Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm pleased to rise on this motion that was brought to the House by the member for Higgins. It brings attention to a national crisis that is—pardon the play on words—often wasted on us. We, as a country, generate some 2.7 tonnes of waste per person per year, nearly half of which ends up in landfills, our oceans, our rivers or, until lately, overseas.

I think this is a timely discussion on the back of National Recycling Week held last week. Contrary to common assumptions, there's no such thing as 'throwing something away'. When we throw something away, it must go somewhere. I know, from speaking to many around my electorate of Forde, people care about recycling and what they throw away. Australians want to be confident that, when they put something in their recycling bin or when they take their rubbish to the recycling centre, it will be repurposed effectively and not simply dumped into landfill or sent overseas, out of sight, out of mind.

Our waste is our responsibility and we should deal with it in this country. That's why I think it's important to see the Morrison government taking practical action to ensure this occurs—to better manage our waste and ensure that our valuable resources are recycled and reused effectively and consistently in this country. To that effect, we're investing $167 million to fund the Australian Recycling Investment Plan, with the aim of increasing our recycling rates, tackling plastic waste and fast-tracking work on new recycling schemes while continuing action to meet our commitment to halve food waste by 2030. More importantly, the Morrison government is working with our states and territories to implement an export ban on domestic recycled waste from July next year.

We are also committing to waste reduction targets for all states and territories under the national waste action plan. We're always looking to work towards building our country's capacity to generate high-valued recycled commodities and growing associated demand. I've said a number of times at a variety of meetings that I believe we have, in this country, an enormous opportunity to recycle our waste for our economic benefit. Importantly, if we recycle our waste and repurpose it, it reduces our reliance and need to continue to use virgin natural resources to create the products we need.

The ability to recycle and reuse has not only enormous economic but also environmental benefits for our country. One organisation just outside of my electorate but in the city of Logan is Substation33, which recycles e-waste. Importantly, it not only recycles e-waste; it gives skills and on-the-job training opportunities to marginalised or disenfranchised people through its program, building their skills and allowing them to get into the workforce. It has a dual purpose: it's about recycling e-waste, but it's also about giving people job opportunities. Importantly, some of the recycled e-waste goes into producing the flood warning signs that Logan City Council, with funding from the Commonwealth government, is installing across the city. So, again, we can see a number of benefits being achieved out of that recycling program.

The federal government has also invested $6.2 million in my electorate of Forde—again, in conjunction with Logan City Council—for the biosolids gasification project at the Loganholme Wastewater Treatment Plant. This Australian-first initiative will see sewage sludge turned into energy and biochar, and provide a more cost-effective and sustainable approach to biosolid disposal. The processing of the biosolids in the gasification facility is expected to reduce biosolids waste disposal at the plant by some 90 per cent. This pioneering project, which will be managed in part by Logan City Council, could pave the way for similar projects being replicated in councils across the country.

I would like to thank Logan City Council for hosting the very informative waste fair last weekend for families in our community to learn more about how they can reuse, reduce and repurpose their domestic waste. These are just some of the many examples of the wonderful work being done across our country. (Time expired)

See this speech in context