Webinar - Waste Strategy

Date: Watch at a time convenient to you

Access: Click on the link below to view the recorded webinar


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Presenters


Baharak Sahebekhtiari, Director, Circular Economy and Resource Management, Department of Planning, Industry and Environment

20 year waste strategy update

The management of waste and recycling is one of our most pressing environmental and social challenges. It’s a service we all rely on every day. The sector is undergoing significant change due to shifts in domestic and global markets, as well as community expectation about what happens to their waste. There is an opportunity for NSW to lead the way in waste reduction, recycling and protecting our environment. 

The NSW 20-Year Waste Strategy is a whole-of-government initiative to provide a long-term strategic direction for communities, industry and all levels of government to work together to build resilient services and markets for waste resources.


Elissa McNamara, Project Director, Resource Recovery & Recycling Advice, Infrastructure Victoria 

Infrastructure Victoria waste and recycling advice and infrastructure gap analysis

The Victorian Government’s Special Minister of State has commissioned Infrastructure Victoria to provide advice about the infrastructure requirements for increased resource recovery and recycling in Victoria. In October 2019, Infrastructure Victoria released its Evidence Base Report and its Final Report and recommendations will be delivered to the Victorian Government in April 2020. 

This webinar will provide an overview of Infrastructure Victoria’s recommendations for waste and recycling infrastructure that considers reprocessing, end-markets, waste to energy, organics recovery and more.


Mike Ritchie, Managing Director, MRA Consulting Group

Waste Strategy and its potential for the economy

With NSW developing its 20 Year Waste Strategy, and Infrastructure Victoria releasing its waste and recycling report, there has never been a better time to discuss how state and national government’s waste strategies can affect our struggling economy. 

In a post-COVID world, economic recovery is about investment in industries that add value and insulate Australia from international shocks. So how should the government implement new policies and strategies to boost the waste sector?

Just one strategy would be a national ban on organics to landfill. This would require 200 new composting facilities to be built, at 10 jobs per facility that is 2000 new jobs alone! Plus, a 5-fold increase in secondary job creation in collecting, transporting, marketing, and spreading the compost. This creates over 10,000 ongoing new jobs and would stimulate over $2b worth of direct capital investment.

But what practically would need to be done to implement such strategies, what barriers exist and how would the sector respond?

Moderator


Gayle Sloan, CEO, Waste Management & Resource Recovery Association of Australia

Gayle has a law and arts degree from the University of Adelaide. She worked for the NSW Attorney General’s Department for a number of years before moving into the Attorney General’s Ministerial Office in 1998, and then the NSW Police Minister’s Office in 2000.

Following this time in state government, Gayle worked as a Director in a number of NSW councils, primarily looking after service delivery and assets. She developed and delivered a number of waste management contracts on behalf of councils, as well as managed environment and regulatory departments, including rangers and compliance officers.  

After three years of being a stay-at-home mum, Gayle returned to work in 2012 at Visy Recycling. In November 2015, Gayle joined WMRR as Chief Executive Officer.