How confident are you in recycling?

The Australian Council of Recycling has launched a new industry survey to provide an up-to-date measure of confidence in the sector and support better decision making. 

The recycling sector employs around 50,000 people. While this is indicative of the sector’s success to date, an unrivalled opportunity exists to increase that number exponentially.

Australia is one of the wealthiest countries in the world per capita and with that affluence comes increased waste generation. Currently, the sector accounts for 0.5 per cent total employment, with Australia ranked 17th in the world in recycling.

But as a vital part of the economy, recycling can punch above its weight with the right support. The Australian Council of Recycling (ACOR) has been supporting the businesses that collect, sort and remanufacture materials into value-added products.

These are the businesses getting their hands dirty to beneficially manage materials from the residential, commercial, industrial and infrastructure sectors.

The Council of Australian Government’s (COAG) ban on select waste exports, in addition the upcoming NSW Government’s 20-year waste strategy, national container deposit schemes and updated infrastructure recyclate specifications, highlight the regulators’ appetite for reform. Nevertheless, quality data is a barrier to understanding.

It’s why ACOR has explored the gaps and discovered that the missing piece of the data puzzle – an understanding of business confidence. While organisations such as NAB run monthly business confidence surveys, there has not in recent times been a measure of confidence for Australia’s recycling sector.

Such datasets would prove useful for federal, state and territory and local government regulators, and help inform decision-making to supercharge the recycling sector, instead of it being stymied by outdated regulation.

According to ACOR CEO Pete Shmigel, understanding the recycling sector’s place in the overall economy is vital.

“We don’t do enough to gauge our own performance and trends and share that information with the public and decision-makers. Hopefully, the survey helps claim that opportunity,” Pete says.

He says the survey is a first of its kind.

“There’s lots of work about where the industry is at in terms of environmental performance, especially in ‘tonnage’ terms, for example how much we manage and various recycling rates. There’s less information about the economic side, such as business confidence going forward. That’s a key difference for this survey.”

Pete says that a schism between communications surrounding the so-called “waste crisis” and industry’s perceptions of the sector has created confusion.

“In all the media hype of the last few years, there’s been a fair bit of ‘blurring’ of different recycling markets. The reality is that while kerbside has its issues, we’ve been powering along in C&I and C&D with more than $500 million in investment in the last two years,” Pete says.

He says that interestingly, some businesses are integrated across these streams and have therefore been successfully hedging.

“Good decision-making requires a detailed understanding of the differences in our streams of activity.”

With COAG’s ban on waste exports and kerbside recycling undergoing dramatic changes, Pete says it’s important more now than ever that industry has the confidence to invest at scale and the right market signals.

“Domestic sustainability will require significant investment from many players, and that is assisted by industry insights.

“We’re literally only months away from the COAG ban being in place – on top of existing Asian pressures and in addition to further moves the Asians are likely to make. I’m hopeful that the survey gives us a better sense about how affected businesses and their supply chains are feeling about these very significant structural changes about to come down the pipe.”

The survey is broken down into MSW, C&I and C&D and allows respondents to answer various questions about whether they feel confident in their operations. Likewise, the survey covers government support and allows users to rank the issues most important to them.

To participate in this leading industry survey click here

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