NSW litter reports by the EPA
Every two years the EPA reports on the composition and
quantity of litter types in sites where significant littering takes place, as
required under the Protection of the
Environment Operations Act 1997 (POEO Act) section 146D.
The cost of litter in NSW
In 2016, the NSW Government commissioned a study into the costs of litter that estimated the direct financial outlay incurred by the community for cleaning up litter in NSW. The findings are presented in Litter Costs to the NSW Economy – a preliminary report (PDF 2.2MB).
In 2021, research was developed into the indirect costs of litter. Indirect costs arise from the impacts of litter that is not cleaned up or that escapes into the wider environment before it can be cleaned up. To maximise the benefits of the research, the study covered the indirect costs of both littering and illegal dumping, which are treated in two reports that capture the different aspects of these costs:
EPA Litter Prevention Kit
The EPA's litter prevention kits summarise research about
littering and the behaviour behind it.