Title page
Contents
Chair's Foreword 3
Members 10
Terms of Reference 12
Abbreviations 13
List of Recommendations 16
Executive Summary 22
1. Introduction 29
Background 29
Inquiry process 30
COVID-19 30
Commonwealth waste management and recycling reforms 31
Structure of the report 34
Acknowledgements 34
2. Waste management and resource recovery 35
What is waste? 35
Waste statistics 36
Waste management and resource recovery industry 37
The industry's activities 38
The waste hierarchy 42
Circular economy 45
Shift to a circular economy 47
National policy 49
Innovation road map 51
Committee comment 52
3. Role of the Commonwealth 54
Current Commonwealth programs 56
Ban on waste exports 56
National Waste Policy Action Plan 57
Australian Recycling Investment Fund 59
National Plastics Summit 59
Response Strategy to COAG Export Bans 60
Commonwealth Procurement Guidelines 61
Recycling Modernisation Fund 61
Recycling and Waste Reduction Bill 62
National Product Stewardship Investment Fund 63
Research 64
Committee comment 65
4. Impediments to innovation 67
Innovation framework 67
Product stewardship 69
Evidence to inquiry 72
Status quo 73
Industry-lead schemes 75
Mandatory schemes 75
Markets and end users 80
Procurement policies and standards 82
Auditing and accreditation 84
Infrastructure investment 85
Infrastructure gaps and capacity short-falls 86
Commonwealth funding 88
National coordination 92
Local councils 93
Landfill levies 94
Waste management contracts 97
National body 98
Research and data 99
Investment in research and development 101
Industry growth centre 102
Centralised data coordination and management 103
Education and awareness 106
Committee comment 107
5. Waste to energy 110
Advantages 111
Disadvantages 113
Feedstock 114
Best fit 115
Impediments 116
Long term policy certainty 118
Policy considerations 120
Committee site visit 121
Committee comment 122
6. Rural and regional Australia 124
Transport 125
Local solutions 127
Access to information 128
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities 130
Microfactories 132
Committee comment 135
7. Textiles 138
Opportunities in textile recovery 140
Proposed solutions 141
Government policy 142
Exports and landfill levies 143
Re-use 144
Collection bins 145
Clothes repair 146
Recycling technology 147
Product stewardship 149
Product design and procurement 151
Public awareness and education 152
Committee comment 152
8. Focus areas 155
Waterways and oceans 155
Local initiatives 156
Seabin 157
Litter trap 158
Ocean2earth 158
Urban run-off 159
Research on marine pollution 159
Food organics and garden organics waste 160
Medical waste 162
Solar panels 168
End of life 169
Product stewardship 171
Wind turbines 173
Mining 174
Mount Morgan Mine 174
Woodsreef Mine 176
Backfilling and resource recovery 177
Waste from energy production 178
Committee comment 179
9. Community engagement 182
Committee comment 185
Appendix 187
A. Submissions 187
B. Exhibits 196
C. Public hearings 197
D. Treaties and legislation 202
Table 2.1. Waste Fate 2016-17 37
Table 4.1. Product Stewardship Schemes in Australia 71
Figure 2.1. Australian Waste Flows 39
Figure 2.2. The Waste Hierarchy 42
Figure 2.3. Circular Economy 45
Figure 2.4. Forward and Reverse Logistics 46
Boxes
Box 4.1. CSIRO Advisory System for Process innovation and Resource Exchange (ASPIRE) 81
Box 4.2. RMIT University - The Transformation of Reclaimed Waste into Engineered Materials and Solutions (TREMS) 100
Box 4.3. Trax - Data management system 105
Box 5.1. Kwinana Waste to Energy Plant 121
Box 6.1. Envorinex 127
Box 6.2. The Big Rivers Waste Management Working Group 129
Box 8.1. Lake Macquarie City Council's Management of FOMO Waste 162
Box 8.2. Aquapak and DB Packaging 167