2018-06-27 SM - Attachment 1 to Item 2 - Directions Paper Transforming Queensland's Recycling & Waste Industry

4 Summary
The purpose of the Strategy was to improve resource recovery and waste management through shared
responsibility. However, progress under the Strategy has been slow and in some cases regressive. Progress has
also been hindered by the lack of clearly articulated strategic actions or direction for Queensland. Moreover, the
heavy reliance on implementation through voluntary action plans, which did not eventuate, impeded the Strategy’s
success.

Although the Strategy has been useful in guiding the business of the department, it has not been widely embraced
by other stakeholders, nor has it been supported by appropriate policy instruments to drive resource recovery. The
key findings of the review are summarised below.

1. The industry-led development of the Strategy relied on a consensus approach and resulted in a Strategy that
   did not provide the necessary clarity and implementation details. The result is a strategy that lacks depth and
   breadth to effect substantial improvements in waste management and resource recovery.

2. Key elements of the strategic framework are not aligned and require further clarity. For example, the
   Strategy’s title includes a major but undefined concept of ‘resource productivity’ that does not connect with the
   other elements of the Strategy, the vision does not align with the targets, the targets may not be sufficiently
   ambitious, and further clarity around priority wastes is required.

3. The Strategy misses the opportunity to take advantage of potential synergies with other major sector
   strategies and plans. The potential synergies and opportunities between the Strategy and other sector
   strategies (some of which were developed after the release of the Strategy) have not been explored.

4. The implementation of the Strategy was hindered when action plans did not eventuate as intended. The lack
   of mandatory actions and commitments in the Strategy meant that there was little implementation of the
   Strategy when voluntary action plans were not developed as intended. Moreover, the cycle of developing
   multiple voluntary action plans as intended could consume significant time and resources of the Queensland
   Government.

5. There is no formal mechanism in place to provide implementation oversight and to support coordination and
   engagement with stakeholders. Although the Strategy was developed using an industry-led approach with a
   strong emphasis on shared responsibility, the department is solely responsible for implementation oversight.

6. The Strategy lacks a formal monitoring, evaluation and reporting framework.

7. The release and implementation of the Strategy may not have been communicated well to all stakeholders.
   Several industry stakeholders were uncertain about the official status of the Strategy. Specific communication
   issues were also identified which suggested a potential breakdown in communication of the objectives of the
   strategy between state and local governments.

8. The industry-led Strategy lacks effective measures to reverse the current negative trends and to achieve the
   waste reduction and resource recovery targets. The available data indicates that the solid waste generation
   and landfill disposal rates are increasing, whilst the resource recovery rate has stalled over the last eight years.
   There are no incentives identified to reduce state-wide waste generation, to overcome the barriers of scale and
   distance associated with resource recovery in remote areas, to encourage greater household participation in
   kerbside recycling, or to encourage industry to invest in resource recovery.

9. The Strategy lacks effective interventions to reverse the current waste disposal trends and to achieve the
   waste disposal targets. The amount of waste landfilled per capita increased by 2.2 per cent since FY2008 and
   by 5 per cent since FY2013. The proportion of interstate waste received has also increased in the last year. The
   Strategy does not identify specific interventions or a credible pathway to reverse these trends and achieve the
   2024 target of reducing landfilled waste to 85 per cent of FY2013 levels.




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