Sustainability Victoria

We don't yet have a clear circular economy plan for our renewable energy transition. In some cases we have time to do that work and planning, in other cases the challenges are already upon us. That was my pitch at this week's Gippsland New Energy Conference as I outlined some of the modelling Sustainability Victoria has been doing to understand material inputs and decommissioning outputs from renewable energy from 2018 - 2050. I was also lucky to visit a regional business that is not waiting for policy to catch up. Elecsome Pty Ltd. is already processing thousands of old solar panels in their Kilmany factory into reusable products like aluminum and sand. There is always more work to do and more advances to be made, like recovering silicon and silver, but its great to see a Victorian business investing and taking a leap of faith. Huge thanks to Neeraj Das and the team for showing me around. Paul Murfitt Paul Corkill Stan Krpan PSM FAICD Gwyneth Elsum Emily Dunstan

Sustainability Victoria designs research-led behavioural change campaigns that make it easier for Victorians to adopt sustainable practices into their everyday lives. This week, we were thrilled to launch our latest Small Acts, Big Impact behaviour change campaign, making the most out of your food scraps and garden clippings.   The campaign encourages Victorians to keep rubbish out of their food and garden organics bins, highlighting how food scraps and garden clippings can be turned into high-quality compost for use on farms and gardens across Victoria.   Our research found Victorians were motivated to correctly sort their food and garden organics when they understood that this behaviour would benefit local farmers.   Keep your eyes peeled for campaign activity via social media, SV’s website, local council channels, and public relations and multicultural engagement activity, and feel free to share our content with your communities. The campaign launche­­d on Monday 2 September and will run for 8-weeks through to Sunday 27 October 2024.   To find out more about why keeping rubbish out of your food and garden organics bins matters, visit our campaign webpage: https://lnkd.in/ea_hW7Ys

The stage is set, literally, for the Gippsland New Energy Conference #gnec2024 in sunny Traralgon. Always a powerful event on the annual energy calendar. I'm looking forward to talking about the importance and opportunity that #circulareconomy presents in our renewable energy transition with Luke Wilkinson and Lara Kruk later this morning. The reality is even clean energy has an impact and circularity principles are a key way of minimising that impact AND helping us reach #netzero Paul Murfitt Stan Krpan PSM FAICD Chris Miller Gwyneth Elsum Emily Dunstan

A pleasure to visit the Pro-Pac Packaging (Aust) Pty Ltd facility in Reservoir this morning for Tanya Plibersek's announcement of more investment in plastics recycling in Victoria. Additional partnership funding through the Australian Government 's Recycling Modernisation Fund will see improvements in #circulareconomy for flexible and rigid plastics in our state. Congratulations to the team at Pro Pac, along with Naula Pty Ltd and Sustainable Plastic Solutions who will collectively benefit from $15.6 million in funding and add more than 43,000 tonnes of new plastics recycling capacity into the system. Huge thanks to Dominic Adams for explaining the process and future plans so clearly! https://buff.ly/3XlgBT1

What a rich and productive few days I have had in Canberra. Its exciting to hear about the many #circulareconomy and #renewableenergy initiatives underway all across the country. A huge thanks to Pam Allan for bringing together the CEOs and Chairs from state and territory ciorcular economy agencies to explore opportunities in stewardship, textiles, market development, regulation and a host of other areas. Lots for me to download when I get back to Melbourne but perhaps the key takeaway is the need to more strongly link materials circularity with our state and national #netzero ambitions, because our clean energy transition will not get us all the way to net zero! Tony Circelli Hugh Christie Tony Chappel Elizabeth Carr AM Professor Kate Auty Anna Minns Adrian Jones Gayle Sloan Ainsley Simpson Leanne Wiseman Omer Soker Vaughan Levitzke PSM Chris Foley John Gertsakis Nikki Govan Josh Wheeler GAICD Lee Miezis PSM

