Wendy Askew (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Recycling and Waste Reduction Bill 2020 and associated bills, which were introduced to the House of Representatives on 27 August this year. The aim of this bill is to regulate the export of waste materials in line with the commitment of the Council of Australian Governments, COAG, earlier this year to ban the export of waste plastic, paper, glass and tyres. Only those products that have been processed into a value added material and will be reused or remanufactured overseas will be permitted for export. This legislation will also manage the environmental, health and safety impacts of products, particularly the impacts associated with the disposal of waste products, and provide for voluntary co-regulatory and mandatory product stewardship schemes.

Planet Ark research shows that 51 per cent of Australia's household waste is recycled, which is on par with recycling rates in many northern European countries. Even better, Australia has been a world leader in newspaper recycling for years, but we have a way to go with electronic waste recycling. E-waste is increasing at three times the rate of other waste in Australia. Voluntary industry programs, like Cartridges 4 Planet Ark and MobileMuster, have been providing recycling options for many years now, but we've been slow to provide recycling services for televisions, computers and batteries. These bills mean we will be slow no more.

COAG's commitment to banning the export of certain waste materials was target 1 of the National Waste Policy Action Plan 2019. This plan was developed to drive change within industry, businesses, governments and the community to turn waste into a reusable commodity. The strategy to phase out the export of waste plastic, paper, glass and tyres was released in March this year and sets out both the challenges and opportunities presented by the ban and the longer term changes ahead for Australia's waste and recycling sector. The ban on the export of waste products starts with waste glass from 1 January 2021, followed by mixed plastics from 1 July 2021, whole used tyres from 1 December 2021, single resin or polymer plastics from 1 July 2022 and mixed or unsorted paper and cardboard from 1 July 2024.

These bills encourage a circular economy for Australia's waste through the enhancement of voluntary product stewardship. Such an economy will support businesses to realise the full value of recyclable materials as a sustainable resource, with full consideration of the product's entire life cycle. The bills replace the framework contained within the Product Stewardship Act 2011. This act will be repealed by the Recycling and Waste Reduction (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2020.

Earlier this year I visited the Dulverton Waste Management facility at Latrobe in Tasmania's north-west. This facility is already following the recycling and reuse ideals we are aiming for in this legislation. Dulverton provides sustainable landfill and organics recycling services for more than 80 commercial, industrial and government clients across Tasmania. It was constructed in 1995 at a former clay quarry site under the joint authority of four north-west councils—the Central Coast, Devonport City, Kentish and Latrobe councils.

Around 40 per cent of the waste volume at the Dulverton Waste Management facility is organic. It is recycled into nutrient-rich compost used by Tasmanian nurseries, landscapers, public land managers, vineyards, flower and berry growers, orchards and dairy farmers. This recycled compost product stimulates plant growth, increases soil microbial life, unlocks soil nutrients for plants, improves soil salinity and sodicity—the amount of salt held in soil—and increases the soil's water-holding capacity.

Dulverton also collaborates with waste management groups throughout the state and works with businesses and industry bodies to raise awareness of waste avoidance and recycling best practices. The Australian government has made targeted investments to build a stronger Australian recycling industry and create more jobs as a result of these waste management reforms. A number of complementary measures have been introduced to support the objectives of these bills, including $190 million for a new Recycling Modernisation Fund. This fund will leverage $600 million of recycling infrastructure reinvestment, creating more than 10,000 jobs and diverting more than 10 million tonnes of waste from landfill to make useful products when combined with activity from the National Waste Policy Action Plan.

Despite comments made by those on the other side in earlier contributions, I'm very pleased to advise the Senate that an $11 million joint recycling agreement between the Australian and Tasmanian governments was announced in Launceston recently. This landmark agreement, signed by federal Minister for the Environment, Sussan Ley, and Tasmania's Minister for Environment and Parks, Roger Jaensch, will deliver a $16 million boost for the state's recycling industry, creating jobs and reducing pressure on the environment. This partnership is part of the Australian government's $190 million Recycling Modernisation Fund and will leverage a further $5.5 million from Tasmanian industry via matched investment from businesses who will turn the high-quality recycled material into new products.

Other complementary measures supporting the bill's objectives include: $20 million for the National Product Stewardship Investment Fund to grow new and existing schemes, which will contribute to meeting our national target of recovering 80 per cent of our waste resources by 2030; $35 million to implement Commonwealth commitments under Australia's National Waste Policy Action Plan, which sets the direction for waste management policy and recycling in Australia until 2030; $24.6 million for Commonwealth commitments to improve our national waste data so it can measure recycling outcomes and track progress against our national waste targets; $20 million through a special round of the cooperative research centre's projects to find new and innovative solutions to plastic recycling and waste, including new ways of incorporating recycled plastics in manufacturing and construction; strengthening the Commonwealth procurement guidelines to enable any procurement undertaken by a Commonwealth agency to consider environmental sustainability and the use of recycled content when determining value for money, because by using our purchasing power we can generate demand and encourage innovation; and also working with the states and territories to develop national standards and specifications for the use of recycled content in a broad range of capital works projects.

We want to stop exporting untreated and unprocessed waste that is likely to have a negative impact on the environment or harm human health in the country that receives this waste. Our waste management and recycling sector will collect, recover, recycle and reuse waste and convert it into new products as a result. Through better product design, manufacture, distribution and use, we will all take greater responsibility for environmental impacts. Australia is not only taking responsibility for its waste but also ensuring this waste is managed effectively and transformed into a resource we can use again and again. We've turned the tables on the thought that waste is just an environmental product problem that needs to be solved, instead seeing it as an opportunity to design, manufacture and create new products and foster new industries. Reforming our practices around unprocessed waste products will lead to a fundamental change in attitude that will positively affect our bottom line. Waste management and recycling practices that stem from this bill are expected to add $3.6 billion to the Australian economy's turnover and generate $1.5 billion in economic activity over the next 20 years. In addition to ensuring we are recycling and reusing our waste products, the bill will set out obligations for manufacturers, importers and distributors in relation to those products. This legislation also sets out accreditation arrangements for voluntary product stewardship, which will help Australian consumers understand the impact of certain products so they can make better choices when purchasing and disposing of products.

Recycling and reusing products is something Australians care deeply about. To understand this, we only need to look at the uptake of local government kerbside recycling programs, the popularity of bottle-recycling schemes and the number of people who spend their weekends combing through tip shops and travelling between garage sales to find products they can upcycle for their homes or resell at market stalls and in shops. People spend time sorting and separating their recyclable paper, glass and plastic packaging to put into the recycling bins or taking products to their local waste collection facilities, and they want to know these products are going to be repurposed effectively, not dumped in an ever-growing landfill facility or sent overseas. The export bans outlined in the bill are our way of ensuring these products will be reused productively.

Recycling benefits our planet, our economy and ourselves. Reusing products decreases the amount of raw materials needed, and the manufacture of new products from recycled materials uses less energy. Recycling creates more jobs than landfill does, and new industries created through reuse boost the economy. We are taking responsibility for our waste by regulating the way products are used, from initial design and manufacture through to reuse or recycling into a different product. This commitment will expand the capacity of our industries, as well as open opportunities for new product ideas, new technologies and new markets for these products. It will ensure our resources will be used in sustainable ways for future generations. I commend this bill to the Senate.