Barwon South West Regional circular economy plan

The Barwon South West regional circular economy plan sets out Barwon South West’s aspirations to 2030 for a sustainable and thriving circular economy

Representatives from 55 organisations contributed to the plan, including:

local government
businesses and business associations
manufacturers
social enterprise
the waste and resource recovery industry
research and education institutions
and the Victorian Government.

They participated in robust discussions and workshops facilitated by the Victorian Government designed to encourage strategic thinking about their region, where they are now, where they want to be by 2030, and how they can work together to get there.

Map of Barwon South West region. Barwon South West - Glenelg, Southern Grampians, Moyne, Warrnambool, Corangamite. Great South Coast - Colac Otway, Surf Coast, Geelong, Queenscliff. Insert map top right of state of Victoria and green shade of Barwon South West region.

Aspirations to 2030

Barwon South West’s five circular economy aspirations to 2030 are detailed below, along with six important changes, or ‘key enablers’, that have been identified to help realise these aspirations.

By 2030, in Barwon South West

1. There is a high demand for circular economy solutions

Participation in the regional circular economy is supported and encouraged through consistent regulation, investment decisions based on evidence, and opportunities to collaborate.

2. Investment in the circular economy flows to the region

The Barwon South West region is known as a leader in circular economy through collaboration, commitment to and investment in education, infrastructure, and processing capabilities.

3. Consumers are empowered to participate in the circular economy

Consumers are informed and empowered to make environmentally conscious choices. They understand the environmental impact of their purchasing decisions and actively avoid waste.

4. Product stewardship is a priority

Products and materials are created within the Barwon South West region with an understanding of their lifecycle. They are easy to reuse, repair, repurpose or recycle. Manufacturers are supported to take up extended producer responsibilities.

5. The region’s renewable energy sector is integrated with the circular economy

The use of non-renewable energy sources is reduced.

Key enablers

Barwon South West key enablers

Key enablers

Important changes to strengthen our circular economy

Improved infrastructure 14% of priorities.

Developing end use markets 6% of priorities

Improved collaboration and communication 14% of priorities

Behaviour change (industry and consumers) 34% of priorities

Legislation, regulations, or standards reform 14% of priorities

Other key changes including research and development, reskillling and job training 14% of priorities.

*Percentage rounded to nearest whole percentage. The rounded percentages add to 96%.
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Priorities to achieve our aspirations

Barwon South West has developed 35 priorities to achieve their circular economy aspirations to 2030. Each priority has been identified as contributing to one or more aspiration and has been grouped by Key Enablers. Many of the priorities align with current Victorian Government policy, whilst others will be for future consideration.

Improved infrastructure, developing end use markets

**Key to tables**
Aspirations
1	High demand for circular economy solutions
2	Investment in the circular economy flows to the region
3	Consumers are empowered to participate in the circular economy
4	Product stewardship is a priority
5	The region's renewable energy sector is integrated with the circular economy
Aligns with Victorian Policy
Aligns	Icon symbol of two arrows pointing upwards in a green circle with a line above representing Aligns
For future consideration	Icon symbol of one arrow in a circle with a line in an orange circle representing for future considerations

Aspirations					Improved infrastructure	Aligns with Victorian Policy
1	2	3	4	5
1	2		4		Invest in new materials recovery facilities in proximity to both Geelong environs and the South West to facilitate local processing and manufacturing.	Aligns
1	2		4		Invest in storage facilities and redistribution solutions for reusable materials and goods, to improve access to high-quality feedstock and support local industry, including manufacturers, to develop end-use markets.	Aligns
1	2	3	4		Improve access to local services, solutions, and facilities to recover household and commercial resources by material type and process recyclables.	Aligns
	2	3	4	5	Increase the collection of e-waste to include household battery systems, smart meters, and solar panels.	Aligns
	2			5	Explore technologies, such as hydrogen, to minimise future waste streams from the transition to renewable energy, including site-based battery solutions, as Barwon South West transitions to a fossil-free energy circular economy.	For future consideration
Aspirations					Developing end use markets	Aligns with Victorian Policy
1	2	3	4	5
1	2		4		Support reuse entities already working in the region to expand their capabilities or explore new projects which fit with the region's circular ambitions	Aligns
		3	4	5	Partner with product designers and initiators to include the full social, environmental, and economic life cycle costs in new products to incentivise.	For future consideration

Download 'Improved infrastructure, developing end use markets'

