Australian waste account 2007-2021

This dataset updates the previous release from 2019 to 2021, in line with the National Waste Database update. The previous release is available here: https://zenodo.org/records/5646740. This release also incorporates LGA waste generation data where it is available (NSW and Victoria).

Updated notes: 

The National Waste Database (https://www.awe.gov.au/environment/protection/waste/national-waste-reports/2020) is a repository for Australia's solid waste data. This collection of waste data is useful however has some issues: The timeseries is not complete, as some years are missing. Allocation to industries is very coarse, there are only 3 waste generating entities: construction and demolition, commercial and industrial, and municipal (households). Further, not all reporting regions (States and Territories) provide data at the same resolution of material type.

We have created an open source dataset in an attempt to solve some of these issues. Missing years are filled using linear interpolation. The regional resolution is disaggregated to SA2 regions using the ABS Business Register (https://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/49658AFA6CC395CECA2583A700121A41). Municipal (households) waste is split into SA2s from state totals using population. The ABS Waste Account is used to establish a relationship between waste types and generating sectors (https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/environment/environmental-management/waste-account-australia-experimental-estimates/latest-release).

The data is published as labelled flat files (.csv). The dataset dimensions are:

- years: 2007 - 2021,

- regions: 2310 SA2 (2016) ASGS regions,

- entities: 116 generating entities; 115 SUPG (supply-use product group) industries + 1 households,

- waste_types: 69 waste material types,

- treatments: 5 waste treatment methods

This dataset is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/