Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support this motion. As a proud South Australian, our state has led the way on waste management for several decades, with the first container deposit scheme in the country starting way back in 1977. The first plastic bag ban in the country started in 2009. Our state government is continuing this good, bipartisan work and is currently exploring how to further expand both of those schemes. The recycling crisis now facing Australia creates both risks and opportunities. South Australia is well positioned to capitalise on those opportunities, and they predominantly involve energy generation and creating circular economy products. South Australia has also had the capacity to work on packaging design, better collection and sorting infrastructure that produces high-quality sorted recyclable materials and the development of Australia's re-manufacturing capacity as well as the end of market for clean material.

Three South Australian councils, the City of Onkaparinga, the City of Marion and the City of Holdfast Bay, have combined to put forward a major proposal located at Seaford Heights that directly addresses the need for local governments to have certainty and greater control over their waste and recycling needs. The group has created the Southern Region Waste Resource Authority and their proposal is to develop and operate a materials recovery facility that manages the domestic kerbside recyclables collections from three councils, but also with a view to service other councils and waste authorities. Key materials would include cardboard, newspapers, mixed paper, glass, steel, aluminium and plastic deposit containers. However, the facility is envisaged to be more than just another big recycling depot. The facility will be one of the first to be developed in Australia since the global changes that resulted from China banning waste imports, and so has been designed to produce recycled material that meets the quality needs of both Australian and international markets.

The vision is to support the co-location of remanufacturing businesses to turn recyclable material into marketable products and to actively engage with research entities and the business sector to fully develop the circular economy south of Adelaide. This includes research into the economics, reverse logistics, manufacturing and material sciences. The hope is that the development will include a start-up incubator and accelerator that will draw together this vision and turn it into practical action. A part of the vision of the three councils is that they can develop a stronger circular economy model that can aspire to replicating in other locations across Australia.

I want to take this opportunity to thank the city of Onkaparinga for working so actively on this issue with me and my office. I also would like to acknowledge Trevor Evans, the Assistant Minister for Waste Reduction and Environmental Management, for being so considerate and constructive in his engagement with me, the councils and state government. I want to thank my office for being very passionate and keen on this. They have been working with the minister to investigate the project and its great potential. Governments at all three levels have a tremendous opportunity to work together to manage the waste and recycling crisis. We can look at it as an opportunity, not as a crisis. I hope that these early shoots of collaboration on the Southern Region Waste Resource Authority are a model of how we can meet this challenge together as a community. Thank you.

See this speech in context