Is anyone responsible for waste infrastructure in New South Wales?

South Australia published its “Waste and Resource Recovery Infrastructure Plan” in February 2018 with the support of Green Industries South Australia. Victoria has Recycling Victoria, a state agency, working at strategic planning and procurement, including infrastructure. But New South Wales? Not much.

On the 29 February this year I attended a breakfast organised by the Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association of Australia (WMRR) with the new NSW Minister for the Environment, Penny Sharpe.

People like me go to such events to get a feeling for how the “atmosphere” is developing between government and industry and what the main policy drivers or issues of the day or year are or will be.

I have been to meetings like this where the speaker said industry and government were too “chummy” and things needed to change (meaning the government thinks industry is the enemy and needs to be treated as such) or where the speaker talked in platitudes (meaning they weren’t across their portfolio and were just waiting for the next job, while “sitting it out” in the environment portfolio).

Attendees go away from those meetings with the message that “it is not the time for investing”, just wait and see what happens next or “batten down the hatches and make sure your lawyers are briefed”.

However, Penny Sharpe came across as knowing her waste portfolio, which was refreshing. She used no platitudes and was even honest enough to answer “I don’t know” to some questions. She also thanked those who kept her briefed during her time in opposition.

Serious about a productive relationship

I walked out of the event with the feeling that this minister is serious about having a productive working relationship with industry.

This feeling was corroborated by those I spoke to about the event afterwards.

You may ask why I stress this? Well, there are a few reasons.

Apparently, we are transitioning to a circular economy. Most people don’t know what that actually means but one of the most important aspects of circularity is more collaboration between all parties engaging in economic activities. Government is a (very) big player in the economy. This has a number of consequences.

First, government needs to stop working in silos. If we want to stop thinking in a linear fashion, we need to consider processes in their entirety. Of course, not every government department can do this, but each should know how its actions influence other government decisions, and, of course, what impact its actions have on those outside government.

Second, governments needs to work with other governments. Sometimes it seems Australia is made up of different countries. If we want to introduce more circularity into the Australian economy then we ought to streamline regulations across the nation. This would make a lot of sense specifically for the Waste and Recycling industry.

Third, government needs to work productively with industry. No one can achieve the changes we need or build the additional infrastructure we require without close collaboration between market players.

This collaboration requires trust, as pointed out in my previous article. Collaboration also requires some understanding of what the other party is all about and what their drivers, strengths and weaknesses are.

Fourth, government has to become proactive. We know it is not good at doing this. This brings me to another reason for attending the breakfast.

As I have written before Greater Sydney is fast running out of landfills and also hasn’t enough infrastructure to deal with the changes in the Waste and Sustainable Materials policy 2041 – WASM.

Landfills redundant? Hardly

Some readers might think that we no longer need landfills as we are recycling so much and transitioning to a circular economy. Nothing could be further from the truth.

As I have also written here before, our recycling efforts are severely lagging behind what the policy settings might suggest.

So, who is responsible for planning and developing waste infrastructure on a state level or even for Greater Sydney?

Would you be surprised if I told you no one?

Sounds a bit odd? It certainly is. Waste Management is recognised as an essential service, just like water and electricity. There is a government department responsible for planning water infrastructure and most would have heard of governments’ renewable energy zones. However, it seems waste infrastructure planning and development is an orphan.

So the minister’s refreshing appearance at the WMRR breakfast may end up being nothing than a mirage. In light of the recent “asbestos in mulch” scandal that had Sydney up in arms for a couple of weeks, the government was quick to push through parliament “the most blah blah blah reforms in environmental protection in decades” but when it comes to making sure we have some certainty of where to put our rubbish for the next few decades there seems to be no light at the end of the (very long) tunnel.

To be fair, the minister said something about “considering all options” when it comes to ensuring we will have the infrastructure needed, including declaring projects state significant or critical infrastructure. That’s all good and fine.

But, it should have never come to this. A Labour government cannot just point the finger at previous Liberal governments, although they were certainly somewhere between hopeless or in denial when it comes to this issue. We need to see some real action.

This issue isn’t new. The NSW state government published its infrastructure guide to the WASM strategy in June 2021. We already had reports in 2000 and again in 2009 telling us we were going to run out of landfill airspace.

I have written here about this some time ago. What have we done about it? Everyone seems to be looking in a different direction or pointing the finger at someone else. The government needs to look in the mirror and realise it needs to play an (pro-) active role by taking leadership on this issue. How?

Infrastructure planning is certainly not the Environment Protection Authority’s remit nor is it its strength.

South Australia has dealt with this with its Waste and Resource Recovery Infrastructure Plan in February 2018 published with the support of Green Industries South Australia. And Victoria has Recycling Victoria, a state agency, working at strategic planning and procurement, including infrastructure.

There is a simple answer: NSW urgently needs an agency that plans, co-ordinates and develop infrastructure for waste management purposes. Other states can do it. Why doesn’t NSW seem to get its act together? Now!

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