Ministerial Meeting Response
30 April 2018
WMAA
welcomes that possibly for the first time the waste and resource
recovery industry led the agenda at last week’s Meeting of Australian
Environment Ministers (MEM). This clearly demonstrates the nationwide
importance of this essential industry, which employs 50,000 people and
generates $15.5 billion of economic activity annually. We look forward
to our industry remaining at the top of the MEM Agenda.
The waste industry
appreciates that Ministers have been listening and are proposing to pull
some of the policy levers needed to assist with transitioning the
management of waste in Australia towards a sustainable “circular
economy” solution. “It is extremely pleasing that the National Waste
Strategy will be updated by the end of this year, WMAA looks forward to
participating in this”, said Ms Gayle Sloan, CEO of WMAA.
“Friday’s
announcement is a step in the right direction and signals the right
intent. That said, what we need now is strong policies and market
interventions to actually make it happen – and fast.” said Ms Sloan.
“WMAA and its members are really keen to work with government to help
develop and implement what is required to move forward in what is now a
very different world in terms of how we view materials that ultimately
generate waste and resources.”
“The
endorsement by Ministers of a target of 100 percent of Australian
packaging being recyclable or reusable by 2025 is heartening, and we
look forward to working with Government to develop meaningful targets
from at least 2020 to ensure that this actually achieved” said Ms Sloan.
“Industry recalls targets set previously under the National Packaging
Covenant that were never monitored or achieved, and once this failure
was recognised it was just too late.” “We need action now that ensures
APCO will be held accountable from now, and not in 2025, as only this
step will begin to deliver local demand for recycled materials and help
Australia reduce the sovereign risks associated with over-dependence on
off-shore markets.”
“Whilst
there was no new funding for recycling in Friday’s announcement, one
thing WMAA will advocate to start immediately is government at all
levels spending existing funds differently.” said Ms Sloan. “Ministers
must go much further than simply advocating for increased use of
recycled materials in the goods that government and industry buy. With
over 90% of the community supporting recycling and the purchase of
recycled products by government, government needs to hold itself to
account and if it does not prioritise the use of recycled material, to
report to the community why it does not, this should be the norm going
forward, not the exception”, said Ms Sloan.
Government
must show leadership in this space and act now to grow demand for
recycled products that can develop markets and jobs in both metropolitan
and regional areas. For example, Commonwealth Federal Assistance
Grants to Local Government should be predicated on Councils using more
recycled glass sand and not virgin sand.
The
Federal Energy Minister needs to recognise that this is primarily an
environmental issue not an energy issue. “Industry absolutely
recognises that there is a place for waste to energy in Australia as an
alternate to landfill, and we support this technology. However, it
cannot replace recycling and remanufacturing.
“We
need to always act in accordance with the Waste Management Hierarchy
and keep commodities at their highest and best use level for as long as
possible. Recovering energy is a higher order outcome than burying
material in landfill, but it is certainly not a replacement for
recycling. What Australia needs is to deliver a sustainable recycling
system that decouples itself from the global commodity market, and
creates related industry jobs and investment in Australia.”
“We
support the Federal Minister’s funding for Energy from Waste, which can
play an important part of the future for Australia, and deliver better
outcomes than disposal to landfill for many materials.
“Industry’s
believes funding also needs to be urgently directed further up the
supply chain towards increasing recycling ability and growing the
sectors capacity in Australia, decoupling Australia from its reliance on
fossil fuel,” said Ms Sloan. “We genuinely hope we will get an
opportunity in the not too distant future to discuss this directly with
the Federal Minister.”