Improved collaboration and communication

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Aspirations	Improved collaboration and communication	Aligns with Victorian Policy
1	2	3	4	5
1	2	3	Use strategic and region wide mechanisms to raise the profile of circular economy, including investment in infrastructure to increase reprocessing capacity for organics, carbon fibre and textiles.	Aligns
1	2	3	4		Promote innovative and collaborative approaches through science, technology, and initiatives to demonstrate reuse of materials, or recycling across different industry types.	Aligns
1	2			5	Make better use of existing tools and information to map and understand local circular economy opportunities including materials flow, use and volume to enable better take up (e.g. Sustainability Victoria, ASPIRE).	Aligns
1		3	4	5	Work collaboratively with suppliers, designers, and consumers to design reusable products that produce less waste and contamination.	Aligns
1	2	3	4	5	Engage proactively with global corporations to understand how we can work collaboratively to support the region’s circular economy.	For future consideration

Behaviour change industry and consumers

Aspirations					Behaviour change (industry and consumers)	Aligns with Victorian Policy
1	2	3	4	5
1	2	3		5	Engage and educate consumers to see avoidance as a legitimate solution to the circular economy.	Aligns
		3	4		Improve access and reduce barriers for community groups and consumers to repair and share common household items.	Aligns
	2	3	4	5	Introduce broad scale waste avoidance/reduction/reuse education campaign focussing further up the waste hierarchy than recycling/composting (e.g., Small Acts Big Impacts).	Aligns
		3	4	5	Promote sustainable, locally manufactured products within the region to support local circular economy jobs.	Aligns
	2	3	4		Notify consumers of their annual household waste volumes and impact and promote relevant available services e.g. exchange programs, removal service, what currently happens to the waste (including pictures, videos tours).	For future consideration
1	2	3			Invest in community groups and social enterprises, training and volunteer attraction to continue to empower the community to transition to a circular economy.	Aligns
	2	3	4	5	Communicate local circular economy outcomes to the community, promoting and celebrating the combined community effort e.g., recycling volumes, landfill volumes avoided, new products created.	Aligns
1		3	4		Engage with industry and manufacturers to increase the percentage of recycled materials used and include the lifespan of the product on its packaging.	Aligns
	2	3	4		Expand product stewardship programs to incentivise manufacturers or resellers of consumer products to take back products, providing an end of product service that includes repair, collection, and recycling.	Aligns
	2	3	4		Support existing product stewardships programs to encourage community uptake and use.	Aligns

Download 'Behaviour change industry and consumers'

Behaviour change (industry and consumers) cont'd and Legislation, regulations or standards reform and other key changes

Aspirations					Behaviour change (industry and consumer) continued	Aligns with Victorian Policy
1	2	3	4	5
1	2	3	4		Incentivise the use of the Australian Recycling Label for products sold and supplied within the Australian market to support the consumer to dispose and recycle the product appropriately.	For future consideration
1	2			5	Partner with Solar Victoria and DELWP Energy to support businesses manage costs and emissions from energy.	Aligns
Aspirations					Legislation, regulations or standards reform	Aligns with Victorian Policy
1	2	3	4	5
1			4	5	Increase the uptake and use of recycled and recyclable materials within all levels of government through procurement practices and mandating appropriate levels of recyclable material in all projects.	Aligns
1		3	4	5	Develop consistent standards, guidelines, and legislation to encourage product design and manufacturing to meet circular economy objectives.	Aligns
1			4	5	Advocate for new regulations to incentivise building developers to design and build homes with end-of-life deconstruction in mind.	Aligns
1		3	4	5	Advocate for legislation changes to incentivise manufacturers to include the full social, environmental, and economic life cycle costs on packaging.	For future consideration
1			4	5	Establish new standards to guide manufacturers, particularly those working with plastic polymers, to select raw or recycled materials that can be easily recycled or repurposed.	For future consideration
Aspirations					Other key changes including research and development, reskillling and job training	Aligns with Victorian Policy
1	2	3	4	5
1	2				Undertake research to understand the infrastructure and processing needs across different industries to identify cross-industry manufacturing opportunities e.g., co-location of infrastructure.	Aligns
1			4		Undertake research into markets with high waste volumes such as textiles, agricultural plastics, and solar panels or other priority materials, to attract new entrants with minimum volume requirements across a longer term.	Aligns
	2				Develop educational pathways for young people and those interested in training or retraining to pursue a career in circular economy.	Aligns
1	2		4		Build on Geelong and Portland’s large manufacturing base and invest in research and development to support a transition to a circular economy.	Aligns
1	2				Undertake research and invest in the paper, glass, and plastics industry to increase use of these recyclable materials.	Aligns

Download 'Behaviour change (industry and consumers) cont'd and Legislation, regulations or standards reform and other key changes'

