At the Australasian Waste and Recycling Expo virtual conference this month, Cleanaway CEO and Managing Director Vik Bansal reiterated Cleanaway’s support for the Government’s Recycling Modernisation Fund and explained the policy frameworks that must be in place before the benefits of the waste export ban can be fully realised.
“At all levels, the export bans are a good thing – socially, environmentally and economically. However, successful recycling policy comes down to three key factors – contamination, scale and logistics. It’s important that we clean up inputs to MRFs by ensuring a consistent national four bin system and a container deposit scheme in every state.” said Vik.
While Cleanaway has invested significantly in Material Recovery Facilities, the ability to scale our operations is impacted by the quality of material received.
Source separated recycling enabled through container deposit schemes and compliant use of four bin kerbside systems puts the responsibility on generators of waste to separate materials such as glass, plastic and cardboard at the point of disposal, which encourages a clean, high quality input of materials to sorting facilities.
While educating householders to put the right materials in the bin will still be necessary, Vik explained that having a policy framework in place through national bin standards is the first step to avoid mixed messaging and confusion.
Vik added that the industry’s ability to scale operations will be increased if infrastructure spend and procurement are linked so that the industry would know where the product was going and therefore where to invest.
Australasian Waste and Recycling Expo 2020
On day two of the conference, Cleanaway CEO and Managing Director Vik Bansal joined National Waste and Recycling Industry Council (NWRIC) CEO Rose Read and The Minister for the Environment Hon Sussan Ley MP in a discussion on the Recycling Modernisation Fund. The Fund is aimed to generate $600 million of recycling investment and drive a billion-dollar transformation of Australia’s waste and recycling capacity.
In the following session on the National State of Waste, Vik joined Assistant Minister for Waste Reduction and Environmental Management, The Hon Trevor Evans MP and other experts to discuss the impact of the waste export ban due to start 1 January 2022 and the new Recycling and Waste Reduction Bill.
Visit https://awre.com.au/whats-on/awre-2020-online-event/ for more information.
For further information please contact:
Mark Biddulph
Head of Corporate Affairs
Telephone: +61 499 332 601
Cleanaway is committed to our priority SDGs aligned to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. We are committed to making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable and we engage with local communities to understand the economic, environmental and social forces that shape Australia’s future needs.
