A New South Wales government policy will create a new market for recycled materials across Australia’s construction sector.
The policy is one of several measures outlined in the Decarbonising Infrastructure Delivery Roadmap released last week.
Minister for Environment James Griffin said consultation will occur this year on the draft Protection of the Environment Policy (PEP) for sustainable construction.
The PEP will require public infrastructure projects to further improve design and construction to reduce carbon and prioritise the use of low-carbon recycled or remanufactured substitute materials derived from waste streams in NSW.
“Using a circular economy approach in the built environment could deliver $773 billion in direct economic benefits across Australia over 20 years and reduce emissions by 3.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year by 2040. That’s equivalent to taking almost 800,000 cars off the road annually,” Griffin said.
The PEP will be piloted on three Transport for NSW projects in 2023 – the Edmonson Park North multi-storey commuter carpark, St Mary’s Footbridge and the M12 West.
As part of the roadmap the cost of carbon will be measured in business cases for future NSW Government infrastructure projects to drive down emissions and costs.
To help industry decarbonise, the government has established a $37 million Carbon Recycling and Abatement Fund, as a part of its $356 million Waste and Sustainable Materials Strategy.
The government last week also released Circular Design Guidelines to support industry to implement circular economy principles across built environment projects, from inception to delivery.
For more information, visit www.epa.nsw.gov.au
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