NWRIC rebrands to steer focus on resources recovery

In a bold move to lead a change in the narrative about how waste is viewed in Australia, the National Waste and Recycling Industry Council (NWRIC) will now be known as the Australian Resources Recovery Council (ARRC).

With the amount of waste generated by Australians continuing to increase, the nation’s leading business council is championing the call to elected representatives and policymakers to prioritise resource recovery as the main game if the nation is to achieve its ambitious waste diversion targets by 2030.

ARRC Chief Executive Officer Rick Ralph, said the rebrand reflects the organisation’s impact and value to the nation and communities.

waste and recycling in Australia — Rick Ralph, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Resources Recovery Council. Image: Rick Ralph

“It focuses on how we generate an important source of renewable and recycled resources, contributing to the building of stronger, lower emissions, local industries, and protecting community health, and the natural environment,” Ralph said.

“The ARRC remains the leading business advocate for Australia’s waste management and resource recovery sector. What this rebrand emphasises is our priority in creating a stronger domestic market for the resources we currently recover and for what we could recover.

“Australia is projected to hit 81 million tonnes of generated waste by 2025. Our council is leading and focused on how we can generate an alternate source of renewable and recycled materials, but we need our governments to come to the table.”

“Critically, this rebrand will support our strong advocacy for our members, in Canberra, and across federal industry, resources, energy, manufacturing and environment portfolios.”

ARRC members provide Australian businesses, governments and communities access to essential waste, resources recovery and recycling services. This includes recovering materials such as biogas, plastics, tyres, metals, garden and food organics as well as engineering fuels for energy.

“This industry provides incredible value to Australia contributing $18.9 billion annually to the economy and supports more than 95,000 jobs, but there is more that can be done if we can get the nation to shift its thinking and acknowledge that the renewable and recyclable resources we are generating in our waste are genuine alternatives for our domestic supply chains,” Ralph said.

“The government has acknowledged the importance of rebuilding our sovereign manufacturing capability and the council sees a major role for our members to make critical contributions in this process.

“For too long the debate has focused on waste management and recycling performance and has not prioritised the bigger opportunity of the alternative resources our nation generates in its community and industrial waste.”

Ralph said the council is committed to creating a strong and sustainable Australian market for locally recovered renewable and recycled resources, but policymakers need to incentivise businesses to use Australian recycled content in locally produced and manufactured products.

“This can only be done by shifting our focus from a largely environmental agenda to more important industry, manufacturing, supply chain, and energy-focused policy changes,” he said.

“If we truly want to lower our environmental impact and develop a real ‘circular economy’ that supports new manufacturing supply chains, then we must have sustained markets for the materials we are recovering and a changed national culture that looks at its waste generation alternatives as critical industry inputs and emissions reduction opportunities.”