Hume Regional circular economy plan

The Hume regional circular economy plan sets out the region's aspirations for a sustainable and thriving circular economy.

Representatives from 59 organisations contributed to the Hume Regional circular economy 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 Hume region. Goulburn Valley - Campaspe, Greater Shepparton, Moira, Strathbogie, Mitchell, Murrindindi, Mansfield. Strathbogie, Mitchelle, North East - Benalla, Wangaratta, Indigo, Woodonga, Alpine, Towong. Insert top right map of State of Victoria showing the location of Hume region in Victoria shaded orange.

Aspirations to 2030

Hume’s four 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 Hume

1. Product stewardship is paramount

All those involved in the product life cycle—manufacturers, retailers, users, and disposers share responsibility for reducing the environmental impacts of products.

2. Best practice circular economy approaches are adopted

All levels of government, industry, education institutions, researchers and community work together to progress the circular economy in Hume.

3. Hume's consumers are active participants in the circular economy

All sectors of the community make decisions to avoid waste generation, encourage reuse and recycling of products to reduce their environmental impact.

4. Our local circular economy is sustainable, self-sufficient and resilient to market changes

We collaborate to create and take up local circular economy opportunities.

Key enablers

Hume key enablers

Key enablers

Important changes to strengthen our circular economy

Improved infrastructure 20% of priorities.

Developing end use markets 4% of priorities

Improved collaboration and communication 4% of priorities

Behaviour change (industry and consumers) 32% of priorities

Legislation, regulations, or standards reform 36% of priorities

Other key changes including research and development, reskillling and job training 4% of priorities.

* Percentage rounded to nearest whole percentage.
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Priorities to achieve our aspirations

Hume has developed 25 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	Product stewardship is paramount
2	Best practice circular economy approaches area adopted
3	Hume's consumers are active participants in the circular economy
4	Our local circular economy is sustainable, self-sufficient and resilient to market changes

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
	2		4		Invest in research and local collection and processing infrastructure to ensure continuity and supply of high-quality recycled or repurposed materials to support end use markets.	Aligns
	2		4		Investigate the need for infrastructure and services to support the conversion of low value waste resources to energy.	Aligns
	2		4		Integrate the access to and use of renewable energy in infrastructure investment for processing, manufacturing, and transport of products.	For future consideration
1		3	4		Increase access to recycling services, where required, including municipal (glass or organics) and wider community services to reduce contamination and increase recycled feedstock supply.	Aligns
			4		Invest in local resource recovery facilities to improve network resilience and encourage better access to recycled materials across the region.	Aligns
Aspirations					Developing end use markets	Aligns with Victorian Policy
1	2	3	4	5
1	2	3	4		Further develop services to connect manufacturers, collectors, sorters, reprocessors, end markets, and local government with each other, to share data and understand capability, resource availability and material requirements, such as local concierge or business brokering services.	Aligns

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Improved collaboration and communication

Aspirations						Improved collaboration and communication	Aligns with Victorian Policy
1	2	3	4		5
	2		4			Support innovation and fledgling markets to become established., through a range of means including private public partnerships.	For future consideration
Aspirations						Behaviour change (industry and consumers)	Aligns with Victorian Policy
1	2	3	4		6
1	2		4			Engage with industry and manufacturers to increase the percentage of recycled materials used, and include the lifespan of the product on packaging.	Aligns
1	2	3				Incentivise for-profit organisations, such as retailers and manufacturers, to facilitate returning used goods and packaging, and providing refill opportunities for high volume products.	Aligns
1	2	3				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 thoughtfully.	For future consideration
1	2	3				Promote behavioural change through consumer engagement campaigns to harmonise circular economy in everyday conversations and encourage avoidance, repair, reuse and best practice recycling.	Aligns
1	2	3				Ongoing campaign to support waste education and the avoidance of unnecessary and/or unrecyclable packaging and collective impact of changes (waste avoidance, impact on market).	Aligns
1	2	3		4		Support, promote and develop enterprises to encourage share, repair and reuse in Hume.	Aligns
	2			4		Collaborate with council, business industry and others to work on regional circular economy opportunities.	Aligns
1	2	3		4		Support the establishment of local take back programs for the return of unwanted goods with high reprocessing or recycling value.	Aligns

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Legislation, regulations or standards reform and other key changes

