Page 8 - Packaging News Jan-Feb 2020

NEWS
www.packagingnews.com.au January-February 2020
DIARY
Ministers unveil waste export ban
Environment ministers announced their National Waste Policy Action Plan.
leader in recycling. These in- clude 80 per cent recovery rate of material across all waste systems; reducing waste generated in Australia by 10 per cent per person and halving the amount of organ- ic waste sent to landfill by 2030; phasing out problemat- ic and unnecessary single- use packaging by 2025; and significantly increasing gov- ernment procurement of recy- cled materials.
According to the ministers, the Commonwealth will take the lead in looking for opportu- nities to procure recycled ma- terials, and report back at the next meeting of environment ministers. ■
FEDERAL and state environment ministers have developed a new National Waste Policy Ac- tion Plan, and aim to ban exports of waste by 2022. The moves have been applauded by the Australian Packaging Cov- enant Organisation (APCO) as a positive step forward for Aus- tralia’s waste management and resource recovery system.
The meeting of environment ministers in Adelaide in No- vember resulted in a plan to
phase out waste exports from 2020-22, starting with waste glass in July, then mixed waste plastics by July 2021; all whole tyres including baled tyres by December 2021; and remaining waste products including pa- per and board by no later than 30 June 2022.
This comes alongside the National Waste Policy Action Plan, which sets out targets the ministers say will help Australia become a world
Govt invests $100m in recycling fund
THE Federal Government has poured $100m into a new fund to support recycling projects and keep waste from landfill.
The Australian Recycling In- vestment Fund will be admin- istered by the Clean Energy Fi- nance Corporation (CEFC), and is described by Environment
Minister Sussan Ley as a vital plank in the government’s plan to boost Australia’s recycling rates, tackle plastic waste, and halve food waste by 2030.
“Australians want to be con- fident that when we put things in our recycling bin, or deliver them to a collection centre,
that they will be recycled and not dumped in landfill or sim- ply sent overseas.
“[November’s] Meeting of Environment Ministers set a clear message about our com- mitment to a circular economy and a timetable for banning problem waste exports.
“Growing our recycling capacity is critical in that pro- cess, and this scale of invest- ment will make a real differ- ence,” she said.
Finance Minister Matthias Cormann said the fund would encourage innovation in the recycling sector.
“The Australian Recycling Investment Fund will provide the CEFC with the capacity to support waste and recycling technologies by making invest- ments which attract private sector support and by working with strategic financing part- ners to attract additional invest- ments into this sector,” he said.
The government has invited applications to the CEFC, say- ing the CEFC’s expertise com- bined with the fund will help grow and strengthen Austra- lia’s recycling industry. ■
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AIP AUSTRALASIAN PACKAGING CONFERENCE 1–2 April
Crown Promenade, Melbourne www.aipack.com.au
PACKAGING INNOVATION & DESIGN AWARDS (PIDA)
1 April
Crown Promenade, Melbourne www.aipack.com.au
PKN WOMEN IN PACKAGING BREAKFAST FORUM
2 April
Crown Promenade, Melbourne www.packagingnews.com.au www.aipack.com.au
INTERPACK
7–13 May, 2020 Messe Düsseldorf Düsseldorf, Germany www.interpack.com
DRUPA
16–26 June, 2020 Messe Düsseldorf Düsseldorf, Germany www.drupa.com