Barwon South West Today

Barwon South West today

Barwon South West Today

icon image population, 434,619 current population 2020
icon image square blocks, $23.4 billion gross regional product 2020
icon image rubbish bin, 43,554 tonnes. Kerbside recycling collected 2019 -2020

Barwon
icon image population, 330,372 current population 2020
icon image square blocks, $17.6 billion gross regional product 2020
icon image rubbish bin, 34,405 tonnes kerbside recycling collected 2019 -2020

Great south coast
icon image population, 104,247 current population 2020
icon image square blocks, $5.8 billion gross regional product 2020
icon image rubbish bin, 9,149 tonnes kerbside recycling collected 2019 -2020

Source

Current Population (2020) - Australian Bureau of Statistics Gross Regional Product (2020) - Regional Economic Development Strategies (REDS) - Regional Development Victoria Kerbside Recycling Collected (2019-20) - Victorian Local Government Area Survey - Sustainability Victoria
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Barwon South West representatives developed the region's circular economy aspirations and priorities. The representatives brought a local understanding of the region’s strengths and challenges. They considered ‘where we are today’ as a region, before projecting forward to ‘where we want to be’ in 2030 and beyond.

The process identified the region's key strengths. These strengths will help the region work towards their 2030 aspirations.

The region is large and diverse and was split into two major sub-regions: Barwon and the Great South Coast.

Barwon's population is large, concentrated, and close to Melbourne's metro areas. This means there is a large volume of recycled and reused material available. The sub-region has well developed transport infrastructure and strong existing regional partnerships.

The Great South Coast has a great diversity of industry. The sub-region has strong transport connections as well as space for industrial development. It also has several current circular economy projects already underway.

Refer to Victoria's Regional Economic Development Strategies (REDS) for in-depth economic analysis.

Strengths

Barwon sub region

Size of the population and current household mix, making it suitable for trialling projects due to the volume of waste stream availability.
Networks and existing collaborations between local government and Deakin University; CSIRO and Deakin University and G21 Alliance and Victoria Cleantech Cluster.
Business diversity which already generates a broad range of recoverable resources and presents an opportunity for use in recycled products and materials.
High availability of brown-and greenfield land and transport infrastructure and connections.
New technologies to recover waste streams that have been difficult to sort and process (plastic and e-waste included).

Great South Coast sub region

Diversity of industry in the region: agriculture, renewable energy, food processing and education.
Population size and land features: deep aquifer and space for industrial development.
Current projects and the opportunity to build on these projects, e.g. BioGrow in Colac, demonstrations across the Great South Coast Group of Councils.
Proximity to South Australia and strong transport connections. Renewable energy sector and potential to co locate collection services for solar panels and materials used.

Barwon South West in 2030

Download 'Barwon South West in 2030 '

Barwon South West representatives also considered the region’s challenges.They developed the region’s circular economy priorities to mitigate these challenges.

A key challenge for Barwon will be the closure of the Drysdale landfill in 7-10 years. There is low engagement with the circular economy system and low volumes of some material streams. It also has uncertain market conditions.

The size of the Great South Coast and accessibility to infrastructure are challenges. Finding and retaining staff, including industrial workforce, is difficult. There are challenging market conditions and lack of business continuity.

By 2030, the Barwon South West region is forecast to be home to 505,000 people, increasing by 16 percent from 2021. Barwon is forecast to grow much faster than the Great South Coast, 21 percent compared to 2 percent.

Higher rates of waste and recyclable materials are likely where populations increase. This will increase demand for sorting, processing, and storage infrastructure. Increase material transport out of the region will place added pressure on regional roads.

Some areas that are not forecast to increase their populations may continue not to need household collection. This could present a challenge for local councils and industry aiming to divert materials from landfill.

Refer to Victoria's Regional Economic Development Strategies (REDS) for in-depth economic analysis.

Challenges

Barwon sub region

Lack of community involvement and participation in circular economy system and managing this with a growing population
Low volumes of some waste streams
Closure of Drysdale landfill (in seven to ten years) placing pressure on the region to recover resources from landfill
Uncertain market conditions: competition for feedstock, instability of end markets, dominance by larger operators and waste export bans discouraging investment
Funding cycles differ local councils, making it difficult for industry and markets to warrant commercial investment.

Great South Coast sub region

Size of the geographical area to cover
Limited industrial workforce and availability of staff is already challenged
Market conditions and restrictions: lack of control over processing and location of product to commercial providers
Lack of business continuity plans in place, existing monopolies
Restrictive land-use planning (proximity to residential areas or environmentally sensitive areas) Climate impacts on local industries, e.g. dairy and impact on volume.

How to use the regional circular economy plans