About the North East Waste (NE Waste)

The North East Waste (NE Waste) region covers almost 21,000 sq km of land area and has a population of 307,047 (ABS 2020). The seven member Councils within this region are Ballina Shire, Byron Shire, Clarence Valley, Kyogle, Lismore City, Richmond Valley and Tweed Shire. There are five landfill sites, two recycling facilities, three organics processing facilities and fourteen transfer stations situated throughout the region.

Each Council has its own arrangements in place for waste collection, by contract with a private operator or by an in-house Day Labour service. All Councils have a kerbside recycling and organics collection service for residents. Recycling is available to commercial premises in all Council areas and organics collection for business is available in six.

In 2021-22, 167,697 tonnes of waste was collected in the region. Of this 96,457 tonnes (57.51%) was recovered as resources. The main components of the waste stream diverted for recycling or composting were:

• garden organics and food waste
• commingled recycling - plastics, metals, glass, paper and cardboard;
• construction and demolition waste;
• scrap metals
• tyres and batteries
• used oils
• electronic waste

Our vision is to achieve more sustainable waste management and better resource recovery in the North East Waste region through a proactive, collaborative approach with our regional member Councils, the NSW EPA and the Northern Rivers community.