Waste Management

The City has developed a Waste and Resource Management Plan (WRMP) to outline how we will achieve our waste management goals over the next five years, aiming for a balance between accessibility, affordability and sustainability. The WRMP supports: 

• Minimising waste
• Increasing resource recovery and recycling
• Delivering community education for a sustainable change
• Continuing to deliver a cost effective and equitable service to the residents of the City. 

To satisfy the State’s targets, the City must meet the needs of the environment and community into the future, whilst simultaneously reducing levels of waste generation. 

The Waste and Resource Management Plan (WRMP) was endorsed by Council on 27 August 2019.

The City’s long term approach to waste management

As a City we must think innovatively and in partnership with other local government authorities to develop long term waste management solutions.

It is no longer feasible to consider landfill as the long term solution to managing general waste. As our population continues to grow, the City must consider alternatives to landfill for the disposal of general household waste. 

In partnership with the Rivers Regional Council (RRC), Phoenix Energy and the Cities of Armadale, Gosnells, Mandurah and Canning, and the Shire of Murray, the City has been working towards the development of Australia’s first Waste to Energy (WtE) plant. 

The WtE plant will help the City significantly reduce its reliance on landfill disposal; making a step change towards achieving its zero waste objective.

Your waste will not go to waste

The average green bin placed on a verge for collection contains enough waste to produce up to 14% of a household’s weekly power needs.

WtE will use thermal processes to break down general waste into a fraction of its original size. This generates baseload renewable energy (such as steam), which can then be used to generate electricity.  

The advantages of Waste to Energy include:

• Landfill avoidance: The City’s goal is to divert almost all of the residential rubbish which cannot be recycled through other means, to the WtE plant.
• Energy recovery: in the form of clean renewable electricity generation. Unlike solar and wind generation, WtE plants are a unique source of continuous renewable energy.
• Recycling: through the recovery of metals from the ash by-product, i.e. the capture of metals which are not recovered by kerbside recycling collection services.
• Reprocessing and reuse: through the proposed conversion of the solid ash by-product of combustion into bricks and pavers and/or used as construction aggregate.

Avertas Energy Waste to Energy Plant

The City, in conjunction with the other local governments, has signed a 20 year contract with Avertas Energy to deliver municipal waste to its WtE plant. The Plant is currently under construction in the Kwinana Industrial Area and should be operational in the first half of 2023. When constructed, it will be the first of its kind in Australia.

The Plant will use moving grate combustion technology that is already operational in more than 2,000 similar waste to energy plants around the world. The Plant has the capacity to process 400,000 tonnes of general waste per year, resulting in a significant reduction in CO2 emissions and delivering 36MW of baseload electricity to the grid. These outcomes are equivalent to taking 85,000 cars off Perth’s roads and powering 50,000 households every year.

The Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association have developed an Energy from Waste Fact Sheet to answer many commonly asked questions and is a useful resource to learn more about energy from waste.

The Avertas Energy Frequently Asked Questions Fact Sheet also provides useful information about their Waste to Energy plant.

For further information and progress updates visit the Avertas website.

Why we are choosing Waste to Energy over Better Bins Plus (FOGO)

As traditional forms of waste disposal change, costs rise and landfill sites become scarce, the City is faced with increasing challenges in delivering effective and sustainable waste management.

Better Bins, commonly referred to as the three-bin system, is a State Government program which provides funds to local governments to support higher waste recovery, including general waste, co-mingled recycling and organic/green waste.

After assessing the Better Bins option, the City and its Rivers Regional Council partners determined it was not the preferred option for the following reasons: 

• Despite financial support from the State Government, it presents a significant cost to ratepayers that does not appear, at this stage, to justify the environmental and social benefits gained – high cost - low benefit
• It provides increased capacity to generate more household waste at a time when households are are being encouraged to reduce household waste
• The processing of household organics and end markets is a major factor for consideration and there are few processing facilities and no competitive market for the end product which is of low grade
• The lack of available space for some households to store an additional bin on their properties
• Additional truck movements in residential streets, creating a risk, and increasing wear on roads
• Increases transport carbon emissions. 

How the City is helping you manage your garden waste

The City’s green waste initiatives are taking your green waste and recycling it into free mulch for all residents to use on their gardens.

The City has a number of initiatives and services available to residents to manage the disposal and recycling of green waste.