Accelerating SA’s transition to a circular economy: South Australia’s waste strategy 2025-2030 outlines the framework for accelerating the state’s shift to a circular economy to achieve a sustainable economy and net-zero emissions by 2050.
It builds on its predecessor, released in 2020, while taking account of changing local, national and international trends, challenges, commitments and opportunities.
The core of the new strategy focuses on nine key areas, including avoiding waste and food waste, reducing material loss, preserving the value of resources, addressing emerging and problematic wastes, developing circular markets and businesses, building a circular built environment, developing circular economy knowledge and skills, and measuring the state’s transition while contributing to net zero emissions.
It serves as a plan to move away from the traditional ‘take-make-dispose’ model by driving innovation, creating jobs, strengthening local manufacturing, and promoting reuse and repair in communities.
Launching the strategy this week, Climate, Environment and Water Minister Lucy Hood said South Australia had always led the way on waste and recycling, from the container deposit scheme in 1977 to the statewide three-bin system and nation-leading ban on single-use plastics.
“These initiatives, along with regulatory reform and government partnership on infrastructure investments, have helped create a well-established and high-performing resource recovery sector in South Australia,” Hood said.
“But to meet the challenges of the next decade, we need to go further than landfill diversion and recovering resources to create a truly circular economy.
“The goal and targets in the strategy are necessarily ambitious. It recognises that recycling alone isn’t enough; we must design products better, use materials more efficiently, and prevent waste in the first place.”
Green Industries South Australia will lead the implementation of the strategy, with activities to begin in 2026.
Read the strategy, here
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