Last week, SV joined industry leaders across private, not-for-profit, and public sectors at the Procurement Australia Conference.  Our team members, Gwyneth Elsum and Florian van den Corput, alongside Mahin Shirazi from Brimbank City Council, participated in a panel discussion on 'Driving Collaborative Circular Procurement.'    Key takeaways: ♻ Procurement as a Driver of Circularity: When done right, circular procurement practices can create markets, build confidence in innovative products, and weave together sustainable elements into a true circular economy. 💥 Small Changes, Big Impact: Incorporating just 1% recycled content in a project might not seem like much, but when applied to tonnes of asphalt for road resurfacing, the impact is massive. Mahin Shirazi highlighted this crucial point. 📏 Measuring Progress: It can be challenging, especially with new and untested approaches. But tools like the new circular economy ISO standards or WBCSD’s Circular Transition Indicators are great starting points. SV’s Buy Recycled Service also provides a wealth of tools, guidelines, and workshops to help navigate this space.    The shift to a circular economy is a systemic one, requiring significant changes on all fronts. While it might seem daunting, it also presents endless opportunities for innovation. Now is the time for pioneers and early movers to step up!

The shift to circular procurement is a strategic imperative for our biggest buyers – federal, state and local governments. Sustainability Victoria works across government and industry to ensure more recycled product is bought at-scale. Strategic procurement practices not only support sustainability goals but also drive innovation and create new market opportunities. We’re thrilled to share insights on this at the Procurement Australia conference in Melbourne today.🌱

Consultation on the draft Strategic Procurement Framework is open on the Engage Victoria website from 12 Aug - 20 Sept 2024 https://lnkd.in/g6rpw5uw A key function of Recycling Victoria is to support best practice procurement management by councils, Alpine Resorts Victoria and service providers for waste, recycling, and resource recovery services. Throughout 2023, Recycling Victoria worked with stakeholders to gather feedback that has informed the development of a draft Strategic Procurement Framework. This framework defines how we intend to deliver this legislative function, the potential support that we may provide, and how we will prioritise the procurement activities that we support. Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action Environment Protection Authority Victoria (EPA) Sustainability Victoria Victorian Government Municipal Association of Victoria Tony Circelli Deb Cailes GAICD Anastasia Kontogiorgis Grant Breheny #circulareconomy #sustainability #waste #recycling #wastemanagement #resourcerecovery #procurement

Exciting News! SV's Director Regions & Community Action Paul Murfitt will be speaking at EduTECH 2024 next week! Paul will share valuable insights on creating climate-resilient, sustainable school environments and the pivotal role of schools in the circular economy.    Sustainability Victoria partners with schools and communities to kickstart local projects and deliver place-based sustainability solutions through collaboration and collective action. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn about the importance of circularity in education! Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gZKqm3ZS

“ ‘Circular economy’ is new terminology for us, but it’s definitely a concept we are familiar with and have lived for tens of thousands of years.” – Wadawurrung Traditional Owner “If you Care for Country, the Country will look after you.” “Country needs to be repaired and healed.” Awesome to spend yesterday afternoon hearing feedback from 6 of Victoria’s 11 Registered Aboriginal Parties (RAPs), gathered by proud Gunditjmara woman Melissa Bickford (Rose), Fiona Nixon and Torey Fitton from Think HQ over the last few months. This feedback is helping us develop our new First Nations Engagement and Communications Framework, to guide Sustainability Victoria’s work to strengthen our state’s circular economy, in partnership with First Nations Peoples. With this framework, we want to: ❤️💛🖤 Ensure cultural respect and understanding, so all our communication is meaningful, culturally appropriate and sensitive. 🤝 Build trust and long-term relationships with First Nations communities. ⚡ Support the self-determination of First Nations Victorians. It was great to brainstorm some practical, initial steps - based on the feedback received - together with the Think HQ team and 13 workmates from across SV’s social impact, communications and engagement teams, Office of the CEO, and First Nations Advocacy Working Group. Really looking forward to collaborating, to enable and support ‘Healthy Country, Healthy People’ across Victoria 🌱 #caringforcountry #partnership Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation, Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation (GLaWAC), Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation, Wurundjeri Corporation, Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation, First Peoples of the Millewa Mallee Aboriginal Corporation.