Australia’s agriculture, fisheries and forestry sector is making inroads to reduce its waste footprint and align with Australia’s National Waste Policy. Investment in a range of projects as part of AgriFutures Australia’s Pre-Farm Gate Waste Program has delivered insight to inform strategies and investment across rural industries, and set a baseline for future data collection to support waste management activities.
The data collection guidelines outlined in this report are among the outcomes of the first project of its type focused on collecting data on pre-farm gate organic, workshop and plastic waste. The guidelines were used to estimate the volume of pre-farm gate waste generated across Australia in 2020-21 – 9.8 million tonnes, as detailed in the complementary Baseline waste data for the agriculture, fisheries and forestry sector report – and can be used by the industries to consistently and comprehensively collect and report on waste into the future.
The guidelines define the types of waste materials generated pre-farm gate, detail methods for potential national collection of waste data, establish a method for data analysis and extrapolation and outline considerations related to a national data collection approach. The guidelines are expected to be updated and improved over time.