Aspirations					Legislation, regulations or standards reform continued	Aligns with Victorian Policy
1	2	3	4	5
1		3			Implement regulations and incentives that encourage the use of reused, recycled or reprocessed materials and products.	Aligns
1		3	4		Develop standards and guidelines to support manufacturers to use materials that can be easily reused, repurposed, repaired and recycled.	For future consideration
1		3			Support sustainable resource planning and design to ensure the longevity of materials for use in the construction and demolition industries.	Aligns
	2	3			Introduce legislation and explore price signals to proactively encourage waste avoidance, reuse, repurposing, and recycling of material streams.	For future consideration
	2	3	4		Set clear regional targets to divert resources from landfill, grow markets using recycled materials and reduce emissions to encourage a circular economy approach and investment.	Aligns
	2				Support licensing, markets and regulation to enable and encourage the production of processed organics to strengthen sustainable and regenerative agriculture practices.	Aligns
	2	3	4		Develop an agreed strategy with targets between government and industry to encourage the use of recycled and repurposed materials over virgin materials.	Aligns
	2	3	4		Support government policy and collaborative procurement and advocate for change to incentivise the use of local recycled materials. Collect information in the region to confidently approach the market and support current organic processors in the region.	Aligns
	2		4		Simplify funding to support local operators and solutions.	Aligns
Aspirations					Other key changes including research and development, reskillling and job training	Aligns with Victorian Policy
1	2	3	4	5
1	2	3	4		Undertake collaborative research between manufacturers, waste industry and regulators to design and produce products with an understanding of their full life cycle and required conditions to overcome operation barriers including space for stockpiling, financial barriers (bond and insurance requirements) and regional distances.	Aligns

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Hume today

Hume Today

icon image population, 342,376 current population 2020
icon image square blocks, $14.5 billion gross regional product 2020
icon image rubbish bin, 34,277 tonnes. Kerbside recycling collected 2019 - 2020

Goulburn Valley

icon image population, 172,057 current population 2020
icon image square blocks, $8 billion gross regional product 2020
icon image rubbish bin, 19,912 tonnes. Kerbside recycling collected 2019 - 2020

North East

icon image population, 170,319 current population 2020
icon image square blocks, $6.5 billion gross regional product 2020
icon image rubbish bin, 14,315 tonnes. Kerbside recycling collected 2019 - 2020

* Current Population (2020) - Australian Bureau of Statistics Gross Regional Product (2020) - Regional Economic Development Strategies (REDS) - Regional Development Victoria *The Campaspe local government area is not included in this figure. Kerbside Recycling Collected (2019-20) - Victorian Local Government Area Survey - Sustainability Victoria
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Hume 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 Hume region includes the sub-regions of Goulburn Valley and North East.

The region has a good network of existing infrastructure. This includes material recovery facilities (MRFs) and resource recovery centres.

It is close to Melbourne and has strong transport links. Two important transport routes run through the region. The Hume and Goulburn Valley transport corridors connect the region to other areas of Victoria and other states. This supports the movement of materials to processing facilities and end markets.

There is a concentration of major food manufacturers in the region. It is possible this will increase organic supplies and the potential to increase the use of recycled materials.

The region also benefits from the availability of land for storing and processing recyclables.

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

Strengths

Existing accessible network of materials recovery facilities (MRFs) and resource recovery centres (RRC).
Identified large capacity for organics processing and plastics reprocessing.
Strong multi-modal transport links, proximity to Melbourne and access to the region’s collection, sorting, processing and manufacturing precincts.
Economic growth with a concentration of major food manufacturers –this helps with the supply of feed (organics) and use of recycled materials (glass).
Business growth from collaborative investment models: public private partnership, joint venture, small social enterprise.
Benefit from the availability of land appropriately zoned for storing and processing recyclables.
High uptake and participation rates of food and organics waste collection service.

Hume in 2030

Hume in 2030

icon image project population, 399,383 projected population 2031
income image projected percentage change 2021 to 2031,17% increase

Goulburn Valley

icon image project population, 212,865 projected population 2031
income image projected percentage change 2021 to 2031, 24% increase

North East

icon image project population, 186,518 projected population 2031
income image projected percentage change 2021 to 2031,10% increase
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Hume representatives also considered the region’s challenges. They developed the region’s circular economy priorities to mitigate these challenges.

The region faces challenges with low economies of scale for some recycled material streams. Infrastructure can be hard to access. There are large distances between processing and manufacturing facilities. It can also be expensive to access small processing facilities.

By 2030, the Hume region is forecast to be home to 399,383 people, increasing by 17% from 2021 to 2031.

Higher rates of waste and recyclable materials are likely where populations increase. This will increase demand for sorting, processing, and storage infrastructure. Increased 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

Large distances between waste sources and processing facilities equate to low economies of scale for some waste streams, high transport costs and high relative costs of small processing facilities reduces cost effectiveness of recycling.
Lack of local end markets and incentives, which discourages investment in resource recovery facilities or end-product manufacturing.
Recycling industry dominated by large enterprises, which makes it harder for small MRFs to compete.
Lack of legislative and financial incentives to encourage use of recycled material.
Lack of financial incentives to innovate and red tape involved in sorting and processing.
Fast growing population in the peri-urban areas of the region, such as Mitchell Shire, requiring infrastructure and services to meet growing demand.
Significant organic materials being managed in Hume (Goulburn Valley) from other regions, including related biosecurity risks.

How to use the regional circular economy plans