AORA February 2022 News - latest happenings and opportunities in the organics sector

28 February 2022

AORA February 2022 News

From the National Executive Director

Welcome to the first newsletter of 2022! It's hard to believe it is March tomorrow.

To all our members in South East Queensland and Northern NSW who are currently experiencing severe flooding, we hope you and your staff are all safe and the damage is limited.

A short update on what we have been working on in the past couple of months;

An Agriculture / Horticulture end-product certification program has commenced with Workshops in Qld. A series of workshops is also planned in Vic, NSW and SA followed by site trial procedures while Federal funding is being pursued. The aim is to introduce a Certification system by the end of 2022.

The very complex Carbon Capture project in conjunction with Corporate Carbon is also in progress. The aim is to allow Processors to claim carbon credits for materials diverted from landfill but to be able to receive the funds up front rather than over a seven-year period. Clearly, there are significant cash-flow implications to be settled before the scheme can be launched.

Membership structures and entitlements are expected to be significantly altered following a series of consultations last year. Details will begin to emerge over the coming months.

A reminder that the timing of this year’s AORA National Conference in Adelaide has been moved to 27 – 29 June 2022, which will be here before we know it. The final speakers are being added to the program now and we will release this shortly. This year's theme is Building the Future of our Industry – Turning our organic waste into a national resource. It is going to be a great event!

Peter Olah

National Executive Officer

Welcome to our new AORA Members

Individual Members

Rivka Garson - VIC

Lyn Buffett - QLD

Mike Davis - NSW

Student Members

Emily Scott - ACT

Associate Members

City of Greater Dandenong - VIC

NuLeaf Organics - SA

Processing Members

Worm Tech - NSW

Upcoming AORA Events

AORA NSW March Committee Meeting

Wednesday 2 March

10am - 11.30am

Suez Chullora

Agenda items for the March meeting will include:

Discussion of a nationally accredited Certificate 3 Commercial Composting qualification.

An update from Amanda Kane on the EPA’s Organics Programs under the WaSM strategy.

Please note that whilst all NSW members are welcome to attend meetings anytime, registration is compulsory, with the agenda issued by email prior to the meeting. Please RSVP via email to nswcoordinator@aora.org.au

Compost in Agriculture Workshops

Friday 25 March

Bowen, QLD

Monday 28 March,

Atherton and Surrounds

The workshops will help end users understand the benefits and effective use of compost and mulches produced from recycled organic inputs. This will help the Organics Recycling Industry better understand and respond to the needs of the current and emerging agriculturalists.

BOOK NOW

Last chance for tickets to the Canberra Networking Breakfast

Thursday 7 April

8.00 am – 10.00am

National Arboretum

The beautiful Margaret Whitlam Pavilion at the National Arboretum will host our Canberra networking breakfast which will explore the successes and challenges of the ACT’s current FOGO pilot.

In the ACT, roughly one-third of household rubbish bins is food with around 26,000 tonnes of food waste going to Canberra’s landfill each year. The FOGO rollout has the potential to reduce Canberra’s waste emissions by up to 30 per cent, and recent surveys indicating that 92 per cent of Canberrans support a fully-fledged FOGO collection service.

On 22 November 2021, the ACT Government commenced their trial FOGO collection service with the pilot suburbs of Belconnen, Bruce, Cook and Macquarie receiving a weekly FOGO service with general rubbish moved to a fortnightly collection. The pilot aims to better understand contamination rates and how a FOGO collection service can be implemented successfully across individual households and multi-unit developments before being rolled out to the rest of Canberra in 2023.

AORA’s panel led discussion session will be facilitated by Christopher Malan (Cleanaway) and include key representatives from government, consultancy and industry to share their insights and key learnings from the experience so far:

· Margaret Kitchin- Program Director, Services, Strategic Coordination & Planning, ACT NoWaste

· Mike Ritchie – Managing Director, MRA Consulting

· Owen Bolitho - Horticultural Manager, National Arboretum Canberra and Stromlo Forest Park

· Corkhill Bros - FOGO processor (subcontracted under the ACT FOGO collections contract).

BOOK BREAKFAST

Welcome Yvonne McClaren, SA & NT Coordinator

We welcomed Yvonne McClaren as the State Coordinator for AORA SA /NT in early December.

Yvonne comes to AORA with a varied membership association background but worthy to note was time spent with winemakers and grape growers around Australia and most recently (and current) a similar role within the water industry (Australian Water Association) for South Australia.

She has a personal interest in the soil food relationship and food as medicine, so I am eager to learn all I can about circular economy and in particular organic recycling.

If you have any questions, suggestions or needs assistance with anything, email Yvonne sacoordinator@aora.org.au

You can feature on Sustainability Victoria's Buy Recycled Directory

Sustainability Victoria is looking for new recycled products to list on their updated Buy Recycled Directory for local government. Local government is one of the largest buyers of landscaping materials in Australia.

