, or products of other manufacturing units.

Masonry materials include asphalt, bricks, concrete, clay, fines, rubble and soil. Waste produced by demolition and building activities, including road and rail construction and maintenance and excavation of land associated with construction activities.

There are two main categories of metals: ferrous and non-ferrous. Metals which contain iron in them are known as ferrous where metals without iron are non-ferrous. Common non-ferrous metals are copper, brass, aluminium, zinc, magnesium, tin, nickel, and lead. Non-ferrous metals also include precious and exotic metals. Precious metals are metals with a high market value in any form, such as gold, silver and platinum. The more frequently recycled metals are scrap steel, iron, lead, aluminium, copper, stainless steel and zinc.

ANZSIC Division B: The mining division includes units that mainly extract naturally occurring mineral solids, such as coal and ores; liquid minerals, such as crude petroleum; and gases, such as natural gas. The term mining is used in the broad sense to include: underground or open cut mining; dredging; quarrying; well operations or evaporation pans; recovery from ore dumps or tailings as well as beneficiation activities (i.e. preparing, including crushing, screening, washing and flotation) and other preparation work customarily performed at the mine site, or as a part of mining activity.

A category in the NWR. Waste produced primarily by households and council facilities, including biodegradable material, recyclable materials such as bottles, paper and cardboard and aluminium cans, and a wide range of non-degradable material including paint, appliances, old furniture and household lighting.

Systematic summary of national economic activity. At a detailed level it shows a statistical picture of the performance and structure of the economy. See SNA.

A low-cost, non-archival paper consisting mainly of wood pulp and most commonly used to print newspapers, other publications and advertising material.

Those metals that contain very little or no iron (e.g. copper, brass and bronze).

Waste paper grade paper of the type usually generated by an office, such as paper used by a computer printers, that is commonly accepted by office paper recycling services.

Component of the waste stream from plant or animal sources that is readily biodegradable, e.g. food waste, biosolids, green waste and timber.

Various forms of paper and cardboard which can be recycled and reused include cardboard boxes, newspaper, office paper, envelopes, junk mail, cards milk and juice cartons. The main component of paper and cardboard is cellulose fibre.

A board made of plaster set between two sheets of paper, used especially to form or line the inner walls of houses.

Any group of synthetic or natural organic materials that may be shaped when soft and then hardened, including many types of resins, resinoids, polymers, cellulose derivatives, casein materials, and proteins: used in place of other materials such as glass, wood, and metals, in construction and decoration, for making many articles, as coatings, and drawn into filaments, for weaving.

The most common thermoplastic polymer resin of the polyester family and is used in fibres for clothing, containers for liquids and foods, thermoforming for manufacturing and in combination with glass fibre for engineering resins.

Also known as polypropene, it is a thermoplastic polymer used in a wide variety of applications. It is produced via chain-growth polymerization from the monomer propylene.

One of the most widely used plastics, it is a synthetic aromatic hydrocarbon polymer made from the monomer styrene. Polystyrene can be solid or foamed and general-purpose polystyrene is clear, hard, and rather brittle.

It is the world's third-most widely produced synthetic plastic polymer and comes in two basic forms: rigid and flexible. The rigid form of PVC is used in construction for pipe and in profile applications such as doors and windows. It is also used in making bottles, non-food packaging, food-covering sheets, and cards (such as bank or membership cards).

The amount paid by the purchaser, excluding any deductible tax, in order to take delivery of a unit of a good or service at the time and place required by the purchaser. The purchaser’s price of a good includes any transport charges paid separately by the purchaser to take delivery at the required time and place.

Waste recycled, used for energy production or exported.

Material able to be processed for recycling in a facility. Sometimes used only to refer to materials actually recovered from recycling, excluding residual wastes.

A resource recovery method involving the collection and processing of waste for use as a raw material in the manufacture of the same or similar non-waste product.

Is calculated as 'recycling by waste management industry' plus 'exports' divided by 'total waste generation' for a given material.

A concentration of naturally occurring solid, liquid, or gaseous materials in or on the earth’s crust and in such form that its economic extraction is presently or potentially feasible. The definition does not intend to imply that exploitation of any such material will take place in that time span, but only that its possibility might reasonably be considered.

The process of extracting materials or energy from a waste stream through re-use (using the product for the same or a different purpose without further production), recycling or recovering energy from waste. 

Reallocation of products or materials to a new owner or purpose without reprocessing or remanufacture, but potentially with some repair (e.g. repair of pallets for resale).

Consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds, plus water. It is used extensively in many applications and products, either alone or in combination with other materials. In most of its useful forms, it has a large stretch ratio and high resilience, and is extremely waterproof.

Broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in.

