Submission to Senate inquiry into waste reduction and recycling policies

The Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) commends the significance of the Recycling and Waste Reduction Act 2020 in aligning Australia with international waste management obligations and fostering domestic reprocessing infrastructure, thus stimulating job creation and a more resilient circular economy. However, current data suggests that meeting recycling and waste reduction targets, like the 2025 National Packaging Targets, remains uncertain. ATSE urges the committee to take insights from its comprehensive report, "Towards a Waste-Free Future," which advocates for a transition to a circular economy, emphasising continuous resource reuse. The report identifies technology-driven solutions across design, product stewardship, and resource recovery efficiency.  

While acknowledging government initiatives like the Recycling Modernisation Fund, ATSE emphasises the need for expanded product stewardship, consumer education, and improved waste data collection. ATSE underscores the importance of these actions in advancing waste management sustainability. ATSE had the following key recommendations for focused, immediate, agenda-setting actions for government, industry and the research sector to employ technology to create a thriving and sustainable Australian circular economy: 

• Recommendation 1: A paradigm shift in design principles to avoid waste altogether – designing a product to be reusable, to facilitate repair, upgrade, parts replacement, and trade-in for remanufacture. 
• Recommendation 2: A systems approach that acknowledges all stakeholders in a product lifecycle have a role to play, facilitating greater resource productivity and creating demand for recovered materials.  
• Recommendation 3: Government and industry to leverage technology to improve information quality, quantity, timeliness and transparency. Big data and analytics inform decision-making by policymakers, businesses and consumers 
• Recommendation 4: A long-term policy and regulatory framework and targeted government investment that will provide clear signals and create investment certainty.