The Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association of Australia (WMRR) welcomed the adoption at the Environment Ministers Meeting (EMM) of a strengthened National Waste Action Plan and discussion about the need for urgent reform to product stewardship of batteries, to address the escalating risk of fires and to create a safe, circular economy for batteries.
“The waste and resource recovery (WARR) industry is experiencing fires on a daily basis in our collection vehicles and facilities, putting our workers and infrastructure at risk,” said WMRR CEO Gayle Sloan. “The WARR industry has been crying out for a separate safe disposal pathway to get them out of kerbside bins, trucks and facilities that are not designed to collect these potentially incendiary devices.
“We are encouraged that the NSW Environment Minister, the Hon Penny Sharpe, MLC has today committed to state-led reforms for mandatory stewardship with legislation in 2025, as we cannot continue as is with the rate of fires.
Sloan said that while this is welcome news, the gathering of ministers should have been a much bigger day at the EMM as there were expectations that promises of action and regulation would finally come to fruition. After all, the Federal Minister started the term stating that they were prepared to regulate. Regrettably, the EMM fell short yet again, Sloan said.
In June 2023 the government said ‘for the first time, Australia will mandate obligations for packaging design as part of a new packaging regulatory scheme based on international best practice and make the industry responsible for the packaging they place on the market.”
We see no reform or regulation 18 months on! Instead, we have commitments to consult and engage, agreements in principle for consultation on guiding principles.
“We are stuck in an endless loop of bureaucracy with no action or movement to invest and create green jobs in the economy. The Minister can celebrate Australia’s first Circular Economy Framework but on the ground, industry feels like it is going in circles,” Sloan said.
“This feeling is justified because if those that make products are not regulated to be genuinely accountable for designing and managing products throughout their lifecycle, we can talk about circularity endlessly, but we will never create a circular economy, increase our plastic recycling rate above 20%, or reach our 2030 resource recovery and carbon mitigation targets. It would appear that we enter another year remaining in this same trajectory of no tangible regulatory action on packaging and packaging design, and no movement on genuine circularity.”
The Federal Government continues to be unable to develop the long-promised nationwide mandatory packaging product stewardship scheme, and yet, they celebrate plans on how we can harmonise what goes in a bin. How can this happen when we have so far failed to harmonise what can go on a shelf?
“The Australian Government needs to have the same high ambition for tackling plastics at home as it does globally. Domestic actions to date have tinkered at the edges while eschewing important albeit, hard decisions,” Sloan said. “To make a real dent on plastics, there needs to be a whole of value chain solution to combat the 1.3 million tonnes of plastic packaging being placed on market, however another meeting has passed without progress.
“Whilst we appreciate that this may be this Federal Minister’s last EMM meeting, Ministers can only kick decisions down the road(map) for so long before they run out of road.”
While the Australian Council of Recycling (ACOR) was more optimistic, it still thought the meeting outcomes fell short o what is needed for the waste and resource recovery industry.
ACOR welcomed the progress made the meeting, including broad agreement on a National Circular Economy Framework, it urged the Commonwealth and all State and Territory Governments to work together to accelerate action on critical priorities essential for building a sustainable and resilient recycling system and supporting a circular economy in Australia:
- Battery-related fires: With over 10,000 battery-related fires a year across Australia’s waste and recycling systems, urgent action is needed to protect workers’ safety and lives. There must be an immediate rollout of accessible, safe collection systems for batteries and consumer electronics, a robust national education campaign, and mandatory, nationally harmonised extended producer responsibility regulation for all small electrical and electronic equipment. Ultimately, this should include a refund scheme to incentivise proper disposal of hazardous items containing batteries.
- Packaging reform: Nationally-led and harmonised mandatory extended producer responsibility for packaging, combined with prioritising domestic recycled content, is essential to ensure a viable recycling system for packaging and support Australia’s transition to a circular economy.
- Government procurement: Australian governments must play a leading role in driving demand for locally recycled materials through thresholds for domestic recycled content in procurement policies, underpinned by clear benchmarks and transparent reporting to support robust local recycling markets.
- Container Deposit Schemes: Optimisation of container deposit schemes is a priority, including raising the refund rate, expanding eligible containers to include glass wine and spirit bottles, and setting ambitious return targets to enhance recycling and resource recovery.
“While the outcomes of today’s Environment Ministers Meeting are encouraging, the urgency of the challenges we face requires bold, coordinated action across of Australia’s Governments,” said Suzanne Toumbourou, CEO of ACOR. “Our immediate priorities are to address the risks posed by battery-related fires to protect lives and infrastructure, and to support domestic markets for recycled materials to ensure our sector’s long-term viability.
“The recycling industry delivers significant economic and environmental benefits and is a key driver of jobs and growth. We urge all Commonwealth, State, and Territory Governments to take decisive action to secure these benefits and ensure the sustainable future of the recycling sector.”