Australia’s national science agency CSIRO has released a new roadmap on key strategies for job creation and reclaiming billions in economic value from plastic, glass, paper and tires that are currently being landfilled.
The National Circular Economy Roadmap noted that innovation is critical to realizing Australia’s greatest economic gain from developing new products and materials, including through advanced manufacturing, and adopting new business models, the domestic and export markets for waste streams create.
This could more than triple job creation from resource recovery in Australia, where the recycling sector currently creates 9.2 jobs per 10,000 tons of waste, compared to just 2.8 jobs for the same amount of waste sent to landfill.
The Australian government’s export ban on waste last year provides the opportunity for a new circular economy strategy that turns landfills into economic returns.
Science can turn our economy into a circular economy that renews and reuses what we previously discarded and indeed a virtuous circle that creates higher paying jobs, advances new Australian technologies and protects our environment.
We are on a mission to make this happen. The practical path outlined in this roadmap is part of CSIRO-led focus on using science to solve our greatest challenges while fueling our economic recovery and building future resilience.
The roadmap aligns with a number of circular economy missions being developed by CSIRO and industry, university and government partners, including a mission to end plastic waste, a mission to transform Australian mineral raw materials into higher value products and a mission to transition to net Zero emissions.
Project leader Dr. Heinz Schandl said the roadmap was commissioned by the Federal Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources and was developed in collaboration with 83 partners from industry, research and government to develop a circular economy strategy for Australia to address fundamental environmental and regional issues promote employment.
The roadmap names six elements for a circular economy made of plastic, paper, glass and tires:
Plastic – $ 419 million: Australia loses $ 419 million each year if PET and HDPE plastics are not recycled.
Paper – $ 115 million: The cost savings of shipping paper fibers on Landfills are approximately $ 70 per tonne. With 1,642 kilotons thrown in landfills each year, that’s $ 115 million.
Lithium – $ 2.5 billion: Shipping lithium from batteries to landfill results in a lost economic opportunity of up to $ 2.5 billion by 2036.
Posted Jan 25, 2021 in Australia, Market Background, Recycling, Sustainability | Permalink
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