How you had YourSay:

Submissions are now closed to provide feedback and ideas on recommendations and initiatives outlined in the Roadmap to Improved Resource Recovery.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the roadmap and provided us with feedback through our online form, via email, in writing or who spoke to us at one of our information sessions in May.

Your feedback will now be used to inform implementation approaches to the ways we look at lifting resource recovery from 70% to 90% within the ACT.

A summary of the feedback received is available in the consultation report.

We are looking at:

We're seeking pathways to achieving the goals outlined in the ACT Waste Management Strategy 2011-2025, including the target of 90% of waste being diverted from landfill by 2025 and a carbon-neutral waste sector by 2020.

However, the Territory’s resource recovery rate has plateaued at around 70% for the last decade, and the waste sector is unlikely to be carbon neutral by 2020 under current management practices.

As a result of the plateau, the Waste Feasibility Study was funded through the 2015-16 Budget with $2.8 million over two years.

The Waste Feasibility Study has given the ACT Government a better understanding of local and national waste management systems, their sensitivities and areas for improvement.

The Study’s Roadmap and recommendations are designed to provide a framework to drive change in the ACT community, businesses and waste industry over the next five years.

Many of the recommended steps have already commenced – the Waste Management and Resource Recovery Act 2016 is now being implemented by Transport and City Services Directorate (TCCS), and the ‘green bins’ pilot project is assessing the future volume of garden organics and associated processing requirements. The ACT Container Deposit Scheme has been established by legislation and will commence 30 June 2018.

The recommendations below and in the Roadmap to Improved Resource Recovery overview require community support and participation to succeed. The recent public interest in waste provides a springboard for action and an opportunity to ignite the community’s enthusiasm.

The Roadmap overview steps out four main recommendations:

1. Promoting better waste management behaviour
2. Divert organics from landfill
3. Support and develop industry
4. Consider waste-to-energy options

We are using your views to:

To inform implementation approaches of the roadmap recommendations.

Waste Feasibility Study

The ACT Government is pleased to share the recommendations provided in the Waste Feasibility Study.

The ACT Government views Canberra as home to a pro-active community with a positive concern for management of waste and more broadly the environment. As such, the resulting recommendations of the two year study are designed to improve and achieve best practice waste management in partnership with the ACT community. Further, the Study’s achievements and recommendations aim to enhance Canberra’s reputation as a sustainable, progressive city with the ambition of having public, private and community partnerships work together to further opportunities.

The Study was tasked with understanding the complex and interconnected nature of waste management involving almost every aspect of life in Canberra. With the Territory’s resource recovery rate plateauing at around 70% for the last decade, and the changes in waste management approaches, a re-alignment and ‘step-change’ of strategy is required.

Renewed pathways are required to achieving the ambitious goals set out in the ACT Waste Management Strategy 2011-2025 (the Strategy) which includes the aspirational targets of 90% of waste being diverted from landfill by 2025 and a carbon-neutral waste sector by 2020. While the target in the strategy is ambitious, many of the objectives of the current strategy have been successfully met and the supporting initiatives delivered to support the current approximate 70% resource recovery rate.

Any robust study requires considerable input from stakeholders. This Study, conducted over two years, has benefited from consultation and collaboration across five reference groups from government, industry and community to gather knowledge and expertise. Also, through a market sounding exercise, industry capabilities and capacity to deliver on the possible range of industry development possibilities of the study were gauged.

The views of a range of stakeholders, collection then analysis of data and research has resulted in a set of recommendations and have been refined into a ‘Roadmap’ of initiatives as a key deliverable of the Study.

The Roadmap

The Roadmap derived from the foundation Waste Feasibility Study could drive the ACT’s resource recovery rate from 70% to a nation leading 87% with the potential to divert 170,000 tonnes of waste from landfill.

The recommendations are consistent with the current waste strategy and waste hierarchy principle, outlining efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle waste above energy recovery and landfilling.

The Roadmap also highlights the need for renewed community and industry commitment to waste avoidance measures, particularly in reducing food waste and improved recycling practices.