Employment in waste management and recycling
Access Economics Pty Limited, 2 July 2009
A report prepared for the Department of Environment,
Water, Heritage and the Arts
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About the report
This report has been prepared by Access Economics to assess employment (direct and indirect) in waste recycling and resource recovery compared to landfill disposal of waste using industry. It provides employment numbers for the landfill and recycling sectors and estimates the economic value of those jobs, and the skill mixes involved.
The estimated direct Full Time Equivalent (FTE) employment per 10 000 tonnes of waste is 9.2 for recycling and 2.8 for landfill disposal. On a national level, this corresponds to an estimated direct labour force of 22 243 FTEs in recycling activities and 6 695 FTEs in landfill operations, a total of 28 930 FTE jobs across Australia.
The report uses an industry multiplier of 1.84 to estimate an indirect labour force of 18 864 jobs in recycling and 5 564 in landfill, a total of 24 288 FTE jobs across Australia. Direct and indirect jobs created in the waste industry are estimated at 53,246. The predominant job types are truck and forklift drivers, recycling and rubbish collectors, earth moving plant operators, factory process workers, and general and production managers.
The report forms part of a suite of research reports used to inform the National Waste Policy – Less waste, more resources. The employment data is used in the National Waste Overview, released by the Environment Protection and Heritage Council in November 2009, and will be used in the National Waste Report planned for release in early 2010.
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