After what seems like months of false starts and a general lack of action to move towards our often-cited Net Zero and Resource Recovery targets, it was pleasing to end 2024 with a little bit of good news; the increase in the national recovery rate of 3 per cent (about 2 million tonnes) in the latest National Waste and Resource Recovery Report.
It acknowledged that the hard work of so many in our industry is paying off, with target areas such as organics increasing by 1.4 per cent. This demonstrates that with policy, markets and targeted funding, there can be change. And while the total amount of waste generated increased by about 1 million tonnes, there was a slight decrease per capita – another (small) positive.
However, I think we all know that despite this good news, it is nowhere near enough of a shift to put Australia on the necessary sustainable path required to hit the national 2030 targets.
As we kick off 2025, you might be forgiven for wondering how we got here. Since China’s National Sword thrust us into the national spotlight (and we saw for the first time since Peter Garrett was Environment Minister real discourse about our essential industry at the Federal level), we appeared to be on a strong trajectory for continued action to create both the economic and environmental settings required for the planet and people.
I think we would all agree that the current Federal government started with a positive energy – a clear stated commitment to legislative action to reduce Green House Gas (GhG) Emissions to 43 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 and action on the Safeguard Mechanism to assist. Coupled with this we saw commitments to protect 30 per cent of Australia’s land and seas by 2030, create a nature repair market and establish an independent EPA.
We even had a new Environment Minister saying all the right things – that she was “prepared to regulate” and understood the importance of focusing on the system. For a moment there we had a commitment to create mandatory packaging design standards by 2025 and regulate packaging as well as solar panels and electrical equipment – all of which create significant problematic waste streams for our industry and the community at large.
The stage was literally set for our industry to succeed: reduce emissions, reduce reliance on virgin materials and finally, it appeared the need for regulation was understood. And this wasn’t for the sake of it, but to create the necessary level playing field and rules of engagement that all in the supply chain require to thrive.
I vividly remember attending a speech by Minister Chris Bowen when he was appointed Minister for Energy and Climate Change, where he lamented the lack of action of the previous government and reminded us that there were only 90 months until 2030. Well, here we are with only 60 remaining and what do we have and what’s happened? Not much I am afraid.
In December 2024 we watched the Environment Minister’s Meeting pass us by without even a whimper. If not for the NSW Environment Minister’s commitment to act on batteries, we would wonder what the meeting discussed. While I appreciate that an updated National Waste Action Plan (note the word ‘action’ but the lack of actions within) and a Circular Economy Framework were adopted (Framework but no action in this one either), their lack of enforceable actions (let
alone penalties) to achieve the 2030 targets or apparent desire to achieve these was bitterly disappointing.
These documents did however quietly move some of these targets. For example, we lost the target date for eliminating problematic plastics and moved out the target for ‘creating a circular economy’. When you look at the data in the National Waste and Resource Recovery Report and see that the recovery rate of plastics is now at 12.5 per cent (a decrease of 0.4 per cent) yet the amount of plastic waste generated has increased by 14.5 per cent (11.6 per cent per capita) – you can possibly understand politically why these changes occurred. But given the desire for a high ambition for plastics globally, why can’t we have the same ambition at home?
In 30 months, what have we seen at a Federal level? In essence, not a lot. We have seen a continuation of the previous government’s agenda, with the continued application of the export restrictions, and the rollout of the Recycling Modernisation Fund (RMF). Yes, we are grateful that this funding was not halted. However, the promise of creating local Australian demand and onshore markets to date has been avoided. And while we would much rather remanufacture in Australia, the lack of sufficient market demand for recycled products and the lack of both policy and regulatory action in this space means that we do need to continue to tap into the global market and export materials (in particular plastics) that can be recycled. The systems thinking does not appear to have arrived in practice as yet, I’m afraid.
It was one area that desperately required attention, given it is at the forefront of every household’s thinking and behaviour and the material most impacted by the export restrictions is packaging. This is one area wholly (in theory) in the Federal government’s area of responsibility with the Used Packaging NEPM, and the independent review of the scheme in 2021 makes it clear that it requires reform. However, we enter 2025 with APCO publicly stating that yet again it will be missing its targets (no problems as no consequences for that). There is no proposed reformed scheme, or even worse, no adopted mandatory design guidelines that will stimulate demand for local recycled materials on shore. Albeit it remains a ‘priority’ (but unlikely to be addressed before the Federal election I suspect).
After all the talk of being ‘prepared to regulate’, we are heading towards the end of this term of government with none in sight, and very unlikely to have any prepared by the time a federal election is called. The one bright spot to possibly bookend the year with is the proposed review of the Recycling and Waste Reduction Act 2020, which is slated to occur in early 2025. This, if used well, must assist Australia in transitioning to a legislated future circular economy regulating the environmental performance of materials and products including imports, implementing clear design rules and labelling. It was also great to see the report of the Circular Economy Ministerial Advisory Group recommend this legislative approach and lay out what that could look like in their ‘Circular Advantage’ report released in December 2024, highlighting that we can have the tools to do this – we just need the political will.
Let’s hope 2025 is finally then the year of action that we all know we need.