Local authorities, state and federal governments, and the waste management industry now recognise opportunities in converting the energy in urban waste streams to renewable power or other energy products. There is a clear international precedent that modern waste-to-energy (WtE) plants are clean and efficient. With appropriate technology choice, it is technically feasible for a similar industry to be developed in Australia. This is evident by plans for two major projects in Western Australia to convert more than 200,000 tonnes of MSW into electricity annually (Pugh, 2014). Despite this encouraging activity, knowledge of the thermochemi- cal properties of Australian waste streams is considerably lacking.