Page 2459 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 31 July 2019
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environmental benefits of reducing waste going to landfill but investing in recycling industries has a clear benefit in creating job opportunities for Canberrans and throughout the region more broadly.
This motion highlights the challenges involved in taking the early steps in the ACT’s journey toward a circular economy. The ACT government has set ambitious resource recovery goals and it is important to discuss how we can facilitate better recycling behaviours and develop markets for recycled products whilst growing employment and the economy.
I support the objectives of this motion and its direction to consider innovative ways to grow the recycling and waste reduction industry in Canberra, including seeking advice from the Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment on this important issue. I also support working with the CBR Innovation Network and the Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic Development Directorate in developing recommendations on measures that may be taken by the ACT government to support the growth of the recycling industry.
The ACT is one of the best performing jurisdictions in Australia in terms of resource recovery and Canberrans are some of the best recyclers in the country. The government is continually striving to support recycling in Australia. The ACT waste management strategy seeks full resource recovery and a carbon neutral waste sector.
We have a strong, contemporary legislative and regulatory framework under our Waste Management and Resource Recovery Act 2016 that underpins our ability to reduce and sustainably manage waste, supports innovation and investment and promotes responsibility for waste reduction and best practice.
In 2018 we evaluated the waste management strategy through the ACT waste feasibility study and we found that, despite Canberrans’ good recycling rates, we need to find ways to move beyond the 70 to 75 per cent resource recovery plateau which we have experienced since the mid-2000s. The evaluation recommended that in order to move towards full resource recovery the government needs to, among other things, continue to find ways to divert material from landfill, particularly organics; and develop and support the enterprises seeking to enter, or transitioning to, a circular economy.
The motion is timely in that the government would like to support Canberrans to transition towards a circular economy. The circular economy promotes avoidance and re-use above recycling. The concepts “design out waste” and “keep products in use” are at the core of the circular economy principles.
In the ACT we are educating the community on how to avoid waste and better re-use, recover and recycle the waste they do produce—for example, our award-winning recycling discovery hub at the materials recovery facility in the ACT that promotes innovative recycling and re-use ideas; our recently refreshed and updated online Recyclopaedia, which is a fantastic resource supporting our community to recycle and reuse products; and a collaboration with local governments that I recently announced,
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