The draft Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Strategy 2030 outlines the Government of Western Australia’s plan to tackle waste in the coming years including strategic priorities and five-year targets. The consultation phase is designed to gather feedback on the strategy, ensuring stakeholders can express their opinions on how the government sets its priorities and implements the strategy.
Key priorities and targets
The strategy outlines five strategic priorities:
Better outcomes for regional and Aboriginal communities.
Increasing our focus on waste avoidance.
Better management of priority materials.
Realising the economic potential of recycling.
Contingency planning and climate resilience.
Numerous 2030 goals and targets have been set in the strategy under three pillars:
Avoid (generating less waste).
Recover (recovering more value and resources from waste).
Protect (protecting the environment by managing waste responsibly).
Each of the pillars have both old and new targets, which focus on reducing waste, increasing recycling and recovery rates, and protecting the environment through reducing litter and waste to landfill. A key target added to the strategy that falls under all three pillars is reducing disposal of organic waste to landfill by 50 per cent by 2030 (from 2019-20 levels).
Encouragingly, the strategy also includes proposed initiatives that incorporate higher impact circular economy principles to reduce waste such as reuse and repair. This includes a proposal to support the Australian Government’s efforts to improve consumers’ ‘right to repair’ options and support for local reuse and repair centres that facilitate waste avoidance.
What happens after the consultation phase?
A waste strategy roadmap will be developed to set out the key initiatives, actions, roles and responsibilities against the waste strategy’s strategic priorities. The roadmap will be co-designed with key stakeholders during another consultation period.
How can I submit feedback?
Once you have read the strategy, you are welcome to supply feedback to the government via an online survey or by emailing wastestrategyreview@dwer.wa.gov.au.
Submissions will close on 21 August 2024. For more information, visit the Government of Western Australia’s website.