Board communiqué

The WMRR Board held its second meeting for the year on Thursday 3 April 2025. The industry’s resilience was top of mind for the Board, reflecting on the recent events of Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred, and the preparedness shown by the WARR industry in maintaining operations with minimal disruptions for the community, as a direct result of the incredible efforts of many industry people in both South East Queensland and northern NSW. Huge thanks to all, and we hope that there was not too much damage, or stress as a result.

Also acknowledged was the positive impact that the NSW Environment Minister, the Hon. Penny Sharpe, is making to drive the agenda for WARR in NSW, with the passing of the  Product Lifecycle Responsibility Bill by the NSW Parliament with 100% support.  The Act provides the legislative framework that allows the Minister to prescribe, by regulation, requirements across the entire life cycle of a product, including the development, design, creation, production, assembly, supply, use or re-use, collection, recovery, recycling or disposal of the regulated product. This legislation is intended in the first instance to be used to provide a framework for the regulation of product stewardship for e-micromobility devices. NSW have drafted the Act as a standalone document and are looking to share document and assist other states to align to make it a mandatory scheme nationally. WMRR is calling for all other states to align and has consequently also advocated that the Battery Stewardship Council (BSC) application for ACCC authorisation to expand their scheme should not be approved at this time and there should not be a change in what the scheme covers given the interplay with the NSW Act and Commonwealth legislation.  B-cycle has been calling for mandatory regulation to address free riders, and we look to them to now to work quickly with NSW to create a mandatory scheme. WMRR will continue to advocate for mandatory product stewardship and genuine producer responsibility so that Australia can move towards a circular economy that values its recovered resources.

Ahead of the federal election, WMRR will be calling on all governments to commit to further investment in our sector via continuing funding like we saw under the Recycling Modernisation Fund (RMF), utilising evidence as to which streams need investment and targeting across all Australia, and ideally stimulating matched state funding; whilst simultaneously putting in mechanisms that design out waste and incentivise the uptake of recycled and recovered materials over virgin resources.

WMRR has consistently advocated these points and the Board noted that this has been one of the busiest periods for WMRR submissions. The contributions of our members through working groups and branch meetings is invaluable to ensuring our submissions include the technical insights and real life examples that only those ‘on the ground’ can provide. Providing value to our members in terms of providing opportunities for networking, knowledge sharing and advocacy continue to underpin WMRR’s value to members.

On this note, the Board was pleased to review the results from the 2024 WMRR member survey, which indicated high levels of satisfaction from members with WMRR’s value offering. We are pleased to report that 95% of respondents were ‘likely’ or ‘highly likely’ to recommend WMRR membership to others in industry. The survey questions primarily related to members’ perceived value and effectiveness of WMRR, including opportunities for participation in WMRR meetings, events and training, and feedback on the barriers to member engagement. 80% of respondents attended a WMRR event in 2024, an increase of 6% on the previous year. Most pleasingly, there was a lot of constructive, written feedback that the WMRR team will be working through to incorporate into our 2025 activities.  

2025 will bring some new faces to the National Office team at WMRR. A dedicated training resource, Ms Claire Berry, has joined the WMRR Office and in June, the WMRR Board of Directors will welcome two (2) new Directors – including the incoming WMRR President. The new Directors will take office for a term of two (2) years, commencing at the WMRR AGM, which will be held on Thursday 5 June 2025.  Our June Board Meeting will be the final meeting chaired by myself, whose term as WMRR President comes to an end. WMRR members are encouraged to attend the AGM, which will this year be held in Sydney.

It's shaping up to be a dynamic year for WMRR –  with a new government term commencing next month, and  with the West Australian Women of WARR, Tasmanian WARR Forum, the WMRR AGM and the EfW Conference also just weeks away. The Board is thankful for the support and contribution of our members, and looks forward to a productive quarter ahead.