Key messages

•  Successful policy and regulatory decision- making, community and industry behaviour change and private sector participation and investment all rely on meaningful, transparent data.

•  Waste and recycling data collection is insufficient and inconsistent because it is delivered through a variety of legislative and regulatory initiatives - both voluntary and mandatory - that are governed by each state or territory.

•  Australia needs a comprehensive, coordinated national waste data strategy that outlines stakeholder roles and responsibilities and supports the production of comparable and timely data.

•  Landfill levies are a powerful regulatory tool that can divert more waste away from landfill by shaping community and commercial behaviour.

•  Interstate inconsistencies in landfill levies are causing negative waste disposal behaviours instead of supporting resource recovery and environmental protection.

•  The Australian Government has an important role to play in facilitating the coordination of nationally consistent landfill levies.