Material that:

1.  has an angle of repose of greater than 5 degrees
2.  does not contain, or is not comprised of, any free liquids
3.  does not contain, or is not comprised of, any liquids that are capable of being released when the waste is transported 
4.  does not become free flowing at or below 60 degrees Celsius or when It is transported
5.  is generally capable of being moved by a spade at normal temperatures (i.e. is spadeable).
    

Waste materials ranging from municipal garbage to industrial waste, but excluding gaseous, liquid, hazardous, clinical and intractable wastes.

A physical state of a material where the material behaves sufficiently like a solid to be moved by a spade at normal outdoor temperatures.

An alloy of iron and carbon, and sometimes other elements. Because of its high tensile strength and low cost, it is a major component used in buildings, infrastructure, tools, ships, automobiles, machines, appliances, and weapons.

A subsidy payable per unit of a good or service.

A supply table at purchasers’ prices consists of a rectangular matrix. The rows correspond to the same groups of products as the matching use tables and the columns correspond to the supply from domestic production valued at basic prices. There are also columns for imports and the valuation adjustments necessary to record total supply of each group.

An accounting framework utilising the basic principle that the total supply of a product is equal to its total use.

The SEEA is a framework used to develop environmental accounts by integrating environmental information into an accounting framework. The SEEA handbook provides the conceptual basis for developing a framework to describe the inter-relationship between the natural environment and the economy. See also Environmental account.

The SNA is an international framework which can be used to develop a comprehensive, consistent and flexible set of macroeconomic accounts.

Defined as ‘taxes on products’ plus ‘other taxes on production’ less 'subsidies on products' less 'other subsidies on production'.

Consist of ‘taxes on products’ and ‘other taxes on production’. These taxes do not include any taxes on the profits or other income received by an enterprise. They are payable irrespective of the profitability of the production process. They may be payable on the land, fixed assets or labour employed in the production process, or on certain activities or transactions. See also Taxes on products.

Taxes payable per unit of some good or service. The tax may be a specific amount of money per unit of quantity of a good or service (quantity being measured either in terms of discrete units or continuous physical variables such as volume, weight, strength, distance, time, etc.), or it may be calculated ad valorem as a specified percentage of the price per unit or value of the goods or services transacted. A tax on a product usually becomes payable when the product is produced, sold or imported, but it may also become payable in other circumstances, such as when a good is exported, leased, transferred, delivered, or used for own consumption or own capital formation. See also Taxes on production and imports.

It is a flexible material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres (yarn or thread).

Metric unit of weight equal to 1,000 kilograms.

Australian production plus imports.

The removal, reduction or immobilisation of hazardous characteristics to enable the waste to be sent to its final fate or further treatment.

A use table at purchasers’ prices consists of a set of product balances covering all products supplied within an economy arranged in the form of a rectangular matrix with the products, valued at purchasers’ prices, appearing in the rows and the columns indicating the disposition of these products to various types of uses.

Waste is:

1. any substance that is discarded, emitted or deposited in the environment in such volume, constituency or manner as to cause an alteration in the environment
2. any discarded, rejected, unwanted, surplus or abandoned substance
3. any otherwise discarded, rejected, unwanted, surplus or abandoned substance intended for sale or for recycling, reprocessing, recovery, or purification by a separate operation from that which produced the substance.

An environmental account consisting of physical supply table which records the total supply of solid waste products within the economy (including imports), and physical use table which records the total use of solid waste materials within the economy (including exports).

A broad level grouping for waste. The categories in the waste account are masonry materials; metals; organics; paper and cardboard; plastics; glass; textiles, leather & rubber; hazardous waste, ash; other.

Can include any combination of collection, transport, recycling, treatment, processing, disposal, managing and monitoring of waste materials (ANZSIC Division D, subdivision 29).

The redirection of waste from a disposal facility to a recycling or energy recovery facility.

The ultimate destination of waste within the management system. The fates of waste are recycling, energy recovery, disposal and long-term storage.

The process of producing waste. The sum of the quantities of waste taken to waste management facilities or added to on-site stockpiles.

The activities through which a waste is dealt with, in infrastructure approved to receive it.

Where the owner/discarder of the waste materials receives an income for the waste.

Services provided by the waste collection, treatment and services industry (ANZSIC Division D, subdivision 29).

The sector where the waste is produced; the source from which the waste is obtained. There are three main waste streams:

1. Municipal Solid Waste: waste from municipal kerbside garbage and recycling collections, council garbage from litter bins, council waste from parks and gardens, and domestic waste brought to landfills and transfer stations. 
2. Commercial and Industrial: waste generated by businesses, state and federal government and education, excluding waste collected by municipal collections. 
3. Construction and Demolition: waste from residential, civil and commercial construction & demolition (e.g. bricks, concrete, rubble, soil, rock).

A sub-category of the waste category which provides further breakdown of the waste materials.