To assist Australian recyclers enhance the volume and value of tradable products in domestic and overseas markets and stimulate domestic re-use of recovered materials, the National Waste and Recycling Industry Council (NWRIC) this month delivered the National Recovered Material Specifications for Sorting and Processing Facilities Report to the Commonwealth Government.
NWRIC, with assistance from MRA Consulting, was engaged by the federal Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment to consider and recommend national performance standards for primary sorting facilities and secondary processing facilities handling glass, plastics, metals, paper and cardboard, and organics collected through the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) stream.
NWRIC CEO Rick Ralph says by adopting a number of affordable and relatively straightforward measures it's possible to substantially increase resource recovery rates and better meet end user demand.
"While both minimum and best practice standards are essential, best practice specifications are key to driving resource recovery rates and increasing the quality and commercial value of resources and should be used wherever possible," Rick says.
The recommendations in the report are informed by a thorough literature review and audit of recovered resource specifications both locally and internationally, material flow mapping, and a comprehensive stakeholder consultation process.
"The review also found that key international markets are increasingly demanding higher standards for recycled products and the proper framework must be in place and easy to access in Australia to allow industry to respond," Rick says.
"Countries such as China and Malaysia are setting higher quality import specifications which are impacting what Australian sorters and processors can export. We need to protect our trading capacity by having these minimum standards in place."
