Inside the movement building a circular economy in the Illawarra
How a grassroots campaign is changing how Illawarra businesses deal with waste
This edition of Future Proof is brought to you with the support of Colliers Wollongong.
Old habits die hard, but perhaps new ones take time to crack too.
After the collapse of the RedCycle scheme, in cupboards and sheds across the Illawarra, bags of soft plastic continued to pile up.
Knowing that for many of her neighbours, going back to tossing cling wrap, packaging and thin plastic bags into the red bin wasn’t going to happen, environmental consultant Helen Lewis got together some like-minded colleagues, and decided to work on a local solution.
Soon afterwards, Circular Plastics Illawarra, a network of residents, businesses, researchers and government, was formed to tackle plastic waste in the Illawarra. Late last year, the group ran three community drop-offs in Albion Park, Towradgi and Minnamurra, and were blown away by the response, collecting 1.8 tonnes of soft plastics.
That’s 6000 rolls of glad wrap.
Now, with the major supermarkets restarting soft plastics collection, the volunteer-run organisation, with the help of a few friends, is tackling a thornier problem, how to turn the industrial and commercial waste of the Illawarra into a valuable commodity.
The journey so far
Wearing blue fluro vests and standing under fold-up gazebos, volunteers from Circular Plastics Illawarra welcomed residents dropping off their coloured and clear soft plastics at carparks in Wollongong, Shellharbour and Kiama last year.
Once bagged up, workers from disability employment enterprise Flagstaff Group collected the plastics and took them to Unanderra, where the material is shredded and processed into one tonne bales.
As Flagstaff recycling manager Neel Honavar points out, while the collection points were new, the process was one Flagstaff had been operating for some time.
“We were able to do collections using our existing workforce, in our existing fleet,” he said.
“We bail it using our existing machinery.”
Currently, Flagstaff processes one tonne a week of clear soft plastics from commercial businesses, and has collected and processed four tonnes of coloured soft plastics via the drop off service to date.
From Unanderra, the plastics are transported to Taree, where they are transformed into pellets that can be used for new products such as bags and buckets, bottle inserts and fence posts.
While soft plastics can still be dropped off to Flagstaff, Dr Lewis said the experience gave the group the confidence to tackle a new challenge.
“We’ve been working on plastics, soft plastics collection. We’re pretty comfortable that’s going to continue now,” Dr Lewis told The Pulse Illawarra.
“So a few of us started talking about what we could do in terms of a precinct, beyond plastics, because, obviously, plastics is just one of the problematic materials.”
The precinct plan
Already, the group had been in discussions with Circular Australia, a national organisation setting the standard for the circular economy across Australia.
Working with communities across the country, Circular Australia has developed a precinct model, whereby rather than stretching supply chains state-wide or nationally, local businesses and organisations work together to solve their own waste problems, and create new value in the process.
Circular Australia CEO Lisa McLean said the Illawarra had particular advantages when it came to establishing a circular precinct.
“The Illawarra’s opportunities are around steel manufacturing, heavy industry and waste [processing] as well.”
This kind of local, ground up approach has other benefits. In Moss Vale, a proposed plastics recycling plant has met fierce community opposition, however in the Illawarra, such a project would not appear to be so out of place, Dr Lewis said.
“Down here, we’ve got the land, we’ve got the industrial base, we’ve got the skills.”
Despite being entirely composed of volunteers, Circular Plastics Illawarra has been busy, arranging accelerators for local businesses, lobbying councils and organising residents. While each member comes with their own motivations there is a shared sense of urgency.
“People are concerned about how much plastics we use and how much plastics we throw away,” Dr Lewis said. While there are national efforts underway, this can at times feel disconnected from what the scraps of packaging residents see in the parks, beings and flowing down drains.
“Let’s face it, things that are happening internationally or nationally are only going to happen if they happen on the ground.”
That sense of urgency is not misplaced. In 2023-24, Wollongong LGA produced just under 80,000 tonnes of waste to landfill.
While the percentage of waste diverted from landfill via kerbside recycling sits at just over 50 per cent, waste remains the single largest source of emissions for Wollongong Council.
Further north, Sydney will run out of landfill space in 2030, on current trends.
Value from waste
Having established a working group, discussion is now turning to what form such a precinct would take, with the possibility of a virtual precinct to start and a physical site to come.
The initiative would not only target plastics, but also other challenging materials such as timber, organics and chemicals. Mr Honavar said a physical “one-stop-shop” for difficult products would eliminate the allure of the tip.
“It becomes hard if an end user has to go to three different depots to drop off different materials, people just aren’t going to do it. That’s the reality of it when it’s so easy just to put it in the red bin.”
Drawing on experience of other precincts, Ms McLean said finding ways for businesses to share resources, whether that is land, utilities or even workforce, enables new solutions to come forward that would not occur if one firm was working on its own.
“The local precincts are about looking in that precinct to coordinate transportation, processing, manufacturing and management of those secondary resources, to get them back into the economy and to make sure that there is no waste.”
If all goes to plan, what is currently waste will become a valuable material stream, for use in industrial processes or for repurposing into new products. Early movers are already seeing the value in a circular approach.
Mr Honavar said for Flagstaff circularity represented an opportunity to grow the business and deliver on its mandate.
“Diversifying into new business streams allows us to keep achieving our Flagstaff social mission of employing people with a disability.”
With the four councils of the Illawarra-Shoalhaven having a stake in the organisation, Dr Lewis said part of closing the loop would involve councils purchasing more of the end product, for example as asphalt or playground equipment manufactured from diverted waste materials, creating the certainty required for a viable business model for local manufacturing.
“We need councils to start buying back, because that then provides the incentive for organisations to set up here as well.”
Given the network in place so far, Ms McLean said it was an exciting time for the region.
“Ultimately, the Illawarra is positioning itself to be a global leader in adopting these efficiency approaches and these circular measures.”
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