By listing on this directory, you can showcase your products to hundreds of council officers across 79 local government areas. Since launching in July 2020, almost 100 suppliers have added their products and the site has had more than 11,000 visits. Council officers use the directory to easily research, review and find recycled content products, including compost and mulch.

The directory will be promoted as a key feature of Sustainability Victoria’s Buy Recycled Service (launching early 2022), which will empower councils to use more recycled materials and products in infrastructure, landscaping, parks and gardens.

If you have products containing recycled content, register now to make sure you can be discovered by local government officers. To list your product:

You must register as a supplier online

The SV team will check it meets meet specific criteria.

For more information, email: sustainableprocurement@sustainability.vic.gov.au

Regulatory changes to Queensland Environmental Authorities of Environmental Relevant Activity (ERA) 53(a) Organic material processing by composting

The Department of Environment and Science has just announced upcoming changes in regulation that will directly affect composting Environmental Authority (EA) holders.

What are the reasons for the changes?

Composting is a significant industry in Australia and Queensland alone converts over a million tonnes of organic residues and waste into products every year. Without a composting industry, significantly more organic waste would be landfilled or otherwise disposed of without processing.

While composting activities can provide significant value to the environment and sustainable products for the community, they also have a high potential to negatively impact the environment and local communities. In recent years, the department has seen an increase in the type and nature of organic and inorganic waste streams being composted. We receive a considerable number of complaints from the community throughout the state about odour nuisance from composting operations holding an EA. These matters have raised concerns about the suitability and management of some waste materials being accepted and incorporated into composting processes.

In addition, the Queensland Government is committed to transitioning toward a circular economy for waste and the recovery of organic waste and activities such as composting is an important focal point as part of this transition.

When DES consulted with the composting industry about issues important to it, the industry regularly raised the need for a consistent regulatory approach across the state.

What we did

With the above factors in mind, DES conducted a review into ERA 53(a) Organic material processing by composting to look for ways to support economic prosperity of the industry, enable community members to have a quality life without odour or other nuisance impacts, and reduce environmental harm.

This review involved industry to ensure a good understanding of the issues and potential solutions, our department commissioned an independent review of environmental authority waste acceptance criteria for composting operations and sources of air odorous emissions that impact residents surrounding composting operations. The study aimed to improve the understanding of composting processes and odour emissions, establish best practice management, and assess suitability of different feedstock.

Changes that are relevant as an EA holder

A report titled Critical evaluation of composting operations and feed stock suitability (the Report) was commissioned and recommendations and findings of the report resulted in the development of 1) Best practice environmental management guideline ERA 53(a) (the Guideline) and;

2) new Model operating conditions ERA 53(a) Organic material processing by composting .

The significance of the Report and changes to EAs

What is really important to note is that the Report has been endorsed by the Director-General of our department as a recognised entity report (RER) under section 215(2)(l) of the Environmental Protection Act 1994 (EP Act). This means that the department may amend an EA at any time under certain conditions.

The department will be hosting an online information session about changes to ERA 53(a) and invites you to join.

Online Information session - Regulatory changes to ERA 53(a) Organic material processing by composting

When: Wednesday March 2 2022

Time: 10am – 12pm (AEST)

Please register online here and you will be sent a link to the webinar.

If you would like further information before the session, please contact palm@des.qld.gov.au.

NSW EPA Roadshows - Registration now open

The EPA have opened registrations for their upcoming roadshows. The dates and locations are:

o 30 March – Sydney City

o 5 April - Sutherland

o 28 April – Orange

o 10 May – Wagga Wagga

o 17 May – Batemans Bay

o 24 May – Newcastle

o 2 June – Port Macquarie

o 7 June – Ballina

o 23 June – Gunnedah

Of interest

For those involved in the composting industry as workers, employees or trainers are invited to attend a consultation webinar as part of the Composting Skills Project. At this meeting, we will provide background on the project and its objectives to date, summary of major changes and how to provide feedback. A description of the project and copies of the draft units can be found on the Skills Impact website.

Draft Determination and Interim Authorisation Application for authorisation AA1000596 lodged by Albury City Council & Ors in respect of collectively tendering and contracting for waste and recycling collection, transport, sorting, and processing services.

The ACCC proposes to grant authorisation to enable the Albury City Council, Wodonga City Council, Indigo Shire Council, Greater Hume Council, Federation Council, Leeton Shire Council, Berrigan Shire Council and Edward River Council (the Participating Councils) to collectively tender and contract for waste and recycling collection, transport, sorting, and processing services (the various services).

Read the draft determination

Grassdale Fertilisers ready to switch on mammoth organic fertiliser plant

The plant near Dalby will produce 20,000t of carbon-based organic granule fertiliser per year until an upgrade in 2023 will see production hit 100,000tm making it the biggest organic fertiliser manufacturer in the country four times over.

Read the article

Provision of waste and recyclables collection and recyclables processing services

Toowoomba Regional Council and Western Downs Regional Council will shortly be seeking submissions from interested parties for the provision of waste and recyclables collection and recyclables processing services. The RFT will be called through Vendorpanel marketplace.