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

     Overall context
     Queensland is a major under performer in resource recovery by both national
     and international standards and is the recipient of the largest quantities of
     interstate waste. Annual data reported to the Queensland Government between
     the 2007–08 and 2015–16 financial years demonstrates that Queensland’s
     recovery rate has remained virtually unchanged over this time and Queensland
     continues to have one of the lowest recycling rates of all jurisdictions.

     The department estimates a 2016–17 recovery rate in Queensland of 44.5 per
     cent. This is more than 30 per cent lower than the best performing Australian
     jurisdiction - South Australia - at close to 80 per cent. To reach the national
     average recovery rate of 61 per cent, Queensland would need to recover an
     additional 1.5 million tonnes of waste, a 38 per cent increase on the volume
     currently recovered.

     Nevertheless, there is considerable innovation in Queensland’s waste and
     resource recovery industry with many companies ready to make infrastructure
     investments to grow the industry under the right leadership and policy
     directions from Government.

     It is widely recognised that the current Queensland Waste Avoidance and
     Resource Productivity Strategy (2014–2024) did not deliver opportunities
     for the resource recovery sector to grow and prosper. While the current
     waste strategy establishes the vision and targets for waste management
     and resource recovery in Queensland, it has failed to deliver the necessary
     policy and regulatory certainty and stability to inspire new investment,
     market opportunities and job growth for Queensland. This is largely because
     the strategy is unfunded, relies upon the development of voluntary sectoral
     action plans and is not underpinned by a market mechanism to encourage
     behavioural change.

     The disposal of waste into landfill without an incentive to recover resources is
     a lost economic opportunity and creates avoidable environmental problems
     such as additional greenhouse gas emissions and the need for long-term
     management of contaminated land.

     A 2009 Access Economics report indicates that every 10,000 tonnes of waste
     disposed into landfill supports 2.8 full time jobs, whereas if the same 10,000
     tonnes of waste were recycled, 9.2 jobs would be supported.

     Greater resource recovery and recycling will significantly contribute to the
     Advance Queensland vision to establish a biofutures industry that will
     attract investment and create regional jobs by securing the feedstock these
     industries need. Growing the resource recovery sector in Queensland will
     directly contribute to the new high skilled jobs that the Advance Queensland
     agenda is seeking to deliver.

     The Government’s Queensland Biofutures 10-Year Roadmap and Action Plan
     aims to develop a $1 billion biofutures industry by 2026. Waste provides a
     valuable source of feedstock to the industry and the market signal provided
     by a waste levy would generate additional availability and certainty.

     Queensland has a unique opportunity to learn from international experiences
     and build on the gains in other Australian jurisdictions in order to improve
     practices through modern infrastructure, technology and innovation and provide
     sustainable and viable domestic and local processing and market development.




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