In 2023, the Victorian state government announced plans to demolish and redevelop 44 high-rise public housing towers in Melbourne by 2051. This redevelopment, now regarded as the largest renewal project in Victoria’s history, has attracted widespread media coverage since its details were made public. The planned demolition of these towers has faced repeated criticism due to a range of environmental concerns, social implications and legal challenges.
One less spoken aspect of this project is managing the construction and demolition (C&D) waste it will generate. The project’s delivery, whether to rebuild, retrofit, upgrade, or mix is expected to produce a substantial volume of C&D waste. Homes Victoria is the public agency responsible for overseeing the planning and delivery of this project and has set an ambitious target of delivering 800,000 new homes, the state government remains challenged by whether the state’s waste recovery industry can capitalise on such valuable C&D waste resources.
C&D waste management and resource recovery capability in Victoria
The C&D waste stream is the largest contributor to waste generation in Victoria. There are currently 49 waste and resource recovery facilities in Victoria that accept C&D waste for processing. Despite their presence, these facilities have not successfully diverted all C&D waste away from landfills, leading to adverse social, environmental, and economic consequences for the state. The recent Victorian Recycling Infrastructure Plan 2024 has projected that, in the future, all seven regions of Victoria will face an inadequate capacity to process C&D waste resources.
The OneOneFive Hamilton Hill redevelopment project in Perth, Western Australia – led by DevelopmentWA – achieved an impressive 86 per cent waste diversion by reusing demolition waste in civil works for residential development. This approach resulted in cost savings of approximately $100,000, primarily through reduced waste levies and transportation expenses
While the recovery rate in this waste stream has been improved, along with the national trends, there is still room for further improvements. According to the latest data released in the National Waste Report 2024, about 1.27 million tonnes of these resources were landfilled in Victoria in 2023. The projections by the state government revealed that with current trends Victoria will start to run out of approved landfill capacity in the mid-2030s. As a result, there is a potential risk that demolition waste from the public housing towers could add to C&D landfill volumes if not properly managed.
Therefore, it is recommended that the planning phase of high-rise redevelopment include an assessment of the potential to recover C&D waste materials, in order to evaluate the construction management entity’s preparedness to handle emerging waste streams.
Seize the opportunity – as we can
Designs of public housing towers are usually standardised, making it more economically and technically feasible to extract waste materials. This presents an opportunity to adopt a more environmentally responsible demolition methodology known as selective deconstruction. A case study analysis by the New South Wales government shows that selective deconstruction method is more cost effective than demolition in Sydney metropolitan areas.
Furthermore, onsite source segregation and recycling offer a better option with enhanced environmental performance due to a reduction in transportation needs from and to the site. Hence, there is an opportunity to reuse demolition waste in the new buildings. There are numerous examples that showcase how onsite recycling and reuse of demolition waste can be effectively implemented.
For example, in 2019, the OneOneFive Hamilton Hill redevelopment project in Perth, Western Australia—led by DevelopmentWA—achieved an impressive 86 per cent waste diversion by reusing demolition waste in civil works for residential development. This approach resulted in cost savings of approximately $100,000, primarily through reduced waste levies and transportation expenses.
Integrating products with recycled content (PwRC) can significantly advance the circular economy in the state’s housing sector. This approach is gaining momentum and is increasingly being adopted in construction projects across the country. The recently published National Framework for Circular Economy by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water also emphasises the use of PwRC, alongside refurbishment and adaptive reuse, as a priority for transitioning the built environment sector towards circularity. Leveraging these resources can enhance the sector’s environmental, social, and economic sustainability.
Effective implementation of circular economy principles: recommendations for industry–government collaboration
The successful adoption of the circular economy principles outlined above in this project requires strong collaboration between the government and industry sectors. The following recommendations are proposed to support this transition:
- Integrate circular economy principles into public housing redevelopment planning
It is recommended that all public housing redevelopment plans be mandated to incorporate circular economy principles, particularly through the use of PwRC) during project development. In Victoria, this aligns closely with the objectives of the Recycling Victoria strategy, which aims to maximise material reuse and recycling.
- Strengthen collaboration with key stakeholders for capacity building
Homes Victoria should work in partnership with the waste management and resource recovery industry, as well as relevant public agencies such as Recycling Victoria and Sustainability Victoria, to build capacity within the construction materials supply chain. This collaboration is critical to ensure the successful adoption and integration of PwRC into public housing projects.
- Identify and engage demolition contractors with circular capabilities
The agency should identify local demolition contractors capable of undertaking selective deconstruction and onsite recycling. These practices are essential for maximising the recovery and value of materials from demolition activities.
- Facilitate participation in C&D waste marketplaces
Homes Victoria should actively engage with C&D waste marketplaces to facilitate the exchange of recovered materials and realise their financial and environmental benefits. In Victoria, platforms such as Sustainability Victoria’s Buy Recycled Directory and ASPIRE offer practical opportunities for material reuse and circular procurement.
- Advance circularity with expert input
To maximise the project’s circular economy potential, Homes Victoria should proactively engage with subject matter experts—including academic scholars—to explore a wider range of circular economy strategies and implementation pathways. Such collaboration also supports the development and implementation of enabling policies that promote and sustain circular economy practices within the built environment sector.
The challenge of NIMBY: a social consideration in the circular economy implementation
Expanding waste recycling infrastructure, selective deconstruction or setting up on-site recycling stations in development projects comes with challenges. Public resistance, in particular, remains a major barrier that may cause delay the establishment of essential recycling facilities. Placing a waste recycling facility near residential areas can be cost-effective for recyclers and waste producers, but it may also raise public concerns. This could lead to a social conflict commonly known as the “Not in My Backyard” (NIMBY) phenomenon.
Read more: Australia needs construction waste recycling plants — but locals first need to be won over.
Devising effective strategies for managing such opposition in a fair and effective manner is necessary. At RMIT’s Construction Waste Lab (CWL), we investigate this phenomenon to understand the reasons for public opposition and to identify the best strategies to manage it. For instance, in one of our earlier case study analyses, we found that inadequate community consultation was a major catalyser for public opposition to a proposed C&D waste recycling facility in regional NSW in 2021.
Therefore, it is essential that Homes Victoria collaborates with key agencies—such as the Environment Protection Authority Victoria (EPA), Sustainability Victoria, and Recycling Victoria—to assess the feasibility of onsite waste recycling during estate redevelopments and to evaluate its potential impacts on surrounding communities. They need to understand the risks that such opposition may pose to the project’s ability to achieve effective waste circularity.
In 2024, the Parliament of Victoria launched an inquiry into the state government’s decision to proceed with this project. This presents a valuable opportunity to explore these circular solutions and consider the challenges they may present.