Have your say in guiding the ACT’s circular economy vision

Have your say in guiding the ACT’s circular economy vision

By Tamanna Wadhwani  November 15th, 2022

The ACT Government has published a draft Circular Economy Strategy outlining five focus areas and public consultation closes Thursday 8 December 2022.

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The draft Circular Economy Strategy 2022-25 is the ACT government’s vision to build Canberra’s circular economy and make it a net-zero city. The strategy takes learnings from other cities adopting a circular economy to inform how the government, industry, businesses and community in the ACT can collaborate for a sustainable future. 

Minister of Transport and City Services, Chris Steel said that the strategy has set their future direction, taking the initial steps towards the system-level changes required to transition Canberra to a circular economy.  

Five key focus areas of the economy have been identified to drive the initial efforts. 

“These include food and organics, the built environment, consumer goods, emerging and problematic waste streams and creating the space to showcase our commitment to the circular economy,” said Steel.  

Food and organics will be a priority for the Government in building a circular economy, as they aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and halve the amount of organic waste sent to landfill by 2030

ACT has already shown commitment to a circular economy with several actions in place such as the Container Deposit Scheme, Food Organics and Garden Organics (FOGO) pilot, a New Materials Recovery Facility and the single-use plastic ban. 

The strategy will be guided by three priority objectives that the state government would like to see action. These are: 

  1. Grow extended producer responsibility

  2. Grow markets for recovered materials and goods, and circular business models

  3. Create high value jobs and attract innovative new enterprises 

Mr. Steel said that the strategy identifies opportunities at the start of the supply chain to encourage the producers and importers of goods to take greater action on the circular economy.

"The availability of land for the circular economy to thrive is a key challenge for the ACT,” he said.

“Identifying more land for an ACT circular economy innovation hub is one idea proposed to support jobs, research and start-ups to be able to implement their ideas and scale-up their operations to extend the life of the ACT’s resources.”

This strategy once finalised, will inform the development of a Circular Economy Action Plan and Legislation for the state.  

Share your feedback by 8 December

Canberrans are invited to provide their feedback on the ACT’s circular economy strategy by completing a written submission at Your Say Conversations and filling out a survey by 8 December 2022. 

For more information, visit Building Canberra’s Circular Economy.

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Tamanna Wadhwani

Tamanna moved from India to Australia to pursue a degree in environmental science and conservation biology. After learning about the concept of a circular economy in 2020, she worked with various organisations in this sector and is interested in solving complex climate change and waste management problems. She loves to communicate with people about all things sustainability or animals. Outside of work, Tamanna is a budding hip hop dancer who also loves travelling, cat cuddles and reading.

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