Federal commitment paves the way for a resourceful Australia

9 July 2020

Today’s announcement by the federal government of a $20 million Product Stewardship Investment Fund has rounded up a week of solid action and significant financial support by the Commonwealth to create a more resourceful Australia.

The $20 million initiative takes the total amount of new funding from the federal government to $269.6 million – a once-in-a-lifetime commitment that has been hailed by the Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association of Australia (WMRR) as a significant win for community, the essential waste and resource recovery industry, the environment, and the economy.

“This week’s funding announcements - totalling $79.6 million - to drive the National Waste Action Plan implementation will enable our essential industry and stakeholders to move forward in vital areas such as dealing with food waste and problematic plastics, product stewardship, and developing specifications for the use of recycled material,” WMRR CEO, Ms Gayle Sloan, said.

“The funding will help pivot Australia to a more resource-efficient nation as it gives us the ammunition we need to fire up solutions, policies, technologies and more in our quest to build a thriving circular economy.”

“WMRR thanks the federal government for its focused and sustained commitment to the sector. Industry is ready to work hand-in-hand with government and all stakeholders to grow our waste and resource recovery capacity and build a more circular economy as we know that in doing so, we will build industries, we will create jobs, jobs, and more jobs, and we can put more money back in householders’ pockets by becoming more resource-efficient, such as by avoiding food waste.

“Looking ahead, WMRR keenly awaits the setting up of a governance structure to push forward the actions in the National Waste Action Plan. We all have our work cut out for us in what will be exciting times ahead,” Ms Sloan added.

“We also call on all state governments to accelerate their actions, urging states that have not done so already, to accelerate their new matched funds and plans so that we can move forward together, ‘turbo charge’ our new economy, and deliver the new jobs we know we can deliver.

“We have every opportunity here to be the next resource boom in Australia, but we must act together now,” Ms Sloan said.