Newcastle council has unveiled a 20-year plan to deal with the city's waste, which is set to be discussed at tonight's council meeting and put on exhibition if endorsed.

The draft Sustainable Waste Strategy incorporates the future organics and material recovery facilities set to be constructed at Summerhill Waste Management Centre.

Environmental Protection Agency data from 2020-21 showed Newcastle had a recycling rate of 40.2 per cent - the second lowest of Greater Newcastle councils, which also includes Cessnock, Maitland, Port Stephens and Lake Macquarie.

Lake Macquarie, the only council with a food organics service, had the highest recycling rate in the entire Hunter region at 53.8 per cent.

A recent audit of Newcastle's three residential bins found 9.7 per cent of the waste being put into red lid bins could be recycled, and another 3.2 per cent was garden waste.

A further 52.7 per cent was food, which is set to be diverted once the organics processing facility is built.

Recycling bin waste also contained 13.5 per cent landfill.

The waste issue is set to grow with increases in population. The strategy said the Hunter's population was set to grow by 14.8 per cent in the next 20 years leading to a 13.9 per cent increase in waste generation.

Newcastle's population will grow even further - by 15.7 per cent, which will lift waste generation by 17.9 per cent.

To reach the 80 per cent target, the strategy said "as a minimum, councils will need to introduce FOGO (food organics and garden organics) or other food waste recycling services, however this alone won't be enough to achieve the targets".

The strategy includes development of a behaviour change strategy to reduce contamination in the yellow-lid bin, reduce recyclable leakage in the red-lid bin and maximising use of the future food organics recovery. A secondary access road to the waste management facility is also being investigated to reduce traffic impacts.

A tip shop will be considered to recover salvageable items destined for landfill, while council aims to improve bulky waste voucher booking and processing times at the weighbridge.

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