Waste services in Small Towns, Rural Communities and Remote Areas are often inconsistent and not as cost-effective as those in urban areas.58 The 2019 Audit noted that regional and remote communities have limited access to recycling schemes and face logistical challenges such as poor transport access, seasonal isolation and weak economies of scale.
These areas present several logistical and economic challenges to developing and delivering resource recovery infrastructure.
Lower population levels and dispersed residential and industrial waste generators mean the project economics may deter waste recycling and recovery outside Australia's metropolitan areas.
When there are no local resource recovery facilities, councils face the high cost of transporting waste to urban areas and delivering kerbside waste services, putting their budgets under strain. Better targeted waste resource recovery services in smaller communities will reduce costs and encourage positive waste habits.
In addition, coordinating waste collection and transport between several local councils could build enough volume to create the market conditions for recycling investment.59 More collaborative land-use planning and exploring hub-and-spoke models of service delivery should allow enough waste resource recovery services to offer communities this essential service, regardless of their geographical location.