The objective of this audit was to examine the effectiveness of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water's implementation of the National Waste Policy Action Plan 2019.

This report aims to support policy-makers in their efforts to address plastic pollution. By examining the economic and financial implications of plastic management, the report provides key recommendations on how to create a comprehensive approach to addressing plastic pollution and to help policy-makers make better...

This paper provides an overview of the Environment Legislation Amendment (Circular Economy and Other Matters) Bill 2022 by exploring Victoria’s transition to a circular economy and recent regulatory and legislative changes to the waste and recycling sector.

The electric vehicle (EV) revolution promises a future of low-emissions transportation and is essential if Australia is to meet its climate obligations. However, it is creating challenges too. This report explores how lithium-ion battery waste can be recycled and transformed into valuable commodities and argues...

This strategy builds on and supersedes the Northern Territory Environment Protection Authority’s Waste Management Strategy for the Northern Territory 2015-2022, and its implementation with consideration to other relevant key Territory policies and strategies.

This report aims to identify and assess trends in trade patterns of plastic waste and scrap in the context of recent policy developments.

This report highlights the need for Australia to implement a circular economy framework that will guide measurement for government at all levels. It also provides a baseline understanding of the current state of circular economy measurement in Australia and guidance on what is required to...

Outlining options for both regulation of the waste sector and those working in it, and regulation of the products and materials currently disposed of through waste and recycling systems, this document presents the government's proposed vision and aspirations for a low-waste Aotearoa New Zealand.

Australia is on a plastics mission. In March 2020, Australia’s first ever National Plastics Summit was held. This plan puts into action many of the excellent ideas raised at the summit.

This paper seeks to document the state of play in the resource recovery and waste sector in New Zealand with a focus on the infrastructure used to manage New Zealand’s waste. This includes landfills, material recovery facilities and processing facilities.

This roadmap identifies opportunities across the whole supply chain of how waste can be avoided, and materials can be re-used or recycled. In doing so, it identifies new technologies, products, services and industries that can emerge from taking on a circular economy approach.

Australians generate 2.7 tonnes of waste - per person, per year. Approximately, 40% of this waste ends up in landfill. This report addresses this dilemma in some way, recommending that the rubbish we create must be effectively, efficiently and sustainably dealt with.

This report examines how technology can transform the waste and resource-recovery sector in Australia, and support the transition towards a thriving circular economy.

Swan Hill Rural City Council engaged Rawtec to assist in the development of an Organics Waste Recovery Strategy. Rawtec undertook desktop research and consulted a range of stakeholders within the Swan Hill region to better understand the current volumes of organic waste, how it is...

Domestic kerbside collections in Aotearoa New Zealand vary significantly across the country. Inconsistencies lead to confusion among the public, incentivise waste to landfill, and can increase contamination in recycling. This report discusses ways to standardise domestic kerbside collections to increase consistency, reduce confusion for householders...

This report recognises that the federal, state and territory governments have, or are in the process of, setting admirable goals to reduce plastic waste. This report aims to contribute to this process by providing recommendations on the most problematic plastics leaking into the environment to...

This project provides insights into the current policy environment and practices, identifies barriers and challenges associated with managing solar PV waste, and provides a robust evidence base regarding the current and future solar waste trajectories in the Northern Territory.

Without proactive management from the general contractor, handoffs can result in the generation of waste, such as idle time between production activities, transport waste originating from an excessive number of mobilizations and demobilizations, and errors and omissions from miscommunication between trades. This paper discusses the...

This study presents an application of the Functional Resonance Analysis Method (FRAM) for the modelling of a chain of wastes.

Australian governments have a major opportunity to avoid a looming waste crisis and embrace energy recovery as a way of managing our waste and creating baseload power in the process. This report outlines a series of key recommendations required to support the roll out of...

This draft policy covers the Victorian EPA’s compliance and enforcement approaches for supporting and directing compliance as well as the EPA’s principles and criteria for decision-making, including the consideration of risk, and behaviour and motivations for compliance.

This study aims to describe the development of an industry–university (IU) relationship which has enabled the conduct of practically and scientifically relevant research. Using empirical data, this study describes how to create a win-win IU innovation relationship that enables the implementation of process innovations into...

This briefing from the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership provides recommendations for businesses and government to help address the issue of eliminating plastic waste. The publication examines how companies from natural water and soft drinks sector can adopt a considered approach in their future packaging...

The NSW government is developing the 20-year waste strategy, which will set the future direction of the state’s waste and resource recovery system. This issues paper identifies the challenges the waste system faces and proposes a vision for the future NSW circular economy.

Victorians are passionate about recycling but some have lost confidence in the system, with around a quarter of people we polled thinking the contents of their recycling bins ends up in landfill. This report identifies Victoria’s specific infrastructure needs in the waste management sector.