NSW celebrates recycling triumph

The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has reported that considerable progress has been made in the New South Wales recycling sector, with the state now capable of processing nearly 140,000 tonnes of additional material annually.

Critical to this triumph has been $9.1 million in funding from the EPA over the last five years under the Product Improvement Program. The program was set up in response to China’s 2018 National Sword Policy, which restricted the importation of certain materials for recycling, including most plastics, paper and cardboard, glass and other solid wastes.

The program’s successful completion coincided with National Recycling Week.

The initiative has achieved:

• Almost 85,000 tonnes of recyclable material re-directed from landfill.
• Contamination rates for plastic, and paper and cardboard dropping up to 11%.
• Over 46,000 tonnes of recycled material processed or reprocessed per year.
• More than 24,000 tonnes of plastic reprocessed and remanufactured.
• More than 46,000 tonnes of recycled material used to manufacture new products per year.
   

NSW EPA CEO Tony Chappel said increasing the state’s capacity to recycle material is critical, given landfill space in Greater Sydney set to be exhausted by 2030.

“At our recent Circular Economy Summit, we highlighted the need to take decisive action and come up with new waste and recycling solutions,” he said.

“This program showcases what we can do when we invest and innovate together. We’ve seen significant leaps forward by industry at all stages of the recycling journey from sorting to reprocessing and remanufacturing.

“Material recovery facilities have improved the quality of recycled products, contamination rates have dropped up to 11%, and we’ve increased our capacity to process waste by almost 140,000 tonnes each year.

“This is a huge achievement, equivalent to 1700 Olympic swimming pools.”

China used to be the largest importer of recyclable products — accounting for 30% of Australia’s exports. The National Sword Policy restrictions had a huge impact on Australia’s ability to export recyclable materials, requiring the recycling sector to shift towards local solutions.

In 2018–2019, 22 grants were awarded to help industry to expand and improve local recycling markets and infrastructure.

The funding propelled a diverse range of projects whose goals included enhancing recycling infrastructure; driving innovation for recycling plastics, paper, cardboard, glass and problem waste; and providing more Australian-sourced recycled material for use in product manufacturing.

These results helped NSW target 53% of materials impacted by the National Sword Policy in NSW.

Image caption: Veolia recycling facility. Image courtesy of the EPA.