With Australia facing a full waste export ban, recycling projects are being rolled out across NSW

August 9, 2021

Karen Sweaney

By mid-2024 when the full waste export ban comes into effect, Australia must recycle around 645,000 additional tonnes of waste plastic, paper, glass and tyres each year. As Australia can’t keep sending scraps to languish in landfill, the Australian and New South Wales Governments have today announced 22 new recycling projects across metropolitan and regional NSW as part of a $600 million national rollout of recycling infrastructure.

Our waste and recycling industry will need to capture more materials for recycling and to do so cost-effectively. Australia must futureproof and resource its domestic waste and recycling sector to deliver the waste reduction and recycling outcomes that the community expects.

Federal Minister for the Environment Sussan Ley advised “the joint funding component between the Commonwealth and NSW for these projects is $24 million, generating industry investment of $59 million.

“This is about easing pressure on our environment by recycling more materials including plastics, tyres, glass, cardboard and even coffee cups, and importantly it is about creating jobs and economic investment.

NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean said that the Remanufacture NSW projects in Western Sydney, the Central Coast, Newcastle, and regional NSW will create jobs and increase the state’s recycling capacity by an estimated 120,000 tonnes every year.

Minister Kean highlights “we can’t keep sending our scraps to languish in landfill when there are huge opportunities to turn our trash into treasure.

“This funding and these new projects will help to boost our existing recycling capabilities, supportive innovative re-use of recycled materials and boost NSW’s recycling capacity.”

According to World Wildlife Fund, in 2017-18, Australia used some 3.4 million tonnes of plastics in Australia with just 9.4% - 320,000 tonnes – being recycled. Of that amount, 46% (145,700 tonnes) was reprocessed in Australia and 54% (174,300 tonnes) was exported for reprocessing. With recovery rates so low, that means a valuable resource is going to waste.

These figures are supported by Clean Up Australia who note that only 10% of the 3.5 million tonnes of soft plastic thrown out by Australians each year is recycled.

Australia produces a lot of plastic waste and we've yet to develop large, sustainable markets in Australia for recycled plastic products. Our waste collection and resource recovery industry are also very fragmented. Legislative requirements vary from state to territory; some councils that collect our kerbside recycling bins can process recycled material themselves, while others rely on contractors (not always scrupulous).

Unfortunately, we live at a time when using virgin plastic is still cheaper than recycling the plastic already in circulation, and there are few financial incentives for manufacturers to use recycled materials.

WWF highlights that “Australia also lacks much of the technology and infrastructure necessary to turn large volumes of plastic into other useful things. Unlike nations in Europe, who are eagerly processing their own waste - saving considerable energy and transport costs and creating jobs and safeguarding the environment - we've been slow to move towards what is known as a circular economy.”

Recycling organisation, Replas, is developing technology with the potential to build a more circular economy and support future infrastructure projects. Replas, in partnership with Coles, RMIT University and the RED Group have researched and developed new recycling technology allowing one of the most problematic plastics to be converted into a highly valuable, fit for purpose resource.

The new Polyrok concrete technology is made from plastic bags and soft plastic packaging recovered from the REDcycle program, available in all Coles supermarkets, and acts as a sustainable alternative to aggregate minerals used in concrete. More than 6.5 million pieces of soft plastic will be recycled in the largest-ever commercial application of Polyrok as part of a Coles supermarket development at Cobblebank in Melbourne’s west.

Container deposit schemes are also boosting the return rates for some plastics, but industry players say these rates could be even higher with better plastic labelling (to distinguish what can and can't be recycled) and improved consumer education.

Assistant Minister for Waste Reduction and Environmental Management Trevor Evans said that the range of projects selected for Government funding cover the gamut of recycling materials and remanufacturing uses and introduce the latest innovations in recycling technology.

Assistant Minister Evans added “we are investing in everything from new and upgraded material recycling facilities in regional areas, to mobile plastic from e-waste processing facilities.

“The materials to be recycled are those impacted by Australia’s world leading ban on the export of waste glass, plastic, tyres and paper which are gradually being phased in until mid-2024.”

A further grant round of RMF funding will open by the end of 2021.

The Australian Government has announced that it is now pushing a $1 billion transformation of our waste and recycling industry to turbocharge domestic recycling so we can process Australia materials that were previously sent overseas.

The $190 million Recycling Modernisation Fund investment, and measures to support Australia’s National Waste Policy Action Plan, will create approximately 10,000 new jobs all around Australia over the next ten years.

For details of all NSW projects

To contact Replas click here for their details in the Australasian Leisure Management Supplier Directory.

Image top: landfill; image cente: The Coles Replas REDgroup Lanskey and RMIT teams behind the development of Polyrok; image above: Container deposit schemes