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Waste and Circular Materials Strategy 2026-2030

About the project

You’re invited to review our draft Waste and Circular Materials Strategy 2026-2030 and make a submission before 4 May 2026.

Thanks to achievements delivered under our previous strategy, Lake Mac is one of the top performing councils in NSW for resource recovery. Working together to manage our waste, we’ve extended the life of our Awaba landfill, cut greenhouse gas emissions and helped keep the cost of waste services affordable for our residents. Key achievements include:

  • introducing kerbside food and garden organics recycling
  • transitioning to bookable bulky waste collection
  • establishing two Community Recycling Centres servicing the east and west sides of our city.

Australians generate some of the highest amounts of waste per person in the world and the cost of landfilling is increasingly expensive. This strategy focuses on improving performance within our existing services and planning ahead so waste services remain reliable and affordable for our community.

We’re fortunate to have landfill capacity at Awaba into the early 2040s. Our strategy lays important groundwork to use this time wisely to understand the challenges and potential future opportunities for the next generation of waste solutions.

It’s also about reducing waste and emissions. Lake Macquarie residents are already strong recyclers, but the next step is helping prevent waste through avoidance, reuse, repair, sharing and food rescue initiatives.

Supporting the transition to a more circular economy makes economic and environmental sense for our city. Council seeks to lead by example, using our purchasing power to support local circular industries and to prioritise using recycled materials in the assets and infrastructure we deliver.

The strategy also aligns with state and national directions as well as highlights real‑world examples of what is already achievable.

  • Submission form: draft Waste and Circular Materials Strategy

    Have your say on the future of waste and recycling in Lake Mac 

Quick facts on circular economy in Lake Mac

What does shift to circular economy mean?

What does shift to circular economy mean?

A circular economy moves away from the linear ‘take, make, dispose’ model to one where the value of materials is preserved through repair, reuse, sharing and recycling. Landfilling is avoided.

Circular practices delivers economic benefit for Lake Mac

Circular practices delivers economic benefit for Lake Mac

Adopting more circular practices across key Australian industries could deliver $23 billion in benefits by 2025 and $210 billion plus 17,000 jobs by 2047-2048*. For Lake Macquarie, this translates to an estimated $1.6 billion in economic gains...

Circular economy creates jobs

Circular economy creates jobs

Reuse, repair and sharing offers major economic and social benefits for Lake Macquarie. These circular activities create up to 25 times more jobs than recycling and 80 times more than landfill per tonne of material. 

Chat with the project team

Morisset Square, 31 March, 10am-2pm

Charlestown Square, 16 April, 10am-2pm

Homegrown Markets at Speers Point Park, 19 April, 9am-1pm

 

Documents

FAQs

Over the next four years, this strategy focuses on improving performance within our existing services and planning ahead so waste services remain reliable and affordable for our community.  

We are fortunate to have landfill capacity at Awaba until early 2040s. The strategy helps us better understand growing challenges and potential future opportunities for waste services. From here, it allows time to assess emerging technologies and regional waste options to determine the best path forward for the Awaba Waste Management Facility and to ensure we continue providing affordable, effective waste services into the future.

Progess on strategies and priorities will be reviewed towards the end of the four year period, and used to inform the direction and development of the next strategy.  

Unlocking the value of reuse and repair – opportunities for waste avoidance in Lake Macquarie is a companion to our strategy, exploring opportunities to grow the reuse and repair sector in our city. It informs several priorities in the draft strategy.     

Submissions must be made in writing and received by 4 May 2026. You can choose to:

  • Provide written feedback via the online submission form on this website
  • Email council@lakemac.nsw.gov.au with subject heading 'Submission on draft Waste and Circular Materials Strategy'
  • Write to Lake Macquarie City Council Attn: Waste Strategy Coordinator, Box 1906, Hunter Region Mail Centre, NSW, 2310.

Hard copies of the draft strategy are available to view at all Lake Mac Libraries branches.

Your submission can be as concise or as long as you wish.

Ideally, you will express your level of support for the proposal and provide detailed and specific feedback. The feedback will be reviewed by staff and later presented to Council to make an informed decision.

Should multiple submissions be received from a single resident regarding this project, the feedback will be reviewed by staff and counted as one submission when reporting back to Council.

Submissions may result in changes being made to the draft Waste and Circular Materials Strategy.  A report will be prepared for Council recommending adoption of the draft strategy including a summary of submissions and how feedback was considered. 

We will notify you prior to Council considering this matter, which will include a link to the Council report and upcoming Council meeting. 

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Who's listening

  • Hal
    Coordinator Waste Strategy
    Lake Macquarie City Council